Spiritual Psychotherapy: The Infinite Meaning of Symptoms

Spiritual Psychotherapy is the process of learning through my symptoms and suffering how to appreciate the awesome fact that everything in this intelligent, compassionate, and purposeful universe is exquisitely designed for my Self-realization.

Spiritual Psychotherapy occurs when you address yourself not simply as a social/bodily ego or a reactive stimulus-response machine, but as an infinite spiritual being, a god in the disguise of a human body and personality,who has, through forgetfulness and mis-imagination, created a flawed and incomplete self-image and worldview, and is now suffering the pain of some form of unconscious symptomatic self-victimization.

Furthermore, this symptomatic self-victimization is understood as an invitation by the Creator of this intelligent, compassionate, purposeful universe to transcend our temptation to repress or self-medicate our pain, and rather to inquire and look within it for the path to wholeness. This inquiring and inward- looking process of self-realization is called spiritual psychotherapy.

Sight is our outward-looking conditioned ego story which results in the victim experience and leads to symptom formation. Vision is our inward-looking unconditioned non-story which results in true spiritual knowledge and to the transformation of our symptoms.

Spiritual Psychotherapy addresses the suffering seeker as an infinite spiritual being in a finite physical body and a social-psychological personality system. Spiritual Psychotherapy seeks to help the seeker identify the true meaning of their symptoms and suffering, and to erase the main cause thereof. The seeker, however, unconsciously addresses himself/herself and the world through the eyes of victimization.

Jesus is perhaps the best model for spiritual psychotherapy since his entire effort was devoted to the release of the human being through forgiveness from the experience of self-victimization.

“Poor Me” and “Ain’t it Awful” are the two major games people play in relationships which set the stage for suffering and symptoms. The victim experience is held in place by three beliefs (judgments): separateness, lack and entrapment. These three assumptions form the seeker’s psychological story about the self and the world. This seemingly true story is illusory, dualistic, limiting, fear-driven and toxic. Any religion, philosophy, science, medicine, politic or psychotherapy which unwittingly supports this dualistic story about human identity is, to that degree, unhealthy and sick in its approach to diagnosis and treatment of the human condition.

Victim symptoms arise because ultimately we ignore our spirituality and divinity. The anxiety which arises from this ignorance drives the compulsive search for comfort and control, but such solutions cannot be found within the story, but only as we awaken from such dramas. The techniques of Spiritual Psychotherapy are techniques of awakening through shock, disillusionment, letting go, and a radically penetrating awareness of the difference between our story and the truth. Spiritual Psychotherapy teaches and demonstrates the awareness that there are only two processes in life: fear and love, and that one of them is not real. It is the simplicity of this awareness which cuts through mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment and lays bare the purpose of all symptoms and suffering, which is Self-realization.

Are We Still Stuck in Our Old Theory Box?

It is the theory which decides what we can observe

-Albert Einstein

While it is true that we are moving into a new paradigm in the 21st century, in many ways psychological and religious thinking is still stuck in an old theory box, especially in the area of diagnosis. Even though Jesus brought us A Course in Miracles in the 70’s to address this theory dilemma, psychotherapy is still floundering in the same de-energized story as the culture in general. . Spiritual Psychotherapy is an attempt to address this story deadlock in a direct and forthright manner that challenges both religion and psychology to take a calculated leap into the rich territory of infinite imagination.

The final frontier is not outer space, but the human imagination

-Boeing

Infinity theory is an an-depth inquiry into this stuckness, particularly about diagnosis. Diagnosis is not an armchair speculative matter. Everyone self-diagnoses his problems on a daily basis and prescribes his self-medicating solutions, and experiences the consequences therefrom. Spiritual Psychotherapy is a much a challenge to the patient as to the doctor. Both patients and doctors assume they know what causes symptoms, but according to my research this is questionable. It has been my experience that we don’t know what causes our symptoms and that we treat the assumed cause with the wrong medicine. A Course in Miracles says that all illness is mental. While cognitive therapy has made some important strides in this direction, there is still a spiritual leap ahead that has rarely been taken.
( Please do not be offended by the word “you” in this document; it is just my shorthand for “my ego.”)

The Imprisoned Splendor:

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise

From outward things, whate’re you may believe.

There is an inmost centre in us all,

Where truth abides in fullness; and around,

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,

This perfect, clear perception;which is truth.

A baffling and perverting carnal mesh

Binds it, and makes all error; and, to KNOW,

Rather consists in opening out a way

Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,

Than in effecting entry for a light

Supposed to be without.

-Robert Browning

Spiritual Psychotherapy is a revolutionary new psychotherapy system, which if you study and apply it to yourself, can be mastered in about two years. The infinite meaning of symptoms requires a total re-orientation to your spirituality and psychological/social dilemmas. If you are satisfied with your current pace, and the consequences thereof, this approach may not be of sustained interest for you at this time. This radical awareness has to be practiced on a moment-by-moment basis or else the victimization story will continue to dominate consciousness. Waking up from our hypnotic cultural conditioning is life’s greatest adventure. Nothing else is seriously worth your time. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” is no mere shibboleth. This kingdom is your home and your true nature. The ego story about our low self-esteem identity is a necessary experience on the path to radical awakening to our infinite potential.

Do what you will, this life’s a fiction, and is made up of contradiction.

-William Blake

The key identity question for all seekers: “Am I a stressed out victim with an impossible dream or an infinite spiritual being with a flawed story?”

What Does “Spiritual Psychotherapy” Mean?

The five senses gather electronic signals from the external and internal environment and send these signals to the brain, but our senses do not know what these signals mean.

The brain relays these signals from the senses to the mind, but the brain does not know what these signals mean.

The mind encodes these signals from the brain into words, and assigns meaning to these words according to the semantic mind dictionary which it has built into the memory, but the mind does not have the power or wisdom to determine the true meaning of these words.

The mind may or may not offer these words to Consciousness itself to determine and empower the real meaning of this information for reflective choice.

If the mind does not offer its information to Consciousness, the ego mind remains stuck in its own story about itself and the world, with all of the consequences therefrom; if it does offer this information to Consciousness itself, the story is transformed and transcended into ever-present spiritual truth.

“Spiritual” psychotherapy recognizes the difference between the ego story and the real self because it addresses man as Consciousness itself.

Spiritual psychotherapy begins with the re-diagnosis of all symptoms in terms of the infinite potentialities of the person instead of just in terms of their physical and psychological fear-based limitations. The Symptoms of Infinite Imaginationassumes that you are infinite Imagination. Infinite imagination is another word for spirit, soul or consciousness. You have thoughts, you have feelings, you have physical sensations, but you are infinite imagination; you are a powerful spiritual being, a divine co-creator with God.

Everything that you see, feel, taste, smell and hear is a finite product of infinite imagination, including the world of nature (sun, moon, stars, trees, crocodiles and people) and the world of man-made stuff (cars, phones, furniture, toys, art, science) Imagination is the subject/cause; your experiences are the object/effect, result or product of imagination. Everything that you see and experience is the product of imagination.

You may have forgotten that imagination is the most powerful force in the universe, and that imagination is what you are. Infinity-forgetting and identity-confusion is what creates our finite symptoms. Symptoms and their accompanying pain are messengers of mis-used imagination and forgetful identity ignorance. Symptoms are God’s messengers and gifts to a preoccupied, forgetful world.

A symptom is not like a broken lawnmower. A symptom represents a conflict in your total belief system. A symptom is an identity issue. A symptom concerns your ignored, denied, repressed and unconscious spirituality. You cannot thoroughly doctor a symptom with a pill because a pill only addresses the brain and the body. A symptom is a consciousness issue, not just a brain and body issue. Everything begins in consciousness and returns to it.

The symptom indicates the dissonance between the mind and consciousness. That dissonance is created by the ego. No one has created himself. We make up an ego identity, we invent our self-image and our self-esteem through our imagination, but no one creates the imagination itself. You may create your self-identity story through your imagination your self-identity story, but you did not create imagination itself. You are a spiritual being, and through your ignorance and confusion you have made up an ego that you call “you.” Your ego is not you. You created your ego, but you did not create your self. Your self is a spiritual being that was created by God and you are as God created you. We have little idea about the truth of this, and so we believe that we are an ego, and that this ego created itself. You can create anything and everything except God and your true self. The true self is the one thing the ego cannot make. The ego can fool you into thinking that your self-image is your self but it is not. You can create experiences but you did not create the creator of these experiences.

That you did not create your self is the basic fact of life. Your symptom attests to this basic fact of life. If you were the creator of your self, why would you create a symptom you cannot fix? You wouldn’t do it. Since you are not the creator of your self, the symptom is there to witness to the fact that the ego you have made is not truly you. The symptom is created by the 1% Factor, the infinite imagination that no one can destroy, guaranteed.

These pains that you feel are Messengers. Listen to them. Turn them to sweetness.

Rumi

Spiritual psychotherapy is an invisible process because in fact you are invisible. Your body is visible but you are not. Even your aura may be visible, but the cause of the aura is not visible. All cause is invisible and infinite. All effects are visible and finite. Scientists have been able to locate the brain, but not the operator of the brain. The Self (consciousness) will never be located because it is not defined and confined by time and space. The operator of the brain is not visible and cannot be located or measured except in terms of its effects. You are invisible and infinite cause. The story and its tragic hero, the ego, are defined by and confined in time and space, but the creator of the story is not of time and space.

In general psychotherapy, symptoms refer to assumed physical or personality problems; in Spiritual Psychotherapy, symptoms attest to the limitations of our story and to the unlimited nature of our divine potentiality.

Neville

The Contributions of Neville Goddard to Infinity Theory

His view was that all scripture is about you, and that eventually each individual will be re-born into the initiatory experiences of Jesus Christ. He believed that Jesus Christ is symbolically and literally every man and woman and that in due time we will all actually re-live his life in our own unique manner.

Jesus Christ was the final revelation of human nature to which all of history points and in which all of history is fulfilled.

The nature of Jesus Christ is the nature of humanity, and that nature is “our own wonderful human imagination.”

Neville’s Lectures

For a period of over 30 years, Neville lectured regularly in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to huge audiences expounding the Law and the Promise.

The Law is that by the deliberate and conscious use of imagination the individual can manifest what he intends in life.

The Promise is that through the constant use of the Law and of our mystical ability, the truth of our divine identity as Jesus Christ will be revealed to us in our visions and in our life experience.

To Neville the scriptures are living personal revelations about human nature, each character representing our own struggles.

Neville incorporated the insights of William Blake into a metaphysics for modern man.

Infinity Theory

Infinity Theory builds upon the contributions of Blake and Neville to demonstrate the mystical understanding of human nature for the New Humanity.

Infinite imagination is the integrating factor in Infinity Theory, which finds its roots in the Bible, in Blake and in Neville, and is implicit in many modern psychological and theological theories.

“According to the Scriptures, we sleep with Adam and wake with Christ. That is, we sleep collectively and wake individually.”
Neville Goddard

“You are imagination.”
Neville Goddard

“The story of life is all about God. Everything in the world is God. Behind the mask called you is God. I am looking only at Good masked as I look at you. Behind that mask is God. And the whole thing is done by God to himself.”
Neville Goddard

“Whoever changes his limited self-concept changes the world in which he lives.”
Neville Goddard

The Good News

As mentioned earlier, everyone has their own version of good news or gospel; everyone has their own idea of the solutions to life’s problems.

Everyone has some kind of self-rescue, ego gospel, or good news. I’ll win the lottery, I’ll find my lover, I’ll become accepted or famous, I’ll prove myself, I’ll be good, I’ll work hard to survive, I’ll get ahead, I’ll be clever, I’ll take what I’m entitled to, I’ll suffer virtuously, I’ll get even, etc.

The Gospel According to Neville is a gospel of revelation and re-interpretation of the Scriptures.

Neville holds that the Scriptures will be fulfilled by every person.

The Judeo-Christian Scriptures are sacred history but not secular history.

They were written by mystics for the mystical man to understand. Every man is, in his true nature, a mystic. Mystical understanding could not be expected until “that age” had come, which is now.

The entire Bible is about who man is.

The Bible cannot be understood apart from one’s own personal experience.

Neville had numerous revelation experiences which led him to re-interpret the entire Scripture in the light of these experiences.

Neville is no doubt one of the world’s greatest mystics and metaphysicians.

He gathers up and re-interprets the entire history of mystical and metaphysical understanding in a new and radical way. His teaching is an absolutely radical, personal, and universal understanding.

Neville and the Bible

Neville read the Bible seven days a week from his youth until his death, and he has completely devoured the works of William Blake as a key to the understanding of the scriptures.

He understood that every story, every word and every line in the Bible is about you and I.

At the same time, what the Bible means is hidden from the eyes of the reader in a great mystery.

While the Bible appears to be an external account based upon objective events, people and human reason, it is not.

The Bible is an account of how God became man in order than man might become God.

The Bible is about God in man and God as man.

Man is, like God, imagination. Every act of man and God is a conjoint imaginal act.

The outer phenomenal world is an exact reflection of imagination.

Jesus Christ is the central figure of the entire Bible, and Jesus Christ is man’s true identity.

Jesus Christ and God are one, and man is unconsciously one with Jesus Christ and God.

Every human being will have the entire experience of Jesus Christ in his or her own unique way in due time.

Life and Death

A person is resurrected when God has awakened in him and he has been “born from above”. Thus everyone has one birth from below, the birth from woman, and one birth from above, the birth from God.

Everyone will experience both births. God will not be defeated. God actualizes himself in every person in a unique individualized way. God is not and cannot be separated from man in any way. God is man. God is asleep in man and as man, and dreams this world into existence. All of man’s suffering is a necessary stage in awakening.

God designs, wills, experiences and uses human suffering in this limited, weak, mortal notion of selfhood, in order to awaken us to our true nature, which is immortality, godhood, Jesus Christhood.

Man’s Divinity

Man can begin right now to learn of his divinity by exercising his imagination deliberately and precisely.

Neville demonstrated to audiences in New York and Los Angeles over a period of forty years that any person can create what he wants by imagining it into existence.

These imaginal activities are to be guided by love and by the golden rule. Anything which is totally and thoroughly believed and imagined by the individual, for himself or for another, is possible and is a necessary part of awakening.

For such total belief to work, the person must set aside his ordinary way of looking at the world through the five senses and reason, and imagine from the completed state of his wish. He sets aside the “factual” state and enters into the “imagined state.”

The imagined state then must and does harden into fact. This experience proves that man at his core is imagination, and that imagination is Jesus Christ in action.

Neville demonstrated through all of his books and lectures covering a forty year period that the Bible and William Blake’s works support and illustrate this experience that man is imagination and that in this wonderful human imagination is man’s oneness with God and his identity with Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Psychotherapy

Spiritual Psychotherapy builds upon the discoveries of Neville by developing his revelations into a full-blown psychological and metaphysical understanding of symptoms.

My books are written based upon my own experience along with a parallel unfolding and expansion of the meaning of Neville’s work to me.

Without the work of Blake and Neville, this work could not have been done.

The divinity of man is not for the weak-minded, but requires a total radical metanoia or reversal.

Nothing remains the same, nothing.

Not one single human assumption, belief or common sense value is left undisturbed.

This understanding revolutionizes and consumes your entire consciousness twenty-four hours a day. You will have to live with, renovate, revision and transform every single thought pattern in your entire unconscious data base in order to even make a judgment about this truth.

See Neville, Immortal Man. 1977. Devorss. Also The Power of Awareness. 1952. Devorss. Also Your Faith is Your Fortune, Resurrection, Awakened Imagination,Seedtime and Harvest, The Law and The Promise.

If You Didn’t Get it, Why not?

The big question regarding your last life crisis is: Did you get it? Why not?

The important question for your last therapy attempt to deal with anxiety is: Did you get it? Why not?

If all you got was relief from the last time you unsuccessfully manipulated something or someone, then you didn’t get it.

If all you did was recover from the consequences of the last time you didn’t get it, you didn’t get it.

If you are still recurrently anxious, sick or depressed, you didn’t get it

If you got your way, you didn’t get it.

If your survival strategy worked, you didn’t get it

If you won the power struggle, you didn’t get it

If you are settling for less, you don’t get it

If you felt you were the most clever, you didn’t get it

If you just made some kind of New Year’s resolutions, you didn’t get it

If you are just trying harder, you didn’t get it

If you are still after approval and appreciation, you didn’t get it

If life is still going up and down, you didn’t get it

If you still think marriage or divorce will fix it, you didn’t get it

If you are still looking for the man or woman of your dreams, you didn’t get it

If you think a better job is going to do it for you, you didn’t get it

If all you did was confess your crime and serve your sentence, you didn’t get it

If all you did was prove you’re right, you didn’t get it

If all you did was win the lottery, you didn’t get it

If all you did was score, you didn’t get it

If all you won was a gold medal at some Olympic contest, you didn’t get it, only a symbol of it.

If you are up or down because your team or political party won or lost, you didn’t get it

If you don’t 100% love reality yet, you don’t get it

If you are still championing some religious, political or soap box cause, you haven’t gotten it

If you still have an axe to grind, you didn’t get it

If you are not actively investigating your thinking, you won’t get it

If you think you know how things should be, you haven’t gotten it yet

If you are trying to deny, prevent or avoid the recurrence of something painful in your life, you won’t get it

If you think there is something to resist or conquer, you won’t get it

If you are still waiting for your luck to change, you won’t get it

If you think your past or future holds the` key to success, you won’t get it

If all you did was get out of the dog house after your last fight, you didn’t get it.

If you really think circumstance have power over you, you won’t get it

If you think something or someone is making you a victim, you didn’t get it

If you didn’t get it, its not because of stupidity, but of ignorance

If you didn’t get it, it is because you think you are merely human

If you think you can cure anxiety with pills or distraction, you won’t get it

If you think anxiety is a problem or a coincidence, you won’t get it

If you didn’t get it, it is just because you think you don’t have time or the intelligence to try to understand why you didn’t get it

If you think something else is more important than getting it, you won’t get it.

If you are mad at me for saying you didn’t get it, that is a sure sign you don’t get it

If you haven’t gotten it, it is because you don’t know where it is

If you didn’t get it, it is because you blamed the world and God for your sense of lack

If you didn’t get it, it is because it went by too fast to see it

If you didn’t get it, it is because you thought you didn’t have it and you have to chase after it.

If you didn’t get it, it isn’t too late, everyone has to get it sooner or later

If you don’t know what It is yet, maybe it’s time to find out.

If you want it bad enough to ask, I will join you in making sure you get it

What will it cost you? Your habitual way of thinking

What will it pay you? Everything you ever wanted

If you didn’t get it yet, you will!
You may be wondering why the same old patterns keep repeating like a broken record, and why you didn’t get it yet. You may be tired of the same old boring excuses and reactions. If you didn’t get it the first time or the fifty-first time, , there is still another chance to get it.

Listen to the way Rumi puts it:

COME, whoever you are
COME, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving
COME, this is not a caravan of despair
COME, it doesn’t matter if you’ve broken your vows a thousand times
Still, COME
And yet again, COME!
Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes around in another form. The child weaned from its mother’s mild now drinks wine and honey mixed. God’s joy[2] moves from unmarked box to unmarked box, from cell to cell. As rainwater, it goes down into the flowerbed. As roses, it comes up from the ground. Now it looks like a plate of rice and fish, now a cliff covered with vines, now a horse being saddled. It hides within these, till one day it cracks them open. Rumi

Or, Isaiah:

“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk. Without money and without cost. Why do you want to spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, that you may live.”

Its Ok if you didn’t get it yet, we are all involved in the process of getting it, either unconsciously or consciously.

If you think you are unhappy because you haven’t felt totally accepted, loved or appreciated, you just didn’t get it yet.

If you don’t already have it somewhere, how could you possibly get it?

If you think you’ve got it, you haven’t

Forgetting (discounting) your dreams didn’t help you to get it

If you still think that any experience in your life doesn’t have a beneficial purpose and cause, you still don’t get it

If you haven’t found the meaning and purpose of your last crisis (large or small), you may not be aware there is anything to get

If you think there is anything you can satisfactorily control besides your thinking, you haven’t got it yet.

If you are still justifying your behavior and defending your beliefs, you won’t get it.

If you are still telling yourself the story that you are alone, lacking or trapped, you didn’t get it

If you think that you can get the results you want without questioning your story, you won’t get it

If you think that God is out there somewhere, you aren’t here either

If you didn’t get it yet, are you ready to ask?

If you still think that money, sex or some substance will substitute for IT, you are kidding yourself

If you think dieting, exercise or physical exercise will do it, good luck!

If you think suicide or homicide will erase the pain of not getting it, you in for a surprise

If you think that accusing or punishing others for not giving you what you want will get it for you, you don’t get it

If you think that trying to rescue people will save you from the pain of not knowing the truth about yourself, you haven’t got it.

If you think you know yourself already, you don’t get it

If you think that changing your body’s conditions will be sufficient, you don’t get it yet

If you think that changing the world is possible, you are wasting your time

If you think will power will get it, why hasn’t it worked so far?

Where is the door to the lost treasure, the Holy Grail, the fountain of youth, the Shangri la, the kingdom of heaven, your peace of mind? Until you ask about that, you are not even close to getting it.

If you wondered whether you got it, you didn’t

If you think getting it is anything besides a process of awakening, you didn’t get it.

When you do get it, it will be when it gets you

If you thought you didn’t get it, maybe that proves there is something to get

If you are not curious enough yet about the real cause of your anxiety and suffering, you’re not ready to get it

Everyone is here to get it, but the secret to getting it is hidden underneath all of the secrets that didn’t get it.

Getting it is realizing that everything you see, hear and believe is your story, including the world itself.

Unless you constantly and thoroughly question and investigate your story about reality and about yourself, you will never get it.

If and until you realize you are 99% brainwashed, you won’t get it

Nothing is as it seems, do you get it?

Can you get it if you didn’t do some particular crime or wrong that you were accused of and are being punished for? And suppose you are punishing someone else for a wrong they did or didn’t do, can you still get it?

If you think the past is a closed book and can’t be changed, you didn’t get it yet.

If you think you lost everything, you didn’t get it yet

If you think disappointment is the final word, you didn’t get it yet

If you think aging, suffering, sickness or death is the final word, you didn’t get it yet

If you wonder whether the good guys or the bad guys will win in the end, you didn’t get it yet

If you are waiting on Armageddon or the rapture, you didn’t get it yet

If you are waiting on your good, you didn’t get it yet

If you think the body is sick, you didn’t get it yet

If you think you can change someone else, you didn’t get it yet

If you think you can hurt someone else or that someone else can hurt you, you didn’t get it yet.

If you think someone can control you, you didn’t get it yet

If you think fear or its consequences are real, you don’t get it yet

If you think it is not okay not to get it, then you don’t get it

If you think I am being evasive or secretive about getting it, then you don’t get it

If you are still studying and scheming about how to make your usual strategy work, you don’t get it.

If you want to get it, you had better study why your strategy isn’t working rather that studying why it should be working.

The reason your strategy isn’t working is because it isn’t the truth, do you get it?

When you notice that your strategy doesn’t work over 50% of the time, and it doesn’t, why don’t you get it?

If you don’t understand why Plato said “Know thyself” you didn’t get it

If you think the Christ is irrelevant to getting it, you don’t get it

If you avoid yourself because you think you know yourself, you didn’t get it

If you are still ignoring the real cause of your anger, grief, depression, anxiety jealousy or boredom, you don’t get it

If you think victimizing others is going to un-victimize you, you didn’t get it

If you think rescuing others is going to un-victimize you, you didn’t get it

If you still think anything can substitute for self-knowledge, you didn’t get it

If you think ignorance of the facts is bliss, you didn’t get it

I am never upset (mad, frustrated, bored, depressed, argumentative, impulsive, acting out, judgmental, manipulative, or defensive) for the reason I think. Do you get that?

If you think you are superior or inferior, then you didn’t get it.

If you think building up your self esteem will get it, you don’t get it.

If you don’t ask much, you don’t get much, get it?

If you think that there is anything else as important in life as getting it, you don’t get it.

X Marks the Spot

“X marks the spot ” was a message that came straight out of the superconscious as I awakened one morning. I got up at 5 a.m. and began to write on my computer:

You have heard of “X marks the spot”, haven’t you? I just found out that “AnXiety marks the spot” AnXiety marks the spot where we imagine danger to our usual story about life. AnXiety marks the spot where we have drawn a boundary line on love. AnXiety marks the spot where we are blind, where we are judging, where we are afraid to venture, where we are stubborn, where we are overlooking our potential, where our shadow exists, where we have located some pain, where we are hiding something, where we lack vision, where we feel we have to control and avoid something, where we are not at peace, where we think God is not.

AnXiety marks the spot which we consider unknown, unknowable and invaluable, worthless, useless, godless, and a direct threat to our ego goals and control. AnXiety marks our Achilles heel. AnXiety marks the spot where we must grow next. AnXiety marks the spot of our ignored potential. AnXiety marks the spot of our unacknowledged spirituality. AnXiety marks the spot which holds the key to our future health, happiness, and personal growth. AnXiety marks the spot where we have repressed, rejected, ignored and avoided our unlimited Self, the Christ within.

X marks the spot. AnXiety marks the spot where we are frightened, where we are lazy, where we are habit bound, where we are conditioned, where we are stuck, where we are afraid to look, where we think death lives. AnXiety marks the spot where we think the Infinite is not. AnXiety marks the spot where we have stopped creating, where we have stopped loving, where we have stopped living. AnXiety marks the spot of at least 90% of our problems. X marks the spot where we are proud and think we know it all. X is the unknown

AnXiety marks the spot where 90% of the self is not functioning. AnXiety marks the spot where our talents are buried. AnXiety marks the spot where our relationships are suffering. AnXiety marks the spot where our future divorce is hiding. AnXiety marks the spot where our future illnesses are breeding. AnXiety marks the boundaries of the small comfort zone in which we are willing to live and love. AnXiety is the barrier behind which the mystery of God is being kept. AnXiety is where peace is. AnXiety is where the unconditional love that we are looking for resides. AnXiety is where anger and frustration come from.

As long as anxiety is the foe, we will feel like its victim, but we will not realize that this is the case. We give ourself every reason in the story book for our suffering, our handicap, our failures, our frustrations, our unhappiness, except the truth. The ego is not a dealer in truth. AnXiety marks the spot where the ego won’t go. Isn’t that a hoot? Who would have thought it? Not me. To me anxiety was just the opposite of everything said above. Anxiety was dreadful, a nuisance, a weakness, a curse, a philosopher’s nightmare, a result of germs, bad luck, misfortune. Anxiety was due to faulty wiring. Anxiety was the fault of society or God. Anxiety was a human error, a medical fluke, an unnecessary evil, a result of the fall or of guilt.

Now I see that anxiety is a signal of the splits in life. Anxiety is a call for reunion. Anxiety is a call for awakening. Anxiety is a call for wholeness, for holiness, for spirituality, for infinite self-realization. Anxiety is a call for a new vocabulary, a call for uncommon divine wisdom. Anxiety is a call for rebirth. Anxiety is learned. Anxiety is poor learning. Anxiety is incomplete learning. Anxiety is mistaken learning.

What are these splits? The first split was the split of God from creation, the split of the infinite from the finite. The second split was the split of the male from the female. The third split was the split of matter and spirit. X marks the spot of every split. X marks the spot of the call for reunion of all splits. X marks the spot where we assume separateness, where we assume lack, where we assume entrapment. “Assume” makes an “ass of u and me” a patient told me in the mental hospital. Yes, anxiety assumes. AnXiety marks the spot where we assume, where false beliefs rule, where we have blind spots, where we have stereotypes, where we judge our brothers, where all social problems arise, where all illnesses are bred. AnXiety marks the unknown world which we have assigned to oblivion. No wonder we take pills by the truckloads.

I can just hear clinicians saying: but everyone doesn’t have anxiety, for example, psychopaths. And besides, most people are just depressed and manipulative. And what about the psychotics, only neurotics are anxious. Some people deny their anxiety and some people exaggerate it and wallow in it, etc, etc.

Essentially I am discovering that anxiety is the chief human symptom and it marks the spot where our True Self is hidden. All of the Great Ones have discovered and experienced the Infinite Radiant Self.[1] But where is it? Is it in time and space? Night and day we look in the outside world for rescue , but Jesus said the Treasure is within.

In all of the buried treasure stories, the Treasure of life is buried, lost, hidden and has to be pursued, usually within an inch of one’s life, right?

But we have “assumed” :

That the Treasure doesn’t exist
That the Treasure is outside
That the Treasure is transitory
That the Treasure can be given to you or taken away from you
That the Treasure has to be bought, stolen, borrowed, or manipulated
That the Treasure is subject to coins, clocks, loss, deservingness, luck or special favor
That the Treasure is not here now today; there are only stories about it being in the past or in the future.
That the Treasure is visible
That the Treasure is not for me, until I get rid of this or find that

And so anxiety is the barrier or veil between our human story and Reality, between illusion and truth. You don’t want to know that you are not your body, right? You don’t want to know that this universe is not what it appears to be, right? Finally the physicists and the mystics agree that this universe is a hologram. And until we have suffered enough, why should we venture to penetrate the anxiety barrier and enter into the cosmic oneness?

Anxiety hides this secret knowledge from us innocent, sick fools, until we are ready to awake and open up to the Radiant Infinite Self. No one is forced to take this journey. Each of us will do so in our own time and in our own way. In the meantime, the Rapture continues on a daily basis.

If you are ready, just ask yourself this question on a daily basis: if the Infinite Radiant Self [2]exists, where is it? What do I think I have to do first before I can know the Christ within and behind my symptoms? Whatever it is that I believe that I have to do first is just my self-rescue plan, and will only bring more anxiety and symptoms. Hasn’t that been the case so far?

The lack of serotonin balance is considered by many to be the cause of anxiety. But what causes the lack of serotonin balance? Perhaps serotonin is the peace chemical which can be artificially mimicked for a brief time, but our story creates anti-serotonin chemicals on a daily basis which overwhelms and imbalances all of the peace transmitters we could ever ingest in a pill.

The Infinite Radiant Self is not in time and space. The body can be located, but you cannot be contained anywhere at any time. If you could be contained and located, you would not be Infinite.

Anxiety is the psychological name for the gap between illusion and reality. Anxiety is the most common human experience of our story on this bi-polar plane. The things we abuse the most are our remedies for anxiety, although obviously they do not work. We are like the mice in a lab experiment, who after they push the bar several times and get rewards, continue to push the pedal until they die. We are like these hungry animals pressing on the bar. Occasional re-enforcement has made victims of us all. The Radiant Infinite Self pops into our story here and there and re-enforces the pressing of whichever bar we are attending to and we get occasional re-enforcement.

We take a drug or alcohol or we look at television or we play the slot machine and we become addicts to the Radiant Self we experience on such a random reflective basis. If a bank robbery happened to be a successful experience of the richness of the Radiant Self, we could become bank robbers. If rape fulfilled our need for the oneness and power of the Radiant Self, we could become a rapist. If we experience love with a same sex person, we could become gay. But we remain anxious because we cannot be sure that pushing the bar will bring the Radiant Self experience again. It’s hit or miss. In fact, very often it brings the opposite. Hang gliding or Nascar racing loses some of the juice when there is a crash and the hero is killed.

There is tremendous anxiety when the stock market falls. We try very hard to break the 500 average in sports. The same thing happens in relationships, and even if we become cynics, we cannot escape the memory of that taste of the Radiant Self. Rumi said that there is a field beyond good and evil, and he will meet us there. He forgot to tell us that just beyond good and evil there is a gravity barrier that blocks entry to the cosmic field, and the name of that barrier is anxiety.

When you enter a Buddhist temple there are two ferocious lions guarding the entryway. One is frowning and the other is smiling, one represents the negative and the other the positive, guarding the temple, representing pain and pleasure, and you must walk between these two ferocious animals to cross the barrier into the field of the Radiant Self.

A man walks into my office and says he wants to quit his job today. And then what? I’m not sure I want to quit my job. So you are anxious about whether to quit or keep your job? Yes, and I cannot decide which to do. What would happen if you kept your job and what would happen if you did not keep your job? What is the inner conflict you are having about this? And so we suspect that this man is experiencing insecurity about keeping or quitting his job. He doesn’t know which is worse or better. He may or may not be ready to deal with the meaning of this indecision and this anxiety. But if he does not deal with it now, he will relive this same story many times in the future. He will have many occasions to explore the meaning of security or insecurity and the attendant anxiety. All such struggles arise because we do not yet know the Infinite Radiant Self[3]. The anxiety about this indecision is the doorway to the Secret Knowledge.

And so it is with every decision and indecision we have. Every decision is about who I am. Am I this ego or the Infinite Radiant Self? I do not even realize that this is the issue. In this story in which we live, it is one apparent ego against another battling for survival, losing as frequently as we win, thinking there is something wrong with me or the other, neither of which is true. How do I know that? It is the Secret Knowledge, which is available right here right now, just across the anxiety barrier, which is either your friend or your foe.

It is hard to escape the bondage to our story and all of its remedies. We do not see that the story itself and its author are the problem. Neither the story nor the author can go through the anxiety barrier. How can the caterpillar fly? The worm cannot fly, only the butterfly can fly. The lilies do not work, they are still instinctively connected to the Infinite Radiance. How can those annoying birds sing every morning about the glory of God?

There are thousands of temporary solutions to the problem of symptomatic anxiety. I am not interested in quibbling with them. You can create serotonin with a pill and you can block out the anxiety-manufacturing ego story with hypnotism, with an orgasm, with a business sale, with jogging, with some foods, and with music, but there is a ceiling on all of these things, and they are time-limited. A little bit of heaven is available and we keep pressing the bar. But then we come to the dark night of the soul, to that mid-life crisis where nothing works or satisfies. Whatever had looked good, now goes sour. Anxiety looms larger than life in front of us.

We are invited again to become the cosmic astronaut, to wake up the Master, the sleeping beauty, the Infinite Radiant Self[4]. To take the anxiety of nonbeing into yourself. Nonbeing is just an idea that we made up when we saw the invisible. Whatever you are holding onto for security, you will not be able to take through the barrier. The author of the anxiety experiences about “this money” or “this house” or “this body” is misleading me. This money, this house, this car, this body is not “mine.” “Today” is not mine. I cannot control all of these things. All of this belongs to the Infinite Radiant Self. All of this is the Infinite Radiant Self. No wonder I can’t manage it. The Holy Spirit is the manager. Bouncing back and forth between being generous and being selfish is just my ego story in full operation. Me, me , me, my generosity, my stinginess, my wisdom, my ignorance, my credit, my fault. Is that true? This kind of belief system is the root of the problem. I am concerned about my security, my money, my debt.

The Infinite lives here. I am not separate from the Infinite except in my ego belief system. This belief in separateness is the source of all of my anxiety. This is why anxiety is my best friend this side of awakening. I am learning to allow, to permit. The name for my Infinite Radiant Self is Lou-ash, the faithful one. He has winged feet, rubies and diamonds and gold rings on his fingers. His eyes flash with light. The stars and the moon and the sun is within. He travels on the winged horse. He is faithful to God and to me. He is the symbol of the Infinite Radiant Self. But do I remember that?

The author of the anxiety experiences of greed, jealousy, guilt, grief and hostility is our victim story. It is this story which sickens us to the point that we are ready to take the journey through the anxiety barrier.

There are so many payoffs for pretending to be a victim that it is indeed strange to even consider that we created such an experience in our own blindness and deafness. The only thing that keeps us from the cosmic journey through the barrier is our beliefs and the payoff we seem to get as innocent righteous victims. For, after all, that is what we are married to and refuse to divorce because we do not see through it. Without vision, the people perish. All that we have is sight. Until our double sight becomes single, we cannot go through the veil and enter our true home. We have double sight and not single vision.

I am a Pisces and I see everything double. The fishes swim in opposite directions. But this is the Age of Aquarius, the age of water. This new age is about the water and not about the fishes in the water who swim in opposite directions. There were many things that Jesus could not tell the Piscean fishermen, but now those things can be told. Dyed in the wool Piscees have trouble deciding to go through the barrier.

When a man looks at a pornographic image in a magazine or on the computer or when he sees a woman on the street, he is indeed searching for that which is beyond the image, he is searching for the Infinite Radiant Self[5]. But does he know that? When we go to the bar or to the casino or to the football game, we are longing for the experience of the Infinite Radiant Self, for the experience of winning, for the experience of teamwork, riches and power. We want to be the winner, the rich, the beautiful, that which lasts forever. In country music we sing about forever and ever, the joining of the male and female split, but we also sing the blues because the joinings were not on the right level, and become dis-joined.

All of this is about the longing for the experience of the Infinite Radiant Self. Everyone who sings, writes, paints or dances is searching for the creative experience of the Infinite Radiant Self. All of the hero worshippers, the American idols, and the survivor episodes are about the search for the Infinite Radiant Self. All of the wars, jails, divorces, surgeries, and the inheritance squabbles are about the lack of the courage to go through the anxiety barrier. It is not a question of will power over anxiety. It is a question about the presence of conflict. The Infinite Radiant Self is not divided and there is nothing to overcome, fight or conquer.

Exercise, diversion, yoga, refocusing your thinking and behavior, taking up a hobby, giving less energy to your symptoms, are all practical aids. The anxious patient tends to focus on his symptoms, talks about his symptoms, goes to many doctors, reads about his condition, seeks assurance about his condition, etc.

Spiritual Astronauts

Buckle yourself in. We are ready for blast off. This trip is only for astronauts of the inner worlds. There is a sound/gravity barrier around this ego earthfield in which we reside and are trapped. To penetrate that sound/gravity barrier, you will have to desire and prepare for God-discovery. Other cosmic astronauts have done it before and so you do not have to be overcome with fear. This is a trip to end fear. And so I will prepare you in this report for the flight that you came here to make.

This gravity/sound barrier keeps us locked within our earthbound story. Ezekial broke this barrier in the early days. When he did, he had visions about the meaning of our earthbound story which freed him for peace and service. Travel through this barrier and back is the daily experience of the spiritual astronaut.

You will never know what home is until you know how to travel in both arenas of earth and heaven. Fear keeps us earthbound and frustrated. We love the finite just as our Father does. The finite is the female aspect of creation. Our objective is not to escape the female finite form but to be able to appreciate it. The only way you can fully appreciate earth is not to be imprisoned by its gravity and sound barrier. The earth is the Lord’s and we have inherited it, although it is not yet our home. We have to make it our home, and this we cannot do until we break through the gravity barrier in ourselves.

The outer barrier is symbolic of the inner barrier. This barrier is a metaphor which is now being displayed daily before our eyes on television by our astronauts. The outer space barrier is no more or no less real than the inner one. Neither heaven nor earth alone can be our real home. We are citizens of two worlds which must become one. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven is the model prayer. We will have a heavenly body and an earthly body, a heavenly earth and an earthly heaven as soon as we have a heavenly and earthly consciousness. Jesus demonstrated such a consciousness for us and guarantees us safe passage through the anxiety barrier.

You are invited to this astronaut celebration. There are people who are making this important journey daily. In the early years of the 19th century, Maurice Bucke wrote a book entitled Cosmic Consciousness in which he analyzed 36 cases of cosmic travelers. He predicted that there will be more and more of these luminaries that we are calling cosmic astronauts. It is not my job to be a prophet about these things. My vision is about the anxiety barrier. This is a guidebook through the barrier. It is a map of how to get to the infinite and back to the finite. Everyone gets to take this second birth journey just as we took the first journey: alone. Or apparently so. We have already challenged the belief that we are never alone, but that is typical of our anxiety story. Actually many other astronauts and spiritual companions are with you as you prepare for and make this journey. By C. G. Jung this was called the path of individuation which everyone must take in order to discover the truth.

Each butterfly has to go through the cocoon stage to be reborn as a creature of the both heaven and earth. Each summer thousands of these lovely creatures flit about us, reminding us of who we are and how it is done. The caterpillar crawls around on the earth and eats leaves until it goes into metapmorphosis and we must do the same. This second birth process brings into our awareness the absolute unconditionality of love and the unutterable joy of life. This is why the birds sing, because they are creatures of heaven and earth in a way that most of us rarely experience. Do the birds sing in ignorance or because they know something we have forgotten? Birds sing from instinctual memory, and our songs only arise through the rebirth of memory, because man has enough awareness to be capable of maddening anxiety. Anxiety is the benchmark of humanity and pills will not remove it. Anxiety implies a re-birthing process because it does represent the unknown, the mystery of Infinity.

You are the only earth species with infinite imagination and there is nothing you can do about it. You are an eternal infinite being and there is nothing you can do about it. Even ignorance changes nothing. “God is not mocked” by our so-called limitations, excuses and fears. He cannot be defeated in the grand design of his plan. This grand design includes anxiety, not because God put it there, but because we put it there. God is not the author of fear, we are. Amazing grace removes the anxiety we have built. This fear story is removed, however, only by going through it, not around it. There is no going around it. It is the sound barrier which is supposed to protect us, but it also inhibits us.

Anxiety is your friend. You created it. You fed it. You made it into a foe. You have to redeem it. That is your job. No one can do it for you. Love your enemy. Only love will transform your anxious energy into peace and creativity. Buckle up and let’s go. The sooner the better. The longer you put it off, the worse it gets. You don’t want to be found lying on your deathbed with cancer eating up your body, cancer which you made necessary by anxiety-resistance. Sickness, old age and the fear of death are just more of the redeeming work of anxiety-awareness. Take your journey through the anxiety barrier now. You are a spiritual astronaut, a human god about to be re-born again today. Fear not.

Symptoms force us to do things that we wanted to do and not to do things that we wanted to do and so we have to experience both sides of the conflict.

So let us speak of anxiety-denial which always results in a penalty because we have to shut down much of our perceptual system. The more we deny our anxiety, the more we set ourselves up for anxiety-overwhelm. The more we deny anxiety the more we are apt to have too much. The pendulum swings from denial to excess and back.

Anxiety distortion: Nothing bothers me or everything bothers me. Anxiety-awareness means that you are less apt to experience anxiety-distortion. Anxiety-resistance, anxiety-distortion and anxiety-denial mean that we regard anxiety as an enemy rather than as a friend. Thus we get the swinging of the pendulum between too much or not enough. Not-enough indicates an inappropriateness or fear which leads to denial, like nothing can affect me. I live in my bunker. I need nothing. No one can hurt me. A person who denies anxiety cannot access anxiety-awareness except as a weakness. Anxiety-awareness is an experience of humanity and connects us with humanity. Anxiety-denial cuts us off from understanding and communicating with others. The anxiety denying person is less aware than the anxiety-aware person, and more likely to get sick. Black and white thinking along with the either/or approach is an attempt to control anxiety, but it does not work. Anxiety just goes underground and makes us more brittle, more numb, more vulnerable. Anxiety-awareness is preparation for anxiety- transformation. Anxiety is learned and is attached to our identity story.

Everyone has a love nature and an anxiety story. If a fighting couple can realize these facts, they can communicate from the same playing field. Everyone is in the same boat. Everyone has a love nature and an anxiety story. However, it is also typical that we will deny our caring nature or our anxiety story, either in our selves or in our partner, and this messes up communication every time. In both cases, awareness of our caring nature and the anxiety story prepares us for communication. There is a continuum from Anxiety-as-Foe, to Anxiety-as-Neutral, to Anxiety-as-Friend. For most of humanity, most of the time, anxiety is regarded as an enemy. Anxiety-as-Neutral is an advance over anxiety-denial or anxiety-avoidance. Anxiety-acceptance however can be negative and pessimistic, which has not yet reached the Anxiety-as-friend level. Anxiety-tolerance is not yet anxiety-awareness and anxiety-friendship. Understanding of anxiety makes a world of difference in the relationship and communication. If no one understands and everyone represses, you end up with mutual manipulation, force and violence.

When we are operating below basic honesty, we are trapped in the Anxiety Box. It is only as we rise in our energy level above self-deceit that we approach the neutral zone and the positive zone. Everyone below self-awareness is caught in their anxiety and stuck in their story, in ego insanity. Anxiety can be useful or destructive, but its usefulness is not apparent on the surface. Generally it arouses fight or flight. Anxiety-awareness and understanding changes our perceptions about fight or flightit, and the listener gets helpful information. Manipulative force and violence will not yield anxiety’s secrets to the listener. We are all in the same boat. We can’t say that we don’t care what that other person in the boat feels or thinks or why, because you are that person. You can’t handle anxiety by saying you don’t care or they don’t care because it is not true. You do care and they do care. That is our nature. To say I don’t care is a very poor way to handle pain. Self-defense as a way of handling pain leads to denying our true spiritual nature. We do care. That is our true spiritual nature.

You do care and there is nothing you can do about it because that caring is infinite. “I don’t care” does not protect me from anything. To say “I am not anxious” and “I do not care” is a lie to ourselves and to each other. The critical fact is that we do care and we are anxious. If we deceive ourselves about this fact concerning either ourselves or others, we are in communication trouble.

The ego is unable to tell the difference in truth and falsehood, nor is it interested in that difference. The ego is only interested in survival. You are interested in more than survival, but your ego is not. Whatever makes my ego survive is a story of distortions. Whatever supports the ego’s story about who and what I am is what is considered survival. If my ego believes that saying “I don’t care” will help the story survive, then the ego will say “I don’t care.” The story is more precious than anyone or anything. The ego story=ego survival.

If telling myself “I am not anxious” makes me feel safer, I will tell myself “I am not anxious.” If lying about you to myself by saying that you do not care or that you are not anxious, will make me feel safer, I will lie to myself about you and tell myself that you don’t care or that you are not anxious.

When I tell myself that you are not anxious, then I can tell myself that I am not anxious. What is the problem in admitting that others care and that others are anxious? What is at stake that I can’t see this or admit this? What do I have to lose by admitting that my nature is love and so is yours, and that we both have anxiety. That is what I have to find out. That is what is messing up my communication with you. If I deny that I care and that I am anxious right now, and that you care right now and that are anxious right now, then I am courting the disaster of playing victim or perpetrator.

If I deny my humanity or yours, and my divinity or yours, then I am in trouble because I am lying. We are divine and our divine nature is love; we are human and our human story is anxious. We are all in the same boat. When I admit that we are both divine and human, then forgiveness occurs and I become a man of peace. Until then I will be at war.

This does not mean that the other person has to know right now that he is love and that he is anxious. That is not within my power of choice. I have to be aware that my nature and yours is love and that my story is anxious and so is yours. I am a human god and so are you. Anything less than this awareness is a recipe for failure, defeat, self-destruction and every symptom in the book. Anything less than the awareness that we are both human gods is going to make some kind of sickness and severely curtail my potentialities. The other person in this power struggle is a being of infinite potentiality. The only thing that keeps him from being a Christ to me is my unawareness. This other person is the Son of Man and the Son of God and if I judge that he or she is not, then neither am I. If I exclude you, I have excluded myself. This whole boat full of humanity is made up of human gods and not one can be excluded.

This truthful vision means that everyone I see has the love nature and experiences anxiety. Then I take this one step further. There has to be a bottom line, but which is it, love or anxiety. Which is real? Which will you bet your life on? So far in this human drama, we have bet our life more upon anxiety. Anxiety is the last step in our distorted story about life. Anxiety can be your friend because it is the last step. Anxiety is a testimony to our blindness, deafness and poor judgment. And so we have love and we have anxiety and only one of them is ultimately real and you have to choose which. In the meantime, you can afford yourself the compassion of realizing that everyone has the anxiety which parades as other things such as jealousy, fear, hostility, doubt, hatred, defensiveness and every other symptom in the book, including mental illness, criminality, addiction and selfishness. Otherwise your will interpret others’ symptomatic behavior as attack or defense.

To say that someone is anxious is not an excuse or a blame. Each person is ultimately responsible for his own self-awareness or lack of it. Anxiety-denial or anxiety-exaggeration by another doesn’t mean that you have to do the same. The human god will take a stand with all of his brothers and sisters, so that the brother can more easily sort out the difference in love and anxiety. And if I can’t sort it out, how can I expect you to?

Our love nature is based upon the truth, our anxiety is a learned story from our commerce in this world. Anxiety is what I have learned and what I have in common with every other human being, with every other Son of Man. Anxiety-awareness can be a bridge of understanding and communication. There aren’t any selfish or unselfish people, perpetrators or victims, dictators or slaves, there are only Anxious Lovers.

At the behavioral level, we may be more anxious than loving. Our story is an anxiety story that we live by, the story of fear, control, anxiety and self-protection. The Son of Man story is the story of anxiety; the Son of God story is the reality of our love nature. Is anxiety an enemy or a friend? You must decide. Does anxiety divide us or unite us? Look and see. It need not divide us when it is admitted. Anxiety is a friend which warns us that we are ignoring our own divine nature as well as the divine nature of others. If you reject and dishonor anxiety you will dishonor its healing message. Anxiety is nothing more than a testimony to our doubt about our spirituality. Whenever we tune into our infinite spirituality, that doubt begins to disappear and anxiety has served its function. Anxiety is the most faithful companion to spiritual self-doubt. You cannot eradicate anxiety until you penetrate the doubt barrier of self-ignorance. I don’t care how clever or smart or clever you are, anxiety is a faithful companion for the purpose of self-realization.

And so the spiritual astronaut must penetrate the anxiety barrier of attachment to the human story that confines us to an earth-bound consciousness. That sound or gravity barrier of anxiety is our challenge. The lower part of our human nature is the Anxiety Box. The upper part points to our love nature. Taken together they represent the human god, which is what you and I and everyone in this humanity boat is. Nothing less but that the human-god awareness will serve you therapeutically and make you a man of peace. Nothing less than human-god awareness can be called spiritual psychotherapy, and give you the sense of wholeness and holiness that you require.

If you deny, resist or succumb to anxiety, it has become your enemy. If you admit, face and embrace the meaning of your anxiety, it has become your ally. Until we learn the language of metaphor , symbol and story, we will remain earthbound. Only then we can move beyond the form and literal word to the symbolic to the formless truth of oneness.

Your Post-Graduate Education

In an age of specialization and technology, it seems to me that a university education should provide connecting links, which lead toward an integrative or holistic mindset.

I would like to chair an interdisciplinary seminar for both undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate students and faculty in various fields who want to consciously explore the connecting underpinnings of their discipline with other disciplines, and with themselves.

Each specialization develops its own rules, language, and theory of knowledge, which in turn leads to division, competition and misunderstanding.

There are many signs in our culture of the search for a “theory of everything.” There are movies like “The Matrix,” “I Huckabees,” and “What the X!Z#!X??#* Do We Know?” in which it is very evident that there is a hunger for this search for the meaning of our academic and life experiences.

Even the best jobs get boring and repetitious unless we are involved in some kind of meaningful research and understanding.

Many medical students want to be employed, for instance, at a teaching hospital, where research is going on. Mediocre television, news, jobs and politics is just not enough and so we get into drugs and wars.

The hunger for meaning is a chronic theme that will not go away with just more distraction and entertainment.

This search means that we are not reaching the dimension of depth very often in our education, in our work, and in ourselves.

This lack of depth shows up in chronic anxiety and other symptoms from illness to war. We learn every tool and technique imaginable, even regarding outer space, but what about the tools and techniques to explore inner space?

Many students are not prepared to wrestle with these questions until their mid-life crisis when they hit bottom and then, guess what, they go back to school.

People’s night dreams are full of “going back to school” themes. Life is an educational process, but the university should provide more than just the technical tools for this process.

Of course, people can take philosophy and religion classes, but what about the depth dimension of their own field, and of themselves? I understand that “What the Bleep do we Know?” will soon be publishing 65 hours of dialog on CD’s on this topic of the spiritual/quantum dimension of science.

I published a Website about three years ago in which I summarized the work of about 15 major and minor educators, mystics, therapists and scientists who have made contributions to “infinity theory”.

I would like to devise an online seminar, which would address the question of whether an infinity theory exists and whether one is needed.

Leading educators from various disciplines in the university and even in the public domain are invited to discuss any evidence in their research and experience for an “implicate” order, for a symbolic core, which energizes their passions and interest in and beyond the “science” of their field.

Music, art, biology, philosophy, economics, computer science, medicine, psychology and even the political sciences have their explicate and implicate dimensions.

The symbology of sound, light, and other energy forms support and infuse every discipline. Students are caught in the cross-fire of competing languages and concepts.

In the recent presidential debates “fact” versus “faith” became a national political issue. When our various disciplines do not undertake self-analysis and self-awareness of our motivational belief systems, the comedians and politicians do it for us.

This online seminar might be entitled: “In Search of a Theory of Everything,” or “Does Infinity Theory Exist?,” or “What is Holistic Education?” or “Is There an Interdisciplinary Science” or “Is there a Quantum Reality?” Or, “What is Consciousness?”

Friendly debate is the theme, with shared research (technical and personal) and experience included. The assumption is that everyone is both a scientist and a mystic, but that we are not necessarily balanced in our right and left-brain functions.

In the not too far future, the major issue in the world will center around “What is Reality?”

“Know thyself” was the center of the Greek culture, and is quickly returning to the 21st century as a major issue. Self-esteem is agreed upon by almost everyone as a psychological key, which controls the individual, the family and society. But what is beyond self-esteem? Is there a Self beyond the obvious ego? Is there an Infinite Self? Is there an infinite body of knowledge, which we call Wisdom, which underlies all of our concepts? Is there an Inspirational Science underlying our factual sciences?

The purpose of this seminar is to raise questions and make our inner conflicts conscious rather than acted out unconsciously in the body and in the body politic. At that late stage, we have to call in doctors, morticians and the troops. Do we know the basis for a holistic education leading to a whole person and a whole society? We haven’t found that combination yet, in either theory or practice, in my opinion. We are instigating a forum to ask what it might look like and how to move toward it.

As we begin such a seminar, I welcome your dialogue about the need for it and the means for meeting such a need. I carry on such a dialogue with colleagues, clients and my own brand of research full-time. I engage in this dialogue now, both online and offline.

Post-graduate education means different things to different people. It could mean after high school, after college, after graduate school, after career training. Most of our education is aimed at learning to survive well in society.

The goal of education, formal or informal, usually focuses on career advancement, personal achievement and social enhancement. Most of our education is based upon the assumption of body and personality security and pleasure.

Social institutions such as family, school, the entertainment industry, the state, the nation and all other political entities are just an extension of the goal of bodily or ego enhancement.

Post-graduate education of the sort that I call Radical Re-education does not usually begin until the mid-life crisis, when all that we have learned so far begins to fall apart and crash.

Mid-life crises do not occur because we are merely getting older, but because we are not getting wiser as we get older.

The Internet is a frantic effort to accumulate knowledge on the information highway, but wisdom does not exist on the social plane of society per se.

Radical education is about wisdom. Ordinary education is about learning the ropes of society, a survival and enhancement social process, but wisdom is far more.

Knowledge is an external process; wisdom is internal. Normal education is a brainwashing matter in which children are initiated into the belief system of society.

And even though there appear to be many belief systems on the face of the earth, which govern various societies, it is not true. It is true that these belief systems take many forms and appear to be in conflict with each other, but upon closer inspection we find that there is an underlying commonality, which we call the ego-thought system.

Some societies we call autocratic, some democratic, and some theocratic, but actually they are all the same. This becomes clearer when you consider that almost all countries have a 70% military budget. All societies have a military of some sort, along with police, courts, judges, prisons, laws, penalties and punishments. These control systems are set up to deal with violators, criminals and evildoers.

Radical re-education has to begin with the individual. We cannot expect society to offer an education, which would challenge its own foundations. We cannot expect such a Radical Re-education about wisdom to be in the mainstream, even in the churches.

Religion, science and politics have become acculturated and oftentimes you can’t tell the difference in the sacred, the scientific, the secular, and the political. So we should not expect to obtain Radical Re-education from society, science or religion.

Radical Re-education is a threat to the ego-thought system which rules society, science and religion. Psychotherapy is also susceptible to the temptation to get abnormal people back to normal. Theoretically, Radical Re-education can begin at any point in time, with any minor upset, but it usually does not because we are able to overlook the meaning of minor upsets and the still small voice. The eyes and the ears of the body do not grasp the meaning of these signals because we are engrossed by and enamored with the body and the world.

Being wed to the ego-thought system, we are not free to consider the Truth. For if we were, the Truth would set us free from the insanity we are all involved with.

And so after many trials and errors, we may begin to connect the dots together, which opens the door to another level that we have usually overlooked and resisted.

We are usually unable to detect the wisdom level within us because we are so busy rationalizing and denying the futility of the unconscious ego thought system. The ego is committed to the belief that it is right, and will choose being right over being happy almost every time. The ego loudly professes its desire for happiness, wisdom and peace, but it will sacrifice these for being right, doing battle and winning.

Radical Re-education is not welcomed because we would have to be wrong to engage in it. As much as the ego professes the desire for change, the resistance to change is enormous. Change represents the unknown and the ego prefers the devil we know to the god we don’t know. So don’t expect a hoard of people to sign up for Radical Re-education. Expect only those in a mid-life crisis who have experienced enough pain from the ego-thought system to begin to question things.

The majority of people who seek psychotherapy want to return to normal from their abnormal painful anxiety-ridden state. We want to return to the comfort zone of normality that they knew in the past, not realizing that their normality produced the crisis. So we have only known normality until this crisis of abnormality.

What do we know about the unknown world of Radical Re-education? Consciously we may know very little, but unconsciously we know it all. The battle, which is going on in the mind and body, is between conflicting illusions within the ego-thought system. The level of the unconscious eternal Self is hardly even recognized because the ego claims to be the self.

The Self does not fight with the ego, but the ego constantly resists the Self. Even though the ordinary education that we have consists of a mediocre type of knowledge, it has to be undone. This undoing of the ego-thought system seems difficult because it is so tenacious and all encompassing.

If we know that we are caught up in a matrix, the desire to change would be more accessible. Radical Re-education begins with this realization, however, there is no order of difficulty with our problems or in the miracle of change. It is no more difficult to stop an argument than to stop a war. Both spring from the same thought system. How easy or how difficult is it for a person to see the flaws in his opinions and judgments and cease to energize them? Normal education involves adding information to your data bank. Radical-Re-education means the undoing of normal knowledge so that you realize your natural wisdom.

Radical Re-education, especially in the first phase, means to recognize the false premises and content of that normal education to which we are so totally committed. Normal education has to be entirely undone when we begin to access our inherent god-given internal wisdom. This un-doing, however, is like the layers of an onion. It is hard to realize how mythological and stereotyped our belief system is. The ego delights in our assumptions and re-enforces them constantly.

When you listen to the political pundits you see how partisan the entire mindset of each side is. It is almost impossible for non-partisan cooperative activities to occur, although it appears on the surface to be so. We are wed to the idea that the body and the world are physical entities and the ego clings to those ideas tenaciously for its survival.

But is our true identity dependent upon the body and the physical world? Or are these dependencies a result of educational brainwashing. The story is told that when Columbus landed on the shores of the Americas, the natives who did not believe in such massive ships, actually could not see them on the horizon.

The ego-thought system is based upon illusions, which resulted from the fearful belief that we are separate from God, from the truth and from our source. Radical Re-education is not something we beg for. Rather it is something, which promises to enhance the ego, not destroy it. Even if the ego is false, we still want to enhance it.

Spiritual Psychotherapy also begins with the patient’s hope to return to normal, but somewhere along the way we begin to realize that normality is a trap, a disease, a danger to the person. Normality is what created the crisis and the suffering in the first place. We have to change horses in the middle of the stream. Since we believe we are the ego, we are on the defense against ego exposure and ego humiliation. Little do we realize that ego humiliation is a necessary step in the process of change. We end up defending our illusions as precious to our very identity because we believe we are an ego.

Can we expect the ego to welcome Radical Re-education? Expect your ego to run like hell from radical re-education. The ego is a bundle of unconscious fears and guilt. The last thing the ego wants is truth and reality. What you see and seem is nothing but a dream within a dream, said Edgar Allen Poe. And you are going to spend your time, energy and money for some Radical-Re-education which the ego doesn’t even want?

Radical Re-education is not going to make us more popular. In fact, Radical Re-education is going to make you healthy, wealthy and wise, but that is not what the ego wants. The ego only appears to want that. The ego wants contention, friction, problems, and to win. The ego wants to be on top of the heap. The ego wants to be in control because it is in a very precarious position and cannot be otherwise. The ego wants you to believe that you are it. The ego wants you to believe that you are separate from God. The ego wants you to believe that you are this body and that this physical world is essential to your peace, happiness and freedom.

So if you have had enough anxiety, suffering and disillusionment, you may be ready for Radical Re-education, which is a process you begin with a crisis and learn the tools thereof and continue throughout your life on an hour-by-hour conscious basis.

The ego-thought system is largely an unconscious process and wants to remain so. Awareness is a conscious process, not a habit. Awareness is a constant living process of choices. Every event, value and response is re-evaluated in the light of this living spiritual process of awareness. Nothing is taken for granted. Every common sense value is called into question.

Before this game is over, every experience you ever had or will have is re-examined in the light of this newly emerging realization of truth. Ego laziness will not cut it.

If your anxiety is severe enough, you are invited to begin, realizing that your conventional education produced your anxiety. Anxiety is you invitation to Radical Re-education.

Once you get your foot in the door of wisdom-awareness, keep it there, lest you slip back into the matrix of conventional thought. In conventional education we get caught up in comparison and competition with other people, but there are no such other people. All so-called people are projections of your mind. We do not know other people, we only know our opinions and beliefs about them. Such brainwashed conventional thinking is mediocre and does not recognize the oneness of life.

In a series of 100 lessons we map out the assumptions of our conventional ego-thought system and the markers of the Real Self which we are beginning to realize in Radical Re-education.

The differences in these two systems are absolute and distinguishable. We are committed to one or the other, not to both.

The ego believes in opposites as pleasure and pain, but the Self recognizes no opposites.
The ego believes in complexity and the Self in simplicity.
The ego only recognizes differences from others and the Self recognizes our similarities.
The ego focuses upon the losses and threat of loss in life; the Self know that there are no losses and that you cannot lose.
The ego says that people are guilty, and the Self recognizes that we are all innocent just like God made us.
The ego says you are condemned, the Self says there is no condemnation.
The ego says that your story is a personal story of victimization; the Self says that such never happened.
The ego says there is a world out there that existed before you were born and will continue to exist after you die; the Self says there is no such world.
The ego says that you are angry at certain people, but the Self says that such objects of anger are just symbols of our unconscious thoughts.
The ego says the offender needs punishment; the self sees that all offenses are only requests for love.
The ego justifies its stress and anger, but the Self says there is nothing to be stressed about in reality.
The ego says it can be abused and hurt; the self says there is no such thing.
The ego calls for sacrifice, and the self says that sacrifice is a misnomer.
The ego says that death is real, the Holy Spirit says no one dies.
The ego constantly judges things as good or bad, the Self says that neither good nor bad exists.
The ego says that fear exists, the Self says that only love is real.
The ego dwells on the past of should have, would have, could have; the Self knows that the past never happened.
The ego tries to improve its net worth and value, but that was given in the beginning.
The ego is always worried about becoming a victim, but the self sees that such thinking is just false guilt.
The ego says there are special relationships which are the only way to salvation, but the self recognizes that everyone is special.
The ego claims that God created the world and left us in its tragic clutches; the Self knows that the world is just a dream we made up to justify our perceived separateness from God.

Know Thyself:

Epictetus:

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Henru Bergson:

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

Richard Cecil:

The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.

Thomas H. Huxley:

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever or whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.

William Shakespeare :

Go to your bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know… Love all, trust a few… To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

Ralph Waldo Emerson :

Great are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world.
Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Pythagoras:

Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light. Above all things reverence thyself.

Kahlil Gibran:

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

William James:

There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man’s lack of faith in his true Self.

Reinhold Niebuhr:

The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.

Alan Watts

Underneath the superficial self, which pays attention to this and that, there is another self more really us than I. And the more you become aware of the unknown self — if you become aware of it — the more you realize that it is inseparably connected with everything else that is.

Ramakrishna:

Man’s ego itself is Maya. It is the veil that shuts out the light

Henry Reed:

Edgar Cayce asks us to ponder the parallels between the Death and Resurrection and our own sleeping soul self.

Buddha:

This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.

The Infinite is bliss.

Plato:

Come to know thyself.

Socrates:

I know nothing.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Goethe

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

William Blake:

I rest not from my great task!To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.

Jesus:

What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own self?

Rumi

The only thing that will keep you from finding that which you seek is calling off the search.

Ramana Maharshi

Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always.

Neville Goddard

And you can try from now until the end of time to change the outside, but only when you change your way of thinking can you change your world.

Paul Tillich

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.

Abraham Maslow

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.

Wayne Dyer

The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind. You can set yourself up to be sick, or you can choose to stay well. You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

Carroll J. Wright

If you do not know the Infinite Good, you do not know yourself.

Byron Katie Byron

Would you rather be right or free? Who cares if you are enlightened forever? Can you just get it in this moment, now? This is the time. This is the place. This is the vastness. Right here is paradise. Always. Always.

Bryant and Esther Hicks Hicks

Your children are genius creators who have just arrived from Nonphysical, who are feeling empowered. And if they would be left to their own devices, they would not go astray. They would maintain worthiness; they would maintain their feeling of Well-Being. They would thrive, unless it was taught otherwise to them. In other words, if others don’t do something to change their vibration, they are in a vibration of thriving.

The Power of Imagination

What would the practice of medicine, science, religion, psychotherapy, or life itself be like if we understood even a glimmer of the power of imagination? If you read and understand even a smidging of what is said here, your life will never be the same again. Happy reading!
Dr. Joe

The man who has no imagination has no wings.
Ali, Muhammad

When you stop having dreams and ideals — well, you might as well stop altogether.
Anderson, Marian

Act as if you have already achieved your goal and it is yours.
Anthony, Robert

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.
Bacall, Lauren

The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.
Bacon, Frances

To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is. He said, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.
Bach, Richard

Man is an imagining being.
Bachelard, Gaston

The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope.
Beecher, Henry Ward

Sentiment is the ripened fruit of fantasy.
Belazy, Madame

Nevertheless, the consuming hunger of the uncritical mind for what it imagines to be certainty or finality impels it to feast upon shadows in the prevailing famine of substance.
Bell, E. T.

The human imagination… has great difficulty in living strictly within the confines of a materialist practice or philosophy. It dreams, like a dog in its basket, of hares in the open.
Berger, John

The way we imagine ourselves to appear to another person is an essential element in our conception of ourselves. In other words, I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.
Bierstedt, Robert

To me this world is all one continued vision of fancy or imagination, and I feel flattered when I am told so. What is it sets Homer, Virgil and Milton in so high a rank of art? Why is the Bible more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because they are addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and but immediately to the understanding or reason?
Blake, William

What is now proved was only once imagined.
Blake, William

The human race is governed by its imagination.
Bonaparte, Napoleon

Imagination rules the world.
Bonaparte, Napoleon

By going over your day in imagination before you begin it, you can begin acting successfully at any moment.
Brande, Dorothea

To reduce the imagination to a state of slavery –even though it would mean the elimination of what is commonly called happiness –is to betray all sense of absolute justice within oneself. Imagination alone offers me some intimation of what can be.
Breton, Andre

The bridges that you cross before you come to them are over rivers that aren’t there.
Brown, Gene

Live out of your imagination instead of out of your memory.
Brown, Les

Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.
Bunuel, Luis

Imagination is a poor matter when it has to part company with understanding.
Carlyle, Thomas

Not our logical faculty, but our imaginative one is king over us. I might say, priest and prophet to lead us to heaven-ward, or magician and wizard to lead us hellward.
Carlyle, Thomas

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in. Carson, Rachel

People can die of mere imagination.
Chaucer, Geoffrey

The great successful men of the world have used their imaginations… they think ahead and create their mental picture, and then go to work materializing that picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building — steadily building.
Collier, Robert

Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.
Collier, Robert

See the things you want as already yours. Think of them as yours, as belonging to you, as already in your possession.
Collier, Robert

Pictures help you to form the mental mold…
Collier, Robert

Make every thought, every fact, that comes into your mind pay you a profit. Make it work and produce for you. Think of things not as they are but as they might be. Don’t merely dream — but create!
Collier, Robert

I think my securities far outweigh my insecurities. I am not nearly as afraid of myself and my imagination as I used to be.
Connelly, Billy

Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.
Conrad, Joseph

The imaginations which people have of one another are the solid facts of society.
Cooley, Charles Horton

Death is the tyrant of the imagination.
Cornwall, Barry

When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.
Coue, Emile

Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Covey, Stephen R.

There will come a time when images have all gone by and you will see you know not what they are. Images are symbolic and they stand for something else.
Course in Miracles, A

We are what and where we are because we have first imagined it.
Curtis, Donald

I noticed an almost universal trait among Super Achievers, and it was what I call Sensory Goal Vision. These people knew what they wanted out of life, and they could sense it multidimensionally before they ever had it. They could not only see it, but also taste it, smell it, and imagine the sounds and emotions associated with it. They pre-lived it before they had it. And the sharp, sensory vision became a powerful driving force in their lives.
Devore, Stephen

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. Democritus

Faith is a fine invention
When gentlemen can see,
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency.
Dickinson, Emily

The formula “two and two make five” is not without its attractions.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor

The mind must see visual achievement of the purpose before action is initiated.
Douglas, Mack R.

How reluctantly the mind consents to reality!
Douglas, Norman

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.
Einstein, Albert

To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.
Einstein, Albert quotations

The most evident difference springs from the important part which is played in man by a relatively strong power of imagination and by the capacity to think, aided as it is by language and other symbolically devices.
Einstein, Albert

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
Einstein, Albert

In that way imagination and intelligence enter into our existence in the part of servants of the primary instincts.
Einstein, Albert

What is the imagination? Only an arm or weapon of the interior energy; only the precursor of the reason.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
Eliot. T.S.

The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

We live by our imagination, our admiration, and our sentiments.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Science does not know its debt to imagination.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrate to some stroke of the imagination.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Imagination is not a talent of some people but is the health of everyone.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.
Escher, M.C.

Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind’s eye and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as winning and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. Great living starts with a picture, held in your imagination, of what you would like to do or be.
Fosdick, Harry Emerson

Image creates desire. You will what you imagine.
Gallimore, J. G.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof.
Gaiman, Neil

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
Gandhi, Mahatma

Peak performers develop powerful mental images of the behavior that will lead to the desired results. They see in their mind’s eye the result they want, and the actions leading to it.
Garfield, Charles A.

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
Gaultier, Jules de

Reason can answer questions, but imagination has to ask them.
Gerard, Ralph

Through controlled inner talking from premises of fulfilled desire, seeming miracles are performed.
Goddard, Neville

All happiness depends on the active voluntary use of imagination to construct and inwardly affirm that we are what we want to be. We match ourselves to our ideals by constantly remembering our aim and identifying ourselves with it. We fuse with our aims by frequently occupying the feeling of our wish fulfilled. It is the frequency, the habitual occupancy, that is the secret of success. The oftener we do it, the more natural it is. Fancy assembles. Continuous imagination fuses.
Goddard, Neville

Any time we feel misunderstood, misused, neglected, suspicious, afraid, we are spending our thoughts and wasting out time. Whenever we assume the feeling of being what we want to be, we are investing.
Goddard, Neville

Imagination travels according to habit. Imagination has choice, but it chooses according to habit. Awake or asleep, man’s imagination is constrained to follow certain definite patterns.
Goddard, Neville

But after the choice is made and accepted so that it forms the individual’s habitual consciousness, then imagination manifests its infinite power and wisdom by moulding the outer sensuous world of becoming in the image of the habitual inner speech and actions of the individual.
Goddard, Neville

A change of circumstance happens as a result of a change in your state of consciousness.”
Goddard, Neville

All transformation begins with an intense, burning desire to be transformed. The first step in the “renewing of the mind” is desire. You must want to be different [and intend to be] before you can begin to change yourself. Then you must make your future dream a present fact. You do this by assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled. By desiring to be other than what you are, you can create an ideal of the person you want to be and assume that you are already that person. If this assumption is persisted in until it becomes your dominant feeling, the attainment of your ideal is inevitable.
Goddard, Neville

In giving birth to your ideal you must bear in mind that the methods of mental and spiritual knowledge are entirely different. This is a point that is truly understood by probably not more than one person in a million. You know a thing mentally by looking at it from the outside, by comparing it with other things, by analyzing it and defining it; [by thinking of it:] whereas you can know a thing spiritually only by becoming it, [only by thinking from it]. You must be the thing itself and not merely talk about it or look at it.
Goddard, Neville

You must be conscious of being healthy if you are to know what health is. You must be conscious of being secure if you are to know what security is.
Goddard, Neville

…prune your imagination by withdrawing your attention from all unlovely and destructive ideas and concentrating on the ideal you wish to attain.
Goddard, Neville

You do this by imagining that you already are what you want to be – and already have what you want to have.
Goddard, Neville

Whatever you may think of the question of free will, the truth is your experiences throughout your life are determined by your assumptions(imaginations) – whether conscious or unconscious. An assumption builds a bridge of incidents that lead inevitably to the fulfillment of itself.
Goddard, Neville

What should be done between the assumption (imagination) of the wish fulfilled and its realization? Nothing. It is a delusion that, other than assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, you can do anything to aid the realization of your desire.
Goddard, Neville

By assuming (imagining) the idea already to be a fact, it is converted into reality.
Goddard, Neville

“I will be” is a confession that “I am not. ” The Father’s will is always “I AM.” Until you realize that YOU are the Father (there is only one I AM, and your infinite self is that I AM), your will is always “I will be. ” In the law of assumption your consciousness of being is the Father’s will. The mere wish without this consciousness is the “my will.”
Goddard, Neville

If you change your concept of yourself, the events ahead of you in time are altered, but, thus altered, they form again a deterministic sequence starting from the moment of this changed concept.
Goddard, Neville

Inasmuch as your assumption is creative and forms an atmosphere, your assumption, if it be a noble one, increases your assurance and helps you to reach a higher level of being.
Goddard, Neville

It is impossible to do anything. You must be in order to do.
Goddard, Neville

Few people have the imagination for reality.
Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von

Any change in the behavior of the inner self will result in corresponding outer changes.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.
Guin, Ursula K.

The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man.
Hill, Napoleon

Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds and these magnets attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
Hill, Napoleon

First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.
Hill, Napoleon

Capability means imagination…
Hill, Napoleon

All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination, Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.
Hill, Napoleon

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it. Try the “as if” technique.
James, William

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.
Johnson, Samuel

Imagination is the eye of the soul.
Joubert, Joseph One who has imagination without learning has wings without feet.
Joubert, Joseph

All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.
Jung, Carl

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.
Jung, Carl

My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk.
Keats, John

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.
Kettering, Charles F.

Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.
Kettering, Charles F.

Soft focus is an important skill that can effect us metaphorically. In other words, the way we see the future has everything to do with how well we can look up and see the expanded horizon before us.
Kline, Peter

We are told never to cross a bridge till we come to it, but this world is owned by men who have crossed bridges in their imagination far ahead of the crowd.
Library, Speakers

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
Lennon, John

Some people have just enough imagination to spoil their judgment.
Mallory, Paul

Begin to imagine what the desirable outcome would be like. Go over these mental pictures and delineate details and refinements. Play them over and over to yourself.
Maltz, Maxwell

Study the situation thoroughly, go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you and the consequences which can and may follow from each course. Pick out the course which gives the most promise and go ahead.
Maltz, Maxwell

When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative success mechanism within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or willpower.
Maltz, Maxwell

For imagination sets the goal picture which our automatic mechanism works on. We act, or fail to act, not because of will, as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.
Maltz, Maxwell

Thus man of all creatures is more than a creature, he is also a creator. Man alone can direct his success mechanism by the use of imagination, or imaging ability.
Maltz, Maxwell

Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
McCartney, Paul

We have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to find them automatically in the outer world of our environment.
McDonald, John

It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods. If such a board actually exists it operates precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money.
Mencken, H. L.

If you close your eyes, you could just as well imagine me to be vintage
MacGraw, Ali

The most dire disaster in love is the death of imagination.
Meredith, George

Imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything Godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything.
Miller, Henry

You must first clearly see a thing in your mind before you can do it.
Morrison, Alex

The genius of Man in our time has gone into jet-propulsion, atom-splitting, penicillin-curing, etc. There is none more important thanor works of imagination; of spiritual insight or mystical enlightenment. I asked for bread and was given a tranquilizer. It is important to recognize that in our time man has not written one word, thought one thought, put two notes or two bricks together, splashed color on to canvas or concrete into space, in a manner which will be of any conceivable imaginative interest to posterity.
Muggeridge, Malcolm

What was once called the objective world is a sort of Rorschach ink blot, into which each culture, each system of science and religion, each type of personality, reads a meaning only remotely derived from the shape and color of the blot itself.
Mumford, Lewis

Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much.
Nabokov, Vladimir

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding.
Newton, Sir Isaac

What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable.
Nevelson, Louise

There are no facts, only interpretations.
Nietzsche, Friedrich

I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.
Nicklaus, Jack

It takes as much imagination to create debt as to create income.
Orr, Leonard

Imagination decides everything.
Pascal, Blaise

Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which is everything in this world.
Pascal, Blaise

It is not that the child lives in a world of imagination, but that the child within us survives and starts into life only at rare moments of recollection, which makes us believe, and it is not true, that, as children, we were imaginative?
Pavese, Cesare

Celebrate what you want to see more of.
Peters, Thomas J.

Everything you can imagine is real.
Picasso, Pablo

It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.
Poe, Edgar Allan

It is more than likely that the brain itself is, in origin and development, only a sort of great clot of genital fluid held in suspense or reserved. This hypothesis would explain the enormous content of the brain as a maker or presenter of images.
Pound, Ezra

Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.
Proust, Marcel

All the mind’s activity is easy if it is not subjected to reality.
Proust, Marcel

There is a fine line between dreams and reality, it’s up to you to draw it.
Quilliam, B

The imagination equips us to perceive reality when it is not fully materialized.
Richards, Mary Caroline

Imagination is eminently a wearable faculty, eminently delicate, and incapable of bearing fatigue; so that if we give it too many objects at a time to employ itself upon, or very grand ones for a long time together, it fails under the effort, becomes jaded, exactly as the limbs do by bodily fatigue, and incapable of answering any farther appeal till it has had rest.
Ruskin, John

The imagination is never governed, it is always the ruling and divine power,
Ruskin, John

Imaginary evils soon become real ones by indulging our reflections on them.
Ruskin, John

An unimaginative person can neither be reverent or kind.
Ruskin, John

The imagination is the spur of delights… all depends upon it, it is the mainspring of everything; now, is it not by means of the imagination one knows joy? Is it not of the imagination that the sharpest pleasures arise? Sade, Marquis De

How delightful are the pleasures of the imagination! In those delectable moments, the whole world is ours; not a single creature resists us, we devastate the world, we repopulate it with new objects which, in turn, we immolate. The means that every crime is ours, and we employ them all, we multiply the horror a hundredfold.
Sade, Marquis De

Let your imagination release your imprisoned possibilities.
Schuller, Robert H.

The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer. He can visualize something, and when visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.
Schwartz, Robert L

Imagination… its limits are only those of the mind itself.
Sterling, Rod

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.
Shaw, George Bernard

People often get their imagination’s mixed up with their memories.
Shaw, P.K.

The great instrument of moral good is the imagination.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe

When you think something, you think in picture. You don’t think a thought in words. You think a picture that expresses your thought. Working with this picture will produce it into your experience.
Speare, Grace

To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life, and to think of it as part of life is to realize the extent of artifice. We live in the mind.
Stevens, Wallace

The imagination is man’s power over nature.
Stevens, Wallace

By visualizing your goals, you can get your subconscious to work toward making these mental pictures come true.
Success Magazine

Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as certainly as though I had made the actual drawings. It is immaterial to me whether I run my machine in my mind or test it in my shop. The inventions I have conceived in this way have always worked. In thirty years there has not been a single exception. My first electric motor, the vacuum wireless light, my turbine engine and many other devices have all been developed in exactly this way.
Tesla, Nikola

I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?
Thoreau, Henry David

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive.
Thoreau, Henry David

We can gradually grow into any condition we desire, provided we first make ourselves in habitual mental attitude the person who corresponds to those conditions.
Troward, Thomas

You cannot depend on your judgments when your imagination is out of focus.
Twain, Mark

Listening to both sides of a story will convince you that there is more to a story than both sides.
Tyger, Frank

You must pre-live the future… not re-live the past… and savor the moment.
Unknown

Imagination gallops; judgment merely walks.
Unknown

If you clearly and vividly IMAGINE yourself in the first person doing, being, having the things and qualities you truly want… then you will be using positive imagination to begin a change to fulfilling that image.
Unknown

Living starts with a picture held in the imagination, of what you would like to do or be.
Unknown

How do we know that the sky is not green and we are all color-blind?
Unknown

Okay, who put a “stop payment” on my reality check?
Unknown

Imagination is the pontoon bridge making way for the timid feet of reason.
Unknown

Reality bites… and doesn’t let go.
Unknown

One bright day in the middle of night two dead boys rose to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot one another. A deaf policeman heard the noise, and saved the lives of the two dead boys. If you don’t believe this lie is true, ask the blind man, he saw it too. Unknown

It is important to rely on your imagination for your sense of humor and your memory for your truths. Not the other way around.
Unknown

Anyone who thinks the sky is the limit, has limited imagination.
Unknown

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
Verne, Jules

Perhaps in a book review it is not out of place to note that the safety of the state depends on cultivating the imagination.
Vizinczey, Stephen

I believe that there never was a creator of a philosophical system who did not confess at the end of his life that he had wasted his time. It must be admitted that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men that the inventors of syllogisms. He who imagined a ship towers considerably above him who imagined innate ideas.
Voltaire

We are what we imagine ourselves to be.
Vonnegut Jr., Kurt

What is reality anyway! It’s nothing but a collective hunch.
Wagner, Jane

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
Wagner, Jane

Understand that you, yourself, are no more than the composite picture of all your thoughts and actions. In your relationships with others, remember the basic and critically important rule: If you want to be loved, be lovable. If you want respect, set a respectable example!
Waitley, Denis

You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization.
Waitley, Denis

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.
Ward, William A.

Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of history. The influence of real needs and compulsions, of real interests and materials, is indirect because the crowd is never conscious of it.
Weil, Simone

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our life.
Weil, Simone

Imagination is a quality given a man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.
Wilde, Oscar

Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.
West, Jessamyn

What you see is what you get.
Wilson, Flip

Mis-imagination is your only fault, sin, crime or mistake. Your anxiety contains a life-saving message you must examine in order to discover the true meaning and power of the god-power within, your imagination.
Wright, Carroll J

In the Bible, the word imagination is used 21 times, and always preceded by the word “evil” but nowhere in the Bible does it say that imagination is evil. The only thing evil about imagination is its mis-use. The whole world comes into being by imagination, how can it be anything less than the source of the Infinite Good?
Wright, Carroll J

An idea is salvation by imagination.
Wright, Frank Lloyd

Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
Yane, Jennifer

First have being in your mind. Make real in your mind then bring that being into reality. The genius is he who sees what is not yet and causes it to come to be.
Zarlenga, Peter Nivio

The Chinese pianist Liu Chi Kung was imprisoned for seven years during the Cultural Revolution, during which time he had no access to a piano. When he returned to giving concerts again after he was released, his playing was better than ever. Asked how this was possible since he had not practice for seven years, he replied: I did practice, every day. I rehearsed every piece I had ever played, note by note, in my mind.
Zilbergeld, Bernie

The Matrix

The Matrix is the programmed world we think we
live in.

The Matrix is what we call reality.

The Matrix is what scripture calls “the world”

The Matrix is our 3-D world of time, space and
matter.

The Matrix is the illusory holographic world we
perceive through our five senses

The Matrix is the source of our imagined
suffering, mediocrity, anxiety, wars, illness,
aging, and death.

The Matrix is what we believe to be the cause of all
of our experiences.

The Matrix is the dream which we imagine to be
“just the facts, mam.”

The Matrix is the daily nightmare from which we
have to awaken.

“We are never upset for the reason that we think”
because the Matrix is all that we are ever upset
about.

We are blind, deaf and dumb due to the Matrix.

The Matrix is the father and mother of our
“self-concept”

The Matrix is our own fear-based creation,
our own responsibility, not God’s.

The Matrix is our “thoughts become things.”

The Matrix is all of our self-programmed thoughts
rolled up into one simple misbelief: the belief
in good versus evil.

The Matrix is a blatant denial of the one real
fact in the universe: that God is our infinite good.

Only you made your Matrix, and only you can undo it.

Your only real calling in this world is to crack the
code of the Matrix illusions that rule your mind.
The rest is a snap.

The entire universe is rigged to assist you in this
task if you are willing.

The Matrix is just a false symbol of the real
world of infinite peace, power, love and beauty.

The Matrix is the belief system which seems to make
your anxiety necessary.

The Matrix is the basis of all of your mis-diagnoses
and mis-treatments with which you are obsessed daily.

The Matrix disguises the truth of the Infinite Good
from your awareness.

The Matrix loves our preoccupation (ZZZZzzzzzz) with
our political, scientific, religious and personal
melodrama programs.

The Matrix tells us that we are bodies, minds and
emotions, and hides the fact that we are
Infinite Consciousness.

Jesus Christ and the great avatars opened a door
through the Matrix which cannot ever be shut.

For further discussions on the Matrix movies, see http://www.matrix-explained.com/ and other websites.
In my opinion the reason that the Matrix provides
no answer to the questions it raises is that it has
no grasp of “God is the Infinite Good.” A colleague
of mine saw the Matrix 56 times to absord its rich
meaning.

Formula for Awakening and Enlightenment

Give 100% in all that you do. The ego is never total, is always self-protective, divided and resistant
Expect nothing. The ego has an entire agenda of expectations, demands and “deals”
Appreciate everything. The ego can only appreciate what secures and enhances its story
Leave the results to God and the universe. The ego only trusts itself and pretends to depend on God

Have You Ever Dared to Imagine

…that everything that has ever happened to you is designed exquisitely for your benefit?

…that everything is Infinitity in form?

…that God is all there is?

…that all of your troubles arise from mis-imagination?

…that when you rub someone’s back, you are serving the God in that body?

…that when you change a diaper, you are honoring the Infinite in that baby?

…that when you curse someone, you are cursing everyone?

…that when you bless anyone, you are blessing everyone?

…that when you think belittling thoughts, you are belittling yourself?

…that when you fix someone’s car, you are enabling God to travel in form?

…that when you carry out the garbage, you are cleaning God’s house?

…that when you make a phone call, you are talking to the divine?

…that when a salesperson calls, you are hearing God’s voice?

…that when you see a cripple, you are seeing the Unlimited One in form?

…that when you say “fuck you!” you are attacking yourself?

…that when you touch a lover’s body, you are touching the divine?

…that when you hit someone, you are punishing yourself?

…that when you say “Yes!” you are affirming Infinite Love?

…that when you complain, you are pretending God is not present and is not suffering also?

…that when you criticize, you are pretending that perfection is not present?

…that when you forget, God remembers?

…that when you are in a hurry, Eternity is right here right now?

…that Home is wherever you are?

…that stupidity is just forgetfulness?

…that boredom is simply unawareness?

…that war is just an inner conflict with yourself?

…that there is nothing to lose and nothing to gain?

…that control of the Good is not necessary or possible?

…that victims do not exist except in our psychodramas?

…that you are a spiritual being forever?

…that Christ is always being reborn in us?

…that every curse word is ignorance of the Infinite Within?

…that God is your servant and you are the servant of mankind?

…that peace, silence and relaxation is the deepest place in your being?

…that joy is your forgotten nature?

…that the world is your oyster?

…that you cannot fail?

…that forgiveness is just waking up from your victim story?

…that nothing but the Infinite is guaranteed?

…that contrasting and changing form is God’s recreation?

…that insecurity is a myth?

…that you are a forgetful human god with unlimited love and power?

…that fear-based thinking is your only enemy?

…that all of your pains and symptoms are gifts?

…that all of your addictions are just your blind search for the Infinite within?

…that death is a mirage?

…that the mirror of the world is an exact image of your thoughts?

…that imagination is where you are joined with the Infinite?

…that Jesus discovered the “hidden man of the heart”?

…that the Christ archetype is growing in you day by day?

…that the outer treasure you seek is within?

…that God lives in each and every body?

…that your birthday is another birthday of God?

…that when you feel abused, you are believing victimization can occur?

…that time and space are just props for this magnificent drama?

…that nothing exists outside of the Infinite and that you are Infinite?

…that your purpose on this planet is awareness, awakening and healing?

…that the power of healing is hidden inside of you?

…that you are the Light of the World?

…that nothing can harm you?

…that light is your nature and en-lightenment is your destiny?

…that you are already joined with others in spiritual awareness, although not in the ego story?

…that your only enemy can be within?

…that forgiveness restores your sanity and your health?

…that every meeting with every person contains an opportunity for your growth?

…that there are no mistakes, accidents or coincidences in this spiritual life we are living?

…that this universe is an intelligent, compassionate and caring process of self-discovery?

…that infinite life force flows through you constantly unless you repress it?

…that you attract every experience you have for a reason?

…that responsibiility is power?

…that there is no separation, no lack and no entrapment except in your story?

…that you know everything except what you have repressed?

…that you are Imagination Unlimited?

…that this website was created for you?

25 Infinite Imagination Therapy Thechniques

It is my intention to develop 25 chapters on this website outlining the chief techniques of spiritual psychotherapy, with supporting case material. These techniques can be used by professional therapists or by students and patients as well. At this time I shall just list them, although you can find scattered references already to these techniques throughout this website. (For those who are interested, you may sign up for the Infinite Imagination Newsletter to receive an explanation of these techniques as they become available).

1. The Re-Framing or Reverse Format Technique

2. The Great Fiery Furnace Technique

3. The Door Technique

4. The Oracle Technique

5..The Journey to the Sun Technique

6. The Work Technique

7. The Re-visioning Technique

8. The Symptom De-Coding Technique

9. The Gratitude Technique

10. The Jesus Dialogue Technique

11. The Five Languages of Love Technique

12. The “Suppose You Were God” Technique

13. The “If I Had Infinite Courage” Technique

14. The Mountain Climbing Technique

15. The Four Questions Technique for Couples

16. The Conflict Locater Technique

17. Dis-Creation Techniques

18. The Reincarnation Technique

19. The Heart Technique

20. The Three Circles Technique

21. The ABC Technique

22. The Inner Journey Technique

23. The Breath of the Spirit Technique

24. The Manifestation Technique

25. The Un-Doing (Forgiveness) Technique

The Magic Mirror Technique

Marriage counseling is one of those places where people can get healing from their broken dreams by restructuring the story behind the dreams. The Magic Formula Technique is one of the twenty-five transformation methods I have discussed in this website to restructure your story.

The Magic Formula says that when there is a conflict between two people, the aware person will be able to say to himself that what my partner and I have in common right now is (1) our anxiety, and (2) that we are both lovers, that we both care. The aware person is able to look into the mirror of his own mind and realize that people get anxious when their differing stories seem to separate them,but she also realizes that people more basically care because love is the unifying truth of who they are. The antagonisms between people begin to melt away when one of the partners is aware of their common ground of both anxiety and caring.


The aware person can say “My partner and I are anxious and defensive in our appearance and behavior, but my partner and I are peaceful and loving in our reality and truth.” The unaware person says “I am hurt; and she is mean. I am upset and he is distant. I jealous and she doesn’t care. I try and he ignores me. He is abusive and I am a victim.” These kinds of thoughts arise from our story of who we are, creating barriers and alienation, which are symptomatic signs of our unawareness and self-deceit. The truth is that when there are arguments, both people are being overwhelmed and controlled by their stories. True commuication cannot occur between people as long as inner communication in the individual is not occurring. Unawareness keeps people from seeing their common ground. On the surface people appear to be polarized and alienated, which is called the personna, the personality, the appearance, but if you go deep enough, beyond the superficial, you will find connection, similarities, common ground, oneness, and you will understand that stories appear to “separated” people. Stories generate anxiety. Stories take us away from who we are.

When the story of separation is being experienced, when the story of lack is being experienced, when the story of entrapment is being experienced, then we will have anxiety, and we will suffer from the effects of stress and loneliness.

A person loves as much as their story will permit.
A person is as free as their story will permit.
A person is as powerful as their story will permit.
A person is as creative as their story will permit.

The main cause of divorce is marriage to our story, the identification with our story, and the failure to recognize our true identity.

The Magic Formula is a technique by which we can become more aware. Identification with our story is a state of unawareness. The truth is that neither person is right insofar as each person is unaware of his story and that each person is right insofar as he is aware of his story. Each person is guilty insofar as he believes the lie about himself, and innocent insofar as he didn’t realize this lie. Guilt has a hold upon us because we blame others for our own self-deceit, but guilt is an illusion insofar as we “know not what we do.”

The state of conflict, the state of war, exists in each person’s mind, between his story about himself and the truth about himself. Every thought and every word I utter is about myself, about myself only. I have no objectivity about anyone else. My story prevents that objectivity. When I judge another, I think I am judging another, but actually all judgments are about myself. Every judgment I ever made about anything was about myself. And every idol I ever worshipped, every good quality I ever saw in the world, are my good qualities, just like all the bad qualities. These qualities are subjectified and twisted.

And so when you apply the Magic Formula to your own self, which is all that you can possibly do, you will be able to re-own and assimilate the projections you have made upon the other. If you are saying “My partner is mean” look at your own mean thinking. If you are saying “My partner is selfish” look at your own thinking about selfishness. If you think your partner is overweight or beautiful, look at your own heavy or beautiful thinking. If you think someone is brilliant or stupid, look at your own thinking about brilliance and stupidity. If you think your partner is right or wrong, look at your own thinking about rightness or wrongness, or else you will mis-communicate and harm your relationship. If you do not own your projections, your story will continue to control you, and you will feel like a victim of someone or something, and when you feel like a victim, you will try to control that which you think is in control of you.

How often do we find ourselves saying:

He drinks, and I am self-disciplined

She spends and I scrimp

I work and he plays

I’m clean and she is sloppy

I’m sociable and he’s a loner

I face problems, and she avoids them

I’m sexy and she is cold

I have feelings and he doesn’t

I have rules for the kids and he indulges them

And so, look in the Magic Mirror, and take note of what you see. Your partner is your Magic Mirror, here to bring you the greatest gift of all, the knowledge of yourself. The good, the bad and the ugly all belong to you, and only when you own them all, are you free.

Your partner will play the role of the good guy or the bad guy, so that you can look into the mirror and see your story. And so the Magic Formula is actually a Magic Mirror. When you look into this mirror and you see a frown upon the face of your partner there, you will sooner or later realize that it is your own frown that you are looking at. This projection, this mirror experience, comes from the power of imagination, as it is projected through the lens of our beliefs. Thus without knowing it, we create what we don’t want, and in that respect we are our own worst enemy, our only enemy. To “love your enemy” is thus our greatest opportunity, because as Pogo said “The enemy is us.” The story gives form and shape to the imagination. Through the all-powerful imagination, we are projecting forth into the mirror of the world all of the good and bad, all of the hate and love, all of the self and other, that is possible to experience. Our story creates our symptoms and our symptoms are our story, both of which point to the Infinite.

The Biggest and Best Crutch

Carol explained her story in these words: life is a problem, human beings need a crutch and God is the biggest and best crutch that we know of, so why am I doubtful about God? I commented that Karl Marx had explained the same view when he said that God is an opiate for the people. I asked her why she didn’t believe that God is the biggest and best crutch, and she said because God is too good to be true. It is too easy, too simple. Since she was 18, she couldn’t trust God any more since her boyfriend was killed in an accident. Even before that she had felt abandoned when her mother had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized. In college, Carol had an affair with her married music professor, and later married his son. This relationship lasted only a year.


She had a couple of other relationships with married men, but these relationships were also quite a mixture of tasting what she wanted and losing what she had tasted. The experience of abandonment and loss were a very recurrent and persistent theme in her story. Her story goes like this: I search, I find, I depend, I lose. In her current situation, she met a man who had been in a terrible accident and was disfigured, but he had a good heart, and so she married him, although she was not in love with him. I suspect that she felt she wouldn’t lose him since she would be his caretaker, that he needed her. But he had been a very proud, macho, physical speciman until his accident when he lost his “strong man” self image and his good looks. He had many plastic surgeries, and became depressed, losing his “heart” . She became detached and felt nothing.


In some of her relationships, including this one, she had been abandoned, and now she is abandoning her husband. The most recent form of her dream is that she will get a divorce and adopt a child. She explained this by saying that at least she won’t lose the child. I won’t be abandoned by the child. Yet she suspects that she could even lose the child as well. I asked her if she had mistrusted herself, abandoned herself. She had sought love, was disillusioned by love, abandoned love, and now dislikes herself even more as the abandoner. She doubts that she has ever liked, trusted and depended on herself to any extent. People tell her to do what she wants, to take care of herself, but she says that is all she has ever done, and the way she did it was by seeking to please others.

I commented that she has a story of an infinite appetite and search for love. I asked her how she could have a desire for something infinite if she is not infinite. She agreed that she has infinite desires, and that she has searched infinitely for love, but she cannot make the leap to the awareness that she is infinite. She said that she just doesn’t know about that. I said that Jesus agreed that we “know not”. We have a story of abandonment because we are unaware of the Infinite. And you can’t trust the biggest and best crutch of them all because it too is a part of the story. She just cannot believe that God is a trustable finite answer to an infinite hunger, and that is what we try to do in our story about God as a crutch. The infinite looking for the infinite seems ridiculous, but it is true. God became man that man might become aware of his infinity.

Our story, in other words, includes the beliefs that we are separate, lacking and trapped and that various outer idols are an answer, a crutch for our dilemma. We search for a lifetime, in acceptable and unacceptable ways, to fill our infinite hunger. We experience frustration, disappointment, abandonment, grief, depression, anger, and disillusionment. We distrust others, god, and ourselves. We experience feeling like the abandoned victim and we experience being the abandoning victimizer. We experience the temporary excitement of being in love and tasting infinite fulfillment. Life changes, we fall back into the pit, and distrust sets in again. And God has permitted all of this to happen, and so God is a crutch that fails too. All of this constitutes our story.

The essence of this recurrent human story is that we are merely finite human beings addictively searching for and often failing to find an infinite solution to our hunger.

Investigate this story. Is it true that we are merely human, that God is a crutch, and that we have failed to find the Infinite? What would I be without this story? This book is the leap that I have taken when I ask this question. Each person must find his own answer.

BREAKTHROUGH!

Breakthrough into spiritual self-discovery is the objective of Infinity Theory. Breakthrough occurs when an individual does self-inquiry about his or her story. Our story is devised as a way of trying to get what we want in a self-protective manner. Therefore our story is dualistic because it assumes that self and other are antagonists or adversaries. “Self” in this case refers to our story about ourself and “other” refers to our story about the other. This dualism is cast in Black and White characterizations, stereotypes and scenarios. Both stories contain a grain of truth, but a handfull of illusions. The handfull of truth in each story is our anxiety and caring. Each story contains “dreams” and “broken dreams.” Dreams point to our caring; broken dreams to our anxiety. When we are able and willing to be honest with ourselves, we look for our common bond with the other in both anxiety and caring, in both dreams and broken dreams. Common ground means community, community means communing, communing means connecting, connecting means one spiritual source, and the result is communication.

Marriage is a place of dreams and broken dreams which becomes a laboratory or school for spiritual self-discovery. Self-discovery is a breakthrough experience. Spiritual self-discovery is what we realize when we use the Magic Formula and play win/win in all of our relationships. Every experience we ever had, pleasurable and painful, up until now, is preparing us for Breakthrough.

Christine and her 18 year old daughter were fighting every morning about their dogs. Christine offered to “compromise” so that both of them could have what they wanted, and it went smoothly, without a wrinkle. She had finally listened to her daughter and understood. No one lost anything, both won. The next day the daughter came home and did the dishes and cleaned the bathroom without being asked. The mother felt so good.

One couple is beginning to detect that when they differ, each experiences anxiety. Everyone is anxious due to their story. Look into self and see if you are anxious. While the husband had moved out, another of the children brought home a dog and a cat. And a second child, who had been wanting a cat, also was allowed to get one. The mother made an agreement with both girls about the care of the animals. The mother said she was not anxious about her decision until she talked with the husband about it. She expected him to be negative about her decision. I guessed that she was anxious before she told her husband and she said she had not been aware of it. After we worked this through we realized that the husband was probably 70% against the children having animals in the house and 30% in favor of it, and the wife had been vice-versa, but the husband had taken the Black position of 100% against it and the wife the White position of 100% for it. Truthfully, each loved and feared the idea. When they found this common ground, solving the problem was easy.

INFINITY THERAPY

My deepest and most persisitent lifelong goal has been to be a therapist. Even though I was a therapist by profession all along, I did not feel that I was healed or healing in the way that I wanted to be. Now, forty-five years after I got my Ph.D. and began my practice, I still want to be a therapist. Now I realize how paradoxical it is to be and to want to be an Infinity Therapist.

Infinity Therapy? How ridiculous can you get? We have tried to embrace the paradox that God is everything. How can God need healing? And yet, even though God is infinite and perfect, God is also finite and imperfect. God is the dreamer and the dream, the story-teller and the story. At the same time God is the healer of broken dreams and mis-guided stories. God has always been the perfect therapist and the therapist who is becoming more perfect. What if God was wearing the face of Freud when he realized that religion is regression to an infantile state, and what if God was Jung when he wrote about the similarity of God and the Self, and what if God was speaking through the voice of Neitzsche when he announced that God is dead, and what if God was acting as Karl Marx when he said that religion is the opiate of the people, and what if God was the scientist in Einstein when he found out that time is finite, and what if God and Abraham Maslow researched the divine potential in human nature, and what if God was peering into the microscope of Candice Pert when she found out that every blood cell and receptor in the human body is intelligent and purposeful, and what if God is telling His story in Byron Katie’s love of reality?

What if God is the self-realization process which is going on between the therapist and the patient, between the teacher and the student, between the defendant and the jury, between the rapist and the victim, between your symptom and the truth behind your story? How can the human mind contain such absolute paradoxes? The truth is that it cannot, and that pushes us to the realization that the human mind is a misnomer and does not exist per se. I saw an old quip the other day: “Surgeons re-set broken bones, God heals them.” Therapists, likewise, re-frame broken stories, God heals them.

I don’t need to get into the anachronism of trying to figure out whether I am the healer or whether God is, nor whether God makes mistakes or fixes them. All that I can say is that suffering appears and healing occurs.

I have been taught by Healing Itself just like you have. There are healing schools and there are supervising therapists and there are mistakes and corrections in therapeutic techniques and processes. There are doctors and there are patients. There are teachers and there are students. And yet, there is only the self-realization process which is always going on. This self-realization process has thousands of names, start-ups and setbacks.

The first important thing that I try to convey to my “patients”, my self-realization partners, is about the context of therapy, which is that we are perfect and that we know everything, and that this therapy experience is provided for us to re-member. I am not here to fix you. Everything that has ever happened to you up to this moment has been necessary for the questions that you are asking right now. There is not one meaningless moment of waste, failure and suffering. I remind them that God’s promise to Joel is God’s promise to us: “I will restore to you all that the locusts have eaten.” Troy will be un-burned.

History can be reversed. History is just your story about what things mean. History is not written in stone. Every history book is the author’s story about his world. Past and future do not exist except in our story. When you really understand what has happened to you, all of the pain will be gone. We experience forgiveness and forgetting at the same divine moment of self-realization. “Know thyself” said the ancients. If we knew ouselves, we would not be sitting here addressing the question of symptoms and healing. A person comes to therapy to fix some problem, not realizing that all problems are part of his or her story of fictional identity. We are not here to be fixed within our story, but to be healed ofour story.

All therapy begins with the meaning of the symptom. It is some symptom that has brought you here to this moment of crisis and pain. We want to erase this symptom (depression, anxiety, illness, relationship conflict, etc) and return to our same old story of seeking happiness and success. We blame this annoying and embarassing symptom on someone or something else, usually on God or whoever or whatever is god to us. The symptom which has become our curse now has to be recognized as our blessing. The symptom which is taken to be a fault or a flaw, now has to be embraced as a signal of our potential and perfection. The symptom which was so painful, now becomes medicine.

The symptom which was a signal of what’s wrong with us now becomes a signal of what is right deep within us. The symptom which was a stranger and an enemy now becomes a friend. That which needed healing now becomes a channel of healing. And what is this symptom’s meaning? To answer that is the essence of your healing process and can only be revealed to you and in you. I can only tell you that this symptom that you are now addressing is part of the Big Picture of self-realization waiting to unfold through the story you have been telling yourself all of your life.

Several years ago I saw a movie named The Creator, but I “forgot” the title because I could only remember that it was about the Big Picture. Last night I “accidentally” tuned into a replay of this movie on television, and immediately I realized that it is important for Infinity Therapy. Go and rent the movie and try to detect its message for your self-realization process. I will only say that the Professor’s story was the symptom which held him back from life and yet it was paradoxically the channel through which he found the Big Picture itself.

The second point to be realized in Infinity Therapy is that the only thing holding you back is your identification with your story or strategy for survival. You are anxious and defensive because you think that you are your story about who you are. You are therefore responsible for all of your pain and pleasure. You are king of your universe. Nothing happens which you do not create or permit. Your entire experience is your unconscious projection of your story upon the screen of the universe. You wrote the script for this play and for all of the actors in it, for your own self-realization. Isn’t that a crock? Why would I write such a circumlocutious frustrating story? I cannot believe that I made myself such a pityful victim or such a mean-spirited villan, but I did.

We have all de-throned ourselves, weakened ourselves, given away our responsibility and power to “them” . But it doesn’t matter, it can’t be done. You cannot give away your power in actuality, only in fantasy. Your self-defeating story isn’t working and you have at least one symptom to prove it. You probably have dozens of them just waiting to be recognized and owned. How can Infinity fail? How can Infinity suffer? Only through self-deceit and self-trickery. Only through a story. Your story about yourself and the world is your only problem and it is, paradoxically, the key to your self-healing and the channel through which self-realzation comes.

Every single belief in this story is questioned once you begin the healing process consciously. The process has always been going on, but not necessarily consciously. We have been fighting ourselves all along. Now we can begin to see what that struggle means and how to use it for self-realization consciously. Infinity is your nature and finitude is your story about Infinity. Our finite story hides Infinity. As we have said earlier, every finite thing either conceals or reveals the Infinite; every finite story experience either conceals or reveals the Infinite truth.

The therapist can relax. His patients will come and go. Some patients are not ready to let go of their addiction to their story, and that is okay. But all the therapist needs is one hour. In that initial hour he supports and challenges the patient in their story. He helps the patient to see that he created his symptom and that it has ultimate positive meaning for his life. The patient still thinks that responsibility is dangerous, self-weakening and self-punishing. He may not be ready to see that responsibility is his friend and his power, that responsibility is his denied and hidden Infinity. He may not be ready to realize that responsibility involves a trusting and letting go of control. He may not be ready to grasp that his symptom is the door to his self-realization. And that is okay because self-realization is inevitable; self-realization is reality. Our mis-guided story, our self-ignorance, is always teetering and tottering.

Each succeeding session of spiritual psychotherapy is similar to the first session. You listen for the revised story and you look for its next symptom, you inquire about the meaning of the symptom again, and you join with the patient in the self-realization process. Every session is a revelation to the therapist about the Infinite Potential of human nature and our built-in resistances to this revelation.

Psychotherapy is not just sharing human misery. Psychotherapy is seeing that the creator of the story is more important and powerful than the story we are continually creating.

Psychotherapy is realizing that we have constricted our Infinite Potential through our story, and that we can be released from the grip of that resistance through inquiry about the story. Is it true that I am what I am telling myself that I am? Is it true that you are what I am telling myself you are? Only I can answer those questions for myself. Psychotherapy is a context in which those questions can be asked directly and openly. Life itself is the greater context in which those are the questions not being asked. Why? Because we assume we are what we think we are, and that others are what we have judged them to be, and that God and the world is what we have imagined. End of story.

Typically, psychotherapy is the attempt to fix a problem within the story of the therapist and the patient. Traditional psychotherapy does not challenge the story itself. Spiritual Psychotherapy begins with the assumption that the story itself is the problem. Spiritual Psychotherapy takes place wherever conscious people are willing to begin awakening from the story. Sometimes people drop out of therapy, but you can’t drop out of therapy within the story. It’s not possible. You can’t even drop out of life. We have been trying to drop out of school, drop out of the job market, drop out of marriage, take a slow boat to China, retire. If we try to become a drop-out within the story, we will not be able to do it. To become a Real Drop-out, drop out of the story about yourself. You can seek healing in the story, you can work on yourself in the story, but outside the story, there is only wholeness. There is no work and no healing necessary.

And so, the professional psychotherapist is in a peculiar paradoxical position. He provides a service, collects fees, makes diagnoses, writes evaluations to insurance companies, gives testimonies in court, struggles with suicidal teenagers and divorcing couples, while at the same time he must be aware that all of these symptoms are signals of the forgotten infinity and perfection of these people. Healing is his unnecessary and transitional work. Ultimately he will fail to rescue these victims, because in truth there are no victims, and in that failure he will succeed. Resurrection follows crucifixion.

I am grateful to the Infinite internet. How could a publisher possibly publish anything as absurd as Infinity Theory when it would certainly challenge his own vested interest stories about his publishing objectives? How could any religion endorse Infinity Theory when it would be a threat to the control elements in its own religious tradition? How could any school of psychotherapy or medicine embrace Infinity Theory when itseems to reverse the traditional concepts of diagnosis and treatment? How could science accept Infinity Theory when it appears to invalidate the very foundations of rational objectivity? I am grateful that the Internet is universalizing and democratizing the flow of information and learning. I chose the internet as the most appropriate media for Infinity Theory discussion and debate.

The Oracle Technique

I listen carefully to my client for one to several hours. Then in an inspirational moment, I summarize and create a narrative about the meaning of their symptom and their suffering. This oracle narrative is uplifting and spell-breaking to the client and to the therapist.

I Lost my Home: A Necessary Lie

“For the last 12 years I have been unhappy. Ever since I left home at 18, I have been a misplaced alien. I lost my family, my friends, my enjoyment. In Lancaster, I was an insider; in Rockingham, I am an outsider. All I think about night and day is what I lost. I lost dad, I lost Uncle John, and I lost cousin Bill. Every moment that I could shake loose, I went home. I hated all of the time I was not at home. I’m surprised my wife did not divorce me. I even quit jobs and went home. I envied those who were still at home. It is a three and a half hour drive home, but I did it as often as possible.”

Why didn’t you just move back home? “I would have lost my wife and my security. My wife got a good paying secure job and did not want to move back home. She hated living there.

I could have forced the issue earlier before my children were born, and I should have. Now I have three kids, a house, a nice car, and a good income. I can’t leave now, and my wife won’t. It would tear up my kids if I left them. Besides, my father and Uncle Bill no longer have the jobs they once had, and I’m not sure I could support my family at home now. Here I know no one, there I knew everyone and they knew me. No one knows me here. I am trapped here. I lost my home. I guess I will just stay here until my kids are grown and then I will leave my wife and move back home. But I wonder if it will still be a home by then.”

He continued: “I did have one interesting experience this week. Two guys at work have been ignoring and snubbing me for months. They have no respect for me and I feel so uncomfortable when I see them. I decided to just walk up to them and stand there while they were working on their truck. I did. After a while they seemed to warm up and become friendly and now we are on speaking terms. They know me a little and I know them some.”

The oracle:

I said to my client that most of the time people live the story of insiders and outsiders, the story of fear. You probably noticed in Lancaster also that there were insiders and outsiders, but you were an insider there. Now you live in Rockingham and you consider yourself to be an outsider. Your two wo-workers are insiders with each other, and treat you like an outsider that they fear. And you fear them as insiders who have the power to reject you. But in this instance, you broke into their world. You walked up to them and broke down the insider/outsider barrier. You treated them like your dad and Uncle John and cousin Bill. You began to re-establish your home here in Rockingham.

Up until now for the past 12 years, you have not been at home in your body here and now. You have been living in the there and then, living 3 1/2 hours from here and 12 years in the past. You have neglected and rejected yourself. You thought that your selfhood and your happiness depended on where you were and who you were with, on being an insider. You were an outsider to yourself. All of this misery that you have experienced since you were 18 is your symptom and your gift. It all has the purpose of making you aware of how you

have mistreated yourself due to your insider/outsider story.

Suppose that the world is your home, and that your dad, your Uncle John and Cousin Bill is everyone you meet. Suppose they are all insiders and just don’t know it. Suppose that by a change of mind you can walk up to people and break the insider/ousider fear barrier and discover that they are just like you and that they are feeling lost also. Once this discovery is made, you realize that you have lost nothing. You have not wasted the last twelve years. It took whatever it took to discover the truth. You have been living a necessary lie for twelve years. Why was it necessary? Because it happened. Now it is changing because it is changing. You are entering a new stage of awareness. You are discovering that you left home and found home, and that is what everyone has to do. You are right on track, you have not missed one necessary step.

What if all of our discomfort is due to a story of misunderstood freedom, misguided love,

mis-imagined power, and ignored infinity? What if I am an insider suffering with a belief that outsiders exist? What if I am free, but dreaming that I am trapped? What if there is nothing but power, but I am a victim of the story that there is weakness and inadequacy? What if everyone one is a winner, and I am caught up in playing the win/lose game? What if everyone is dad, Uncle John and Cousin Bill and I can only see strangers?

What if the loss, waste, separation, entrapment, and lack that I perceive are all lies? What if I am home and don’t know it? What if the self that I put down or parade before the world is not the true me? What if I am depressing myself with the belief that I am not home, but I am.

Just for today, consider that everyone you meet is you. Consider that the entire universe is your home. Consider that there are no strangers. No aliens. Consider that when you see the difference in your story and yourself, you are home free. Consider that your story, your judgments, your beliefs and your opinions are the source of all of your stress and misery. Consider that you can exchange your lies for the truth just as you exchanged the truth for lies. Consider that you have deceived yourself and that it was a necessary step in self-awareness. Consider that you have worn yourself out struggling against reality and now you have the chance to find out that reality is your best friend. Consider that the only reason you aren’t home here and now, and totally in love, is your story that you are a misplaced alien. You are not misplaced, you are not an alien, you are not homeless. You are just not yourself yet. You are in the universal evolutionary process of self-discovery in which you are moving from alienation to true individuality and oneness.

People attach their security to their story. If you challenge their story, they will defend their story. Everyone dies for their story, and some even kill for their story, for their security- story. Until our story is clearly understood to be the source of our suffering, we will not change or give up our story.

COMMUNICATION

“Our Main Problem is Communication”

A couple consulted me. They married because they had been friends for ten years and had fallen in love. Immediately after their wedding, he moved in with her and her four children and the marriage fell apart. They argued constantly over the discipline of the children and their relationship took a back seat. He says that blood is thicker than water and that it is right that she should put her children first. She agrees and they are stuck. He has left several times due to this dilemma and now they want to reconsider reconciling.

They say that their main problem is poor communication. I discuss the Magic Formula with them. The formula goes like this: when differences and conflicts arise, remind yourself that you care, your partner cares, you are anxious, your partner is anxious. This is the self-reflective aspect of communication. It is inner-communication with yourself which must precede outer-communication with your partner. When any stress arises, confronting your partner is not as important as first confronting yourself with this formula as a question: Do I care right now? Does my partner care right now? Am I anxious right now? Is my partner anxious right now? Only if you can honestly answer “yes” to all four of these questions are you ready to move into outward communication. If you answer “no” to any one of these four questions, you are not able to see clearly and you are not being truthful with yourself and you will mis-communicate. Much of what you say at that point will misfire, and may lead to further conflicts.

Why are these four questions important? Because when you assume that you or your partner (neighbor) doesn’t care, or that you or your neighbor is not anxious, you are denying that the victim-villan story of separation, lack, and entrapment exists in both party’s minds and you are assuming that this story is true, and you are denying that Love is the only Reality.

A. The story of separation, lack and entrapment is present, and it is your only problem, so it does not work to deny that we are anxious. If we deny that we are anxious, we get a more severe symptom. It is always okay to pretend we are not “cool” when we are anxious

B. This villan-victim story is an illusion, confront it. If you confront your story, you will have less confrontations with others. We don’t have to continue pretending that we are merely finite, merely a body. So when you are experiencing anger, stress, or some other symptom, realize that you are experiencing anxiety about your story. You are experiencing anxiety about your belief that you are a body, that you are merely human. Confront your story and admit your anxiety. It is okay to be anxious and it is okay to admit it. If you do not admit it to yourself, you will continue to take the Hero’s Journey under protest, feeling like an alien in an alien world. You will drag yourself every step of the way, and continue your fight against some outside authority who is telling you what to do. Confront your illusory story and then you can take the Hero’s Journey consciously and with grace.

C. Love is present, look for it. Oneness is present, claim it. Freedom is present, enjoy it. Infinity is present, embrace it. Each person you interact with cares all the time, even your spouse. Everyone you have differences with, every enemy you have, is your unconscious lover, your mis-understood friend. That enemy, that stranger, carries the gift of your symptom for you.

D. Love is the only reality, blocked from view only by the fear story, the villan-victim story.

You and I are anxious, every time and all of the time, because of our story; you and I care, in each instance and every instance, because we are not our story. This formula applies to any dyad, to any relationship, whether between partners, parent and child, business associates, neighbors, or even groups.

Everyone has a villan-victim story which contaminates communication by its unconscious presence. It does not help to condemn or condone, to blame or excuse, this story, which only drives it further underground, requiring a more insistent symptom. If I condemn my neighbor’s story or condone mine, I am still stuck because if it is in my mind, it is actually all mine. Any story I have about me or another, about me or the world, about me or nature, about me or god, is about “me” as I see me.

All stories are essentially victim/villan stories and if we pursue the meaning of these stories to their depth, they evaporate under the bright light of truth. If you want to really mine gold, don’t just scratch the surface a couple of inches, where you will find more dirt, but go deeper to where the gold is. You may be able to “pan” a little gold here and there in the streams of life, but for the veins of gold, you must go deeper. Superficiality of judgment won’t get you what your really want. On the surface of yourself and the other, you will mainly find the story and its symptoms. Search deeper. Realize that all relationship and communication problems and addictions are symptoms of our story, and our symptoms are unopened gifts for our self-realization.

I explain to my stressed out couple that we devise a story which implies that someone is not love. We do that for self-protection, but it does not get us what we want. We want self-protection and self-fulfillment and we cannot have both. The woman gasped and said “But we would be so vulnerable!” And I said that is what love seems to be, vulnerability, and that we have to risk coming out of our fortress of being judgmental and right in order to find the fulfillment we want. This formula will help you reduce the notion that you can be attacked and hurt. If fact, you can’t be attacked and hurt by another, only by yourself. This formula helps you to crack through your story that the world is a dangerous place and that you must protect your best interests at all times. If you begin to realize that the world is composed of misguided lovers whose perception and communication is flawed by fear and stress, then you will do not have to be a resister and a controller. Resistance and control cannot deliver you what you want. You are stuck and you blame it on others.

So I ask them to practice the self-reflection formula. I warn them that they will get mixed results at first, that they may slip back into their old story, but that they can quickly recover if they use the four-question formula. I offer to see them again in a week to review their failures and successes in the practice of the formula for inner-awareness and outer-communication. This formula is based upon the awareness that true God-awareness and true self-awareness is love-awareness, and that our story about separation, lack and entrapment is the exact cause of our suffering. This unconscious story keeps us locked into a self-replicating and self-fulfilling prophecy of things that we don’t want to experience. Every frustrating situation then is a gift of good news, of mis-understood love, which is created and sustained by our false story about who we are. Awareness of our conjoint divinity is necessary to crack the grip of our story upon our every thought, feeling and communication.

Am I aware that both my partner and I are anxious right now? If the answer is no, what does that mean? If the answer is yes, what does that mean? Am I aware that both my partner and I care right now? If the answer is no, what does that mean? If the anwer is yes, what does that mean?

Consider the Seven Fearful Responses versus the Seven Caring Response (A summary of Wm. Glasser, by Ellen Michaud)

FEARFUL RESPONSES CARING RESPONSES

Turn Blaming Into Accepting

Turn Bribing Into Encouraging

Turn Complaining Into Listening

Turn Criticizing Into Respecting

Turn Nagging Into Negotiating

Turn Punishing Into Supporting

Turn Threatening Into Trusting

The Human Identity Puzzle

Finding the Hidden Pictures is a favorite childhood puzzle in various books and magazines. In this puzzling Mystery we call life, adults too have to search for the hidden meaning in the universe of our experiences. In general psychotherapy, the therapist and patient search for the hidden cause for the symptom; in Spiritual Psychotherapy, the therapist and the student seek for the hidden divine potential in the so-called symptom and its so-called causes. Hidden in our story, infinity is everywhere. It takes a special kind of looking called vision to detect the meaning of our experiences. Without this meaning, life is a hopeless maze of confusion, contradiction, limitations, and suffering.

Human identity is the chief puzzle we must resolve in our lifetime.

Where Shall We Hide the Truth From Man?

“Where shall we hide the truth from man?”

The gods all cried when he was made.

“How can we guard our secret now?”

They asked each other most afraid.

“Hide it in the earth; he will mine it.

Hide it on a mountain; he will climb it.

Even in the sea he will find it.

Where shall we hide the truth from man?”

Quite beside themselves, they cried:

“This little guy will take our throne.

We have made him far too smart

Not to claim our heaven home

Hide it in matter, he’ll analyze it.

Hide it in the water, he’ll crystallize it.

Even in hell, he’ll surmise it.

Where shall we hide the truth from man?”

They thought of stars in outer space

Or in the nature of a tree,

But they knew that man could solve

Each and every mystery.

“Hide it in the wind, he’ll pursue it.

Hide it in an act, he will do it.

Even in an atom, he will view it.

Where shall we hide the truth from man?”

Then they solved the mystery

Of how the frightened gods should win.

The wisest said, “Let’s take the truth

And hide it deep inside of him.

Hide it in his heart, he will doubt it

Hide it in his soul, he’ll live without it

Even if we should reveal and shout it,

He won’t believe the truth is within him.”

-Yogananda

We can decipher this puzzle through (1) the symbols hidden in our story, or (2) through the symptoms hidden in our story. That is our choice. But if we do not find the infinite in our symbols (1) we have no choice but to deal with our symptoms (2)

To unravel the mystery of who you are, it is necessary to find the hidden symbols and symptoms, and learn to re-interpret them. Your story is not a haphazard accidental collage of meaningless events strung together like a bad novel. It really is not like MacBeth moaned: “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” unless you remain stuck in your story.

Every incident, accident and symptom in your life has ultimate meaning once you begin to honestly investigate. Even the worst disasters contain hidden messages for your Self-Realization.

The Hero’s Journey: What a Trip!

The Goal of Spiritual Psychotherapy is best defined as the enhancement of the Hero’s Journey. Spiritual Psychotherapy provides tools and experiences to assist the suffering seeker in using his symptoms to consciously accelerate his Journey.

The Hero’s Journey

Jacob Needleman raised the question of how the sacred can provide a bridge between spirituality and our world of injustice and lies. He explores the idea that the cultural hero of our present age is the seeker, not the warrior, or the lover, or the savior, or the adventurer or the wise man. This archetypal hero is the seeker of wisdom and meaning. The warrior has become the warrior of the search, and the lover the lover of the search.

When your get ready to take the Hero’s Journey, consciously, and begin to walk on The Road Less Travelled, you may not get much human support, but you will get the entire support of the cosmos (including nature, the hierarchy, the angelic hosts, and the godhead), which is already functioning in oneness, fullness, and freedom.

From our vantage point, the modern hero is involved in an absolute search for the secret knowledge, and the bridge between the finite and the infinite is the symptom, the painful companion of our distorted, illusory story.

We absolutely search for and avoid the Infinite at all times and in all ways.
We are absolutely paradoxical infinite/finite beings: too aware that we are finite; too unaware that we are infinite. We act as though we are infinitely vulnerable if we care and finitely invulnerable if we don’t care. We act as though we could be finitely intelligent even if we acted infinitely stupid. We act as though we are infinitely empty and that we can solve that problem by being finitely full.

From birth to death we are always looking for and resisting the Infinite in our own finitely ridiculous and radical, but necessary, ways.
We look for the Infinite because we believe we are finite; we resist finding the Infinite because we assume we would lose the finite.
We are both infinite and finite and there is nothing that we can do to gain or lose either, except through awareness.
Through awareness we lose the assumption that we are merely finite; through awareness we gain the realization that we cannot lose the infinite.
Avoiding and denying the infinite minimizes the meaning of the finite. Clinging to or attacking the finite only seems to distance us from the infinite.
You can pretend to be only finite, and you can seem to suffer from being a victim of the finite, and you can moan and groan about your lacks and entrapments, but you are an infinite/finite being.
You can scare yourself silly; you can guiltify yourself with heaviness and burdensomeness; you can attack and belittle yourself with envy and spite; you can avoid yourself with endless distractions and rationalizations; but nothing ever changes, even though everything constantly changes: you are an infinite/finite paradoxical being.

You are aware of your finiteness, but not of its meaning; you may avoid the experience of your infinity, but not its existence; you can be infinitely unaware or finitely unaware, but you are still finite/infinite awareness.
All apparent problems and compulsive solutions arise from the distorted awareness of your finite/infinite nature.
You are totally responsible for the cause and false cures of these distortions. You unwittingly cause them and you can deliberately awaken yourself from these nightmares. Each and every moment you are choosing to tell yourself that there is a problem out there and an answer out there. There are no such problems, only our misperceptions.

If we were to allow ourselves to fully experience our searching and our avoiding, it would become apparent that we are infinite/finite beings.
You already are what you search for. You are an infinite, eternal, unlimited, indestructible being having finite, time-bound, limited, and sometimes “destructive” experiences.
You have deliciously wicked experiences, and nauseatingly good experiences, but you pretend that it is either/or. You pretend that life is made up of villains and victims, but there are no such things.

All apparently finite experiences are infinitely meaningful. You cannot claim either the finite or the infinite and exclude the other. If you deny one or the other it will circle around like a boomerang and hit you in the back of the head.
Everything is sacred in its infinite essence, and therefore in its finite existence. You spend your whole life trying to separate and segregate the good and the bad, the worthy and the worthless, the sacred and the secular, the sheep and the goats, but it cannot be done.
You think that narrowing or broadening your mind will do it, that being more conservative or liberal will do it, that being more unselfish or selfish will do it, that being tougher or gentler will do it. But you are all of it. All of the striving for and avoidance of this allness will not do it. You are all of it, all of the finite and all of the infinite. Embrace it. Fully experience in your infinitude all of the finite judgments and feelings you have denied and avoided for lifetimes. Even in the most hellish experiences, behold Thou art there. (Ps. 139:8) Let go and find out that hell is just a misjudgment of heaven. We have made a hell out of paradise. Beyond and within the imagined finite hell and heaven you tried to create and control, there is the infinitely Real.
Insofar as you are unaware of your Infinite/finite nature, you will experience symptoms of that unawareness.

Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of theAlmighty? It is high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than hell, what can you know?

Job 11:8

Thou wilt not abandon my soul to hell

Acts 2:27

The Hero’s Journey, then, is a search for the unifying and infinite truth in society, in science, in religion, in philosophy, in the good and evil we experience, and particularly in human suffering and symptoms.

WE ARE ON AN ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY

from the finite ego to the infinite spirit.
from who we think we are to who we really are
from victim to master
from illusion to truth
from mortality to immortality
from logic to paradox
from visible to invisible
from entrapment to freedom
from indulgence to discipline
from lack to abundance
from conformity to individuation
from insecurity to power
from loneliness to all-one-ness
from separation to re-union
from knowledge to wisdom
from attack and defense to understanding
from rigidity to spontaneity
from needs to love
from shyness to gusto
from struggle to grace
from fear to courage
from arrogance to humility
from self-centeredness to self-awareness
from security-seeking to risk-taking
from blame to responsibility
from complaining to accepting
from gossiping to blessing
from anxiety to peace
from stuck to flow
from weakness to empowerment
from adversary to advocate
from failure to learning
from fault-finding to encouraging
from control to release and surrender
from gripes to gratitude
from enchantment to awakening
from humanity to divinity
from Adam to Christ
from symptoms to healing
from limitations to potentialities
from finite ego to infinite spirit

Ego de-generates energy; infinite imagination re-generates energy

The ego wastes energy; infinite imagination restores wasted energy

The ego abuses energy; infinite imagination transforms abused energy

The ego divides energy; infinite imagination re-unites divided energy

Introduction to the Secret Knowledge

Can you keep a secret?

If Spiritual Psychotherapy is to assist you on the Hero’s Journey from your present crisis to your awakening, you must learn the language of symptoms and the Secret Knowledge hidden by them.

The Secret Knowledge

I am a spiritual being, an amateur god, hidden in a self-limited human personality and physical body, where I actively investigate and welcome with gratitude the meaning of any stresses and symptoms necessary to awaken me and keep me aware of the truth of the infinite power of imagination in us all

If you can’t keep a secret, don’t read this material. It is for you and it is no one else’s business. The journey of self-discovery and self-mastery is the path of self-knowledge. I want you to understand where I am coming from and where we are going in this virtual adventure. An advanced teacher ought to be able to state what they believe in one sentence. The above sentence is the formula for the therapy that I practice and teach. If you understand and practice what this sentence means, you will realize your wholeness and contentment. You may have symptoms of some kind, which to you may seem irrational, frightening, irritating, disabling or unfair, but you will realize that they are the doorway to your health and to your innermost treasures and unlimited potentials. You will realize your sanity, power, kindness and success as you understand, experience and practice the meaning of this simple but profound formula. This formula represents a paradoxical shock therapy, a radical application of the secret knowledge of the ages, designed to shock us out of the hypnotic, hidden, negative, belief systems which control and hamper our communication, our relationships, our health and our finances. If you write this off as blasphemy or grandiosity, you may continue to live with superiority/inferiority opposites. This formula has no opposite because it is true of everyone. This entire book challenges us to wrestle with the meaning of this one simple formula.

Spiritual Psychotherapy assumes that you are infinite Imagination. Infinite imagination is another word for spirit, soul or consciousness. You havethoughts, you have feelings, you have physical sensations, but you areinfinite imagination; you are a powerful spiritual being, a divine co-creator with God. Everything that you see, feel, taste, smell and hear is a finite product of infinite imagination. Imagination is the subject/cause; our experiences are the finite object/effect, result or product of imagination. Everything that you see and experience is the product of imagination. You may have forgotten that imagination is the most powerful force in the universe, and that it is what you are. Infinity-forgetting and identity-confusion is what creates finite symptoms. Symptoms and their accompanying pain are messengers of mis-used imagination and forgetful identity ignorance.

These pains that you feel are Messengers. Listen to them. Turn them to sweetness.

Rumi

I could try to tease you along to a conclusion, but I will begin with my conclusion so that you can argue more deliberately and consciously with yourself as you read along. My major hypothesis is that our symptoms and pains are the chief doorway through which we are invited to penetrate the ignorance, inhibitions and fears which block out the awareness of our infinite imagination, our potentiality, and our return to reality. My second hypothesis and conclusion is that our symptoms are transformed through shocking realizations about the world and about our infinite nature such as “It’s All God,” or “Your worst pain is your best healing” or “I am an Infinite Being in a finite body.” Then what? You “chop wood and carry water” with grace and gratitude. You love all that is.

Infinity Theory is a non-theory theory which is activated by the process of paradoxical shock therapy. This bio-psycho-spiritual process is a direct awakening experience to our infinite/finite nature. Our biological/psychological/social symptoms and problems are signals of, and doors to, our infinite imagination and potentiality. Our suffering is due to the unconscious mis-use of infinite imagination. Responsibility for this mis-use offers us the power of transforming the symptom into its true meaning. Paradox is the shocking nature of reality: “God became finite that we might become infinite” is the most crucial paradox.

In a time when there is much talk about a theory of everything, I bring my own background of Christianity and transpersonal psychology into a focus here about the paradoxical nature of context. Whether you call Infinity Theory a cosmology, a philosophy, or a paradigm, context is important. Context is all of the operating assumptions and imbedded paradoxical realities within which our perception and behavior occur. Context is another word for ontology, epistemology, or axioms. Context is the lawful framework within which knowledge and experience occur. Context is the setting and the rules of the game. Context is the stage on which this drama unfolds. Context is deceiving due to the paradox of language itself. The speaker and the listener are one, but at the same time, two. This paradoxical awareness is what awakens and frees us.

I have boldly stated the context for Paradoxical Shock Therapy in these words:

Man is the finite self of God; God is the Infinite Self of man. The Christ Pattern is where the finite self of man and the Infinite Self of God become one in loving creative imagination and action.

The unholy trinity of mis-beliefs (the belief in separation, the belief in lack and the belief in entrapment) are a simplification of the irrational beliefs posited by other researchers and systems. These beliefs seem “rational” to the mind and are therefore more subtle to confront and transcend, and cannot be transformed without paradoxical shocking awareness. Since the human imagination is infinite, and since God is both immanent to and transcendent of human belief systems, we are shocked into the realization that all of our symptomatic suffering is a gift designed for our awakening. “Adversity is an introduction to ourselves,” said one of the newscasters during the recent terrorist experience in New York and Washington.

Infinity Theory takes the position that our symptoms and stresses are due to a psychic barrier of ignorance and misjudgments (beliefs) that we have created around our assumed finite self-identity The condition behind these symptoms cannot be satisfactorily diagnosed or treated without a deepening awareness and experience of our infinite imagination and potentiality.

Disclaimer

The term “symptoms” as used in this book means that the ignorance of infinity is being signaled in the information system of the body/mind/soul/spirit of the individual, couple, family, group, nation and society. Symptom Decoding and Transformation does not mean that a person should not consider the use of appropriate finite means to address immediate practical ways to deal with the physical manifestation of the inner condition. However, since the symptom was created by the infinite imagination, it will find another voice and another channel to signal the essential discrepancy between the Real and the false. If we only treat the symptom, and not its infinite cause, it will tend to be persistent or to return in another often more dramatic form. If you have a broken leg, you get it fixed, but you also look for any hidden message that you may be attracting some kind of accident-proneness and a demand for self-analysis and self-awareness. You are more than just a body-mind, you are consciousness itself. Consciousness itself always finds ways to signal itself to the body and the mind through what we call symptoms.

Consciousness flows like a river between the two banks of desire for pleasure and the resistance to pain. All behavior is driven by that unconscious flow until we awaken to the infinite context and meaning of that flow. Painful symptoms are the chief way in which this opportunity for awakening occurs.

What is the root of pain? Ignorance of yourself. What is the root of desire? The urge to find yourself.

-Maharaj

Limitations fall away

Like flimsy veils

Out of the debris

There steps a god

-Joanna Cherry

Unconditionally, Yes!

Life is either a Yes or a No

Unconditional Yes

Whatever you say “no” to goes into your shadow and comes back to haunt you with symptoms, suffering and illness. All “don’ts” are ultimately are aimed at protecting and enhancing ego survival. Even prohibitions against killing are conditional, relative and qualified. Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a season for all things.

Both “yes” and “no” are relative, conditional, qualified, mutually exclusive, finite reponses to the polarities of existence. Beyond, within and around all relative “yes” and “no” choices is the Unconditonal Infinite Yes. All finite experiences are experiences of God in form. How can we afford to say anything but Yes to the Infinite.

All “no’s” and “have to’s” arise from resistance, fear and control programming, and are symptom and illness producing. The “Yes” of life itself is unqualified, unconditional, inclusive, infinite, eternal and health-producing. All human stories are polarized and split into “I” versus “Not-I” value judgments, strategies, and perceptions. All “Not I” perceptions are built upon the belief that fear, pain and victimization are real and must be guarded against. We are on guard lest we be hurt, deprived, rejected, trapped, and separated from our Good. We believe that our Good exists somewhere outside of us and so outside forces can give it to us or take it away. And so we get into saying “no” to anything or anyone which might “threaten” our conflicted beliefs about the Good, the True and the Beautiful. When we give real power to the bad, the false and the ugly, we set ourselves up for illness.

Each person’s world is divided up into “good” and “bad” , me and not-me, pro-survival and non-survival. Yet all of our “goods” contain “bad” and all of our “bads” contain good.

When we learn to embrace all of life, we are moving toward health. When we reject any part of life, we will have pain, symptoms and illness to signify this rejection, and to invite us to re-visit, re-experience, re-vision, and transform this negativized energy into new energy forms. All negations are merely mis-interpreted gifts. In our polarized story about ourselves and the world, all problems contain solutions and all solutions contain problems. Health contains illness and illness contains health. Every perception and behavior has its cost and payoff, its disadvantage and advantage, its healthiness and its unhealthiness—because every story contains fact and fiction. Every story is polarized and incomplete. Something is missing no matter which fork in the road you choose. Duality is inevitable in the constricted world of our story of finite form.

Each side of any given polarity is finite and each side contains the

Iinfinite, and both sides together comprise the Infinite.

The first step is to find the infinite in the polarity with which you are identified by saying an unconditional “Yes” to yourself and to your positionOf course, no one can do this without enlightenment, because every human being is committed to his story of I and Not I, good and evil, acceptance and rejection. Everyone is in conflict with himself. An unconditional “yes” to yourself would require an acceptance and an investigation of the meaning of your conflicts. We prefer to fool ourselves and to pretend that we have no conflicts except with others. Every conflict with another is fundamentally self-conflict. No one can give an unqualified “Yes” to his own position.
The second step is to find the infinite in the polarity with which you are dis-identified by saying an unconditional “Yes” to the other and to their position. No one can do this without enlightenment because we have attributed non-conflict to the other also. We tend to assume that others are either black or white. To find health we have to see the black-and-white world in the other and in oneself, without giving absolute value to either one. Whenever we give absolute value to anything finite, we are into sick thinking and sickness itself results.

When we try to live in a “yes-versus-no” world, we invite illness because “yes-versus-no” is sick, incomplete, unholy and frustrating thinking. When we move into the Yes world, we invite health because the Self and the True World Realization is whole, complete, holy and satisfying.

Several years ago I read a very comical, unholy sounding book entitledfuck, YES! by Reverend Wing Fu Fing. It is a very irreverent book about saying Yes to life all the time. Rev Fing said: “There are only two ways to live: You can be safe. Or you can be sane. We must ask ourselves, you and I, which way we will live, safely or sanely. We can only choose one, because when we choose one, the other goes out of reach for us. It becomes a past opportunity. But before we choose, we should ask ourselves this question: Where do we find yes ? Do we find it in safety? Do we find it in sanity? Where does yes live? Let me share the answer with you. Yes lives in sanity. Sanity is dangerous. The idea of being safe is an illusion, a dream. Yes, when we realize that safety is only a dream, then suddenly we are sane. When we say yes to the dangers of life, then suddenly we can live peacefully, knowing that life is going to beat the *#!* out of us as it pushes us ever onward toward our final destination, our home in the bosom of the Cosmic Yes.

When we say “NO” to a situation, we are usually trying to protect our self-concept. Almost anything can threaten our self-concept, which is a highly polarized state of mind. We have set up all kinds of resistances to protect the comfort zone in which our self-concept abides. We seem to like habits, non-change, security, and control. But growth(change) is our nature, due to the fact that we are infinite beings.

Most marriage problems are power struggles in which each person is trying to hang on to some mythical sense of security based upon getting one’s way. Each person’s “own way” is limited and restrictive, and points to a Greater Way which can be released only by a Yes. Life requires continual growth for each individual and for the relationship. Early on, opposites attract, but unless each party grows into his polar opposite side, each spouse may begin to dig in and to protect their old style of adaptation. They begin to say “no” to themselves and to each other because they are saying “no” to growth and change. The Infinite Self requires that we continually expand, stretch and grow. There is nothing to lose except self-confinement and false security. The tighter we hold onto the old the more symptoms, pain and illness we acquire.

Awareness and understanding of inner conflict and relationship conflict is necessary for such growth. Growth requires that we expand into the unknown and the unknown often pushes our fear and control buttons. Generally in our story we handle conflict poorly. Conflict is always initially internal, and if it erupts into the external, then we may try to dominate or submit in order to reduce the stress inherent in conflict. However, conflict is just the tension of rejected opposites. We have lined up with one side of a polarity as “I’ and rejected the other side as “not-I.” Both sides of every polarity is I, and both sides are God in form, and both sides are symbolic of the Good, properly understood, and we can learn to say “Yes.” This is tough on the “for and against” ego system, but necessary for our growth and health. Every symptom is a sign of an unexamined conflict, a defensive “no.” “I can’t stand controversy” is a set up for illness just as much as “I can’t stand peace.” Awareness of inner conflict is our source for growth because it shows how we have rejected and weakened some vital part of our self. We have settled for less. We have narrowed our world of experience. We have cut off Infinity.

Couples need to ask how they are alike and how they are different. All laws and rules can be reduced to one dread: victimization. All victimization dreads can be cured by self-acceptance and unconditional love. With the practice of “yes” we can reduce all conflicts to oneness, health and prosperity. Byron Katie practices the power of “Yes” by saying “I love reality.”

“Yes, Yes, Yes!”

2nd Corinthians 1:20

Amateur Gods in Disguise

You coulda fooled me!

AMATEUR GODS IN DISGUISE

Limitations fall away

Like flimsy veils

Out of the debris

There steps a god

-Joanna Cherry

I am an infinite spiritual being

an amateur god

hidden in a finite human body and personality

telling myself a victim story of separateness, lack and entrapment
investigating my suffering and symptoms

welcoming with understanding and gratitude their true meaning

so that I may awaken to the full enjoyment of the power of God’s love and peace that is in us all.

I am an infinite spiritual being

He has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Know ye not that ye are gods?

Jesus, John 10:34

… that you may become partakers of the divine nature

2 Peter 1:4

…until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

Eph 4:13:

We shall be like him

I John 3:2

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Psalms 147:5

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened

Ephesians 1:18

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one

John 17:23

My Story

In 1981 I was working in a mental hospital in Virginia. I was asked to visit a young Mexican male patient who was in forensic lock-up. I went into the padded cell and sat down on the padded floor and talked with him. After a while he got up, went outside of the cell, and locked me inside, and grinned at me through the glass in the door. Soon he let me out and we walked across the unit talking. He turned to me and said “Are you a human god?” I was quite taken aback, but I looked at him in the eyes and replied “Maybe I am, and so are you.” I was quite surprised at what he said and at my reply. After that experience, I began to keep a journal about my visits with patients and I entitled the journal “Dialogues With Amateur Human Gods” I realized that this entire planet is like a giant mental hospital, and that we are all locked up in our little cells by some kind of symptomatic aberration, and that we all have profound cosmic questions waiting to be asked and addressed.

About a year later I was asked to visit a 40 year old female patient named Mary who was withdrawn and claiming to be the Virgin Mary. I visited Mary in her darkened room. I introduced myself and asked her why she was here in the hospital. She said that she is schizophrenic. I asked her how she knew that. She said that the doctors had told her. I asked her if she believes everything she is told. She looked puzzled and said shyly “I am the virgin Mary.” I asked her what she likes about the virgin Mary. She looked even more puzzled and said: “No one ever asked me that before.” She was quiet for a few minutes, gazing off into space, and then she said “She is beautiful.” I said to Mary “Then Mary you must be beautiful also or you could not recognize such beauty.” She seemed shocked and said “Oh, no, I am not beautiful. I am ugly. Everyone thinks I am ugly and always have been.” I replied to her “Mary, you are a beautiful spiritual being and you know that ugliness is not the truth about you, and that is why you say that you are the virgin Mary.” Two weeks later I was again visiting on the ward and I saw Mary out in the day room, dressed quite neatly, playing classical music on the record player. She greeted me with a big smile and we made small talk.

All of our conversations have the potential to be profound and meaningful. Are we not amateur gods in human disguise? Out of the mouths of babes and mental patients comes strange truths. My friend, Paul Fairweather, took his first assignment as a psychologist in a mental hospital. He was sent to interview a 22 year old male patient who had killed his father. Dr. Fairweather asked the young man why he was in the hospital. The young man said “I killed my father.” Paul asked him “What do you mean that you killed your father.” The young man replied “I was awakened from a deep sleep at about 2.a.m. by yelling and screaming in the next room. Furniture was being knocked around and a raging drunken figure stumbled into my room and as it lunged at me I grabbed my shotgun and pulled the trigger. The figure fell dead at my feet, and it was my father.” Dr. Fairweather said “You shot at a drunken raging figure, but you killed your father!” The young man said yes and cried deeply. This experience deeply affected my friend, Paul, for the rest of his counseling career. He had seen that the deep intent of the young man was not to kill his father, but to protect himself against an imagined threat.

At the tender age of twelve years I had an experience of the infinite Christ light and love that left an indelible impression on my psyche. But also in my youth I saw human suffering in my family and neighbors that seemed to be a complete contradiction to this inner experience of light. My talented sister died of peritonitis at 15 years of age and my family sank into grief and despair. I felt a deep unexplainable calling to reconcile my inferiority and loss feelings with the incredible light within. I had no idea what psychotherapy was at that time in 1945 when World War II was ending and I began college. I had friends who were killed in the war and had heard contrasting stories of heroism as well. I began to prepare for a service but I did not really know what it was to be. I studied psychology, sociology, history, theology and later majored in the newly emerging psychology of religion programs born out of the depths of suffering in World War II. I worked in mental hospitals, at a home for delinquent teenagers, jails, and rural churches where I was struggling to find the tools to integrate the conflicts within my soul and my society. It was many years after my master’s and doctoral programs that I began to see the vague meaning of this calling clearly enough to articulate it even to myself.

For the last 45 years I have been engaged in the full time practice of what might be called spiritual psychotherapy, for want of a better word. It was like I was trying to learn what was not even known. The greatest frustrations of my life have been my inadequacy feelings in the practice of therapy. Of course, these inadequacy feelings were not just about psychotherapy, but more basically about myself.

I was really an amateur studying with amateurs. Although my teachers, supervisors and training therapists seemed much more professional and adequate than I was, why couldn’t they teach this process more efficiently? Just as with my younger sister, I had admired something in them, that I didn’t see in myself except as a shadowy possibility. To even think that we are struggling amateur gods at that time would have been impossible. I was too mired down in my own inferiority problems and addictive solutions. The thing that kept me going, however, was the memory and continuing inspiration of that inner light in spite of the darkness of human suffering. This paradoxical puzzle has dominated my entire life experience. I could neither give up the puzzle nor solve it. I kept alive the tension of the opposites through years of relative failures and successes in my own life and in the lives of my patients. While I recognized that other therapists had similar struggles, it did not relieve my own responsibilities nor dampen my determination to find some kind of reconciling answer to my soul’s dilemma.

Little pieces of the understanding of this riddle came here and there to give me inspiration and encouragement, but the final formula presented inSymptoms did not emerge until I was in my 70’s. Neither traditional religion nor traditional psychology satisfied my voracious appetite for a truth deep enough and powerful enough to reconcile the opposites fighting within me. I was pursuing an unspeakable calling to reconcile the opposites by finding a greater unity. I was drawn to Carl Jung and to the mystics of all religions, as well as to the major resources of traditional religion, psychiatry, and science. Any real reconciliation of the opposites would have to satisfy both the demands of spirituality and psychology in the healing of human suffering. If it didn’t work, it wasn’t true.

I worked with every kind of neurosis and human conflict imaginable in myself and others, offering the best understanding and caring that I could muster, but it did not satisfy me. It felt mediocre and it fell short of the infinite possibilities that seemed to be just out of reach. Thank God there were breakthroughs and clearings as I struggled through this forest and moved up the mountain of experience.

In December, 1999, just as we were entering the New Milleneum, I went for broke. I asked for a revelation that would serve the 21^st Century and bring a spiritual renewal for me. I asked for my own personal pentecost. I was told to wait for ten days and to write what came to me. After the ten days of writing down all that was in my mind, there was nothing for three days. I was told that those three days were added because of self-betrayal. It was not just Jesus that was betrayed, I had betrayed myself, and that was to be the chief preparatory lesson for humanity in the 21^stCentury. I had worked with all sorts of betrayals in counseling people for years. Human betrayals were just the symptoms of the deeper spiritual self-betrayal which was being revealed to me. I was shown that Other-betrayal was just a symptom of Self-betrayal. Ego betrays Self. Which Self? We are amateur gods, infinite spiritual beings, who in our stupid ego story, have betrayed and crucified the True Self.

I was shown how we do this. It was not through intentional, conscious, demonic meanness but through an unconscious false belief system. We deceived ourselves unknowingly. “They know not what they are doing,” Jesus said. Jesus was the guiding figure in revealing the meaning of my dilemma for our human evolution. He used his own life and my own life in explaining to me where this process is going. He had appeared in person to me in California in a healing group to which I belonged. He had touched each member of the group on the head. I had no idea what this all meant. Later he appeared to me again concerning the role of forgiveness in this “healing of the opposites” process. But in 1999 his “appearance” was in the form of the revelation about the meaning of symptoms for our divinity. He had revealed the light to me at twelve years of age, had called me into this search at age 17 when my sister died, and had led me through all sorts of neuroses and addictions throughout the next 55 years but I didn’t realize it.

It was revealed that in the beginning there was nothing but godness, nothing but one vast omnipotent consciousness, and nothing to be conscious of. There was nothingness, no one to talk to, no one to eat lunch with or play checkers with, and worse yet, it was “impossible.” How could God invent and experience a separate world when He was all of everything? God had a problem. So he self-hypnotized himself and thereby invented a time-and-space-world which was made out of himself, since there was nothing else to make a world out of. He contracted himself, reduced himself, divided himself, materialized himself. He had to pull an ingenious sleight-of-hand to fool himself into not recognizing himself. What fun would it be to play chess with someone if it was only yourself and you already knew the next move? He had to forget that it was all himself. He came up with amnesia, with forgetting, with self-hypnosis. He dreamed a dream that there was a world and there was. In this manner he could fellowship with the world of people, animals, nature and objects through a dualistic sense of creation. In this dualistic story, in this dream, God was over there and the rest of creation was over here. Of necessity God created a dualistic story in which he and his creation lived. This creation epic was real in one sense and a dream story in another sense What a paradox!

Although duality was a solution for God, it was a problem for man, in that everyone in the story, including God, felt like a victim of the belief system which had been created in order to have relationship experiences. And so the Cosmic Christ incarnated into the story through various avatars including Krishna, Buddha and Jesus, in order to try to solve the victim problem in the drama of life. They had some success but they also met with great resistance and “failure.” How incredibly real those experiences seemed, even to God. The belief systems in the story were so embedded and powerful that it was almost impossible to break through them, even if a savior figure died to disprove them. After all, God did a great job of self-hypnosis! That is why in Isaiah 45 it says that God took the responsibility and the blame for sending both good and evil. God had put himself “under the spell” for the sake of relationship, and that means that we are all under this hypnotic spell as well. In the pre-dawn era of consciousness, we all knew the truth of it and we agreed to play the game of life within those rules and boundaries. We were equally responsible along with the Creator. And then we forgot and have been trying to decide ever since who is responsible for human suffering: God, man, society, our genes, the environment, or the devil?

And so, when a hypnotist puts people “under” , he is temporarily removing them from their already present hypnotic belief system. We are already under a hypnotic spell and the hypnotist actually de-hypnotizes us. Under hypnosis, we move into the area of infinite potential, and we can do or not do many things heretofore unimaginable. We have documented painless surgery, amnesia, and many kinds of marvelous foolishness which demonstrate this de-hypnosis type of hypnosis.

God’s problem now is how to de-hypnotize without losing the benefits of hypnosis. Can we retain the finite world of experience without losing the infinite context in which the limitations of the finite world exist? Jesus and other avatars and enlightened people have accomplished this as a model for all of us, but mankind has not yet moved fully into the Age of Self-Realization. Hawkins says that in 1986 we moved from level 197 to level 206, which got us out of the ego box into a new degree of integrity for the first time in human history. Now it becomes possible to spell out through Infinity Theory how we can have more and more non-dual experiences above 600. Jesus through the Cosmic Christ role is taking the lead in this evolutionary step through A Course in Miracles and with the pioneering efforts of such people as David Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Albert Einstein, Alan Watts, Nicholas Berdyaev, Paul Tillich, William Glasser, Ken Wilber, David Bohm, Wayne Dyer and many other explorers in consciousness research and transpersonal psychology. Infinity Theory is an attempt to pull together some of the contributions to this evolutionary step that we are witnessing at this time in history.

I didn’t realize that Jesus was trying to tell me his part in the Great Cosmic Christ function of healing. In the 1970’s when I first began studying theCourse in Miracles I recognized the powerful authenticity of that document, but I had no idea of its meaning for the unfolding revelation about spiritual psychotherapy. I didn’t know that the Cosmic Christ was leading psychotherapy, science and medicine through all of their apparently convoluted twists and turns in the last 100 to 200 years.

I have been trying to detect and evaluate every major development in the science and spirituality of psychotherapy in the last 45 years, but I had no idea where this assessment was to lead. It was like we were on the stage of human history but I thought it was all of reality until I got offstage. It was then that I realized that you can’t get the spiritual perspective while on the stage. God came into our story and experienced everything, including death. Now he is telling us how to come out of the story and get off of the stage of dualism, and into the wholeness of reality as it was described in the Course in Miracles.

The healing process is basically the conscious awareness of how to go into the infinite and back to the finite. Only is this manner can the opposites be understood and “reconciled.” That is why Jesus said there is no other way than the way he did it. That is, you transcend the story and re-enter life itself without the baggage of the story, because you are a finite/infinite being.

In other words, in this dualistic story God was disguised as God and we were disguised as humans, which was a necessity. This whole drama has been played out as a rather chaotic scientific/spiritual experiment which has now reached its limits and we have to move on up the ladder of consciousness until we can view our dualistic story from a greater non-dual awareness.

It is the intent of Spiritual Psychotherapy to extend Infinity Theory into the holistic practice of psychotherapy, particularly regarding the purpose of symptoms and the necessity for re-diagnosis. Usually the patient’s self-diagnosis is very similar to that of the professional except that the professional uses a more technical vocabulary about chemical imbalance, genetics, conditioning, family history, defense mechanisms, viral or bacterial infections, toxicity, substance abuse, codependency, repression, anxiety, etc. In spiritual psychotherapy, such descriptions are not considered to be causal but symptomatic of something deeper which is not usually suspected. Shakespeare was more accurate when he posed the question as “to be or not to be.” We would revise it read “to be controlled by our story or not to be controlled by our story.” Our symptoms take us all the way to the very roots of existence, to our sense of identity, to our lack of spiritual awareness.

The human dilemma was played out in the story of the captivity in Exodus. The Jewish people had been captured by the Egyptians because of their idolatry (sick religion) and taken into exile in a foreign land. For 400 years, they were slaves. No one could even remember being free, although stories about some ancient mythical freedom continued to be told. Moses, however, had been raised in the king’s court and he retained a sense of freedom. He saw a guard beating a Hebrew slave, and instinctively he killed the guard and fled across the desert and out of the country to protect himself. After years of living in the desert, he met God in a burning bush and was told to go back to Egypt to free his people. He went to the Pharoah and told him to let God’s people go. It took many persuasive magical actions to persuade Pharoah, but eventually the slaves were freed. However, Pharoah then changed his mind and sent his soldiers to pursue the fleeing two million slaves. The Red Sea was parted and the Hebrew people crossed over in safety while the pursuing soldiers were drowned. Then it took forty years of living in the poverty of the desert to get the slave mentality out of the people to ready them for the experience of the “promised land.”

This is exactly our human dilemma. We have worshipped the false gods in our story and are in exile as slaves. This slave/victim mentality has controlled us for so long that only mythical stories of freedom remain to echo a long-lost divinity. “Let my people go” is the freedom cry of the 21^stcentury. Even though we have been delivered already from the domination of our enslaving Pharoahic ego, it sometimes takes 40 years to get out of our slave story long enough to enter into the promised land of our divinity.

I was reminded that this non-dualistic awareness, however, does not un-do the finite world itself, but only our attachment to it, when I had the following dream. There was a tree that was supposed to be trimmed, but it was cut down entirely. I felt very badly about this tree in my dream. The message of the dream to me was: don’t cut down the finite, just trim it of its false meaning.

I Am a Realist

Really?

I Am a Realist

In my story there is like and dislike, accept and reject; yes and no, want and don’t want, love and fear, me and not-me, mine and yours. In my story there is polarity and division. I am married to my story. The Great Teaching is that I am to love All That Is with all that I am, including my neighbor and myself. The Great Teaching is that nothing is outside this awareness, this love, and that everything matters.

But how can I possibly love all that is? In my story it is not possible. In my story I do not love unconditionally, I do not say yes unconditionally. In my story there is advantage and disadvantage, there is good stuff and bad stuff, there is security and insecurity, there is power and weakness, there is success and failure, there is life and death. In my story I discriminate, I judge, I divide, I prefer, I assume, I know, I choose. I choose what is good for me and reject what is bad for me. I choose what is right for me and reject what is wrong for me. I choose what is secure for me and reject what is insecure for me. I choose what is comfortable and reject what is uncomfortable.

I am the manager of reality. I control reality, or at least I try to. I do not love all that is, with all of my being. I am addicted to what I believe is good for me. I choose between my good and my bad. I am a chooser, a discriminator. I love what is good and hate what is evil. I cling to what is right and resist what is wrong. I cling to what is comfortable and resist what is uncomfortable. What is good for me is what matters.

I am on guard lest what is bad for me might happen. I am on guard lest I experience loss, weakness, insignificance, abandonment, loneliness, fear, guilt, grief, emptiness, disrespect, unappreciation. I am on guard against the victim experience. I want to be paid for what I do, with either money or appreciation. I guard against unfairness. I do my share and I expect others to do theirs. I am a realist.

That is my self-crafted story, my ethics, my religion, my philosophy. That is who I am. Of course, it doesn’t work and I have my suffering and symptoms, but I really see no reason that it doesn’t work, except for God and other people. Oh yes, the chief fly in the soup is God. God is the architect of this mess. The way he constructed it did not work, so I made it over. I constructed a better world in which I live. I made up a better story. So basically it is God’s fault, but god isn’t really around and so the chief fault is my neighbor. I know that 90% of the people say they believe in God, and so do I. Who would openly oppose the Man Stairs With The Big Stick? And as far as my neighbor is concerned, my “other” is hell. My “other” is the problem. How can I think otherwise! My other doesn’t understand and doesn’t cooperate with my plan and my choices. My other doesn’t do his or her part. I am a realist. .

All the world is queer save me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee.

Anonymous.

Not only is the world a little queer, but it is a little wrong, a little disappointing, a little malicious, a little selfish, a little uncooperative, a little back-stabbing, a little domineering, a little undependable, a little unfair, a little stupid, a little sick, a little crazy. And sometimes it is not just a “little” . Sometimes it is “much” and sometimes it is “always”.

That is the story that I live by. Those are the facts. That is the way it is. How can I love all that is? Only a fool would do that. I cannot accept people’s excuses, rationalizations, lies, and self-deceptions. I’m nobody’s fool! They can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people most of the time, but not me. I am worldly wise, I am street wise. I have been there and done that. I know. I am a realist.

And then something happens. A piece doesn’t fit in the puzzle. I can’t get rid of my silly symptom. Even the doctor’s medicine doesn’t work. Advice doesn’t work. Relationships don’t work. Arguing doesn’t work and I realize that even killing wouldn’t work. Divorcing doesn’t work. Quitting my job doesn’t work. I tell myself that winning the lottery is all that would work. Then I would be free, then I would be in control, then I would have security. Then I would have power. People might not love or want me, but they would respect and desire my money power. I wouldn’t have to go to work and kiss ass. I wouldn’t have to put up with my “other’s” weird craziness. I could just live on some island in the Pacific and hire me some dancers and servants and be happy ever after.

A lot of CEO’s had my dream and they had the power and position to make it happen. Of course, a few got caught and are in jail, but I admire most of them for their gusto. Don’t look at me so funny. Consider the world we live in. There are so many laws, rules and red tape that a guy can’t even make an honest decent living without fighting city hall. City hall wants 45% of my hard earned money in taxes. Everyone wants a cut. There are lawyers on every corner watching you like vultures. They jump on any possible violation that might pay off. If you have no money, there is no justice. And that is not just my story, that is fact. I am a realist.

I have heard this all week. These are the stories my clients tell me. They are hurt and angry. They can justify their pessimism forever. They have tried being believers, they have tried being nice, they have tried giving and trusting and going the second mile, and they got shafted. They got used. They got screwed. They are bankrupt. Even the spouse ran up the credit card and ran away with some internet screwball. Even the kids took sides against me. The in-laws didn’t like me in the beginning. God and the church don’t help either. I am all alone in my misery. My middle name is Job.

I will go to a counselor, but don’t tell me I got it wrong. Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me some idealistic poppycock. I am a realist. I look out for number one. I do what it takes. Anyone over 40 is a cynic anyway. And I am tired and sick. And even the doctors don’t help. What else can a guy do except be sick in such a sick world with such a sick god running it. To me right now, it doesn’t even look like there is any such god anyway. It all began with an amobe and a big bang. It is all just chemistry. The only comfort I ever had became illegal. There was a little taste of peace in my weed, but it was of course illegalized. You can’t win for losing. Playing by the rules doesn’t work; breaking the rules doesn’t work. Nothing works.

And so here we are. And you are telling me that you can love All That Is? That there is a secret knowledge? That unconditional love exists? That I am infinite? That it all matters? That I am mistaken? That I am unconscious? That every experience I have is for my self-realization? That my symptoms are my path to redemption? That victims do not exist?That God lives in every body? That every single experience has meaning and purpose? That mis-belief and mis-imagination are my only problems? That I am a dreamer, or rather a nightmar-er? You have got to be kidding! What planet do you live on! Even if such a thing were possible, do you thnk I would be so foolish as to listen to such bullcrap!

Do you think I am going to walk down the primrose path of some newly self-appointed guru? From what I’ve heard, all of these gurus are just after sex and money anyway. Even the churches want your money. The priests act so holy and they are molesting children. And let’s don’t even get started talking about the politicians and their dirty stories of corruption and greed. Nor about Wall Street and their bookkeeping. And what do you recommend about terrorism, Saudi Arabia, and the spectre of China?

You tell me to look inside. You tell me that the Kingdom of heaven is there. Well, who cares about what is inside! 99% of the world is outside and that is what I have to live with. Surviving is the name of the game. Anyway I’m sorta sick. I can’t fight it anymore. Even my favorite team lost yesterday. And when I went hunting, it rained and I caught a cold. And on the way home last night, I hit a deer with my truck. I couldn’t legitimately kill one, but I got one! It is sickening. And you tell me that everything has a spiritual meaning! What a joke! If my stomach didn’t hurt so bad, I would laugh.

So what have you got to offer? You want me to look inside? You say that the infinite is there. You say that all of this pain is due to my stupid story. You say that my suffering arises from my illusions? You say that I need to study daily in order to awaken to reality? Why should I believe you! Go to hell!

I understand all that you have said, but it simply is not true outside of the story. We are caught up in our own plot. We are self-hypnotized. We are self-misled. We are on a self-destruct path. We are our own worst enemy. What we call reality is an illusion. What we call victimization is just an offer of Eternal Life. God is nowhere if not inside of you. God is suffering in you and with you. Your cynicism is always and only about your sense of limitation. There are no such limits. You made them all up. You invented hell. You trapped yourself in your seeming logic. There is no such trap. There are no such “others” that plague you. There are no victims. City hall is just a figment of your imagination. The terrorists are just scared story-tellers like you and me. They imagine they will be victimized by us. Didn’t you read Shakespeare in high school about how life’s a stage and we are all actors?

Your symptomatic story is designed entirely and completely for your self-realization. Not one of your experiences is outside of God’s unconditional regard for you. It all matters. But in order for you to fully grasp this fact, you will need an Interpreter. Fortunately you have one, you have the Teacher of all Wisdom inside of you. John Bunyan in his classic Pilgrim’s Progress called this teacher by the name of “Interpreter”. Everything has to be re-interpreted, because you see, we have already mis-interpreted everything.

Goodwill told Pilgrim: you will soon come to the house of a man named Interpreter.. When Pilgrim reached Interpreter’s House, he received a warm welcome, and was told that he would be shown many profitable things. Interpreter lit a candle and began to show him how to interpret the strange things he was experiencing in life. Without Interpreter, we will miss the meaning of our daily grind.

Interpreter shows us how every single thing matters. Nothing is outside the venue, purpose, value, truth, and reality of unconditional love. Every single thing has infinite meaning. Not one thing is outside of God and his purpose for your self-realization. There is not one wasted word or moment, not “one jot or tittle.” (Mt 5:18 -For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ) Everything matters. To whom? To whom is a “falling sparrow” noticed? A woman has many animals and pets, which breaks her bank account, her health and her marriage, but she will not give them up. This fanatical unconditionality has meaning.

There is nothing meaningless in this universe. God is meaning. If you have bought into meaninglessness, you can see that you are not a realist, and that your story is skewed. Reality is meaning, purpose, significance. Meaninglessness is the essence of anxiety and depression. Insignificance is the source of all pain, sickness and symptoms. Insignificance exists only in our self-manufactured story.

Identity Theft

Recently ABC reported 30,000 identity thefts. Hackers have beeen able to get someone’s credit report using a social security number and steal one’s life savings without it being known. What does this mean? What does this represent for us in Infinity Theory? In one sense we have all experienced identity theft, identity loss, identity confusion. Major industries exist to insure us against theft and loss. Security systems abound. National security is our most expensive government expenditure. But what is the identity theft? Where is this thief? Our true identity is ” man hidden in the heart” (1 Peter 3: 4), and not our every day ego story.

Dr. Seuss wrote a book about the How the Grinch Stole Christmas from the people in Whoville. Who is the Grinch? The Grinch has been called by many names including Scrooge, Mr. Hyde, the Devil and other spoilers. But upon deeper examination, we find the cynical culprit cleverly hidden in our own Shadow. The question of who is responsible for our cynicism, our doubts, our suffering and our symptoms—is a critically important theapeutic question. It is a question that the spiritual psychotherapist has to constantly ask the client as well as himself. Where does Mr. Grinch live unless it is in our psychic world? How does one deal with Mr. Grinch? That issue is the entire thrust of this website. Mr. Grinch thinks that he is Mr. Realist, doesn’t he? Is that true? Only you can answer.

Who stole your identity? Who is the identity thief? What is identity theft, really? An identity theft is the belief that I am a realist, believe it or not. Read on.

Strong Medicine

The medicine of God

Strong Medicine

Spiritual Psychotherapy is strong medicine. Not everyone has suffered enough to be ready for it. Many people still believe they can make the ego system work. A lot of people are still ready to settle for mediocrity. Some people still want to try to beat the system. They had a dream and they want to make it work. Although Infinity Therapy offers the fastest, safest and most efficient use of your time and energy, it is not easy to re-define what the real problem is.

Infinity Therapy doesn’t deal in sympathy. If you want sympathy, you shouldn’t be reading this. Sympathy will not help you, only understanding. Understanding is not sympathy. Sympathy says “poor me” or “poor you.” To address anyone as poor me. is degrading, insulting, ineffective and deceptive. You have given yourself sympathy for years and it does no good, does it? If you expect sympathy, criticism and punishment, you came to the wrong place. There are no excuses, no judgments, no criticisms, and no sympathy here. Support is offered so that you can gain understanding and find the truth, but support is not sympathy. Tools for transformation can be added to support, but pity is not transforming.

The key to freedom is taking responsibility for the situation you have created. The answer lies in the creator of the problem. If you do not see and do not know that you created your problem, then all you can ask for is sympathy and advice. Self-justification is not necessary, nor is self-blame and guilt. If you experience such, use them as a springboard to get to the truth of the matter.

Strong medicine is courage mixed with compassion. Compassion is not pity. Compassion is understanding what causes suffering. People tend to deny suffering or wallow in it. Courage and compassion do neither. Interest in the cause of suffering has nothing to do with blame. The purpose of responsibility is not blame, shame, guilt or punishment. Responsibility is the possibility of freedom from such symptoms. If you do not take responsibility for your suffering, you cannot be cleared of its cause. Most people do not understand what responsibility is and therefore do not find their freedom from suffering. Responsibility is looked upon as a burden rather than as a power to relieve burdens. Responsibility is looked upon as a trap, rather than as freedom from a trap. Responsibility is looked upon as a way to blame and be blamed, rather than release from blaming and being blamed.

This strong medicine is guaranteed not to fail if you understand and don’t give up. You can solve a simple problem such as getting a job or fixing a car with information, but to break through the mental habits of a lifetime takes strong medicine. Conventional medicine, conventional psychology, conventional religion, and popular advice will not solve the human dilemma. You can act out your stress, take drugs or medication, get a divorce, or try to manipulate your symptoms, but you will still have to radically change your thinking.

If you do not see how you have created your own problems and miseries, you will continue to do so. If spiritual rebirth were not required, Jesus would not have said so. The only reason you need outside help for spiritual rebirth is so that you may connect with your core. We do not live in our core but on the periphery in the social world. Everyone is an outsider to himself. The message being given here is from the inside core to you as an outsider on the periphery where you live. We live in a false self world which only works enough for survival, but not enough for fulfillment. You may think that you are a failing human, but you are a failing god and a god cannot fail. Your success depends on no one else, except on the infinity of everyone and everything. On this side of the veil, it is impossible to get enough outside help, and on the other side of the veil, you can use anyone’s help or non-help.

The human dilemma requires radical help, radical medicine, from your core. Unfortunately, society is not aware of any such radical medicine. Without spiritual awakening and rebirth, all we have is a psychological, medical, philosophical, religious hodgepodge. The problem is radical and the solution is radical. The conventional diagnoses of society are not radical and do not lead to radical results. Our diagnoses are mediocre and our treatments are conventional. We may cope a little better, but it won’t satisfy. Compromise will never satisfy you. Nothing short of unconditional love, god-realization and self-realization will satisfy you. Outside of spiritual rebirth, sustained unconditional love is a myth. We may long to receive it, but can we give it?

The medicine we use is weak medicine because it is based upon inaccurate diagnosis of symptoms. Infinity therapy does not give up on you or your symptomatic other. Just because someone acts foolishly does not mean they are not a spiritual being. Foolishness, broken dreams and disillusionment are just grist for the mill of self-realization. The more the merrier. The more ego “success” you have the more you cling to it and the harder it is to see its inherent falsity.

What is the “Veil”?

Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the
requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How to regard them is the question–for they are so discontinuous with ordinary consciousness. Yet they may determine attitudes though they cannot furnish formulas, and open a region though they fail to give a map. At any rate, they forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality. Looking back on my own experiences, they all converge towards a kind of insight to which I cannot help ascribing some metaphysical significance. The keynote of it is invariably a reconciliation. It is as if the opposites of the world, whose contradictoriness and conflict make all our difficulties and troubles, were melted into unity. Not only do they, as contrasted species, belong to one and the same genus, but one of the species, the nobler and better one, is itself the genus, and so soaks up and absorbs its opposite into itself. This is a dark saying, I know, when thus expressed in terms of common logic, but I cannot wholly escape from its authority. I feel as if it must mean something, something like what the hegelian philosophy means, if one could only lay hold of it more clearly. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear; to me the living sense of its reality only comes in the artificial mystic state of mind.[233]

William James, Varieties of Religious Experience

What is this “filmiest”of screens which exists in our normal waking reality, parting us from entirely different potential forms of experience? We prematurely close our accounts with reality due to this screen. We miss out on the metaphysical significance of the reconciliation of opposites, the melting of which would dissolve the contradictoriness and conflicts making all of our troubles and difficulties.

This “filmiest of screens” is what we call the “veil”, the barrier, the belief system, the story. It cannot be seen specifically and concretely because it is invisible. The only way it can be seen is so obvious that we do not see it at all. The world itself is your belief system. The trick here is to realize that none of us sees the same world. For each of us, the world is our projection.

In the last analysis, then, we believe that we all know and think about and talk about the same world because we believe our percepts are possessed by us in common.

William James

The paradox here is that although each person lives in his own individual experience of the world, upon deeper analysis it is found that we all live by a story with a common mediocre unconscious belief system. In the bible this story is called the “carnal mind” or “the old man” or “Adam” or “the world”. By contrast Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven within you, the “truth that sets you free” and St. Paul spoke of the “spiritual man” or the “new man” or “Christ in you” . Buddha spoke of the Buddha nature in all things.

The :veil” is the invisible barrier of mis-beliefs which keeps us unaware. Justine argued that the world of evil is real. I said to her that evil is like the clouds that appear to block out the sun. Evil is merely clouds in the mind. I asked her if she could imagine rising above the clouds. She said that heat suffocates her. I said that she can just leave her body in the chair and rise in consciousness. She was awe-struck. She said “I have seen this light before, it is so beautiful. My pain is leaving. When I am in this light, there is no pain.” I said to her “You are the light of the world.” She came out of her vision and returned to her painful body and said “Oh, no. I do not deserve this. I have to live in hell forever.”

Justine blames herself for two abortions that she had, feeling she murdered these children. She says that other people talked her into it. but actually she blames herself. I told her that you cannot destroy spirit, that these children have moved on and she can move on also. She clung to her guilt and said that God is punishing her. I said that she is punishing herself out of fear. She had had an awesome vision yesterday of being in huge spacious rooms, which opened into other huge beautiful spacious rooms, but she did not feel at home there and she begged to return to her own familiar awful house. I reminded her of Jesus words that in his father’s house are many mansions for us. She could not accept this for herself. She said that she has to suffer until Judgment Day. I said that God says for us to Come, Now. She was shocked and denied that this is scripture. I said that our story is full of ignorance. She said that she is ignorant. I said that actually she is intelligent, but has been brain-washed by fear into ignorance. She said that when she was young, she took tests which indicated that she was in the upper 5 percentile of the population in intelligence. But she said that her intelligence was stolen. I said that it just went underground due to fear. She argued that the spirits of many people have been stolen. I said that god cannot be defeated by fearful beliefs.

The veil is just that which hides us from awareness of the sun, fearful thought clouds thoughts in our mind. Like Justine, we can rise above the clouds and experience the awesome light of truth and peace, that place where pain disappears. Justine does not yet allow herself to visit that light at any time, but she has already tasted the possibility.

Self-Realization: The Supreme Human Value

Really? Who said so?

Self-Realization:the Supreme Human Value

Spiritual Psychotherapy takes the position that Self-Realization is the supreme human value, whether we are aware of it or not. In other words, if self-realization is not our conscious goal, then it appears in thousands of convoluted forms, many of which are self-defeating and most of which are symptomatic.

I am arguing that Self-Realization is our chief human value, either (A) by choice or (B) by default. If we are (A) aware enough to consciously choose Self-Realization as our over-arching human goal, then we would avoid a lot of suffering; if we are (B) not aware enough to choose Self-Realization, then by default we invite symptoms and suffering.

My guess is that probably 90% of the human race falls unconsciously into the erratic default path of trial-and-error detours, ridden with unexpected symptoms and suffering.

Let us look at how our story affects our financial values. Let’s say that for 40 years, an average person makes $36,948 a year , which would total $1,477,920 in a lifetime. Suppose then you spend the national average, after taxes, of: $478,846 (32.4%) on housing; $274,893 (18.6%) on automobiles and transportation; $206,900 (14%) on food; $78,329 (5.3%) on apparel and services; $73,896 (5%) on entertainment, $79,807 (5.4%) on medical and health expenses; $135,968 (9.2%) on personal insurance and pensions, and $147, 190 (10.1%) on other expenditures. ( Alcohol 1%, $14,799; Reading .06%, $8867; Tobacco, .09% $13,301; gifts 3.4% $50,249; Education 1.6% $23,647) (Household Spending, National Network for Family Resiliency, 1995)

90% of our expenses then are devoted to the care of the body: housing, transportation, clothing, food, entertainment, healthcare, career education, etc. Our story shapes and often controls our values: the way we earn and spend money. Self-knowledge appears in many ways to rank very low on the scale of our values. Yet self-realization is the only enduring value that surpasses a lifetime. On the average we probably invest less than 1% ($14,799, which is about what we spend on either alcohol or tobacco) specifically on our personal growth and self-realization, but in the long run self-knowledge is worth more than everything else put together. Suppose we spent 10% ($147,990) specifically on our self-realization, such as through spiritual pursuits, personal growth, psychotherapy, consciousness courses, self-awareness books, religious studies, coaching, etc)

I asked my group therapy members this koan: suppose God gave you the responsibility to choose for all of humanity one of the three following gifts (1) unlimited money (2) unlimited energy, or (3) unlimited information., which would you choose for all of all of humanity? I was surprised to learn that most of them chose (3) whereas I would have expected then to choose (1) since none of them really have any money.

David Hawkins’ research shows that the average person only progresses 5% in a lifetime as far as consciousness development is concerned. And when we factor in the estimate that the average person is only using 5% of their ability, we wonder what is blocking the other 95%. If we are 95% blocked, no wonder we have such severe health, relationship and behavior problems. When we take note of the stress, frustration, violence, criminality, poor health, suicides, substance abuse, war, natural catastrophes, and other forms of human suffering, we can see the need for self-realization very clearly. The fact that 80% of our doctor’s visits are due to stress is also an indicator of the need for self-realization.

Suppose that the purpose of life is to move from our ego story to self-realization, and that we are largely blind to this purpose and its possibilities, and therefore we trudge along grabbing whatever survival values and pleasures we can find. However, since we are spiritual beings, even though we may not be aware of it, we are bound to develop symptoms from this unconscious default story of ego perception that we are living by. Accurate symptom-diagnosis therefore becomes one of the most important forks in the road on your life journey. For most of us, this is how we meet God. Like Saul of Taurus, we are galloping down the road on our self-appointed mission to save, capture, control, or destroy. We are struck blind by some self-created symptom. . We have a crisis. Why are you persecuting me, victimizing me, we are asked. If Saul was to become Paul, he had to re-diagnose his acting out program. We do not realize that in our ego view of the world, we are attacking our own real Self, the Christ within. We had no idea we were hurting ourselves in the name of self-preservation and self-defense. From that point on, some people devote themselves to Self-realization and spiritual transformation as the supreme value in life, even while taking care of the body and the planet.

As spiritual awareness is contracted, symptomatology expands, in inverse ratio. The dissonance between spiritual awareness and technology explains a lot of our dilemmas. We are able to more efficiently and powerfully imagine and create self-defeating programs. Note how drug-dealers use communication technology and how dictators become capable of deploying biological missiles.

Even though ego enhancement seems to be the supreme value, deeper investigation proves that this is not so, because even if ego enhancement seems to be our major preoccupation, it is not the overall conscious, subconscious, and superconscious supreme value. Symptomatic dilemmas prove to the open mind that the search for God, whatever form it takes, is the supreme human value, desire and motivator. The way we spend 99% of our income on the body is actually the unconscious search for our spirituality. Our excessive consumption is just a symbol of our search for the infinite. The important thing about how we spend our money and time then is not the number of dollars and hours, but the conscious purpose of our activities. Each dollar and each moment of time, even when spent on chores, can be directed to Self-Realization. Not one dollar or hour needs to be wasted. Who is mopping this floor? Who is mowing this lawn? Who is driving to work? Who is sick? An infinite being in a supposedly finite world? A god in a human body among other gods in human bodies?

The finite does not exist per se, except in our illusory story. In our polarized story, we split the finite world into opposites, into me and not-me, into want and don’t want.

The moment we say the word “I” , we immediately cut ourselves off from everything we experience as “Not I” or “you”—and with this step we become prisoners of polarity. Henceforth our “I” shackles us to the world of opposites, which is divided not only into “I” and “you”, but also into inner and outer, man and woman, good and bad, right and wrong, and so on. Our human ego makes it impossible for us to perceive, or even imagine, unity or wholeness in any form whatsoever. Our consciousness splits and dissects everything into pairs of opposites, which the moment we come face to face with them, we experience as conflicts.

Thorwald Dethlefsen

One side of each polarity we identify with as “me” or “mine” and “I want it”, and the other side we tend to reject as “other” or “not mine” or “I don’t want it”. All that we reject becomes our shadow side and is projected onto the world as different, unknown and somehow threatening to the accepted part, or ego. But this self-deception, this involuntary lie, is the basis of all conflict, inner struggles and outer wars. The tension between our story and reality is the birthplace of our symptoms. Most of us do not like that tension and so we bury this necessary conflict even deeper by denial. You know, the old ostrich-with-his-head-in-the-sand and the old elephant-in-the-living-room scenario. (1) Tension-awareness then is the first essential step in spiritual psychotherapy. (2) Acceptance of both sides of the conflict as belonging to me is the second step. (3) The third and most necessary step is the awareness that both sides of every conflict and polarity arise from the infinite.

You do not live by bread alone

-Jesus

What in the World are you Looking For?

Don’t ya see?

Self-Realization

Everything in this universe is geared in one direction: self-realization. Every event and every experience, regardless of our intention, perception or judgments, is oriented toward self-realization. Because everything is infinite in its essence, everything is sacred. There is nothing we can do to make it otherwise, except to misperceive it and cause ourselves a lot of grief. Byron Katie says that she loves what is. How can we not love what is when we realize that it is all designed for self-realization? All of our frustrations, angers, griefs, boredoms, hostilities, jealousies, guilts, self-punishments, abuses, addictions, and sufferings have one ultimate purpose: self-realization. It is that purpose which we fail to see when we mis-diagnose our symptoms. We attribute every cause imaginable to our symptoms except the truth. The cause and purpose of every symptom is the possibility of self-realization, spiritual awakening.

They asked Jesus: “Who sinned, this blind man or his parents?” and Jesus said that it was neither, but that God might be glorified. What kind of gruesome god would glorify blindness? Sighted people do not normally see and neither do the blind. Having eyes does not glorify god nor does being blind discredit god. Only spiritual sight glorifies God, only self-realization glorifies God. The Will of God and the will of man are identical but not as we know god and man. The universe is designed in such a way that the only way to know God is to know yourself and others, and the only way to know yourself and others is to know god. The person who has misjudged himself and others will misunderstand God, and the person who is ignorant of God will discredit himself and others.

My latest self-realization is that I am not separated from my Good; I am not lacking my Good; I am not trapped by less than my Good. I am not separated from the Good of my health, my abundance, my happiness, my pleasure, my freedom. I am not lacking in health, wealth, peace, joy and freedom. I am not a victim of poor health, poverty, suffering, lacks and limits. Wherever I Am, there my Good is. Whatever I am doing is toward the goal of my Good. Any judgment that I lack Good is false. I praise God for my ever-present Good, whether I recognize it or not. Anything that I resist is the result of telling myself that my Good is not present. I am pretending that whatever I am resisting is greater than my Good. Anything that I fear or resent, I am empowering, as though it were greater than my Good. You’re in a pickle? Consider it a perfect pickle!

Why do we keep feeding our fears, jealousies and resentments? Because we think we are feeding ourselves and our good. We do not even have our own best interest at heart.

Feeding our fears is not self-realization. Jesus kept saying “Fear not.” There is nothing to fear. The only thing we fear is nothing. Fear has no reality except what we give it. Only truth and love exist, and there is nothing to fear about either. Where truth and love are recognized, fear disappears. When Jesus said that snakes will not harm you he didn’t mean to go out and pick them up. He meant that the most dreaded fears have no power to harm.

Whatever we have attracted into our life at any given moment is perfect for self-realization. The law of the universe says that we attract and experience what we think and that is exactly what we need for self-realization, because it will not satisfy. Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God, in truth, in love, in self-realization. Basically one programmed human mind is not ultimately better than another, some are just better manipulators than others. Everyone is ruled to a degree by fear, anxiety,and insecurity. People respond to fear differently: some get nasty and some get nice. But the “nice versus nasty” pair of opposites rules human thinking and exists in every human mind. We are more alike than different.

Do I sound severely pessimistic? I am profoundly optimistic when I say that the human mind is ruled by insecurity. It is optimistic to realize that fear-based behavior is unconsciously motivating a lot of human behavior. If you don’t realize it, you become a victim of pessimism. If you realize that most human thinking is anxiety-based, then you can be an optimist. The fear-based mentality can never work and therefore it is an aid to self-realization. We will never find security in the finite viewpoint. And when you reach the infinite, the insecurity problem does not exist, so why would you need security types of manipulative solutions?

Am I self-realized? It is a matter of degree. I recognize some of the signs of the anxiety-based mind, and I am acquainted with some of the powers of self-realization. I am thanking God more and more in everything I experience. I am beginning to recognize the non-dual reality. It is the non-dual which holds together the apparently dualistic world. If the universe were merely dualistic, it would fly into a million pieces.

Love holds everything together. Human cells are designed to work perfectly. When they become dysfunctional and turn against themselves, we have cancer. It is rather amazing how well our cells stand up under the stress we put them under. However, I believe that the memory of the original design is still there and can be restored. “Troy can be un-burned.” Forgiveness is possible on every level, including the cellular. All of our judgments and mistakes will all be unwound, unburned, forgiven, restored, rejuvenated, redeemed. Everything will be returned to its original condition because creation has never left the mind of its creator.

There is an invisible veil, an invisible barrier or wall of beliefs between your finite notion of yourself and the infinite truth of self-realization. When you bump into this wall in your search for answers, you may feel you have nowhere to go but to the finite, to the limited. Since you are an infinite being in a finite body, you are anxiously dissatisfied with merely the finite, and you are constantly searching. Unless you realize that there is a barrier of mis-beliefs you will search only in the finite.

The morning paper said that there were 69 police reports of “peeping tom incidents” in town this last year. What is the “peeping tom” trying to see? What is hidden, what is disguised, what is lost, what is missing? The peeping tom is not the only person who is searching in the finite world for his lost self-realization. We are all looking and searching, each in our own frustrated way. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, he knew that she had had five husbands, and that now she was looking for a prophet, for another man to fulfill some unknown need. He said to her that she was “thirsty.” He said that there is eternal water with which she will never thirst again. Take notice of how and where you are looking and searching. Ask yourself whether you are searching for your own lost self. Ask yourself what your barrier of misbelief is? What do you tell yourself that keeps you locked into the frustrating pursuit in the finite realm?

Seeking keeps you from the awareness you already have what you want.

-Byron Katie

The Rebirth of Courage

Out of the ashes of timidity, rises the Phoenix of courage

The Re-birth of Courage

In this book I have written many shocking statements which are to act as plumb lines against which we can measure the difference in our stories and truth. One of these shockers is that there are no accidents, that all things happen for a reason, that all things work together for good and that I can say “yes” to, and be grateful for, all things. However, such shockers are at such variance with our normal way of thinking that we then have to inquire as to what the incident itself really means. Otherwise, it is marked up to a fateful meaningless costly experience in a dangerous and irrational world.

Right after I put my website online, such an incident occurred. I was driving home on the interstate after dark one evening just after I had finished my therapy sessions for the day. Suddenly out of nowhere, a medium sized deer crashed into my new truck with a big “Whammm”. Traffic was on all sides of me and I had nowhere to navigate except straight ahead. I only got a split second glimpse of the deer just as it hit me, with no time for brakes or avoidance. The truck was not so damaged that it couldn’t run and so I just kept going. My mind was full of judgments about how and why this happened, and how lucky I was that no one was hurt and how unlucky I was that it even happened. I was catastrophizing about my new truck being damaged and about the probable death of the deer and about the big deductible I would have to pay. It all seemed such a useless waste: my new truck damaged, I would no doubt lose the use of my verhicle for a week or two, I had no loaner car coverage on my insurance, a beautiful deer was killed, and it would cost me an extra $500 I didn’t really have at the time. What a waste! How unlucky!

But I called upon my plumb line truth which said “There are no accidents.” I challenged my judgments and catastrophizing. I asked myself what possible value or meaning could such an apparently wasteful accident have? I opened up, quieted my mind and listened. Immediately my mind flashed back to a half hour earlier. I had given one of my colleagues the web address of my new website at which you are now looking. I had not seen him since then. I was about to leave the office on that “fateful” evening, and I thought that I would stop in and speak to my colleague and maybe he would give me some feedback on my website. But I decided not to stop in and make small talk. If I had, then I would not have hit the deer.

Why didn’t I stop in and speak to my colleague? Because I was timid, because I was anxious about his possible criticism of my new website and of my “spiritual psychotherapy” approach. It hit me like a ton of bricks: I lacked courage!

Immediately I realized that all of these strange and unlikely events conspired together to bring me a powerful message, that I need courage to proceed with the work that had been given to me to do. Out of the ashes of fear, doubt and timidity was born the new Phoenix of courage. A new sense of power and boldness came into me. Not the bravado of arrogance or blind bullying, but real courage and boldness. I could see immediately that the deer played his valiant part in this drama, giving his life to wake me up to my inner strength. The truck had volunteered to take quite a hit for my self-realization. My bank account would give up $500 for my new awareness. Two weeks of inconvenience without my truck was a small payment for my new insight. Could I have gotten the message without this dramatic accident? Perhaps, but it was really driven home. What I realized was that what has been given to me does not need outside corroboration. I was fighting with a false, manipulative timidity. This timidity was false and futile, entrapping me in some kind of a security operation. Without this courage I would be settling for less. I would be discounting my revelation not to mention my well-tested research. I was called upon to walk the walk and not just to talk the talk.

I learned that by following the plumb line (there are no accidents, there are no victims, all things happen for a reason), I was able to challenge my conventional thinking, to re-gain my courage, and realize anew that every event is guided by an intelligent, compassionate, and purposeful universe, and its creator. The accident and my reactions to it, were my symptom. My boxed-in conventional thinking hid the fact from me that I was allowing doubt and fear to usurp and mis-use my inner power. When I summoned the presence of mind to inquire into what this “accident” meant, I was blessed with a revelation and a discovery. The plumb line was validated directly and clearly. I realized that with the proper tools and inquiry attitude any person could ask for the input of their Higher Wisdom and receive it. Anyone could make good the years the locusts have eaten, the locusts of fear, doubt, meaningless, timidity, negativity, cynicism. A lifetime of self-deadening judgments were suddenly called into question, judgments which boxed me into my story of separateness, deficiency and victimization, and robbed me of Infinity Awareness.

I took my truck to the body shop to be repaired and learned that it would be six weeks before I could get it in the shop. I was shocked to think that numerous “accidents” besides mine had occurred that same day, and I wondered how many of those would go unprocessed and would remain stuck in the consciousness of those involved as meaningless, frustrating and wasteful!

I shared this event with a therapy group that I conduct, and one member asked: Why do you always bring everything back to self-blame? I explained to him that it is not a question of blame but an opportunity to see incorrect thinking and to correct it.

Another member said that I was being shown by God that accidents do happen and that I shouldn’t write such things. I told him that I am trying to challenge my thinking that accidents happen by asking myself if everything happens for a reason. To correct and expand our thinking is the whole purpose of life.

Another member said that he is very curious but that he is scared to allow his curiousity to lead him into unknown places. I said that this is a very common fear, but that we are safe only in a process of growth and change. Another member said that curiousity killed the cat. There are so many superstitions, threats and barriers to self-knowledge. You can never kill curiousity, and if you don’t allow it, you will deaden yourself in the process.

Spiritual Psychotherapy is summoning the courage to get outside of the box of your conventional self-limiting thinking into your spiritual awareness.

Your Symptoms

What a list!

The Infinite Meaning of Symptoms

I listen carefully to your hurts, complaints, problems and symptoms. I listen to the attempts you have made to correct your problems and to self-medicate your symptoms. It is our general human assumption that symptoms are meaningless, irritating, unfair or frightening. Usually people come to counseling or go to a doctor to treat their symptoms. A symptom can be physical, mental, emotional, or social. A symptom is usually considered to be a sign of something wrong. In spiritual psychotherapy it is agreed that a symptom is a sign of something wrong, but a far greater sign of something that is right that has not been recognized. A symptom is a signal of ignored potentiality, lost ability, hidden power, an unrecognized gift. All symptoms are signals of our mis-understood spirituality. You are a spiritual being and there is nothing you can do about it, except to symptomatize or to enter into the depth meaning of your symptom, which is your spirituality. Spirituality is invisible and it is easy to overlook it. The only way that you can see your spirituality is in the mirror of the landscape of your life. Your body, your relationships, and your world in general is that mirror which reflects to you the condition of your spirituality recognition.

Let’s make a list of some common symptoms

Fear, jealousy, guilt, grief, anger, boredom, stress, depression, anxiety, arguing, flunking a class at school, getting demoted at work, an affair, authority problems, power struggles, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, the victim or villain experience, communication difficulties, loneliness, losing a job, being broke, panic attacks, frustration, low self-esteem, submission or dominance, obsessive- compulsiveness, manipulation, lying, pornography, addictions, approval seeking, people-pleasing, the security-search, cynicism, passive-aggressiveness, win-lose games, greed, self-sacrifice, consumerism, fault-finding, gossip, etc.

Symptoms cover the entire waterfront from headaches to war. All symptoms have an element of war-likeness in them, an element of conflict and struggle. I trace the source of human suffering and symptomatology to three irreducible beliefs:

The first major cause of human suffering and human symptoms is the belief in separation, which is experienced as abandonment, rejection, loneliness, alienation, boredom 2.The second major cause of pain and symptoms is the belief in lack, which is experienced as deprivation, not having or being enough, inadequacy, and the search for more. 3.The third major cause of stressful symptoms is the belief in entrapment, which is experienced as being trapped, enslaved, stuck, helpless, hopeless, and victimized.

These three causes can be reduced even further to one major source, our story. Our story is a carefully woven plot which hangs on the three beliefs in separation, lack and entrapment. This story is best characterized as a victim story. Even though a person may sometimes play villain and sometimes plays rescuer, all human stories are essentially victim stories, and eventually produce our symptomatology.

The discrepancy between “who we really are” and “who our story says we are” is what produces our symptoms and victim experiences. You can begin to re-vision your symptom as a messenger from God, a gift of the Spirit, a wake-up call from your Self to yourself. If you choose to ignore, resist or anesthetize your symptom, it will only go only furtherunderground, regain force and later appear in a more drastic manner. Will you continue to be-head the messenger, anesthetize the positive meaning of your pain, reject the gift of your symptom, and remain asleep to your true nature?

You are fortunate at this time to be seeking psychotherapy through which you can investigate the life-liberating meaning of your symptom rather than remaining adversarial with it. You do not want to play any more games that you will lose. If you try to ignore your symptom, anesthetize it, or blame it on someone else, you will lose. All of your losses so far have come because you did not know that your troubles have any ultimate meaning about yourself. You did not know that conflicts and disagreements with others are a potential gift to yourself. That gift is the realization that your story is not you. Your story about yourself is not who you are and your judgments about others is not who they are either.

Paradoxical shock therapy does not condone or condemn the story and has nothing to do with our self-blaming or other-blaming kinds of irresponsibility. It only has to do with awareness and self-realization. You do not have to change any external circumstances right now, you only have to examine your thinking (cognitive distortions).

In fact it might be wise to focus on exactly what your story is. We have been focusing on changing circumstances and other people for aeons, and we have only become more frustrated. Spiritual psychotherapy is not an attempt to fix you, but it is an attempt to challenge you to awaken from your dreams and nightmares to your reality, to the awareness that you arehealth, happiness, peace, power, freedom, music, poetry, truth and love. Whenever you are anxious or upset, you have been hooked and deceived by your story. All self-defense is story-oriented. When you can state the following sentence to yourself with understanding and conviction, you are well on your way to inner self-renewal:

I am an Infinite spiritual being,

an amateur god, hidden in a self-limited human personality and physical body story, where I actively investigate and welcome with gratitude the meaning of any stresses and symptoms necessary to awaken me and keep me aware of the truth of the Infinite Christ power in us all

The problem with our story is that we believe it is our security, but the fact is just the opposite. The tighter we cling to our story, the more persistent our various symptoms will become. The symptom is the price you pay for unconsciously clinging to your script. It is not only the story about ourselves that must be corrected, but also our views of others and the universe as well. We are intelligent, caring, infinite beings, but our unconscious beliefs make us do stupid things. The essence of responsibility is to see why we do foolish things and to correct our misbehavior at its root rather than to just smooth it over so as to look good.

And so spiritual psychotherapy is not an attempt to teach you something you do not already know, but to remind you of what you have forgotten. The end point of this re-membering is that God is everything, not only our source and destiny, but the contents of our experience as well. There is only one of us. All of the rest is illusion, story, drama, games and suffering.

I give you the end of a golden string, Only wind it into a ball; It will lead you in at Heaven’s Gate, Built into Jerusalem’s wall

William Blake

If you believe that everything happens for a reason, you can pick up the string of your symptom and wind it up as you follow it out of the cave of the darkness of your present crisis into the light. The string is your fear that you may lose what you have or not get what you want. The belief in that fear can be investigated and challenged until you find the truth blocked by your story, which is that you cannot lose what you are, and that you already are what you have always wanted.

The Shadow

This sounds scary!

The Shadow

All the things we don’t want to be, don’t want to discover within ourselves, don’t want to live out, don’t want to admit into our identification, go to make up our “shadow.”

Thorwald Desthlefsen

Everything that we do not wish for or approve of, everything we consider unholy, everything that we do not want, we throw into the shadow. The shadow is the sum of everything we do not want, everything we feel we should not want, everything we judge that we cannot have or be. The shadow is all of those things to which we say “no”. The shadow is that which we try to get rid of by denial, repression, and projection onto the world. The shadow is that is us which makes sure that everything turns into its opposite. The shadow is that which appears in the mirror of the world for us to look at again, and own. The shadow is that which we will eventually live out.

It is the shadow that makes us ill—but the encounter with the shadow that makes us well! This is the key to illness and healing. Every symptom is an aspect of the shadow that has precipitated itself into physicality. It is in the symptom that what we are lacking is manifested….The shadow makes us dishonest….Illness makes us honest…Symptoms stop us doing what we want to do… and make us do what we never intended to do in the first place .

Thorwald Dethsefsen

“Love your enemy’ is necessary counsel because as Pogo said “We have done found the enemy and it is us.” The shadow is that in us which we have judged and rejected. Dr. Jekyl does not like Mr. Hyde, but Mr. Hyde takes over when darkness comes.

Charlie’s symptom is addiction to pornography. His polarity, like anyone else’s, is the good guy (ego) versus the shadow. The shadow is the hidden, shameful, secretive, self-indulgent “solution” to many of his so-called problems. Upon analysis, this shadow symptom is designed to offer him external (polarized) food for an assumed internal lack. The “cost” of this “solution” is wasted time, self-confusion, self-distraction, a false sense of power and control, a denial of his real power and real self-knowledge, money, artificial comfort, self-deception, as well as the re-enforcement of his ego story of lack, separateness, and entrapment. He tells himself that he is more important, more desirable, more in control, more satisfied, when he watches pornography, all of which are lies. Actually he has contracted himself, minimized himself, made himself seem less desirable, made himself less in control of his real life, and re-enforced his belief in emptiness. But will this analysis stand up against the story of lack and emptiness which he has programmed into himself?

Each time that this sense of lack and desire for “control” is triggered, he is given the opportunity to say “Yes” to the Self-Realization choice. It is that simple. Moment by moment he chooses to deceive himself with a “lack-and-control” story or Self-Realization. His choice, like anyone else’s, is always and only his fictional finite story or Infinite Reality. The shadow or the Sun. Pornography seems to release some tension, but actually it only increases the underlying split, the underlying polarity, the underlying self-deceit that he is not infinite. The naked female form symbolizes the qualities of beauty, eternal youth, innocence, passion, love, the hidden Self, unity, self-exposure, food, availability, and freedom. All of these qualities are already existent in the forgotten Self of Charlie. To pretend that these qualities only exist outside of him is the ultimate self-deception, which leads to self-weakening, and to a greater need to seek the answer outside. Charlie is now learning the power of saying “Yes” to the Self-Realization possibilities and potentialities hidden in his Shadow. His real power and love always arise from within and each time he realizes this, his power and love increase.

Charlie

Charlie’s symptom is addiction to pornography. His polarity, like anyone else’s, is the good guy (ego) versus the shadow. The shadow is the hidden, shameful, secretive, self-indulgent “solution” to many of his so-called problems. Upon analysis, this shadow symptom is designed to offer him external (polarized) food for an assumed internal lack. The “costs” of this “solution” is wasted time, self-confusion, self-distraction, a false sense of power and control, a denial of his real power and real self-knowledge, money, artificial comfort, self-deception, as well as the re-enforcement of his ego story of lack, separateness, and entrapment. He tells himself that he is more important, more desirable, more in control, more satisfied, when he watches pornography, all of which are lies. Actually he has contracted himself, minimized himself, made himself seem less desirable, made himself less in control of his real life, and re-enforced his belief in emptiness. But will this analysis stand up against the story of lack and emptiness which he has programmed into himself?

Each time that this sense of “lack” and desire for “control” is triggered, he is given the opportunity to say “Yes” to the Self-Realization choice. It is that simple. Moment by moment he chooses to deceive himself with a “lack-and-control” story or Self-Realization. His choice, like anyone else’s, is always and only his fictional finite story or Infinite Reality. The shadow or the Sun. Pornography seems to release some tension, but actually it only intensifies the underlying split, the underlying polarity, the underlying self-deceit that he is not infinite. The naked female form symbolizes the qualities of beauty, eternal youth, innocence, passion, love, the hidden Self, unity, self-exposure, food, availability, and freedom. All of these qualities are already existent in the forgotten Self of Charlie. To pretend that these qualities only exist outside of him is the ultimate self-deception, which leads to self-weakening, and to a greater need to seek the answer outside. Charlie is now learning the power of saying “Yes” to the Self-Realization possibilities and potentialities hidden in his Shadow. His real power always arises from within and each time he realizes this, his power increases.

Desire and fears produce shadows in our story

Desires and fears always go together in our story

I desire to keep what I have and to get what I want; I fear losing what I have and not getting what I want. These desires and fears produce the Shadow

The symptom always conceals and reveals the Infinite, if we choose to be aware of it. What else is pornography about, except concealing and revealing? Clothes conceal and nakedness reveals. That’s not quite it, is it? Nakedness conceals and nakedness reveals. That’s not quite it , either. Clothes and nakedness can conceal or reveal. That’s closer.

“I” refers to “what I want”

“Not-I” (the shadow) refers to “what I don’t want.”

Both “I” and “not-I” make up the basis for the symptom and have the power to conceal or reveal.

What was intended to be ego food turn out to be ego-starvation

What was intended to be ego medicine turn out to be ego-poisoning

What was intended to be ego strengthening turn out to be ego-weakening

What was intended to be ego unifying turn out to be ego-divisive

What was intended to be ego-protective and ego-rescuing turn out to be ego-defeating

How can you find out what your addictions mean? Analysis shows that an addiction is composed of desire and fear. An addiction is whatever you believe to be necessary to your survival, comfort, security, pleasure, control, freedom, power or self-worth. In short, an addiction is whatever belief system you depend on.

A phobia is whatever you feel you must avoid and resist.

Analyze your phobias and desires, and you will find that they are always self-limiting and always involved with your symptoms. Desires and phobias both conceal and reveal infinity.

What would you expect, since Infinity and the illusions of the finite is all there is?

What does your symptom conceal? Reveal?

Every spare moment is an invitation to Self-Realization. It is totally an inside job.

Every apparent finite thing, event, or experience is symbolic of the infinite and is able to conceal or reveal the infinite.

Ask yourself: what quality of the infinite does this particular experience conceal and reveal? Every quality is a quality of God, rightly understood. Look at every experience you have and name it as a quality of God. Keep on naming it until the muddy water clears up and you can see crystal clear.

Does this experience reveal the mystery or obviousness of God, the quietness or chaos of God, the rhythm or stillness of God, the disguises or revelations of God, the precision or the wild abandon of God, the contentment or discontentment of God? Is God mean or merciful? Is God selfish or altruistic? Is God violent or peaceful? Is God withdrawn or within? Is God punitive or forgiving? Every quality has its positive meaning. Have you looked for that meaning? We consider anyone mean, selfish, violent or withdrawn who seems to be at cross purposes with our ego agenda, do we not? Analyze your judgments and your ego agendas and see if they are shadow phenomena.

God is a perfect projection screen for our own inner conflicts. God is totally willing to help us see through our concealing and revealing perceptions into the clear light of truth. If we do not do it voluntarily, we receive symptoms as wake-up calls. We are free to live out our stories, but they will not be symptom-free. How could illusions be symptom-free? There is a price for non-awareness, and there is a great blessing in awareness.

When you truly discover what is most addictive and symptomatic in your story, you will have found your key to the Kingdom of Heaven, and you will be chewing on that bone for years to come. That is what is meant in AA when they say “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic”. The alcoholic is always “recovering.” The real meaning of such statements is that we are hopelessly infinite beings trying to recover from the addictive and symptomatic belief in our shadow story.

Spiritual Psychotherapy is one place in life that Charlie can examine his symptoms and shadows to discover how they both conceal and reveal infinity.

Today humanity, as never before, is split into two apparently irreconcilable halves. The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposite halves.

C.G. Jung

The Single Cause of Human Suffering and Symptoms

A single cause? There must be a zillion!

What is the Single Cause of Human Suffering and Symptoms?

I believe that through a long process of research, in-search, testing, analyzing, checking and revelation, I have isolated the “single cause of human suffering and symptoms.” This book is an explication of what I believe this single cause to be. On this website I have spelled out this causation formula in as many ways as possible, depending on where you are hearing it from, so that it is as clear as possible, aside from the necessity of experience itself. When you have finished reading and digesting this material, please let me know what you think the cause of human suffering and symptoms is. Every human being has a stake and an interest in the answer to this key question.

My own answer involves 100% responsibility for my own experience.

We could say that irresponsibility is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that self-deception is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that lack of awareness is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that the belief in self-origination is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that the belief in separateness, deficiency, and entrapment is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that the human story that we tell ourselves every day is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that the belief in victimization is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that spiritual ignorance is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that idolatry is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that the ego is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that fear is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that being in a hypnotic trance is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that Self-betrayal is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

We could say that lack of vision is the single cause of human suffering and symptoms

In my opinion and experience, all of these are accurate, and none of them are mutually exclusive. All of these definitions of the cause of human suffering and symptoms are viewed from a spiritual perspective. None of these definitions can be proven or dis-proven. None of these spiritual definitions are very meaningful from purely medical, scientific, materialistic or psychological models Understanding of these “causes” requires the activation of the spiritual power of vision. If you are interested in proving that your view of yourself and your world is right, you will find many justifications for throwing out these “causes.” If you are tired of mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment of your problems, give this approach a year’s consideration and evaluation. After all, the causes for suffering and symptoms did not develop yesterday, and will not be remedied by anything less than a radical change in consciousness itself. A mere change in behavior, chemistry, circumstances, partners, or the body will not reach the level of cause and any such outward behavior modification will only bring temporary and banal results. Changes within the system won’t cut it, only changing the system itself. Radical change requires venturing into the unknown polarities of your world and beyond. Like Columbus you won’t really know if you are going to sail off the edge of the (known) world or not, but I guarantee you that you will. Trying to live in your imagined comfort zone is not going to cut it. The universe is your oyster.

I say to myself: suppose that my “I” is just a tiny speck of finite thought in a magnificent unlimited universe which I call “Not-I”. Suppose that this “I” with which I identify my self and my existence, is not in fact what “I” am. Suppose my “I” has to be expanded to include this entire magnificent universe and all that is within it? Just suppose that I have been wrong in thinking that I am my skin-encapsulated ego, as Alan Watts called it.. Astronomers have found out that the universe has to be measured in light years, which means that time and space become one. Time-versus-space does not exist, only time-space exists. It took Einstein to get a big enough perspective to realize this wholeness. If time and space are one, then so is everything else, because time and space are the chief categories of dividedness which we use to support our notions of a finite ego perceptual world. Every time that you get uptight, transport yourself 300 billion light-years into eternity and take a tour into Big Bang country. Or if that is too breathtaking, just perch yourself on the moon and look at the earth as a part of yourself. Self-constriction and self-contraction is, in this respect, the single cause of suffering and symptoms. Infinity awareness is possible and is available through taking full responsibility for my suffering and symptoms.

Symptom Formation and Mis-Diagnosis

Let us trace a common behavior problem through 12 possible levels in the symptom-forming process:

1. Negative attention-seeking misbehavior

2. Desires attention, approval, affirmation, support

3. Feels rejected, lacking in importance and worth, isolated, empty, trapped

4. Reacts with anger, hurt, defiance, withdrawal, fear, self-defense, illness, etc.

5. Projects that other people don’t care, are selfish, have the power and advantage, etc

6.Takes the posture of victim, perpetrator, rescuer or all three

7. Supposes that attention, value, love, affirmation have to come from the outside

8. Assumes that self-attention, self-affirmation, self-worth are not possible or inadequate

9. Allows fear, control, manipulative strategies, and self-defense to take over

10 Unconsciously attaches self to a story of finite duality, deprivation, & entrapment

11. Ignores and doubts the truth of oneness, completeness, freedom

12. AWAKENING TO THE INFINITE CORE of truth, light, beauty, wholeness, oneness, unconditional love, abundance, freedom, peace, power, and joy

Mis-diagnosis is the major phenomena that we aim to correct in Spiritual Psychotherapy.

Professionals and patients alike buy into shallow, premature, incomplete, incorrect, fear-driven, and ego-serving diagnoses and treatments.

Why are we so willing to believe that the cause of the presenting behavior problem is brain chemistry, genetics, environmental deficits, some psychological state such as depression, some past trauma, some dysfunctional relationship, or even some form of cognitive distortion? But just suppose that these are all secondary or symptomatic factors rather than the primary cause. We are theorizing here that there is but one primary “cause” of all symptoms and secondary factors: Infinity Unawareness; and that there is but one “cure”: Infinity Awareness. We have not yet in the literature and practice of psychotherapy, medical treatment, and social rehabilitation reached the point of seeing the difference in the human story and the truth, between the self-concept and the Self, between society and the New Humanity. We are facing the increasing challenge to develop a spiritual psychotherapy, a spiritual medicine, a spiritual education, a spiritual sociology, a spiritual anthropology, a spiritual politics. Why? Because we are spiritual beings. Such a spirituality has been almost impossibile in the past due to the turf wars and power struggles between religions, philosophies, politics, and cultural belief systems.

Al states his case that his beloved wife left him and he is in a terrible crisis. He is willing to give her up because she betrayed him, but not because he does not love her. He loves her but does not trust her. His fantasy that she might return doesn’t fit the facts that divorce is eminent. To keep functioning he tells himself that he must see the difference in facts and fantasy. If she were to return they would have to go to counseling to straighten out the distrust issue.

Thus far in this analysis, Al is in perfect step with his story about himself and the world.

Al is functioning on a very conscious rational basis and thereby is stuck solidly in his story and doesn’t know it. He tells himself that he is still living in the fantasy that she may return and that he needs to stay with the facts. This kind of analysis is a perfect self-diagnosis within his story without seeing the bigger picture. He does not realize that his life before she “betrayed” him is as much a part of the story as his life since that time. He just didn’t feel the pain of it, because he was not ready.

Now he is ready because his pain is too conscious and too great to be able to ignore it. He said that his main goal is to function at work in order to get the recognition that he needs.

I said to Al that such a work goal is also in direct keeping with his story.

If Al makes anything (such as re-union with his wife, getting recognition at work, recovery from his symptoms, or finding a new wife) more primary than awakening from his story and discovering himself, he will have missed his grand opportunity.

However, if he can re-frame his analysis and self-diagnosis, he can see the following:

1. The outer separation and impending divorce is symbolic of his inner split bet ween his ego and his Self.

The pain that he is experiencing is from this inner split, which is symbolized outwardly by the separation
The betrayal and distrust that he feels toward her for not informing him is due to the fact that he betrayed himself about his inner conflicts, and did not inform himself what his conflict was really about. He still trusts his story and distrusts himself. His love is for the supposed security of his story and not for his Self.
Al and his wife made the typical “deal” in their marriage story which says “You make me happy and I will make you happy, maybe” and “You be responsible for my miseries and I will be responsible for yours, maybe.” Now that “deal” is off because neither of them kept their part of the bargain. The astonishing thing is that they do not recognize the impossibility of such a deal ever working. (You can’t make anyone else happy or unhappy, only they can do that to and for themselves). To trust such a deal is sure to lead to betrayal and disillusionment.
Al and his wife may be disillusioned with each other, but not with their stories yet. Disillusionment regarding another is fundamentally disillusionment with your story. Al has only gone to Step One in the disillusionment process. He is disillusioned with her and maybe with marriage. Step Two would be radical disillusionment, which is disillusionment with your illusions, with your story. Once you take Step Two, you understand yourself and your partner and the relationship can move as it should.
Fantasies about a bitter end to the marriage or about reunion are also fundamentally unrecognized fantasies about ending one’s ties to the story and reuniting with one’s True Self.
The search for recognition is a built-in part of Al’s life story. The human search for recognition is so unlimited that it can destroy any relationship. There is no way a mere human partner can give another enough recognition to fill the recognition-hunger need. You can’t fill this hunger with food, accomplishments, compliments, success, addictive behavior, sex or material things. Unfulfilled recognition-hunger can also destroy one’s health and peace of mind. Al must re-frame this recognition-desire into his search for Self-discovery. In the Infinite Core of himself there is no lack of wholeness, no lack of presence, no lack of satisfaction, because no lack exists there. He needs to recognize the Self and then he will no longer compulsively be pursuing the impossible goal of other-recognition. Other-recognition is a fleeting, temporary and dissatisfying substitute for Self-Awareness.

In the box below the vibration level of 200 (See Map of Consciousness section) we experience preoccupation with the bad and doubt of the good; between 200 and 540, we experience repression of the Ultimacy of the Good; above 600 we experience the Infinite Good.

Are there degrees of functionality? Certainly. But each person’s “religion” is what holds things together in their story . Each person’s story varies with the vibrational frequency of the person’s consciousness. The lower the vibration the less functional the person is, and the less healthy their religion is. We are all religious (fanatical, insane) within our human story.. That is, we all have some degree of illusion that holds our finite identity together. Some religious outlooks are more functional than others, but all bear the marks of dualism and illusion. . Stories that function between 0 and 200 are entrapping and blatantly symptomatic; stories that function from 200 to 540 are still dualistic but more subtly symptomatic; vibrational energies above 600 are unitive

How to De-Code Your Symptoms

You do not have to fight, resist, avoid, medicate, compensate for, or merely endure your symptoms.

First, you regard your symptom as distorted symbolic language about your innermost Self

Second, you begin to see pain and suffering as a teacher and not as an enemy, and to be curious about what its message is.

Third, you reflect on the possible positive meanings your symptom could have for you.

Fourth, if a crisis has cracked open the shell of your ordinary perception, you decide to keep your foot in the door of this valuable opportunity for change and transcendence.

Fifth, you learn that to de-cipher the unconscious language of the soul may require some study, some reflection, some curiosity, and some investment of time in spiritual exploration. Spiritual psychotherapy is the chief discipline which verses itself in the depth meaning of symbolic and symptomatic language as it relates to your infinite nature.

Sixth, you ask yourself how your symptom exposes an unconscious and fallacious assumption that you are separated, lacking or trapped. You ask yourself in what ways your symptom exposes a fear-based story and control strategy which is not working. You ask yourself how your symptom and suffering point to ignored potentiality and spirituality.

Seventh, you begin to be suspicious about all of the compulsive “solutions” your ego cooks up which are supposed to “fix” your discomfort. You begin to be suspicious about how your ego always blames something outside of yourself for all of your problems, and to notice how that dis-empowers you.

Eighth, you begin to pray the true seeker’s prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know its me.”

Symptom formation occurs in the interest of avoiding overwhelming anxiety

Freud

A symptom marks the spot where self-amnesia is occurring

Freud

We locate our unrecognized and disowned sense of power in our symptom

John Dorsey

What is Your First Priority?

Up until the mid-life crisis erupts, our first priority is ego survival and ego enhancement. Our entire life is polarized into me and not-me, ideal self versus shadow self, and all of the priorities based upon such polarities. If you are lucky, it only takes about 40 years to find out that this prioritizing doesn’t work. Unconsciously people go to counseling because their prioritizing isn’t working; consciously, people go to counseling to get rid of the pain that others are “causing; them. What is the purpose of counseling and psychotherapy? The purpose of therapy is that the suffering story-teller may learn to make the healing of his pain and the awakening from his illusions his first priority on a moment to moment basis. This is a fundmental shift. Up until now our entire energies have been prioritized into making our ego story work. Now we realize that if any other goal than healing and awakening takes first priority, it is doomed to fail in due time.

If we are not consciously on our spiritual path on a moment-by-moment basis, then:
we are falling back into sleep we are resuming our addictive story we are acting out our fears we are projecting our shadow onto others we are digging our victim hole deeper we are creating more symptoms we are confusing ourselves further we are ignoring our inner core of bliss we are dis-empowering ourselves we are short-changing ourselves we are deceiving ourselves we are sabotaging our relationships

Therapy is where we learn that therapy is basically all we have to do in life. Therapy is in direct competition with the rest of our goals for first priority. Therapy is the supreme value in life, even more important than survival. Survival is an ego concept. Survival is basically all that the ego can put first. As long as ego survival is our primary goal, therapy will be useless. When therapy becomes our first priority, ego survival and enhancement loses its grip on our life. Ego strategies do not want healing, they want what they want. Therapy brings an end to ego strategies in time. Your therapist cannot heal you. Your healer is your Higher Power within. Healing is an awakening to Reality. What is healed is the pain that is arising from your ego story. What you awaken from is your false belief system which is causing the pain. What you awaken to is your God-self and its unlimited potentialities.

The healing of the painful belief in separateness occurs to the degree that we awaken from the illusion of aloneness and become aware of our belonging, connectedness, and wholeness

The healing of the painful belief in lack occurs to the degree that we awaken from the bad dream of deprivation and become aware of the presence of our infinite potentiality, abundance, and god-likeness

The healing of the painful belief in entrapment occurs to the degree that we awaken from the human story of victimization and become aware of our glorious freedom and holiness as the sons and daughters of God.

Jesus said “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” That sounds like an inevitable process. Coming to know the truth means that we do not yet know it. We will be set free from illusions, ego stories, false beliefs, victimization notions and painful guilt and anger. Our illusory belief system works only in a hit-and-miss fashion and ultimately fails. People come to therapy because life isn’t working. People come to therapy because they have mis-diagnosed their condition and their problems and therefore their solutions and strategies are not working. Every one plays doctor, and has their own self-diagnosis and RX for their self- diagnosed condition. I lack _____and I must have _____. This is a mis-diagnosis because you already have ______ as a spiritual being. You are just overlooking it because you think it is out there somewhere. Therapy is the reversal of our perceptual format.

Therapy is the process of discovering the meaning of our mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment. Therapy is the dawning realization that we fall asleep to the truth of ourselves hundreds of times a day. We fall back into the deeply engrained pain of our habitual chronic illusion of victimization. Our sick thinking is constantly playing in the background of our conscious minds. Unless therapy becomes our conscious priority, we shall continue with our habitual assumptions and self-rescue efforts.

It seems weak and humiliating to see that our schemes are not working, but it is actually a strength. Our weakness is that we are so proud of a non-working story. It takes a lot of pain to convince us to summon the courage to really investigate our ego belief system. If the suffering seeker does not put his or her therapy first, and begin the inner journey of individuation, there will be no second birth. The first part of life is our physical and psychological birth and story; the second part of life is our spiritual re-birth and journey into true individuation. In the first part of life our priority is our ego survival and enhancement, during which we have little awareness that we are spiritual beings. In the second part of life, we become conscious of our spirituality, we are re-born, and we consciously choose to nurture that growth process as our first priority. If I practice my therapy, all else takes care of itself; if I do not practice my therapy, things begin to deteriorate.

Therapy is not just something that occurs in a professional office. That one hour session represents a life process, a re-birth and a growth into a new awareness. Therapy is a process of continual awareness about who I am as a spiritual being. Therapy is a continual process of awareness of the illusions of my victimization story. Therapy is my new life priority about the healing of my pain and the awakening to my infinite nature. Up until now my life priorities have been based upon my belief that I know what is wrong and how to fix it. 24/7 have been devoted to my survival and ego enhancement strategies. Now I see and am commited to the realization that what I was doing wasn’t working and couldn’t work. That failure was not my fault, but it is my responsibility. Neither self-blame nor other-blame, neither condemning nor excusing, have worked. Trying didn’t work, nor did not trying. Inside the ego story, nothing works very well or very long.

If therapy ever becomes second to anything else in your life, you have already gone back to sleep. You have bitten the apple again. In one fairy tale, the princess bites the poisonous apple of false-knowledge and falls asleep. Only the kiss of love awakens her. The awareness of this poisonous knowledge and this kiss of love is what therapy is. Therapy is the continual re-discovery of the true knowledge of unconditional love, wisdom and power.

Commitment to the therapy process is our way of challenging any fear that we have: fear of loneliness, fear of lack, or fear of entrapment. The daily process of healing and awakening gives us an edge in challenging the victim belief. The victim belief is the most painful persistent lie that human beings tell themselves. The victimization fear is the subject of all therapy. The victimization fear is so pervasive that it controls our lives 24/7 as a program playing in the background. Victimization-fear is a very constricting, contracting, resisting experience.

Raphael Cushnir (Unconditional Bliss. 2000. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books) in his important work on bliss has emphasized and explained the role of contraction and resistance in human suffering. Raphael defines the basics of contraction (page 200) in this manner:

Contraction: an instinctive response to anything unwanted

Expansion: the state of connectedness to all things

Resistance: the choice, conscious or otherwise, to remain contracted

Awareness: enough separation from resistance to recognize its there

Acceptance: the allowing and embracing of all experience

Presence: the moment to moment process of acceptance

Bliss: joy plus love minus cause = the song of the heart, ever-expanding

Our ego story is a contracting experience. We make our world and our self smaller in order to protect ourselves and survive.

Resistance or Acceptance

Resistance:

Resistance takes the forms of demanding, expecting, avoiding, explaining, blaming, fearing, hating, manipulating, forcing, superficial agreeing, defending-and-attacking. Apathy, grief, fear, hostility, pain, and other forms of resistance occur in the box, below 200. These resistances involve contraction, tightening up, cutting off the life flow, standing on the hose. Resistance is a denial of what is. We are trying to fix it. We contract in order to control, avoid or fix. Every resistance and contraction makes the self seem smaller, the self-esteem less. Resistance signals an outward projection of the inner split. Resistance may expresss as resignation or as passive-aggressiveness. That is, you “accept” but do it angrily.

Acceptance:

Acceptance can be described as allowing, surrendering to, accepting, welcoming, being grateful for, being willing to. Acceptance expresses on our consciousness map as willingness at 310; acceptance at 380; cooperation at 390; and gratitude at 540. Acceptance permits expansion, a letting go, a flowing, a relaxation, an easy breathing, an allowance of the bliss from the inner core to be experienced.

The real issue is in the inner split, not the tension between any two parties. John and Emily have polarized on intimacy and freedom. She demands intimacy and avoids aloneness; he demands freedom and avoids entrapment. What she expects and demands seems necessary for her to be secure, in control, and painless; what he expects and demands seems necessary for him to be secure, in control and painless. Each pushes the others’ buttons. They are a perfect mirror match. Each is a threat to the other’s story and supposed security. Actually they are God’s gift for each other’s growth. Neither of them cannot imagine anything worse than the threat that the other represents. They are in a defend-and-attack mode. Each has to learn to relax into what he is resisting. John has to allow himself to feel bound; Emily has to allow herself to feel lonely.

RESISTANCE

When I resist what is…
I’m resisting what I co-created,
I’m resisting what I need to learn,
I’m resisting what I need to heal.

I’m resisting…
The “I Am” of me!

Resistance needs to be embraced…
Resistance needs to be explored…
Resistance needs to be understood.

Resistance shows me where,
I’m clinging to my past,
Or yearning for my future.

Resistance needs to be accepted,
Resistance needs to be embraced,
Resistance needs to be transcended.

Resistance is me…
Trying to make “what is”
Into what I “think” it should be!

When I resist any element of my life,
I’m fighting against the
Flow of the whole Universe!

When I surrender to what is,
I see the truth of “what is”
I’m in the flow,
And I go merrily
Down the stream of my Life.

Hu Dalconzo

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. The point is to live everything. Live the questions now.

Rainer Marie Rinke

Raphael outlines the questions to be asked (1) What is happening right now? (2) Can I be with it? (See pages 35-37, Unconditional Bliss)

Usually we tighten up and constrict ourselves. We cut off our own flow. We resist what we fear and what we don’t want. In this manner we are not acting in our own best interest. Only when we reach the willingness to experience anything do we begin to relax and flow again. Ego is a contracted version of the Great Self. Seek ye first the Kingdom of Healing and Awakening and all other things will be added unto you.

Raphael Cushnir (Unconditional Bliss. 2000. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books)

The Life Force

Your body is a temple of the living God

Spiritual Psychotherapy deals with the basic life energy of the psyche and of the universe. There is but one energy which, like light, is refracted into many frequencies.

When you get past the conditioning of the mind and all of the emotional conflicts thereof, you encounter infinite potentiality itself, the Life Force, the raw God Power which Freud misnamed the Id. This Life force is what we most desire and most fear. Uncovering, experiencing and being re-directed by this Life Force is the task of a lifetime. Ignorance and fear of this force is the essence of our symptoms. We have erected all sorts of defenses against the awareness of this basic life energy. We have trivialized or repressed this awareness. We have avoided or abused this infinite experience. The scriptures say you cannot see God and live (as you have been living).

Out of the fear of loss of control of our self, we anesthetize or numb or deny the existence of this infinite energy. We fear going crazy, raping or killing, being destructive, hurting people, being condemned, being selfish. We think that this inmost power is harmful, stupid, primitive, animalistic, sadistic, irresponsible, selfish, and ugly. We imagine that it will break loose, go wild, go beserck. Look at the morning newspaper and see what people do when they lose self-control. And so we seek to develop self-control and self-discipline. We fear this inner power and project it onto others, lest we act it out and go to hell. Hasn’t God and society erected all sorts of laws and rules so that this inner, rotten, sinful, self does not take over?

We can name numerous relatives and neighbors who lost control of their impulses, became alcoholics, beat up their spouses and kids, sexually molested the daughters, and got into fights. These impulses had to be deadened and sedated. We fear that the enemy is within, and it is better to be a mechanical robot than a wild man. Just look at the loss of restraint and dignity all around you. People acting like animals. Once you get started on that downhill plunge, you can’t stop. Something evil takes over. Look at how people lose control, go on rampages and shoot innocent people in the bank or post office. Look at the jails full of criminals and at the senseless wars where millions are slaughtered. What can be done about young people who get into gangs and into drugs and lose control of their lives for years? Spanking and punishing may be unpleasant but at least kids learn to be decent and respectful rather than disobedient and disrespectful idiots. Why, without drugs the mentally ill would be impossible to control, and without jails the psychopaths would take over the streets. Fighting crime and drugs is a constant battle. Isn’t this the way we think?

The dilemma seems to boil down to:

If I let go, will I do bad things?

If I don’t let go, will I go crazy trying to restrain my impulses?

When this Life Force is misunderstood and misjudged, it is restrained, sealed off, rejected, and projected onto others as a shadow or dark side.. It is believed that at the very core of the self there is not a force for intimacy and unity, but a force for pain and injury and irresponsible hedonism. We have feared this unknown inner power and sought to trivialize, secularize, somatize, and intellectualize it. We believe that this force, unless thoroughly controlled, will be used negatively to manipulate, abuse and take advantage. We believe this energy is a greedy and selfish power which we have to guard against and keep secret. At best it has to be stoically controlled. It is perceived to be a godless, ungrateful, rebellious, mean-spirited, fearful and hateful attitude that must be punished, kept in line, restrained, lest one become hurtful, do bad things and feel guilty, live at risk, feel over-powered. It is better to feel powerless than over-powering Family closets are full of skeletons that are guarded from the public eye. Secret sins and desires are kept in the closets of homosexuality and all kinds of unmentionable evils. Pandora’s box is supposedly full of delicious horrible creatures that disturb the good people of the world. If you once give voice to this inner anger and passion, you will lose control and ruin your life of decency and honor.

If everyone gave vent to this inner force, what would happen to the structure of society? Would we have anarchy, blood running in the streets, families falling apart, debauchery and sexual impulses taking over? Would everyone selfishly pursue his own ends at any cost? Would self-expression destroy law and order? We sometimes seem to believe that the innermost rotten core of man must be warred with, that without soldiers and police, this would become a state of war. Isn’t it obvious that evil and the devil is at the heart of man, not God? That God rules the world from above and that we must join him in the battle against the demonic, sick, dangerous, and anti-social forces within?

Such beliefs and fears have ruled humanity from the beginning. Right off the bat, Cain slew his brother, Abel. The whole race ended with a flood. Sodom and Gomorrah happens, and what can you expect except the wrap-up of history with the final catastrophe of Armageddon? No one can trust himself or others. People will steal you blind. You have to be on guard at all times. If anything is infinite, it is our pettiness, lying and cheating. How can anyone say that man is inherently divine? What a ridiculous idea! It’s a rat-race and a dog-eat-dog world, realistically speaking, is it not?

It is said that Jesus “knew what was in man.” Was Jesus a realist or a hopelessly romantic idealist? How could he have seen past the evil in man to something sublime and beautiful? How could he say to bring the little children unto me? Where were the brats? How could he hug the lepers, what about their rotten energy? How could he associate with the drunkards and prostitutes? How could he forgive a thief on the cross? How could he trust his life to a cowardly band of so-called disciples? Did he see and trust something we don’t see and trust? How could he maintain Infinite Vision in such a cesspool of human selfishness? That is our challenge in this lifetime. If God is the deepest spiritual force within us, our hidden potential, the Infinite within, is it worth our continual effort to find out the truth and sort out our confusion? If God is this living inner force, then maybe we do not have to drive motorcycles 135 mph to feel alive. Maybe the Id is just a human caricature and misinterpretation of the God Force. Maybe the devil is the God Force misnamed, misjudged, and misused.

Spiritual Psychotherapy operates on the assumption that the innermost force in humankind is a spiritual force, which has been maligned, misjudged and mislabeled for generations, thus producing the most bizarre symptoms imaginable. Re-connection with the truth about this force leads to transformation.

The Gift of Anxiety

A Gift???

Stress, fear and anxiety are everyday experiences which manifest as symptoms in our story.

ANXIETY is the chief symptom of human ignorance

ANXIETY is the most universally dreaded and misunderstood human experience

ANXIETY when unexamined prevents total relaxation, essential trust, and intuitive awareness

ANXIETY turns into depression when we shut it down

Anxiety acted out does not get rid of itself

ANXIETY represents the loss or the threat of loss of what I think I control

ANXIETY about disappointments and regrets fuels the fires of shame and guilt, which then seem to entrap the human spirit

ANXIETY misunderstood is the cause of our addictive search for security and power in the finite world of shadows and illusions

ANXIETY is either my enemy or my teacher

ANXIETY is a gift of God, the meaning of which is buried in the soul, like gold in the earth

ANXIETY is a symptom, a mystery, which like a string can be wound up into a ball in order to lead us out of this shadowy cave into the Light of Consciousness

ANXIETY points to our infinite potentiality which we must embrace when our mind shudders at the sight of the void

ANXIETY represents the challenge to exercise the courage to live in the Eternal Now, letting go of past knowns and future unknowns

ANXIETY is our invitation to awaken from all of our limited self-concepts to our human divinity, to the possibility of all things, and to the certainty of our sacred destiny.

ANXIETY is our lifeline to the peace that passes understanding.

ANXIETY is the fiery door through which we must pass in order to find the True Treasure of Selfhood

ANXIETY is a wake-up call for us to realize that The Holy Spirit of God lives in this human body

ANXIETY is the whisper of the soul asking questions that I have forgotten and ignored the answer to.

ANXIETY is the fuel for the transformation of the caterpillar ego into the butterfly Self

ANXIETY is our chief response when Jesus asks “What do you want from me?” and “Who am I to you?”

ANXIETY is the only path to the beginning of Self-knowledge and Individuation.

ANXIETY is the major symptom through which we become a Master instead of a Victim.

ANXIETY is a misnomer for the mysterious presence of the Infinite when our illusions are threatened.

ANXIETY represents the opportunity to embrace what you don’t know and haven’t even dared to suspect about the vastness and grandeur of your Infinite Imagination

ANXIETY is our unavoidable companion and teacher about the paradoxical meaning of pain

ANXIETY is our shared human experience which either destroys or heals relationships

PARTNERS in the exploration of the meaning of ANXIETY find the god and goddess in one another

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace

Where there is hatred, let me sow love

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith

Where there is despair, faith

Where there is darkness, light

Where there is sadness, joy

O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

What Are My Chances for Awakening?

5%?

What are a person’s chances of awakening? Let us take a brief look at the lives of many average people.Daily Stressors

Often 8-10 hours of stressful work, with a 1 hour average of driving on crowded streets, or freeways, with smoke and smog to get to work, with many people on shift work or holding two to three jobs.
2-4 hours of television a day, which is often focused on distressful news, competitive sports, win/lose game shows, good guy/bad guy dramas, and jazzed up music.
Power struggles at home, at work and at school
Fast-food, sugar and white flour products, and stimulants such as coffee and sodas
Addictive stimulants such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs
Insomnia
Frustrating desire for or resistance to sex
Medication with side effects
Restless desire for a coffee break, desire for 5 p.m., desire for the weekend, desire for vacation, desire for retirement
Never paid off credit card debts and loans
Only one of four families is a traditional two parent family with children
One of every two marriages end in divorce
Step-children and blended family adjustments
Layoffs and downsizing
Problems with intimacy
Pornography
An affair
Violence or legal problems
Moving every three years
Illness, depression, anxiety
Peer pressure to join in with the crowd to be accepted.
Suffering with the stress and symptoms of such a lifestyle

Such experiences can take up most of a person’s life and time, just to survive. These behaviors, as a composite, keep a person functioning at barely a survival level. But then we are asking how can a person raise his vibratory frequency level?

In this book I have been outlining the chief way that we can change our vibratory frequency level: through divinity-awareness and infinite imagination.

In addition to divinity-awareness, there are also what I call energy enhancers.

Energy Enhancers

There are energy enhancers which can support and uplift our level of energy:

Gratitude, forgiveness, and unconditional love
Natural whole energy foods and drinks
Exercise and relaxation
Meditation, worship, prayer, and spiritual/classical music
Communication and problem-solving skills
Non-judgmental attitudes
Intimacy/friendship/support system
Use of natural health and healing products and alternative medicine when traditional medicine is not enough for chronic conditions.

Energy enhancers alone are a temporary boost. We can get a “contact high” from such experiences, but our finite mindset is operating 24/7 in the background or in the foreground of our mind and continually pulls us down or lifts us up. Our basic attitudes have to be radically altered to stay ahead of the 22 stressors of our ordinary lifestyle and collective mindset. The transition from our finite mindset to Infinity Vision is worth our study and effort.

What are the chances of enlightenment for me?

100%

What are the chances of enlightenment for me in this lifetime?

Why? The chances of enlightenment are 100% because I am eternal light. Nothing short of perfect enlightenment is going to satisfy me. Anything short of perfection is going to manifest as a painful symptom, a gift to remind me that I am ignoring my spirituality and clinging to a self-created story.

God will not be mocked. Everyone of “his” will return to fellowship and union with him. And we are all “his.” Not one shall be excluded. Even those who exclude themselves will not be excluded. All will return to their inherent perfection. Nothing short of godhood can content anyone.

The chances of enlightenment in this lifetime are 1%, but that is all that is needed because that 1% is our guarantee. The chances are only 1% because we are so heavily programmed that we actually believe in the human story of limitations, faults, inferiority, vulnerability, victimization, littleness, shame, separateness, deficiency, and entrapment. Even though we may be frustrated and angry about such littleness, we nevertheless believe it. We have been brainwashed if we believe that anyone is anything but fearful. Although this fearfulness has hardened into misbehavior and poor health, it can be softened and transformed. 1% can do it all. 1 ounce of truth can transform a ton of junk. And nothing can remove that 1%, guaranteed. Nothing can hide, reduce, weaken, or destroy that 1% guaranteed spirituality. The mustard seed is enough.

Marital Symptoms:a Path to Spiritual Awakening

Tired of the power struggle?

Marital Problems Are a Path to Spiritual Awakening

Most marriage problems can be analyzed and understood very simply. Most of them are like those of Bill and Kim:

She wants intimacy (the belief is that she is separated from her Good)

He wants freedom (the belief is that he is trapped without his Good)

They fight over money and time (the belief that there is lack of their Good)

The chief symptom in marital problems is the Power Struggle. All power struggles are over these three false beliefs.

Marital conflicts are God’s gift to us for our personal growth. The marital crisis is an invitation to spiritual awareness. Each partner feels like a victim and blames the other for this painful experience. Each partner is fear-motivated in their power struggling. Each partner was drawn into this relationship through falling in love or some kind of security motivation, but each partner brought their “story” baggage and false belief system with them. Now this crisis demands that each examine himself or herself by ceasing to try to change and manipulate the other. No one can change anyone else. Self-change is the way that growth proceeds.

Every couple made a “deal” when they got married. The deal that they unconsciously agreed upon is “You make me happy, and I will make you happy, maybe. You take responsibility for my unhappiness and I will take responsibility for yours, maybe.” This “deal” is a non-spiritual deal. It does not work. When the marital crisis arrives, the deal is exposed. There is hurt, betrayal, anger, and various manipulative attempts to distance and exit the relationship. The pressure to leave is as strong as the degree of self-deception about who is at fault. The story is at fault, not the partners. Story analysis is very important in this crisis. If the story is not recognized and analyzed, it will recur later in more drastic symptoms. Spiritual awareness is necessary. Life will not work otherwise. Some marriage “deals” go sour in weeks, some in months, some in years, some never. But the price is always there in symptoms of some kind. Spiritual self-unawareness has a built in “penalty.” It is not punishment from God; this “penalty” is the offer of true self-realization and happiness. Codependency is not union because it skips over the inner condition of conflict and dividedness. True union is a result of enlightenment not manipulation. You are not a victim of marriage; you are a victim of spiritual ignorance. Marital pain is the path to spiritual awakening for most people.

A Map of Human Consciousness

This is all about me?

The Map of Human Consciousness is a creative work of the spirit for the benefit of all mankind. It was tested and developed by a psychiatrist, David Hawkins, based upon kineosology research with thousands of subjects over a 30 year period. (For details on Dr. Hawkins Map of Human Consciousness, see his book, Power versus Force.)

According to Dr. Hawkins, Most of humanity is stuck in the negative (-) life-denying energy vibrational levels from -20 (Shame) to -175 (Pride) and 190 (Conservatism)

The positive (+) life-affirming energy vibrational levels begin with Courage (telling the truth) at +200 and range all the way to Enlightenment at +1000.

Everyone has the full range of potentiality to function from -20 to +1000, but due to the attitudes and thoughts we hold in mind, we become fixated at any one of these chronic levels, although we are constantly trying to get “out of the ego box” of symptoms and suffering (from -20 to -175),

Spiritual Psychotherapy is one of the processes for transforming these -level life-denying negative energies into +level life-affirming positive ones.

Hawkins noted that each ego state has a downside and an upside, even though overall these states in the box are negative:

Regarding Guilt the downside might be that I hate myself and the world; the upside might be that I made a mistake, and want to correct it.

Regarding Apathy, the downside is that nothing works, I won’t even try; the upside might be that this isn’t working, I need help.

Regarding Grief, the downside is poor me, there is no hope; the upside might be that I can cry, share the sadness, and allow new hope.

Regarding Fear, the downside might be that I withdraw, feel paralyzed, run away; the upside might be that I take action, get help, find a safe solution.

Regarding Lust or Desire, the downside is that I have a constant craving and addiction;

the upside might be that I can seek something better.

Regarding Anger, the downside might be violence, bitterness, revenge; the upside might be assertiveness and validating of self.

Regarding Pride, the downside might be contempt, arrogance, control over others; the upside might be self-esteem and power to do things.

Regarding Conformity or Conservatism, the downside might be to hide or deny one’s dark side; the upside might be to want to belong in an honest way.

Finding You in Spite of Your Story

The story’s about you! Horace

Is it really?

When an investigator interrogates a suspect, he often asks: “What’s your story?”Everyone crafts his story day by day, year by year. Some of this crafting is personal and some of it is collective; some of it is conscious and some of it is unconscious. It seems necessary and inevitable that the author of the story is the main subject of the plot. This whole story-making process is built out of finite building blocks, although it is fueled by the infinite imagination. Every episode in the experience is impressed upon the memory and gives continuity to the personality and the plot.Most authors do not recognize the creativity and craftiness involved in their work. We are sure that our story is 100% true. We have identified so completely with our self-creation that we protect and defend our self-image with unbelievable tenacity. This is me. It is no story. The way I see it is the way it is. I trust my senses. I know what reality is. My pain and my paranoia is reality-based. I have been victimized. I have scars from my battles to prove it. My suffering is from reality, not from my story about reality. There is no difference in reality and my story about it. Communication problems and wars are due to the fact that other people misconstrue things. All of my problems arise due to the fact that other people live in their fantasy worlds and according to their warped views of things. “All the world is queer save me and thee, and sometimes I think thee is a little queer.” Anonymous.Story blindness and story identification is the cause of all of our suffering and symptoms. Biases, prejudices, opinions, judgments, stereotypes, projections and defenses are all built upon story commitment. Our attention and choices are controlled by the story we tell ourselves. All of our virtues and vices arise from our flawed story. If someone cooperates with our story about ourselves, we consider them a friend; if not, then an enemy.

And were an epitaph to be my story

I’d have a short one ready for my own.

I would have written of me on my stone:

I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.

Robert Frost

Ere their story die.

Thomas Hardy

My story being done: twas pityful, twas wondrous.

Shakespeare

The saddest story I have every heard.

Madux Ford

But that is another story.

Kipling

Time..shuts up the story of our days.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Its still the same old story

A fight for love and glory

Herman Hupfeld

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these “It might have been”

Longfellow.

For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo

Shakespeare

The story’s about you!

Horace

I come from a set of storytellers and moralists; the storytellers were forever changing the tale and the moralists tampering with it in order to put it in an edifying light.

-Victor Pritchett

One website: www.tellingmystory.com is dedicated to the notion that telling my story is healing:

It is in the transitional world of dreams and daydreams, visions and symbols, that we can become transformed. We move beyond the literal facts of our lives and begin to envision and create the hidden plots that restore meaning to our lives.

To live, to move beyond mere survival in life, requires a new kind of remembering. We invoke the Muses asking them to bring us the waters of remembrance. What was once mere trauma now becomes a spiritual awakening. a soulful journeyinto personal truth and meaning.

We tell our tales in a creative rather than fatalistic manner in order to heal. In the telling of our tales, we find a way of living with our pain, a way of transcending the sorrows and tragedies through the creative process. We find our healing stories and we tell them, moving us deeper into the soul of the world.

This is a place to learn about writing the healing stories of our lives and to find support in moving beyond survival. This is a place for us to tell the stories of our lives.

Telling my story is a way of discovering who I am within and underneath the story.

Unconsciously believing and living my story is different from seeking to discover its inner meaning. No one knows the meaning of his story until he seeks its meaning in the greater context of Infinity. If you find you, it will be in spite of your story. Story is confinement. You are the Infinite in space, the Eternal in time. Most of the time, our story overlooks this and boxes us into space and time. The question is “Does my story reveal or conceal the Infinite of me?”

Within our daily story-telling it is hard to see the forest for the trees.

Everyone has to have an interpreter to find the Truth in his story, to see the forest among the trees. Where is the Interpreter? In Pilgrim’s Progress, the Interpreter assisted Pilgrim in understanding the meaning of all that happened to him. The spiritual psychotherapist can assist in the Interpretation task, but only when he is “in the spirit”. The therapist may interpret according to his psychological model of the world, or he may interpret according to the Infinite. How he diagnoses and interprets (treats) is of great importance.

The difference in the story and the infinite meaning of the story is critical. We live in a good news/bad news world. The Good News only comes by awareness and discovery. Good News is not a matter of inheritance, or luck, or winning the lottery, finding the right person, getting the right degree, or earning a fortune. Good News is a leap of faith and an act of Grace. In your search, It finds you. The Good News is not a story, but the story is the clothing which the

Good News wears, by which it reveals or conceals the truth within.

The Seven Steps

The spiritual model includes the psychological model

The fundamental question in psychotherapy is: why are you in counseling? What’s your problem? Are you hurting? Some people avoid psychotherapy because they do not wish to face this question “Are you hurting?” This question must be answered so that the denial of pain does not continue. Every person on the face of the earth has some suffering, some symptoms, some anxiety, some stress, some pain. We may be too ashamed and embarrassed to admit this and we may deny it, but every person has some stress and some symptoms which result from the beliefs in separateness, deficiency and entrapment.

The first step then in psychotherapy is to admit one’s problem, stress, suffering, and symptoms, as opposed to a state of denial
The second basic step in psychotherapy is to address the question of why am I suffering, which usually is answered by blaming someone or something else, even if it is one’s genetics, one’s body, one’s addictions, one’s emotions, one’s past, God, evil, etc.
The third step is acceptance of responsibility for one’s suffering and symptoms. As long as we remain in a state of projection and blame, we are bound and not free.
The fourth step is discovering what creates our pain and symptoms, exactly what one was trying to blame on others and what one is responsible for.
The fifth step in psychotherapy is the recognition of what the unconscious beliefs are that produce my symptoms and my suffering.

6. The sixth step in psychotherapy is to accept my symptoms as a blessing in disguise, because they point to my hidden potentiality

7. The seventh step to freedom is the awareness that my beliefs are doubtful and that I am no longer bound by an untrue finite belief system

The first 5 steps have to do with diagnosis and the last two have to do with revelation.

Why wouldn’t a person want to know that he or she has infinite hidden potentiality? Why would a person prefer to remain attached to a binding finite belief system? Basically, because such a recognition means seeing that my ego is wrong, and being willing to change one’s story about his identity. We have to admit clinging to our mistaken beliefs, even though those beliefs may be causing enormous suffering.

We had rather be right and bound that wrong and free. We would have to give up all of our blame and anger. Our whole system of judgments would collapse. Our whole system of paranoia and self-justification would have to go.

Our greatest love and our strongest hate arise from the same story, because our greatest love is our attachment and our greatest hate is our resistance. Attachment and resistance occur only within the story.

The key question in psychotherapy is: Do victims exist? Within the bio-socio-psychological model, we would have to answer yes. Victims exist, perpetrators exist, rescuers exist

Someone is to blame. We have rules, punishments, and protections to deal with the fallout from victimization. Someone is hurt, someone is to blame, someone is responsible, and someone must be punished. If a single victim exists, then there must be a system of law, legislation, police, courts, jails, government, medicine, psychiatry and religion to moderate and enforce restrictions and punishments for the perpetrator.

If victims and perpetrators exist, then unconditional love cannot, even in heaven, unless we have a spiritual model of reality. Fortunately, unconditional love is reality and cannot exist in the psychological model, in our story. We give lip service to it, in our story, but that is all. None of us believes unconditional love, while holding on to the belief in judgment model at the same time. You can’t have it both ways. They are mutually exclusive, and so that leaves the judgment model in the story as an illusion. The whole good guy/bad guy mentality falls apart, and that is why we resist spiritual psychotherapy, because we are so attached to our judgments.

Letting Go

When you let go of the story, you experience non-story. When you let go of crime and punishment, you experience grace.

When you let go of judgment, you experience the unconditional

When you let go of illusions and lies, truth arises

When you let go of bondage, freedom arises

When you let go of the past and future, Eternity arises

When you let go of attachment to the finite, the Infinite is experienced

When you let go of fear, peace comes

When you let go of blame, forgiveness occurs

When you honor the positive meaning of your symptom, healing comes

The world of rules and law is where psychotherapy begins and the world of grace is where it ends. Symptoms seem to arise from conflicts within the world of finite rules and laws, but that is not true. Symptoms arise because of the discrepancy between the world of law and the world of grace. The self-image exists in the world of law, but you yourself exist in the world of grace. When you are identified with your self-image, you will have symptoms to remind you of that false self-identification, and you will blame that symptom on various conflicts within the world of law. The patient thinks that law will settle those conflicts. While it is true that some things may be mediated and settled, within the finite world of the court system, the big step is not really taken. While the conflict seems to occur between who is right and who is wrong, between the perpetrator and the victim, in the world of law both parties “lose,” and neither is “right.” The conflict is not settled because the guilt and innocence of both parties are relative in the absolute sense. In the relative sense, both parties have some guilt, and in the absolute sense both parties are innocent.

In the psychological model, one party is perceived as innocent and the other as guilty; one party is the victim and the other is the villain. To use injustice as a redemptive symptom, one must step out of the story. Psychotherapy is one vehicle for this realization, but unfortunately it is often not the case. Psychotherapy, like law, politics, science, education and religion, may unconsciously fall prey to the finite belief system of our story.

Whether you call our symptoms by the names of crime, sin, dysfunction, neurosis, psychosis, unfairness or other names, they are all indicators of an identity crisis. Who and what we are is the chief issue in symptom formation and correction. Spiritual amnesia is the single ultimate cause of all symptoms.

Diagnosis without the consideration of spiritual amnesia is going to miss the target. All relative diagnoses and treatments will only provide relative remedies, and the meaning and purpose of the symptom is aborted. Adjustments within the dream do not constitute awakening. Physical health as an end in itself is a short-sighted goal. Even the preservation of life cannot be looked upon as the ultimate goal of healing. As spiritual beings, we will survive and we will live forever.

The patient comes to therapy as a righteous innocent victim. He/she is hurt and angry and cannot forgive or forget.

Her only alternative seems to be to be blamed and condemned as either a victim or a perpetrator. She wants to escape any further such actions because she has already done both of those things to herself. How can she be responsible and yet not continue to suffer for her crimes, sins, and offenses, either against others or against herself? She believes that her offenses are real and that punishment must be real. She cannot find release and healing within the world of law, judgments and punishment. She must take the leap of faith into unconditional love and forgiveness. She must awaken to the spiritual reality of self-realization and drop the entire story of judgment. When she follows the seven steps of spiritual psychotherapy she discovers the truth for which her symptom arose.

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”

-H. M. Power

“You can be whatever you are. You are whatever you dream.”

-Anonymous

The final frontier is not outer space, but the human imagination

-Boeing

The Discrepancy

STRESS

There is a perceived discrepancy or cognitive dissonance between what you “have” and what you “want”, between your existence and your essence, between personality and Self, between the finite and the Infinite, between your self-image creation and the original creation. This discrepancy , this difference, is called error or stress.

This discrepancy goes underground and appears in our body or in our environment as a symptom. The stress or tension of this dissonance is what we call a problem, a nuisance, a painful distraction, a stumbling block, an interpersonal barrier, an illness or disease, a life-threatening condition, an accident, an act of fate, a toxic or environmental influence, genetics, an accident, a punishment. All of these are referred to here as “symptoms.”

When we get a symptom, we interpret it as a problem, and we seek for relief or a solution. Rarely do our conventional solutions reach the depth of the conflict between ego and essence. Our so-called solutions then tend to re-enforce the discrepancy because the message in the symptom is mis-diagnosed and mis-treated. It is mis-diagnosed because it has been encoded into bodily or environmental symbolism, into the language of the right-brain, into dream imagery.

When we experience this essential stress and do not rightly diagnose and “treat” it with transformative awareness, we handle it by such strategies, defenses or symptoms as :

1.Projection

2. Denial

3. Repression

4. Compartmentalization

5. Somatization

6. Acting out

7. Numbing

8. Anesthetization

9. Addictive behavior

10. Splitting into ideal versus shadow

11. Polarization

12. Rationalization

13. Emotionalization

14. Spiritualization

15. Power struggles.

16. Impulsivity

17. Withdrawal

18. Sexualization

19. Fixation

20. Compensation

21. Paranoia

22. Hostility

23. Rescueing

24. Scapegoating

Any or all of these reactions, defenses or coping mechanisms may become unconscious strategies for survival whereas they started out as temporary ways to handle stress or pain. But in every case we are only using “sight” to diagnose the condition and to prescribe our self-created treatment or solution. Then we may go to the doctor for more effective “treatment”. Conventional medical or psychological “treatment” is directed toward the relief of physical or psychological stress and symptomatology..

Sometimes chemical and behavioral remedies can reduce the symptom annoyance or arrest the disease progression. However, sometimes this progression has reached such a degree that surgery, imprisonment, divorce or other drastic measures are used to control or eradicate the symptom.

The alternative approach of Infinity Theory that we are exploring here employs, in addition to sight, the method of vision. Vision reveals that whatever else the symptom may be, it is also a life-saving message from the Superconscious or soul level. If this message is not divined, decoded and absorbed into consciousness, the stress just goes deeper into the total organism.

What then is this dissonance or discrepancy between the existence and the essence level which we call stress? What is the causal factor in the error?

A number of spiritual researchers have traced this causal factor to false beliefs. These beliefs contain partial truth and partial fiction. These beliefs arise from the racial mind and from the personal mind. As discussed earlier, I have reduced these beliefs to three irreducible universal notions: (1) the belief in separation, which is the capstone of all false, error-producing ideas (2) the belief in lack, or insecurity, and (3) the belief in entrapment, fate, victimization, or loss of freedom.

These three beliefs appear to be involved in all of our human errors and stress. These three errors must be observed when they overwhelm our consciousness with proof from our physical and mental sight. These beliefs must be challenged directly and consciously with the truth which arises from the vision of oneness, abundance and freedom. If these errors are not challenged with insight into our Infinite nature, they will continue to widen the chasm between our ego and our Self, and we will continue to manifest symptoms to register such errors of mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment.

All of the medications and advice in the world will not be sufficient to keep up with our continuous re-creation of these errors. In other words, you cannot fix an error which you are constantly re-creating. If you believe in separation, all of the togetherness activities in the world will not satisfy you; if you believe in lack, all of the money in the world will not satisfy you; if you believe in entrapment, all of the angry rebellion in the world will not satisfy you.

Massage may lessen the tension in the neck and it helps, but the human mind can create more tension in the neck than an all-day massage can remove. The human mind has lightning speed and infinite power behind it. The mind must be changed. The human mind can make hell out of heaven, and does it all the time. Look what we have done to the paradise in which we live. This body and this earth is a piece of work! Incredibly engineered! And yet this body and this earth can hardly withstand the ravaging errors and terrors inflicted by the mind. Look at what the mind of terrorists did to the New York skyline on September 11, 2001! The human mind is more powerful than the human body any day. The human mind is more powerful than the earth any day. The body and the earth put up quite a fight, and for many years mother nature is able to renew, but in the end the human mind wins and we see ecological disasters and entropy (death) setting in. Creation succumbs to our counter-creation. But in the meantime, we get basketfuls of messages and signals and symptoms to warn us. And not only to warn us, but to show us how to use this infinite power for our own benefit. We do not act in our own best self-interest! Believe it or not!

The Good News is that the human mind can be changed, transformed, renewed. Like so many things in a throw-away society, the human soul is not a disposable item. It has to be renewed. It can be renewed. Renewal is our calling and our destiny. Renewal is our hidden power, our divine potential. The power of destruction can be converted into the power of renewal.

The infinite power of imagination can be used in either direction. No one is helpless, no one is powerless, no one is stuck, no one is alone, no one is lacking. We are infinite beings operating on a finite stage. We tell ourselves that God is somewhere else, that we are lacking and that paradise is tomorrow. What a crock!

Existence and Essence

Generalized anxiety is so generic, so basic to the human condition, that we can hardly even imagine being without it. In European thought, it is called angst or existential anxiety. It is still hotly debated among philosophers whether essentialism even exists. Any essentialist is considered naïve, idealistic, and stupid. Life is said to begin and end with existence. Man is anxious and should be depressed. If a person is not anxious and depressed, what is wrong with him? In a New Yorker cartoon, a pedestrian has stopped a policeman and pointing to a man across the street he says to the policeman: “What is wrong with that man, he is smiling, he may be up to something, shouldn’t you arrest him?”

Stress is so generic and normal that non-stress seems un-imaginable. Original sin, by whatever name it is called, is our baseline for normality. Neurosis is normal. Even psychosis is no shock. You would be crazy not to be crazy in a crazy society. In Rome you do as the Romans do. You have to be either a comedian or a mental patient.

A mental patient was being interviewed in the psychiatric unit. She was asked how she liked the people here in the hospital. She remarked “There are no people here, only doctors, nurses and patients!” Sometimes we feel that it helps to be crazy and funny.

This generic condition arises due to our programming, to our imprinting, to our mental photographs. Our mind is a photo album, notes Glasser. We have pictures of everything, and if something doesn’t match our picture of it, we either ignore it or lie about it, in order to make it match. All of our judgments and opinions in life are based upon these “impressions”, upon these snapshots of people, things, and events.

Boredom and repetition are based upon this same phenomena. Hericlitus had it right when he said “No one ever steps in the same river twice.” But we haven’t even caught up with him yet. Nothing is the same, and yet it seems to be so. How are You? “About the same.” Is a generic lie. We just haven’t been aware. We are like Rip Van Winkle, asleep for 40 years.

When I was a youngster I spent many days fishing on the Satilla River in south Georgia. It was dark, deep, and wide, flowing constantly. It was bounded by wild lime trees whose branches hung over the edge of the water. Mists settle over the Satilla in the early mornings. Fish break the water chasing bugs. I “knew” every mile of that river, every creek and fishing hole. I fished and hunted there every year until I went to graduate school. Thirty years later I came back to the Satilla River and it was still dark, wide and deep, and it still flowed on and on, with its mist and lime trees, creeks and fishing holes. It seemed like the same great Satilla River. But it wasn’t the same river at all. It had never been the same river. It just fit my mental photographs of it. Even one minute later it was not the same river. And yet, it has a name and it exists apparently somewhere in south Georgia, but for me it exists in my mind where it always was and will be.

My grandmother’s farmette burned to the ground and is nothing but weed-covered acreage now, but to me it is still my childhood vacation spot, covered with fruit trees, a fascinating old barn with two Model A Fords in it, an old fashioned pump and a phone that has a hand ringer on it, an outdoor toilet, a few cows and a strawberry patch. Cottage cheese and a butter churn sit on the big screened-in porch, with a homemade checker board where I suffered many childhood defeats with my teasing grandfather’s smile.

But then there were the signs of existential angst in my family as well. There were stresses from drinking, from family feuds, from two divorces, from war stories, from noise about a cousin in jail, from church versus non-church issues. There were still stories about when my parents eloped to get married without telling anyone. There were instances of serious illness, and people died, even in their prime. One cousin ended up in a mental hospital for life. And my sister, a beautiful soloist and basketball player, died with peritonitis at age 15, and the whole county mourned, especially my mother, who had just had a newborn three months earlier, and I went off to college. My favorite pastor’s daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, and he had to move away. But people still “got saved” sometimes. For me, I couldn’t reconcile the spiritual experience I had at 12 tender years of age and the human suffering I saw in my small world. My extraordinary Dallas cousin was killed in the Air Force when his plane went down over enemy territory. Tragedy and suffering just didn’t fit with life on the Satilla River. I would spend my whole life trying to make things fit, trying to put together existence and essence with the incredible experience of a small town lad with the Cosmic Christ. I guess it will never be explained to my satisfaction, but neither can I ever stop trying. Neither sex, visions, music, poetry, existential theology, nor quantum psychology could satisfy this existential angst.

Existential angst. Generic anxiety. Modern stress. I have heard stories about meditating Buddhists who spend 40 years sitting in silence before the wave of a Zen Master’s hand brings them “satori.” Suddenly nothing fits. The world of pictures is exploded. The gap between existence and essence disappears. What is experienced can never be told because words and pictures can’t even begin to comprehend the magnificence, the beauty of “Infinity in a grain of sand.” Suddenly this seemingly godless world is nothing but God. The finite world is nothing but the clothing of Infinity. God is found under every rock. Peace is flowing forever like the Satilla River. Heavenly Fire is announced with each sunrise and sunset. Each breath is the breath of the Holy Spirit breathing me. Each word is about the Wordless. Each symbol of the moon points to the Moon. The Cosmic Christ is the truth behind each face. Each person is divine. Our suffering is just our ignorance. Yes, Jesus said that the thief would be with him that very day in paradise, and as for the rest of us he said that we are forgiven, for we know not what we do. We know Not. We Know Not. We Know Not. No wonder we have existential angst. We Know Not our own essence! Only a Snow Queen fairy tale from Russia could get the point across, which I now tell again here:

Once there was a wicked magician, a real demon. He was particularly delighted because he had made a huge glass which could at once cause everything good and beautiful reflected in it to shrink up to almost nothing, while ugly and useless things were made to appear ten times larger and worse than they really were. The loveliest landscapes when reflected in this mirror looked like oiled spinach. The handsomest persons became hideous and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies, and even their closest friends could not recognize them. And if someone had a freckle, it seemed to spread all over their nose and mouth. Those who attended his school of magic took the glass and went all up and down the world and showed it to everyone. Finally there was no person in any country who had not been looked at through this reflection in the mirror.

The followers of the wicked magician decided to take it up to heaven too so the angels too could see each other through it. But on the way up, the glass became moist from the atmosphere and slipped from their fingers and fell back upon the earth, so that when it hit the earth, it smashed into a million, trillion pieces. Some of these pieces were as tiny as dust fragments and blew all over the earth. Others were like small splinters. Some of the fragments of glass got into people’s eyes and thus caused them to see the world in a distorted way. It made them view everything in the wrong way or made them see only the worst side of what they looked at, for each little fragment had the same effect as the whole glass. Some people were so unfortunate as to receive a little splinter of glass in their heart, and that was terrible. The heart became cold and hard like a lump of ice. Some of the fragments were large enough to be used for window panes, and others were large enough to be used for spectacles through which to view the world. There are still some of these particles and splinters flying around in the air.

Like it or not, each of us has a unique mental map from which we chart reality. Each and every thought we have is directed by this map.

-John Bradshaw

None of our self-image maps of the universe can match the actual territory of this divine creation. None of our shadowy images in the mirror accurately reflect what is there. We only see our mental programming, our existential “ignorance,” in the shadowy mirror of human perception. We are so proud of our Information Highway and politically correct posturing; yet our stress continues. Hans Selye maintained that even stress can become valuable, eustress, or good stress.

Ah, yes, back to human anxiety. Even my theological idol, Paul Tillich, said :

The basic anxiety, the anxiety of a finite being about the threat of non-being, cannot be eliminated. It belongs to existence itself.

-Paul Tillich

Yes, basic anxiety seems to belong to existence itself, but is that just another piece of what we “know”? Infinity Theory maintains that we only know existence and that it is a misnomer. We only know our names, our words, our symbols, our maps about existence. We do not know existence itself, do we? We have a pessimistic map of the territory, but not a true map. If our map were true, for God’s sake, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die about it. Don’t kid yourself, he was killed about our human map of the world. He discovered the reality hidden by the mirrors of the mind. He re-discovered divinity everywhere. What he saw, he would not relinquish at any cost. We couldn’t stand the shock of his vision then, and we still can hardly bear it in the 21^st century. Pessimism still rules. The pain of the broken heart still rules. We don’t want to risk living and loving again. We are constantly struggling to find ways to rationalize being numb and dead in an “unjust, dangerous and sometimes boring universe.” We are not yet ready to live at total risk, like Jesus did, are we? Are we ready to be the Cosmic Christ in our family system? In our cultural milieu? Are we ready to believe that Essence, Love and Creativity are the Bottom Line? Are we ready to stare our existential angst in the face until we see God there? Are we ready to move on from our known existence into our Unknown Essence? Are we willing to give up our precious maps and live in God’s Country? Everyone is dreaming of living in Florida, California, Hawaii, Arizona or the Bahamas except the people who live there who are still trying to explain to themselves why paradise isn’t working.

Jesus discovered the Door to Paradise in a remote desert area called Palestine, which was under the ruling thumb of the Roman Empire. When he announced his discovery of paradise, he was ridiculed as being the poor uneducated son of a working class carpenter from a hicktown named Nazareth. Yet have our modern departments of philosophy and science gotten beyond our academic preoccupation with existence to Essence Itself? Have we even discovered our ignorance, much less our wisdom and divinity? However, I will say that we have discovered our Shadow and some have even ventured to discuss synchronicity and a courses in miracles. Many are beginning to question our maps of human consciousness and a few pioneers are exploring the forbidden territories of human divinity and the universal immanence of God. A few have even asked if it’s all God.It’s too late to close Pandora’s Box now because all of the world’s ills have escaped and the only thing left to explore is Hope. Any such exploration, however, must include the mechanics of human perception and map-making, as well as our assumptions about existence as we “know ” it.

The Wall of Ignorance

I don’t know

Symptoms refer to ill health;

Ill health refers to health

Health refers to Infinity

Infinity is the meaning of symptoms

I ask people about motives, either their own or someone else’s, and in short order, when the question is pushed past the obvious circular reasoning, I inevitably get the same answer: “I don’t know.” We have come up against the “wall of ignorance”.

A female client is completely disillusioned with her “verbally abusive” husband. After exploring the Karpman Victim Triangle with her in some detail about her own family history of victimization/perpetrator/rescuer experiences, I tried to help her see that there is choice. This became particularly clear when she said that she did not feel like having sex with her husband but that she would not tell him because she did not want to hurt and anger him. I asked her whether he has a choice about how he will take her statement. She was puzzled and said she did not know. I told her that if she were my wife and told me she did not have her heart in it and she did not want to have sex with me, that I would choose to thank her for her honesty, and I would agree with her that I did not want sex either unless my heart was in it. I told her that feeling hurt and feeling angry are choices.

“Abuse” is a perception, often by both parties. “Abuse” is a motive attributed to someone. Why would anyone be abusive? Pushed far enough, this question always produces an “I don’t know” answer. And this answer is absolutely correct, we don’t know. And neither do the social sciences know, even after a hundred years of analysis and research. Every cause and explanation given for violence, illness, crime, neurosis, psychosis, stress, divorce, dysfunction and unhappiness is circular in its reasoning, and ends up with “don’t know.” We think we have found a scientific answer when we conclude that a certain behavior is “caused” by the environment or by genetics, but those again are only concepts or states of mind which need to be questioned. What is “environment” and what is “genetics” and where are they located? Aren’t they just energy fields which exist in our minds? And who says that those energy fields are not limited by our perceptions and choices?

And we think we have found a religious answer to these conditions when we conclude that a certain behavior is caused by selfishness, addiction or sin, when actually these are only states of mind designated by labels which need to be further questioned also.

If you radically question any psychological, scientific or religious concept or explanation of motive or cause, you will get into circular reasoning and finally into “don’t know.” And that is exactly where the Mystery exists. And that is exactly where Infinity Vision is born.

As the Russia fairy tale called The King’s Archer explained it,

the King’s Archer had to cross the river of fire and go into the Land-Of-I-Know-Not-Where and to bring back I-Know-Not-What in order to save his beautiful wife. I interpret this to mean that we also, in order to rescue the beauty of life, have to cross the river of fiery experience, and go into the Land-of-I-Know-Not-Where to bring back I-Know-not-What (Infinity Vision).

My female client was so frustrated with my line of questioning that she finally said “I have tried everything (to fix this), and nothing works!” And then she added “It would take a miracle!” And I said to her “And miracles are something we don’t know much about, aren’t they?” I told her that we can’t fix something we know so little about. I asked if she was curious, and she said no. As A Course in Miracles puts it, we had rather be “right than happy.”

The first breakthrough in the healing process comes when we begin to see that each person has and always has had control over his own life. No one else controls your perceptions, feelings and imaginative powers. You make all of your own choices. You are responsible for all of your experiences. No one makes you happy or unhappy. No one controls you or hurts you. You are in charge of yourself. No one abuses you , and you abuse no one. You cannot be rescued by anyone, nor can you rescue anyone. All of these are finite beliefs created and held by the finite mind, but fueled by infinite energy, they seem to be true. The only thing that traps you in the Karpman Triangle is your finite belief system. The only thing that creates your experience of pain is your beliefs, and it is only your beliefs that make you think you are a victim, a perpetrator or a rescuer. You are Infinite, and that is miraculous, and that is what you have not “tried” and that is what you “don’t know” and that is why neither science nor religion can explain causality. And without the Infinite, neither cause nor effect makes sense. And thus every symptom (effect) that we experience arises from the same single source, the ignorance of Infinity.

Our conventional wisdom which seems so true, so scientific, so religious, so obvious, and so comforting, is actually a trap. Granted that the self-image can offend and be offended, you are not your self-image. The self-image is just a snapshot of who you are. Your self-image is just the part you are playing in the current drama. And while playing your part, you “forget” that you are writing the script, and you attribute spurious motives to all of the characters, including yourself.

We do not understand our Infinite nature and we never will. All we can do is enter Never-Never Land and ask what is the truth that sets us free. If our current version of the “truth” isn’t working, then it is not the Truth. The Truth works. Each “truth” works a little bit and a little while, and then it quits and we have to move on up to the next revelation of truth.

You can get out of the victim triangle. You can step out of your part in the drama. You have gotten role-typed into believing that you are old or young, male or female, employer or employed, victim or villain, educated or uneducated, introvert or extravert, athletic or artistic, doctor or patient, atheistic or religious, selfish or unselfish, parent or child, virgin or slut, neurotic or normal, gay or straight, prisoner or guard, rescuer or rescued, friend or enemy.

You are all of these roles and none of these roles. You have imagined and pretended so thoroughly and effectively that you have even convinced yourself. You even forgot that this is a stage and that you are writing the script. You even convinced yourself that you don’t know about all of this. You even went to far as to consider suicide and to imagine homicide, and when you pulled the trigger, you really believed it was awful and real. And when blood spattered on the wall, you were dead sure of it.

And then the curtain was drawn closed and then it was re-opened, and the drama continued to Act forty-nine, with various new characters and similar plots, until the Great Awakening and the fun begins anew. There was a time in the distant land of childhood when we constantly played, constantly pretended, and constantly enjoyed exchanging parts, but then we forget and things got really “serious” and now we got a chance to be “re-born” .

When luck and moods seems to swing from one extreme to another and you step out of the drama, and take off the tragedy and comedy masks, you can cease being a re-actor. Your buttons are pushed less and less. Beliefs are the buttons that get pushed. You accept your own authority (author of your story) in your life. You are no longer an appeaser or a rebel. You no longer believe that you have to submit or dominate. Life is, after all, not a power struggle for survival

The “Who Am I?” Circles

Let’s get to the core of the matter

We consider a fever to be a symptom, a sign of a problem, perhaps of a disease. Some investigators now consider a fever to be a health function, a way that the body attempts to cleanse itself of an unhealthy condition. A symptom then signals a disease condition and a health function. A symptom plays a dual function in the body and in the whole psyche. This book is an investigation of this dual function of the symptom.I would like to use the Infinity Core Diagram below to illustrate how a symptom represents both a disease condition and a health function.James Bugental introduced the Who Am I? Technique in the 40’s. (Bugental, J. and Zelen, S. “Investigations into the Self-Concept, The W-A-Y Technique, Journal of Personality, 1950, p. 18)The Infinity Core Diagram above is an adaptation of Bugental’s original idea as it would apply to symptoms:The Personna Circle is the personality, the social self that we present to the outer world, as well as the idealized self we present to ourselves when we look in the mirror.The Shadow Circle is the not-me dimension, the repressed self, the anti-social self.The Belief Circle is the wall of ignorance that divides the dualistic outer world of opposites, the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde phenomena, from the Real Self. The unawareness of this slender circle of beliefs is what energizes the two outer circles and makes victims of us.Most people vacillate back and forth between the personna and the shadow, between me and not-me, between the good-me and the bad-me.The center circle is the Infinte Core, the True Self, the Atman, the Christ pattern. We rarely penetrate the wall of beliefs far enough and often enough to experience the illumination of the Infinite Core on a consistent basis. This is the light hidden under the basket to which Jesus referred when he said “You are the light of the world” and “Know ye not that ye are gods?”Unless and until we discover this Inner Light, this Infinite Core, we will continue to live the symptomatic life of the Persona Circle and the Shadow Circle. Symptoms indicate the disease condition of the Persona/Shadow story, and the health condition of the Infinite Core.

Infinity Consciousness

Twoness is included in oneness

Infinity consciousness includes the world of finite duality, but through our religions, philosophies and sciences we have made duality into dualism and debunked infinity consciousness.

Our misunderstanding of God has thrown the entire world into turmoil for thousands of years… it was as though God was created in the human image—in the image of the lower nature…

-John Randolph Price

Most of human history has been functioning according to what Joseph Campbell calls “bounded community” concepts. An “us against them” exclusivism has reigned.

The time has come for the emergence of an unbounded community of unity consciousness, a planetary consciousness of we-ness and inclusiveness. Science, philosophy, psychology and religion are beginning to take the evolutionary leap from dualism to the unity-in-diversity consciousness.

Prior to Judaism and Christianity, the world was guided by animal religions, nature religions and polytheistic religions. In human evolution, perhaps monotheism played the important role of critic and catalyst.

However, in both Judaism and Christianity the dualistic consciousness reigned. God was set over against creation, over against nature, over against evil, over against humanity. Jesus was set apart from all other avatars and humans. The church was set over against the world. Spirit was set against nature, sex and matter. Judeo-Christianity was set over against other religions and philosophies. Christianity was the bounded community which was to conquer and convert other bounded communities.

Christianity claimed special revelation and preached a unique Saviour. Several major bounded religions have joined under the banner of Christianity: Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventism, Islam.

I believe that the seeds of unity consciousness were planted in Judaism and Christianity, but that they have not yet fully flowered.

Where may we find such “seeds”?

In the Old Testament God was known as “I AM”

The mantra of the Jewish people was “I the Lord they God am one, and besides me there is no other.”

In the New Testament, John saw that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” In this context Word meant Logos, the universal reason or purpose, and it was interpreted to mean Christ.

The word “Christ” was a universal cosmological term and was that force or office which Jesus became one with, and which we are also to become one with.

Jesus identity is linked with our identity. “Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?” The understanding of the answer to these questions will become the foundation of the new humanity and you will know that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Paul said that “Christ in us” is the hope of glory, and that he couldn’t tell whether it is “I that live or Christ in me.” What I am attempting to document is that down through the ages, mystics of all types in every spiritual tradition have discovered the seed of unity consciousness which is now flowering.

Eugene Taylor describes this flowering in America as a visionary folk psychology which flourished underground and parallel to the mainstream of science and religion which were caught up more in dualism.

Physicists have now come up with an “implicate order” which undergirds the more visible explicate order of the dualistic finite world. (Bohm)

The Kaballah was an esoteric and mystical branch of Judaism which taught unity consciousness. Sufism was an esoteric and mystical branch of Islam which taught unity consciousness. The Essenes and the Gnostics which flourished in biblical times were also exponents of unity consciousness. Rosacrucians, Masons and other esoteric groups carried on the unity consciousness theme in their own fragmented ways. The New Thought movement picked up on this tradition and has popularized it through Unity and Religious Science. New Age exponents have also popularized unity-in-diversity to such a degree that it has been absorbed into the mainstream culture in various degrees of distortion.

The god of Pythagorus , the first and most famous philosopher, was called a monad, which meant the one that is everything, the cause of all things, the intelligence of all things and the power within all things.

In the 13^th century, Thomas Aquinas declared that “He Who Is” is the proper name for God. And Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke of the Is which dwells within and as each individual, shining through as Will to pronounce all things Good. He wrote “The simplest person who in his integrity worships God, becomes God.” And according to Alice Bailey, the Tibetan Master Djwhal said that the life of God, His energy and vitality are found in every manifested atom, his essence indwelling all forms.

The question of whether the mystical vision will ever be mainstream is interesting. The mainstream always seems to be a crystalized form of mystical creativity. The tension between mainstream orthodoxy and mystical creativity no doubt has a function in the evolution of consciousness. But this tension also results in the symptoms of such a “bounded culture” : wars, violence, greed, disease, competition, mental illness, prejudice, and a victim outlook per se.

If you happen to be so unfortunate as to be an insider, and you fit into the major belief system/mythology of your culture, then you may not feel neurotic, and if you have a problem and can solve it within the belief system of your social mindset, then you may feel reasonably okay. However, if you should be so fortunate as to feel like an outsider, that you do not fit into the major belief system/mythology of your group, you may feel neurotic, you may not be able to resolve your symptoms within the belief system of your social mindset, and you may feel thrust into taking the journey of individuation into the dark forest of the unconscious.

And this journey may require breaking out of all of the safety zones into the strange world of the Infinite God. You will wander off the beaten path, and you must muster up the courage to face the trials of finding your true Self, and bring back new possibilities for everyone to experience—the hero’s deed. It is a horrific, tremendous, fascinating thing to meet the Mystery, which smashes all of your fixed notions of things, and to realize that all of the gods, all of the worlds, all of the heavens and hells, even the Christ, is within yourself. You transcend the world of time, the world of opposites, and you come back into the realization of the singularity of Infinity Vision. You realize that God is a label that points to the experience of Transcendence, which is what you have been unconsciously seeking outwardly in all of your thoughts and activities. Then you are able to realize the blessing of the outsider experience and the symptom experience which thrust you into taking the hero’s journey into the dark forest, springboarding you into the transcendent experience beyond the duality of good and evil.

There is a wonderful story of the deity, of the Self that said “I Am”. As soon as it said ” I Am”, it was afraid. It was an entity now in time. Then it thought “What should I be afraid of, I’m the only thing that is.” And as soon as it said that, it felt lonesome, and wished that there were another, and so it felt desire. It swelled, split in two, became male and female, and begot the world.

-Joseph Campbell

We could take this ancient story of creation from the Upanishads and reverse it and say that this certain human being, being in turmoil with stress and strange symptoms, said to himself, “I Am Not being myself, and having said it, began to feel astonished. “Am I not just like everyone else? How could I not be myself?” In a state of shock, this human began to remember and to experience the Infinite, his splitness healed and the world as he had known it disappeared.

The Seed of Infinity

Nourish it with awareness!

The Seed of God, the Seed of Infinity, exists at the heart of each person. This seed is covered by layers of fear-based stories and beliefs. Just like the wheat kernels which were buried in a sealed earthern jar in the great pyramid for 10,000 years, and later sprouted when nourished, the Seed of Infinity is alive and well, waiting on the nourishment of our attention.

Relax down into and through the layers of your fear and defense tales, and you will arrive at the Seed. In this Seed of consciousness, there is life, fire, light, and love, awaiting only your nourishing attention and awareness. This Seed will come to life and can be expanded by sending it everywhere. Silently send the light, love, peace, power, and fire contained in this God Seed to everyone and everything. The more you send the more you receive.

Fire gets bigger as it is fed. Feed the fire of love. We have spread the fog and darkness of fear for millennia, and we have reaped the consequences thereof. Now let us use our imagination to spread the fire of love and truth everywhere. That same seed, that same fire, exists in everyone. You are connected at that soul level to everyone, even to your enemies. The fire in you will fuel the fire in them. The Seed of Infinity in you will awaken the Infinite in them. Both fear and love are contagious, but which is real?

You have a problem with someone? Anxiety and its symptoms have overtaken over your relationship? Cut through the layers of your fearful story until you reach the Infinite Seed. Nourish that seed with your awareness, and love will awaken. Silently broadcast that love to your beloved or to anyone in need. You are a wave transmitter, you are a broadcasting station. You are always sending out your vibrations to everyone, and you attract back what you send out. When you send out fear, criticism, anger, intimidation, hesitancy, forcefulness, bitterness, and defensiveness, and you will find the same thing mirrored back to you. Verbally and non-verbally send out love, joy, peace and freedom, and you will attract more of the same.

Silently send out the healing power of your Infinite Core. The more you send out the more you have. “My word will not return unto me void” is the promise. No one’s word returns void. Every energy vibration, verbal and non-verbal, that we send out is returned to us, magnified. Send out the fire of love to everyone. Focus it like a laser to someone that you are having trouble with. Focus it like a laser on someone in need, even a stranger. Include your prayer “Thy will be done.” It is not up to you to determine how that Love Beam will play out. Send our your love beam 100% and let it go, leave the results to the universe. Every peace-and-love beam you send out is an act of forgiveness, reconciliation and empowerment. Every such energy broadcast is prayer in action. Your beloved needs the empowerment of Infinite Love, not the enweakenment of anxiety and criticism. Love vibrations empower the sender and receiver; fear weakens both.

Love Can Never Be Tamed!

God is love and so are you

Love Can Never Be Tamed!

Stress is your path to Love

Desire is Love’s paradoxical motivator

Pain is Love’s strange teacher

Pleasure is its most seductive attraction

Foolishness is Love’s humorous trademark

Awareness is Love’s catalyst

Mystery is Love’s eternal ally

Addiction is Love’s dark reflection

Security is Love’s habitual trap

Unconditionality and freedom its true nature

Failure its most frequent opportunity

Self-protective control its most recurrent impasse

Imagination and inspiration are Love’s creative power

Responsibility is Love’s daily muscle

Friendship is Love’s mutuality

Romance is Love’s tender embrace

Sex is Love’s passionate body

Kindness is Love’s most trusted face

Forgiveness is Love’s eraser of error

Peace is Love’s ocean depth

Freedom is Love’s guarantee

Music is Love’s vital dance

Science is Love’s uncanny arithmetic

Art expresses Love’s beauty

Nature is Love’s awesome clothing

Health is Love’s flow through mind and body

Prosperity is Love’s overflowing richness

Silence is Love’s perpetual resting place

Grief is Love believed lost

Guilt is love forsaken

Jealousy is love mistrusted

Fear is love forgotten

Hostiliy is Love hurt and frustrated

Cynicism is Love gone sour

Illness is Love calling

Grace is Love given away

The heart is Love’s soft throne

Human language her perplexing speech

Healing is Love’s first priority

Reunion her ingenious plan

On time’s edge where Love’s infinity happens

Performing its curious alchemy

Betrayal’s wounds may seem to be your only companion

But disillusionment is Love’s necessary process

And limbo your cocoon for Love’s rebirth.

Although fear may appear to haunt you on every corner,

Only Love is real.

Love’s patient watchfulness nurtures you

Coincidences mark Love’s miraculous presence

Moving you toward its inevitable goal of transformation.

Embrace the ironies of Love, for it is your

Source and Destiny, requiring everything of you.

Love can never be tamed!

Carroll J. Wright, Ph.D.

Your Two Worlds

Get your foot in the door!

We live in two worlds: the outer and the inner; the world of opinions and the world of fact, the pretend world and the real world, the dualistic world and the world of oneness, the imperfect world and the perfect world, the world of time/space and the world of the infinite. We live in the world of our finite story, World # 1, and the world of infinite reality, World # 2. The world we are aware of (World #1) is illusory, self-constructed and untrue, and the world we are unaware of (World #2) is true.

Our two worlds are separted by a wall of mis-belief, the door through which rarely opens, and when it does, it is usually by the experience of a crisis, pain or symptoms. When it does open, we must decide to get our foot in the door, lest the door close as we scramble to regain our familiar sense of comfort.

We live in two worlds. One seems real but is fictional; the other seems fictional but is real. World #1 we are very familiar with even though it is an ambivalent relationship; World # 2 we are almost a stranger to, even though it is our real home. World # 1 seems visible and World # 2 seems invisible. We cling to World # 1, and generally avoid World # 2. World # 1 is the world of trance, of hypnosis, of brain-washing and cultural conditioning. World # 2 is God’s pristine creation.

The door to World # 2 rarely opens, unless it is by the hand of crisis, and it makes us uncomfortable. World # 1 we trust, but are invited to learn to question; World # 2 we doubt, but are invited to learn to explore.

The door between these two worlds rarely opens without a crisis. We devise all sorts of strategies and medicines to avoid or numb the pain involved in the opening of this door.

We are heavily invested in our identity with the duality of World # 1. We resist the awareness of the oneness of World # 2.

What is the wall that divides these two world? It is the wall of belief, opinion, judgment, illusion, trance, cultural conditioning, and concepts. There are two doors actually located in this wall: the Door of Revelation and the Door of Crisis. If you do not go through the Door of Revelation, you will go through the Door of Crisis. The position of Spiritual Psychotherapy is that you have a choice of which door you will take, but you do not have a choice of leaving out or avoiding both. In other words, we have limited free will. You are free to go through both doors, but not through neither. This limited freedom is due to the Grace of God.

Whether you go through the Door of Revelation or the Door of Crisis, when you decisively enter World # 2, you experience what is called awakening, second birth, liberation, salvation, regeneration, inspiration, transformation, integration, or enlightenment. I call it the Infinity Experience or Infinity Awareness.

People of all races, cultures and religions have developed their own language to describe the penetration of this wall. Poets, artists, scientists, philosophers, and great seers from all walks of life have been trying for generations to put this insipirational breakthrough into human language. Pioneers and researchers of all types have been trying to chart maps and paths into this unknown territory of the soul.

Everyone unconsciously seeks on an hourly basis access such an altered state of consciousness. Thousands of shortcut methods are used daily to escape the limitations of World # 1, such as drugs, sex, money, power trips, food, and manipulative life strategies of all types. Symptoms are the signposts along life’s pathway which warn us that we are stuck in World #1, and that we are getting off-track through the use of our shortcut methods to take the heavenly experience of World # 2 by storm. The more we ignore these signposts, the more drastic the warnings become. We usually take these warnings as nuisances, as punishment, as threats, and as just part of the expected cycle of disease, suffering, aging and death.

In Spiritual Psychotherapy, we consciously place our foot in the door. Whether it be the Door of Revelation or the Door of Crisis, we can choose to place our foot in the door by the awareness that these two worlds exist, that there are doors between them, and that in certain moments of grace, they open.

The Foot in the Door Position

I teach all of my clients in the first or second session the enormous value of “getting their foot in the door” by realizing the gift of their symptom. This door only opens occcasionally. This door is the passageway between the story world (World # 1) and the real world (World # 2). Ordinarily we aren’t even aware of this door to self-knowledge. We usually just identify with and cling to our story about who we are and what the world is. As long as that is comfortable, we do not look any deeper. Only when life gets very uncomfortable do we usually inquire and look throughly. Why should we rock our identity boat?

Once you question the consensus view of reality, you have begun the path of individuation which Jung spent his life describing. On this journey into the uncharted inner world, you will not be voted the most popular kid on the block. You will be hacking your own unique trail through the jungle of your self-created belief system. If your therapist has been through this jungle himself and gone through his own door into the Inner World, he or she will understand the meaning of your pain and your symptoms, and will develop a therapeutic language with you, through which you may share the experiences on your journey.

Ordinary language with its usual dualistic meanings will not suffice for healing because the conflicted meanings conveyed by our semantic brain dictionaries keep us locked into World # 1. Our story is strung together by various groups of language units, words or concepts which create the setting for our symptomatology. Our language is a mixture of negatives and positives, but even the positives are fear-driven to an extent that we would find surprising. Of all the opposites that we experience in our story, fear is the underlying controlling factor.

Every symptom is an indicator of the fearful and dysfunctional mis-use of language. Out of that dsyfunctional language we spin a tale of weal and woe, of good and bad, of win and lose, advantage and disadvantage, abundance and poverty, togetherness and separateness. This psychological story is so subtle that we don’t realize we have made it up and are fueling it, and thus deepening the morass in which we are trapped.

Are we trapped? Not except in our story.

Are we separated? Not except in our story

Are we lacking? Not except in our story.

Are we anxious and fearful? Not except in our story.

Are we victimized? Not except in our story.

Are we failures? Not except in our story

Beliefs create our experience and we create our beliefs, and out of these mis-creations and mis-beliefs, arise our experiences of entrapment, separation, lack, anxiety and victimization. Each person has created his own language about self and world, and are trapped in that language and its story No two people speak the same language. Each person’s unique language has its own unique meanings. Although we assume when we talk that the words we speak mean the same thing to the speaker as to the listener, it is not so. Each of us is isolated in World # 1 in a unique language we have made up. And then we wonder why people have trouble communicating.

Every couple in therapy list as their number one complaint that they have poor communication. Every work dispute, every legal problem, and every war is supposedly due to mis-communication. However, mis-communication between people is only a symptom of mis-communication with self. Communication with others cannot be sufficeintly fixed in World # 1. Therapists spend countless hours trying to help people communicate with other people on the assumption that this is where the problem lies. The root of the problem lies in an inner split within each person, a split or wall between their two worlds. While it is true that we need to work on interpersonal communication and that some things can be accomplished through that kind of focus, it is also true that such hard-won gains can easily slip back into the war of words again. Unless the inner split is specifically and directly addressed, the gain is slow and tentative. Poor communication just becomes another symptom rather than the problem itself.

A client says that his problem is his spouse’s complaints about his drinking or drugs. Then he finally says that his problem is his drinking and drugging. Then he says that the problem behind his drinking and drugging is his anger. Upon investigating his anger, he says that his problem is that he feels powerless and this makes him angry. Then he says that his father beat him and that is what made him feel powerless. Now just suppose that the therapist regards any of these things as the problem: whether it be the complaining, the drinking and drugging, the anger, the powerlessness, the beatings by the father, or the poor communication. I have made such assumptions thousands of times in my therapeutic career, but each time I became as stuck as the client. None of these is the problem. All of them are merely symptoms. To call the symptom the problem is mid-diagnosis and leads to mis-treatment. To take the next step, however, into the search for what the symptoms means, is to enter the realm of Spiritual Psychotherapy.

The cause of symptoms is never found in World #1. The cause of symptoms is only discovered when you recognize the wall of beliefs which separates World # 1 and

World # 2. Only when you “get your foot in the door” that opens between these two worlds will you begin to experience where the symptom comes from and what it means. That door is the door of unconscious beliefs, brainwashing, and cognitive distortions. It is the story about ourselves and our world which controls and victimizes us, rather than some person or circumstance. If you are so fortunate as to have your apple cart turned over by a crisis large or small, please get your foot in the door and keep it there long enough to find out what this crisis means. And believe me, we don’t “know” what it means. We minimize the significance of a crisis and try to hurry through it with a “quick fix.”

I guarantee you that you will be tempted to slam that door and run back to your comfort zone, seeking any advice or outer adjustment which promises to get things back to “normal.”

But “normal” is the problem. “Normal” is whatever or whoever you have thought you were up until now. The words of Plato should ring in your ears “Know thyself”, but do they? Of course not. Everyone “knows” who they are, they just don’t like it. They just want to self-improve a little, or more likely, they want someone else to change. But a little change won’t cut it. And all of our “changing others” and “changing the environment” projects are short lived “successes.”

We are still churning around in World # 1, and unconsciously setting ourselves up for more symptomatic experiences. All of our manipulative manuevers in World # 1 “fail” ultimately and end up as “self-sabotage. And that is the Good News! Failure in World # 1 is the prerequisite for the Good News of Self-realization in World # 2. All of us have felt horrified and humiliated by “failure” of any sort. “Failure” is just a judgment. There is no such thing as failure, except in our World # 1 story. Apparent failure in World # 1 is no different than apparent success in World # 1. Both are symptoms and have their price. Both are invitations to the inner world of Self-Realization. Success and failure in World #1 are endless cycles. Today you are the rage, tomorrow you are the pits. The football hero is done by age 34. The movie starlett gets wrinkles or bad press. All such highs and lows are merely symptoms of your infinity, wake-up calls from World # 2. Whatever it takes, place your foot in the door and keep it there until Grace appears.

What Can You Trust?

I don’t trust nobody

Every patient has problems with trust, and so does the therapist. You cannot live in this world without experiencing the betrayal of trust. Distrust is a necessary experience for Self-realization. Our implicit trust is in our story and that is why we have to experience distrust before we can awaken. We mouth the phrase that everything happens for a reason, but we don’t know the reason. Distrust is the symptomatic experience necessary for real Trust. So let us examine here some of the things we trust, some of the reasons that trust is broken, and what real Trust is:

You can trust that your story is going to be hit-and-miss

You can trust that you will be betrayed by your story

You can trust that your story is not really true

You can trust that your story will lead to dissatisfaction

You can trust that your story will lead to attempts to control and to failure to control

You can trust that you will feel anxious and guilty as long as you are unconsciously committed to your story

You can trust that your disappointments and suffering are due to your belief system

You can trust that you empowered your belief system and are responsible for its results

You can trust that you are moving toward an awakening.

You can trust that nothing will harm you, although many things offend the ego

You can trust that your significant other will present to you exactly what you need to deal with next

You can trust that your partner’s story is essentially the same as yours, although it looks quite the contrary.

You can trust that the universe is designed for your self-realization

You can trust that your seed thoughts will produce like results

You can trust that other people are doing the same thing you are

You can trust that your relationships are mirroring exactly what it takes for your awakening

You can trust that the needs of an imperfect human will never be met and will always be frustrated to one degree or another.

You can trust that your perfect spiritual self has no needs and no frustrations

You can trust that your awareness is all that is lacking

You can trust that unawareness brings suffering

You can trust that your ego story is a victim story and that your spiritual self is not a victim in any way.

You can trust that as long as you are attached to the unholy trinity (the belief in separateness, lack and entrapment) that you will always be searching and not finding.
You can trust that if you don’t fill up your God-Space with anxiety that God will fill it with himself.

You can trust that if you keep the God-Space clear that out of it will flow the power of Wisdom, Health, Abundance, Love, Peace, Freedom and Joy.

You can trust that once the God-space is clear, you can put any seed thought in it and it will manifest

You can trust that fear will disappear the more love is allowed

You can trust that you will not lose what you are and that you already are what you want, whether you know it or not.

You can trust that you are already the perfect spiritual being that God created, and there is nothing you can do about it, except to deny it or accept it

Trust Not: What is Codependency?

“Don’t trust anyone, not your best friend—not even your wife.” Micah 7:5

Codependency includes whatever you think you depend on, or are independent from. Codependency is what you expect from other persons or things. Codependency is the chief element in the story people tell themselves about their support system. Codependency includes the attitude of denied dependency, demanded dependency, entitled dependency, hostile dependency, cynical dependency, rebellious dependency, etc. In other words, you cannot be a human without dependency. It is impossible. Even those who claim to be independent, self-sufficient, and radically autonomous are also dependent in the sense that we belong, we are one. We may have a story about isolation, autonomy, separateness, and frustrating painful dependence or independence, but we are one. We belong. There is no separateness, except in our storyline, in some script we have written for ourselves. In this spiritual universe, we are one, we are interdependent, we are not independent. No one is autonomous. That is a fiction. People who are “dependent” want to be independent, people who are “independent” want to be more involved. Unity in diversity is a paradox which transcends the opposites of dependence and independence.

Codependency is a painful fiction which everyone experiences. We are disappointed in our dependency experiences and so we opt for independence, which is an illusion. Independence is just a painful and illusory form of dependence.

Without spiritual awareness of our oneness and wholeness, we are like a cat dancing on a hot tin roof. There is no comfort for the unaware.

We get attached to someone or something, and then that attachment is broken, lost or given up. If our attachment is broken or lost, we experience grief. The symptom of grief remains until we consciously and voluntarily give up our attachment. Dependency habits are necessary, but releasing them is also necessary if you want to grow beyond just survival. Releasing attachment to dependencies is not the same as rejecting them.

Spiritually, we must learn to unconditionally love everyone and everything , but not to trust anyone or anything unconditionally. Trust means to depend on. Trust in form is always broken, and that is why we always experience betrayal. We are to trust God. We are to trust spirituality. We are not to trust form unconditionally. All trust in people and in things is to be conditional. Codependency is the attempt to have unconditional trust in the conditional.

We must exercise unconditional trust in the unconditional, not in the conditional. Codependency is unconditional trust in the conditional.
Codependency is the source of all of our frustrating painful symptoms and suffering. Infinite trust in the finite is our main storyline, and accounts for the necessity for awakening. How can an infinite being put ultimate trust in the finite? What a conundrum! What a ridiculous dilemma! What an impossible task. It can’t be done!

The Naïve Conforming Trust Factor

You cannot have trust without the possibility of betrayal…. We are betrayed in the very same close relationships where primal trust is possible

-James Hillman

When we are codependent, we will experience tragic betrayal sooner or later. Unconditional trust in the finite always leads to disappointment and betrayal. Such trust is naïve.

What is wrong with trust? Isn’t trust one of the greatest virtues? Isn’t trust the basis of all human relationships? All legal contracts? How can we speak of naïve trust? How can we say that “naïve trust” is part of the “tragic betrayal” experience? Can we say that if one party has to be responsible for the “tragic betrayal”, the other party has to be responsible for the “naïve trust” part of the transaction? Can we say that “naïve trust” and “tragic betrayal” are both parts of each person?

“Naïve trust” is a nice phrase for co-dependency. This trust factor in the trust-and-betray system is a conforming addictive dependency. The “trustor” has not taken responsibility for self, but is still depending on some person, substance, role, group and unconscious belief system. The naïve trustor is covering up the fact of dependency on an ego strategy for security and control, and this “virtue” is rarely ever questioned or challenged until betrayal occurs.

The naïve trust position is a strategy which emphasizes:

trying to be “good” , conforming
avoiding radical insight and change
expecting to be taken care of because of being such a good caretaker
being able to fix or change others
avoiding risk and clinging to what seems safe and secure
the right to expect appreciation due to dependability and self-sacrifice
being accommodating and unselfish
manipulating others through guilt

Some of the typical addictions of the trustor are:

over-eating and shopping
rescuing and caretaking
sacrificial giving and doormat behavior
mistreated victim, poor me perception
passive-aggressive, procrastinating behavior
somatizing, psychosomatic illnesses
emotionally or physically disabled, handicapped, disease prone
compulsive parenting and over-responsibility toward others
inconsiderate of self

I have described an ego scenario about trust or dependency. Trust, itself, however is the essence of life. Trust is inherent, ontological, and inevitable. Trust is a God-given ability and talent that is involved in every human thought and transaction. Not one thing in this universe exists without trust. What then is the problem with a “trustor?”

We trust what we know. If we have very limited awareness, we will have very limited unhealthy trust. I recall one time when a Spanish Christian layman said to me “The Bible teaches that we are to love everyone unconditionally, but it does not teach that we are to trust people.” I made a study of the Bible on this subject and found that what he said was true. In fact, the Bible directly teaches that we are not to put our trust in the human sphere:
“Don’t trust anyone, not your best friend—not even your wife.” Micah 7:5
“Trust not in princes” Ps. 140″3
“Trust not in weapons.” Ps. 44:6
“Trust not in wealth” Prov. 11:28
“Even my best friend turned against me, a man I completely trusted.” Ps. 11:28
“A man is a fool to trust himself! But those who use God’s wisdom are safe.” Prov 28: 26
“Trust not your neighbor, nor your brother.” Jer. 9:4
“You trusted in your wealth, therefore you shall perish.” Jer 48:7
“You trusted in your own beauty; you thought you could get along without me.” Ez. 16:15
“You trusted in your own goodness.” Ez. 33:13
“You trusted in a lie, that the military and great armies can make a nation safe.” Hos 10:13
“How hard it is for them that trust in riches to get into the Kingdom of God.” Mark 10:24
“It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in men.” Ps 118:8
“Though he slay me, yet shall I trust him.” Job 13:15
“As for me, I look to the Lord for his help.” Micah 7:7
“The Lord says: Cursed is he that puts his trust in mortal man and turns his heart away for God….blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence.” Jer 17:5, 7
“We felt that we had received a death sentence, but that was meant not to place reliance upon ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.” 2 Cor 1:9

The trustor has entered into an idolatrous belief that the human ego system is real and trustworthy, and has set himself or herself up for initiation into the Truth. Then we discover many underlying deals and expectations which make trust such a shaky enterprise:

You take care of my unhappiness and I’ll take care of your happiness, maybe
I can’t believe you went out on me, I’ve never done that to you.
I can’t believe my mother died
You don’t put me first
I won’t accept my parents’ divorce

The Rebellious Tragic Betrayer Position

We have spent most of the time so far on the naïve trust factor because the betrayer is not significantly different from the trustor. The betrayer is naïve also in that he just looks for another object to depend on. He decides that his last ego scheme was a mistake but the next one will be better. The betrayer is no more aware than the trustor. The betrayer is just a disillusioned trustor. Both remain within the mediocre, “safe”, fear-driven, self-seeking world of ego perception. Neither the illusioned trustor nor the disillusioned trustor (the betrayer) know the Radical God or the Radical Self. Both are stuck in the world of habit and consensual reality. Real trust cannot be placed in any ego scheme, mine or yours or someone else’s, nor in any belief system.

Some typical addictions of the betrayer:

Alcohol, drugs, pornography
Workoholic, sportsoholic
Spoiled child, self-indulgence, take care of me
Denial of dependence and addiction
Inconsideration of others
Neglect of caretaking of children, others
Rationalizes stealing, lying, cheating, and feels entitled to self-indulgence

The addictions of both the trustor and the betrayer are nevertheless a symbolic search for dependence on the Infinite. Addictions are misguided steps of Real Trust which remain stuck in the mediocre illusory ego world, falling short of the radical nature of reality.

When the very rational debate of Job and his friends about the cause of the suffering of such a good man was finished, the Untamed Radical God appeared out of a whirlwind and showed them what true reasoning was. This Wild God blew their minds, stretching their imaginations beyond their earth-bound trust-and-betrayal addictive mentalities. All of our concepts of God and self are so limited that we become addicted to trust-and-betrayal idols. Addictions are the inevitable precursors of trust-and-betrayal experiences.

We are addicted to belief systems which produce fear-driven self-centered behavior, which in turn leads to the life crises of trust-and-betrayal. Then we feel victimized, angry and self-righteous. Like Judas, we have set ourselves up in a no-win situation and all we have left is thirty pieces of silver.

Stress and Trust

Stress is said to be the major cause of health problems. In our busy society, we live on “adrenalin rush.” Our sleep is restless. Our cells do not get enough deep relaxation and rest. We often run on “half charge.” That is, our battery only gets half charged before we begin to be active again. Activity itself is not the major problem per se, but our constant mental and emotional strain. This constant sense of strain has become “normal” or habitual. We wouldn’t know what a deep sense of wellness feels like. All of our immune system components are on near constant alert due to the lack of quietness and the continual presence of a stimulating noise level from radio, television, play station, and computer. Stimulating foods, drinks, substances, entertainment, activities, and diversions are used as a remedy for boredom, inner conflict and even from stress itself.

General background hyper-activity and hyper-stimulation sets the stage for added stress arising from personal problems. Don Colbert. M.D. describes “unenforcible rules” as one of the chief causes of stinking thinking. Unenforcible rules are those habits of thought which involve “shoulds”, “musts”, and “have to’s” Our expectations and rigid, perfectionistic, thought patterns set us up for a constant experience of stress, frustration and anger. Our cancer epidemic, along with other chronic immune system dis-eases(such as back pain, skin disorders, hepatitus, prostate problems, irritable bowel syndrone, arthritus, etc) are fueled by our chronic and acute stress levels, especially from our expectations and other unenforcable rules.

An unenforcable rule would be our belief about how life should be, how people must act, what life ought to give us, and what we have to do. In other words, we set ourselves up for failure to control, and a resulting loss of self-esteem.

It is not life that causes us stress and anger, but our expectations about life.

Toxic emotions and beliefs fuel our poor health and relationship problems.

One in eight women have breast cancer. When you trust in your expectations, you will be disappointed. You will experience the pain of rejection, helplessness, anger, inner seething and bitterness.

Some people explode outwardly and some people implode inwardly. Dominant aggressive types tend to yell and bully. Passive imploding types tend to internalize and somatize their frustrations and anger. But both types push the self-destruction button. The stress-response button gets stuck. Harmones and other immune system chemicals such as adrelalin are on constant alert. The energy that would ordinarily be used for cell repair are demanded for stress-response.

I am diagnosing the cause of this stress epidemic as mis-trust. That is, we are trusting and depending in a toxic and inflamatory manner. Codependency is rampant. If we do not learn forgiveness, unconditional love, spiritual trust, and deep inner rest, we continue unknowlingly to feed our stress response cycles.

What do we ordinarily trust in? What everyone ultimately trusts is their own view of reality, their own story about who and what they are. The only thing we ever experience is our own imagination about life. That is why we get stuck in

a stress-response cycle. “You can’t win for losing” because we cannot control the outer world. The only reality for us is our interpretation of the outer world. Unknowlingly we are the victims of our own belief system in which we implicitly trust. The trust that the world is what we think it to be is the source of our mis-placed trust.

Mis-trust is good news, because only a change of mind is required. If we had to muster up enough effort to control the world to fit our picture, it would be bad news. Unenforcable rules are the bad news. Awareness of our unenforcale rules is the good news. Control of the world to make our trust workable is impossible. You cannot control even one other person, as married people find out through many battles and bruises. No one wants to be controlled and yet everyone tries, either openly or secretly, to control others and to control the world. The belief that we should or can exert such controls, is mis-trust.

If we do not trust in the basic goodness of the universe, we are stuck with mis-trust and its inherent stress; If we do not know our own spirituality, we are stuck with mis-trust and its inherent stress. Mis-trust is essentially trust in our story. Mis-trust is trust in form. Mis-trust results in the painfulness of the victim experience. If you do not know your infinity, you will live in the fear of the victim experience. You live either in the stress of mis-trust in the finite, or in the peace of trust in the infinite. This universe is infinite and so are you.

Forgiveness is the essential practical method for handling mis-trust and its toxic emotions. If you feel the pain of imagined victimization, you must learn to forgive it, to cancel it out, to let it go. You are not a victim. There are no victims. There is no necessity for fear. You are an infinite spiritual being. Any loss that you may fear is based upon the judgments of mis-trust. Just realize that the “other” person is also under the same system of mis-trust that you are. He carries your shadow and you carry his. All pain arises from our beliefs in the shadow world.

Forgive your enemy because it is just your shadow self. As Pogo said “We found the enemy and it is us.” You are hurt because someone disappointed or betrayed you? It is only self-disappointment and self-betrayal. The blame and shame game is over. “It is finished,” cried Jesus. The victim game is over. That is why you can forgive 70 X 7. Infinitely. You can forgive infinitely because you are infinite. You can love infinitely because you are infinite. You trust infinitely because you are infinite.

You are not a victim and you cannot victimize. Guilt is over. Victimization is the only possible basis of guilt. Fear is over. Victimization is the only possible basis of fear. Shame is finished. Victimization is the only possible basis of shame. Grief is over. Victimization is the only possible basis of grief. Blame is over. Victimization is the only possible basis of blame. Pain is finished. Victimization is the only possible basis of hurt.

Forgiveness is just the realization of reality. Forgiveness is not correcting you for hurting me. Forgiveness is realizing that all hurt is self-inflicted. Forgiveness is realizing that hurt never happened. Forgiveness is realizing that victimization and guilt are totally imaginary in the spiritual consciousness. We experience guilt, fear and victimization in our stories, but not in our spiritual consciousness.

The Good News is that we can shift into our spiritual consciousness in the now. We do not have to wait on a new marriage, a new job, a new body, a new world, or even an addiction-free mind. Paradise is here now.

Some say that fighting leads to divorce, that power struggles are bad. But the awareness of what we are mis-trusting can take the juice out of fighting and the impotency out of power struggles. You can learn to use fighting and power struggles as signs that you are into victimization fears and stories. You can use fighting and power struggles to remind you to shift out of attack-and-defend ego stories and into your infinite consciousness where there is no lack, no separation and no entrapment.

You want joy, you want peace, you want unity, you want abundance, you want power? Go where it exists, inside of you at your infinite core. And once you get there, you can see that infinity is everywhere, inside and outside.

Addiction, Belief Analysis and Infinity 2001

You can only be hooked on your story

THE DRUG ADDICTION SYMPTOM

Joan is a crack addict. She tells me that she no longer loves her husband but she cannot leave him. Through a long story we were able to pinpoint her major issue as “good girl” versus “bad girl”. I asked her to write down all of the pros and cons about her “good girl” identity and all of the pros and cons about the “bad girl” sub-personality. Secondly, we analyzed her parents’ relationship and found that the mother was the good sacrificial protective parent who suffered, and the father was the bad selfish neglectful parent who had a good time. Just recently they reversed roles and the mother had taken to drinking and partying and the father had become worried and concerned. Joan has to resolve her parents’ lifelong dilemma in her own psyche and in own marriage. She vacillates between obligation to her husband and fun with her friends.

She realized that neither of these good girl or bad girl postures was working and that is why she vacillates so much. She gets high and then gets guilty, goes home and gets bored and angry, and repeats the cycle. The oracle showed her that she can step out of this repetitive cycle of opposites and become the Observer of both of her ego cycles. As the Observer she is neither one of these self-image identities. The oracle emphasizes that in her true and infinite nature, she is already free and high, without artificial stimulants. Her high self comes alive and she connects spiritually to my high self. The whole room seems full of light and she is no longer struggling with guilt and rebellion about her husband. His attempts to manipulate her and rescue her no longer seem relevant and binding.

She no longer needs to feel like his victim, nor like his rescuer, nor like a perpetrator who is ruining his life. She is outside of the painful victim triangle as the Observer and as the Infinite Being that she is. There is nothing to rescue or to be rescued. She is aware. This awareness may regress but once there has been a breakthrough, you can circle back and re-connect and re-enforce the Observer awareness. Every major aspect of the finite belief system in her husband and in herself must be identified so that she can confront it when it happens, rather than succumb to its toxic influence and ignore her Infinite Vision.

BELIEF ANALYSIS

Since nearly all human behavior is controlled by finite beliefs, we could be quite preoccupied with belief analysis and confrontation. This process can be shortened and simplified by realizing that most human issues are really mediocre or “small stuff”. There is really only one big item of ignorance to confront and that is our infinite nature. If you can live on the edge between the Infinite and the finite, you will have a much easier time dis-empowering all of the thousands of finite beliefs individually.

If you are upset, look and see what finite belief has control of you. If your mind tells you that you are upset because of external circumstances or because of someone else, that idea must be exposed every time as a mis-belief. You are never upset due to someone else or to circumstances. You are only upset about your expectations and your beliefs about how things ought to be. A Course in Miracles puts it bluntly: “You are never upset for the reason that you think.” If we choose no longer to participate, the dilemma has to dissolve.

We are but fettered by the chains of our own forging, and which ourselves can also rend asunder.

Thomas Carlyle

A concept of human nature can be somewhat self-fulfilling

George Will

That which the best human nature is capable of is within the reach of human nature at large.

Herbert Spencer

Human nature is the same all over the world.

Lord Chesterfield

The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development.

Oscar Wilde

The people people marry are the queerest folk of all.

Charlotte Gilman

Man, in his blindness, is quite satisfied with himself, but heartily dislikes the circumstances and situations of his life. He feels this way, not knowing that the cause of his displeasure lies not in the condition nor the person with whom he is displeased, but in the very self he likes so much. He is shocked when he discovers that it has always been his own deceitfulness that made him suspicious of others.

Neville Goddard

INFINITY 2001

Infinity 2001 refers to the exploding Infinity Experience of the 21st Century. Infinity 2001 is the era that we are entering now, perhaps unaware of its breadth, depth and meaning. Infinity 2001 refers to our current era of expanded awareness and creativity. Infinity 2001 refers to the process of the consciousness transformation which is now unfolding since all of the necessary emerging pieces of the puzzle of human nature are present for the first time in history.

What are these “necessary emerging pieces of the puzzle about human nature that are all present for the first time in history?”

Creative theorizing, experimentation and evaluative research in all disciplines.

Information data banks are now doubling every two years.

Holistic and integrative innovations are appearing everywhere

Internet communication and information exchange is increasing exponentially, including distance learning

Understanding of perennial philosophy, perennial psychology and perennial spirituality is more available

Information about all of the beliefs and practices of the major and minor religious traditions is more available

Universities are teaching courses in comparative religion, the humanities, psychology, nutrition and practical philosophy

Many people are practicing the various disciplines of meditation and contemplation, and experimenting in practical application of these disciplines to social and personal problems

Many psychic, scientific and spiritual channels are bringing in information from other dimensions for our technical, social and spiritual advancement

Disillusionment with traditional dualistic solutions being offered by science, religion and society is increasing.

An increasing pace in the search for holistic and alternative approaches to human health and wellness

Moderate improvements in healthy lifestyles, nutrition, health-care, education and community support

The spiritual hierarchy that governs the universe is apparently releasing and speeding up the pace of transformational energies available to agents of change who are most receptive

The return of the power of the Cosmic Christ archetype is showing up in many social changes and in consciousness-raising practices.

The worse our human problems appear to us, and the more disillusioned we are with our attitudes and outlook, the more likely a radical transformation becomes.

The teachings of the most highly evolved beings in our history are more available for our critical study, thought and practice.

More and scientists are doing research into spirituality and more mystical thinkers are delving into the meaning of science.

It is being recognized that semantic difficulties and personality conflicts account for most of the religious and scientific battles and hang-ups in our history.

It is becoming evident that the essence of Christian thought and that of other religious and philosophies are more compatible than has been previously thought possible, while uniqueness continues to contribute to the whole human enterprise.

The potentialities of men, women, children and the elderly are being discovered in widely different arenas

A significant number of prominent health care professionals, scientists and theologians are investigating the interface between the infinite and the finite in terms of energy frequencies, cognitive belief systems, narrative entrainment, deconstructionism, and creativity.

We have available the mental discipline and research methodologies to creatively and critically compare theory and practice so that each corrects the other.

Publishers and the media are more open to creative and radical approaches to the human dilemma.

The value of the minority voice is being recognized as essential to the health and progress of the majority.

Neville Goddard

The Hypnotic State of Mankind

Getting de-hypnotized!

Jack Elias addresses the interesting question of what hypnosis is. He concludes that hypnosis is that fixated hardened state of the thinking mind which dominates our living and our experience. Our self-improvement agendas are our efforts to try to improve this fixated state of mind in order to find happiness. Elias contends that happiness already exists in a pure and spontaneous state shining within. We are already hypnotized by our fixating thinking mind. Being fully alive means being free from our cultural trances. People are already in trance. Problems are the fruit born of their trances. Freedom from trances means being present, at ease, free of fear, whole and peaceful, humble and compassionate, recovering the mystery and sacredness of life. The discursive thinking mind with which we identify our normal sense of self is an on-going hypnotic process.

Who you think you are is your deepest trance state.
Jack Elias

If who we think we are is a mistake, then our whole process of strategizing about our lives is a mishap with varying degrees of painful and pleasurable consequences. When you are fully involved in being who you are, you don’t waste time keeping track of who you are; it isn’t necessary if there is no shame or threat to ward off.

Elias describes the need to free ourselves from a

…destructive process of perceiving, thinking and acting that can be viewed as a worldwide epidemic infection that is pernicious because, unlike other diseases which we strive to isolate and cure, inherent to this infection, this fever, is the characteristic that it causes us to identify with it as our very own true self…a fragmented, biased way of perceiving and thinking…a destructive hypnotic trance that causes us to experience each other as strangers, as different, as threats.

Elias sees this hypnotic trance of the true enemy of mankind. He considers this egoic-minding process

…to be the one source of all disease and strife on earth – the Great Killer and Destroyer next to which such subordinates as AIDS, cancer and heart disease pale. Indeed, they would not exist except for having been birthed by the egoic process.

Spiritual Psychotherapy offers the tools to break the trance state in which we find ourselves locked up unknowingly.

Who you think you are is your deepest trance state.
-Jack Elias

“I Don’t Know” Is the Place to Be

I thought I had to know and control everything

There is only Good and that is all you need to know. All pain arises from the lack of this knowledge. We believe that if we don’t know and aren’t in control we will suffer something bad or painful. Fear motivates all the thinking and behavior which arises from the lack of knowledge of the Good.

Fear is the belief that I will lose what I have or that I won’t get what I want.

Byron Katie

The pain of this fear and this lack of knowledge is the chief symptom of our ignored innocence and divinity. Inquire into your finite story about yourself and the universe and the pain is over.

When you no longer have the impossible job of controlling the universe, then you are free and at peace without having to know what’s next. Whatever is next is Good, because there is nothing but Good, except in our tale of woe. There is nothing but Good, there is nothing but God. This awareness is the true basis of courage, freedom, love and self-confidence. The idea that I should be able to control what happens next is the basis of my cowardice, entrapment, hostility and low self-esteem. If reality is Good, then 95% of my stress and demand to be in control is gone. When I have Infinity Awareness, its beautiful not to “have to know and to be in control.” The demand to know and to be in control is a set-up for failure and for feelings of inadequacy. And besides, if reality is Good, why waste all of that energy! It takes a lot less energy to inquire and change our thinking than it does to continually attempt the impossible task of controlling the world and changing other people.

The belief that reality is Good, however, does not mean putting on rose-colored glasses as much as it means taking off our dark glasses, which were givens in our whole lifetime of brain-washed perception. If love and truth are our true nature, and fear and lying are our second (learned) nature, then we can begin to realize that all things which are experienced as bad and painful are just matters of mis-imagination, mis-perception, and mis-understanding.

When I do marriage counseling with a couple, I begin with what brought them into this magnificent relationship. I usually discover that there was an unbelievable common ground, strong attraction, unconditional trust and love, oneness and confidence, friendship and hope. Then I trace what happened to that relationship. When did the first big bump in the road occur? What did the first serious misunderstanding involve? When did they get into conflict and what problem were they unable to solve? What bad and painful thing did they get hung up on? I have noticed that from that moment, one complication built on the next, one misundersanding led to another, and here they are, alienated and stuck. That first serious impasse must now be undone. Whatever they thought was bad and painful must be re-visited and cleared up. It is all Good, even the misunderstanding! Each mis-understanding is a belief about the self which can now be confronted, inquired about and unraveled. When you really dig deeply into this mis-understanding, you will find “I don’t know” and that is the beginning of healing. Up until now, each of them thought he/she did know and that he/she was right, and that their beloved was wrong, and the communication process stale-mated in defensiveness. No one knows the real reason for their conflicts, anger and anticipated divorce.

Tell me, does anyone realize that the real reason for communciation conflicts is that he or she does not understand that everything is Good? That he or she is ignorant of their Infinity? That he or she is addicted to a fictional story about themselves and each other? Come on, we just didn’t know that, and we became victims of that innocence and ignorance! “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” We have crucified ourselves and didn’t know it. Every marriage is a perfect opportunity for self-realization. Every angry painful argument contains a beautiful gift of potential self-realization. Withdraw your projection, own it, see its self-deception, and become your true self!

How can I say that marital difficulties present a perfect opportunity for self-realization? Marriage difficulties are based upon the experience of inner pain. (1) The language of emotional pain varies significantly with each person. When one partner experiences pain, there may be a reaction of argumentative attack; when the other partner experiences pain, there may be a reaction of silent withdrawal. But the bond they have is pain. Unless they can recognize this bond, they will feel distance, blame and shame, defense and attack. (2) The second gift involved in marital conflicts is the realization that all pain is self-inflicted. One partner makes a critical remark; the second partner applies it to himself or herself. It’s that simple. My criticisms are my business, but if you make them your business, you hurt yourself. My criticisms are about me, and if you reactively apply them to yourself, then you have made them your business. Partners who have not accomplished self-realization are looking for it outside, which is impossible. My mind will not allow more acceptance from outside than it allows inside. I am responsible for myself. The big step is when I change my thinking and the pain disappears with that change. Emotional pain arises from the experience of self-unawareness and self-rejection and ceases with self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Moving from being addicted to our story and its judgments to “I don’t know” is the beginning of inquiry and to the investigation of the source of our pain. Question the conventional wisdom of your story-line (Is it really true?), ask for the Truth (Who would I be without this thought, this judgment?), and Wisdom will answer. I Don’t Know is where I live.

INTIMACY?

Intimacy is a comprehensive subject. Intimacy is often considered to be just sexual intimacy. But let us imagine a continuum moving from: sexual intimacy > touch-without-sex intimacy > emotional intimacy > communication intimacy > family and friendship intimacy > intimacy with nature > communion intimacy > total intimacy. Total intimacy is our natural state. Physicists call it the interconnectedness of living systems. However, many barriers and conflicts have caused the experience of distance, alienation and numerous control tactics to seem normal. These barriers and inhibitions not only decrease the intimacy experience, but they also decrease our freedom, power, enjoyment, talents, and abilities. We may be functioning at 200 whereas we are capable of functioning at 1000, and that explains why we feel so frustrated, angry and inadequate. What are these barriers and inhibitions that limit our functioning? They are our thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and stories. That’s it! Then why isn’t it easy to change our thoughts and remove our barriers? It is simple, but not easy, because we have attached our identity to our story. We are pouring all of our energy, imagination and infinite powers into our self-limiting and conflicted story. We are in mortal combat with ourselves! We are into a mode of self-resistance if not self-destruction.

How so? First of all, notice what you are telling yourself about yourself, other people, and life in general. What you are telling yourself is your life story. Notice how judgmental and negative that story can be. “Life’s a bitch!” “Watch your back!” “The rat race.” “Men are abusive.” “Women are the big spenders.” “My spouse is a liar.” “My kids are lazy, defiant”

“My parents are dumb, strict, mean.” “I drink because of stress.” “My boss is impossible to please.” “I never get ahead.” “Lawyers are crooked.” “Church people are hypocrites.”

“Whatever can go wrong, usually does.”

These fears and judgments are simply not true, and they my experience of intimacy. They are just my alienation story. So I ask myself:

How am I a bitch in my thinking?
How do I threaten other people’s backs or my own back?
How am I treating myself like a rat in a rat race?
How am I abusive, at least in my thoughts?
How am I dwelling on lack and on big spending?
How am I lazy , defiant, dumb, strict, mean, crooked, and hypocritical in my thinking?
How am I blocking myself from my potential?
How am I not pleasing to myself and others?
Is it my job to please others?
Is it their job to please me?

Am I intimate with myself and others?
Am I alienating myself from myself?
Am I scaring myself with my views?
Do I tell myself that other people hurt me?
Do I put up barriers of self-protection?
Do I see how all of my suffering and fears are self-inflicted?
How am I creating my stress?

If I want to reduce my alienation experiences, my job is to question, examine and take total responsibility for my assumptions, my thinking, my feelings, my actions, my judgments, my accusations, my fears, my expectations and demands, my complaints, and my stress. Other people’s opinions are their business. I cannot change them. This questioning process is my full-time self-care job. Whatever else I am doing becomes natural and easy. To the degree that I do My Job, I find that I am peaceful, kind, efficient, successful and happy. I am no longer into God’s Job and Others’ Business. I am no longer crippling myself with the unholy trinity of separation, lack and entrapment. I am no longer feeling like an angry victim who is at war with the world. My relationships, my health and my finances take care of themselves and flow naturally. Intimacy and oneness are natural. Freedom is a realizable possibility. My control of others or others’ control of me is no longer an issue. Fear diminishes. I am less concerned about losing what I have or not getting what I want, since I am correcting my thinking and realizing that I am an infinite being, one with God, who is everything. That is true intimacy.

Recently I came across a risky investment opportunity, and I began to get excited and fearful. I asked myself “What is this get-rich-or-go broke story that I am struggling with? Is it all illusion? Why so much stress then? Why do I seem to feel every day that I could win all or lose all? Is it true? If I win this round, will I be happier, more secure? If I lose it, will I be more anxious and insecure? If I were a millionaire in 2 years, would that make any difference infinity-wise? What would I be like if I did not believe the thought that I could be rich or broke in the next six months?” This is the kind of questioning process that I use to examine the excitement-and-anxiety stories which seem to threaten my intimacy.

My Story is Not the Same as Me

I have puzzled over your statement all week that “My story is not the same as me,” she said. What would you be like without the thought that you have wasted your life? I asked. “I’d be happier and less disappointed in myself,” she said. You took your assignment and completed it, I said. She began to cry. “I was given something and wasted it,” she lamented. “I was smart and creative, but I didn’t follow through and I lost it. I’m a failure,” she concluded. Is that really true? I asked. “Other people agree with me. I kept mother until she died and now there is nothing left. I try to control my depression and panic attacks, but I am in a void. I have talents but fear to fail again. Can I just re-invent myself again as I have done many times before? I am too tired now.” I replied that depression makes you afraid, and fear makes you depressed, and struggle makes you tired. We are looking for an intervention in this vicious circle. She exclaimed “That would be a miracle! I’ve only had one miracle, and that was when my husband accepted and loved me as I am, and now I am miserable.” Our experience of misery comes from our story, I echoed to her again. “I just wallow in my misery and don’t have the strength to quit, though I tire of it,” she commented. I queried whether it is safe there? She quipped “Familiar.”

You seem to be assuming that it will take great effort to defeat your story, so why don’t we just notice that it is based upon judgments, I said. “I’m a pleaser and everyone says I don’t measure up.” I asked how can a person please anyone else, much less everyone! “At my reunion it seemed that everyone else had done as they wanted, but that I had wasted my talents,” she said tearfully. “It may be true that they didn’t really care one way or the other, but I made myself sick over it. I want a roadmap out of here.” How would you feel if you had one? “I’d try to follow it and then tire of it. I want to go my own way and no one lets me. I don’t fit in.” Into what? “Polite society.” Is that interesting? “That’s my brother!”

What do you suppose it would be like to live in the now, rather than in the past or future? “There is nothing promised in my future. I fear the future. The past made me what I am and I drag it along with me. The question is how to get rid of it and start over.” Your past is a lot of assumptions, and your panic is about the future. “Its my fear of being alone and being unable to cope with that. I never fit in and so I am always alone.” If by our thinking we create loneliness, we must still be creative. Silence. If you are a part of everything and think you are not, you could experience loneliness. If you are timeless and believe you can die, you could experience the fear of death. Perhaps you create the idea you are time-bound, and tell yourself that you are not creative.

“I have a lot of pain and self-hatred. I hate everything about me.” You don’t know yourself and so you could only hate your self-image. “I’ve created so many self-images for people, but who am I? I like who I am with my husband, but what happens if I lose him?” What do you depend on your husband for? “To bring out my good.” Then you must have a lot of good in you! You have been searching so much for your good outside of yourself, you have had not time to look within. It has taken so much of your energy to create a dangerous world and a safe place to hide in it. Suppose this world was nothing but mis-understood love? “Then a lot of people have been killed for nothing and so many lives wasted. At least I didn’t waste my life on drugs!”

You are standing at the door of yourself. Imagine a door with “Betsy” on it. “I don’t think there is a Betsy. I’m not ready to go through any such door, I’d have to take responsibility for me.” Are you curious? “Yes but my fear is greater.” Are you assuming something bad is beyond that door? “I can’t deal with being alone and being responsible. I miss my comfort since my parents are dead. And if I lose my husband, I’d have nothing.” How do you know that? “It is the way I’ve seen it” Are you afraid of change? “I want change and I fear change.” Suppose there is an unknown adventure beyond that door? “It would be wonderful if I deserved it.” How do you know you don’t? “I’m not good enough.” Isn’t that just an opinion? “I’m not nice.” It is just misguided love, that is all. And if its all just love with a lot of mis-judgments laid on top of it, wouldn’t that explain why you feel you are not good enough?

“I loved, but I let the devil take over. If I get to heaven, I’ll have to answer for all of my misdeeds. I took on a big job trying to do right lest I go to hell.” How do you feel when you believe you did bad, and could go to hell? “I feel afraid and angry!” You are angry?

“I’m angry, so why bother.” Are you saying you can’t win? You got the idea you are less than you are. “I’m not adequate for God or for anything else except self-pity and I get tired of that.” Self-pity isn’t based on the truth.

Actually Betsy you are doing well. You are right on time. You are 44 and facing a mid-life transformation. Mid-life is the time to question everything in our story. If you say “I don’t know” the door begins to open; if you say “My story is right and I do know” then the door sticks tighter.

After this session, Betsy went home and had a panic attack. She went to the hospital and got some shots. She is on the edge of transformation and is scaring herself that change will be bad. It’s all part of the process. When she wakes up, she won’t have panic attacks and she won’t think she needs shots.

A Patient’s Infinite Bill of Rights

A patient is a spiritual being who does not realize who he or she is

A patient is a human god who thinks he or she is merely human

A patient has the right to resist how others define him or her

A patient has the right to be non-compliant when belittled

A patient is responsible for himself or herself and their own self-definition

A patient has the right to respect or to disrespect himself or herself

A patient has the right to accept his or her own freedom or not

A patient has the right to self-diagnosis and self-treatment

A patient has the right to re-diagnose and re-treat himself or herself

A patient has the right to be question his or her own story

A patient has the right to investigate the spiritual meaning of his or her symptoms

A patient has the right to be Self-aware or not

A patient’s illness confirms and denies his or her mediocrity

A patient has the right to refuse to accept mediocrity

Only a patient can exercise his or her own rights

A patient has the right to accept or reject all of his rights to be sick or well

A patient has no right to interfere with others rights to be sick or well

A patient is someone who believes that he or she is sick, but ought to be well

A patient is someone who is overwhelmed by the belief that “I am my body.”

A patient is someone who does not realize that all power in heaven and earth is given to us

A patient has the right to make mistakes and to forgive doctors who make mistakes

A patient has the right to forgive his or her own judgments and those of doctors and others

A patient has the right to appreciate and understand his or her symptoms, diagnosis and treatment

A patient has the right to realize that all healing is self-healing

A patient is always his or her own doctor

A doctor is always his or her own patient

A patient has the right to believe that he or she will live forever

A patient’s rights are given to him and to her by God and by nothing else

You are not a patient and you need no rights

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked; it has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka

Mediocrity is Impossible

Ho Hum?

John is in his third marriage. He is trying to get by. He has a responsible job, a good income, a home, grown children. Suddenly without any intention he has an affair. Now everything is at stake. His marrige is threatened, his stability gone, he is torn with indecision. He can’t understand why he did this to himself. He was doing okay. His life was not great, but it was passable. We re-diagnosed his symptom as being the affair and before that his mediocrity. He tried, but just couldn’t settle for compromise, for decency, for okayness. He didn’t consider what he really wanted, because “it was not attainable.” The affair represented what he was denying. Without even realizing it, he risked everything and went for the “brass ring.” But what was this brass ring? Was it another woman? He had reached for that brass ring many times, including three marriages and other affairs. Every brass ring had turned sour. But that did not prevent him from reaching again for more than compromise, for what he thought was “unattainable.” What is this “more” ? Does it imply that something is lacking in his wife or even in his marriage? Not necessarily, unless he was expecting his wife and his marriage to make up for something else.

You may try to live in Kafka’s hut, but the castle that you are towers above the story of your huthood. You can’t be mediocre. You may attempt to settle for less, to compromise, to build a safe security zone, to defend ourselves against risk and hurt, but it cannot be done. You are not mediocre, never have been, never will be. You are a human god, an infinite being, pretending to have been hurt, damaged, belittled, victimized, and therefore as needing protection. You spend half of your energy trying to protect and defend yourself, but you can’t do it. Why? The danger is in your thinking. The enemy is within. The enemy is an inner fear which has become aggressive. This fear aggresses toward you, and you try to defend against it. There is a mole in your psyche. A betrayer. And you are angry that you have to “give up” freedom, love, power, and pleasure in order to be safe. But what is worse, you cannot do it. As hard as you may try to prevent it, something is always pushing you over the edge, upsetting your apple cart, putting you at risk. We buy every kind of insurance conceivable, and we still aren’t “covered” well enough. Our comfort zone will never protect us from the risks of our infinite potentiality. You cannot grow and feel absolutely safe at the same time. We build a protective fortress and then we develop a symptom that is out of control and that puts us at risk. We cannot be mediocre. If we try to be banal, we develop a symptom. We have to become the nicest, meanest, scaredest, saddest, sickest, craziest, strongest, weakest, smartest, stupidest, cheatingest, lyingest, friendliest, unfriendliest, gamblingest, drunkest, laziest, hardest working, most pious, naughtiest, etc. Everyone goes to some extreme to prove he or she is not mediocre. You can’t be mediocre, you can’t settle for less. You will be sick or angry about your self-imposed mediocrity. Whether you live in apparent poverty or luxury, you are a human god and you cannot settle for less than a godlike state of mind. You can live anywhere under any circumstances with dignity and respect, and you will transform your environment.

All of our excuses are justifications we give ourselves for not being the gods that we are. Pride and shame about our symptomatic behavior goeth before a fall because these are compensatory actions, based upon the belief that we are not up to snuff. Attention-getting devices and popularity-strivings always backfire until we reach genuine self-realization. We work so hard to be accepted or we pretend that we don’t care. A goddess has nothing to prove, defend or deny, nor does she compare, compete and oppose.

If you judge anyone as less than a god or goddess, you can forgive your judgment, whether the other meets your standards or not. A mistaken god is still a god; an angry god is still a god; a pathetic god is still a god. And if you don’t recognize it, you too will experience feeling mistaken, angry and pathetic. First and foremost this person before you and this person in your memory is a human god, a human goddess. To the degree that you can see that, you too are a human god, no more and no less. In fact, the more you see your own godhood, the more you see others’ godhood. Wherever you see sin, it is yours; wherever you see crime, it is yours; wherever you see fault, it is yours; wherever you see beauty, it is yours; wherever you see love, it is yours; wherever you see godhood, it is yours. There is nothing you can see except your own consciousness and the story therein. If you see laziness or weakness or meanness, it is yours. You see only your own judgments. If you forgive your judgments, you are free of them. If you cling to them, they cling to you. Judging is mediocrity.

If you judge, you will punish or reward. If you punish or reward, you will be judged. If you are judged, you will be punished or rewarded. If you are punished or rewarded, you will judge again. What a mediocre cycle! Imagine what a difference you could make in the world if you broke even one of those cycles a day. And what about 100 or 1000! Freedom and peace follow the disappearance of the judge-and-punish-or-rewardcycle. Is it my business to judge-and-punish-or-reward? Am I equipped to be a punisher or rewarder of myself or others? Is it my business to judge myself or anyone else? Everyone seems to make judging their business, but can we assume that we know enough to punish or reward anyone? Judging, rewarding and punishing is god’s business and he knows enough to do neither.

Self-ignorance and its judging bring the mediocre symptoms we call punishment; self-awareness and its non-judging bring relief from the mediocre symptoms that we call rewards. Some people have supposedly learned self-discipline from the judge-and-punish-or-reward system and some have supposedly not learned such self-discipline, and most have inconsistently learned it, but all learning has to be un-done if we are to be self-realized. Discipline and non-discipline occur within a false story, and bring with them the self-fulfilling prophecy of rewards and punishments. All of our stories and the self-discipline and non-self-discipline, rewards and punishments therein, are mediocre.

The addictive power of television must arise from its attempt to be non-mediocre. Any extreme of human experience can be portrayed in what seems like the relative safety of the media. We may be trying to get by with the supposed safety of mediocrity in our daily life, but we can come home and watch the wildest shows. Yet I offer you the suggestion that for the most part television and the media do not break the bonds of mediocrity. We can taste the possibility of breaking the bonds of mediocrity through the good guys or the bad guys on the television or movie screen or in a novel, but such characterizations often still remain within the mediocre story of good and evil, reward and punishment, and we are still not satisfied with our mediocrity, and we will never be. You are not some mediocre stimulus-response machine, although you may think, feel and act like one too much of the time.

Symptoms are consequences of your story. No story, no symptoms, no consequences. Just peace.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom

-William Blake

The Beginning Point

The Chief Issue in Psychotherapy

The chief issue in the mind of the psychotherapy patient is: Who is the cause of my pain? my hurt? my symptom? The answer is “No One.” No one else could cause your pain and your symptoms, and you would not. So then we are driven to ask “What then is the cause of such suffering?” The answer is “Our unconscious beliefs, misunderstandings, misjudgments, and misdiagnoses are the cause of our symptoms and our hurts.” Where then do our pain and our symptoms arise from? “From the gap between our limited story and the infinite truth.” Although the patient believes that he or she has correctly diagnosed the problem, there is a flaw. The patient has usually overlooked the infinite context in which the finite story is cast.

When we act from our unconscious beliefs in separateness, lack and entrapment, we act in self-defense and with compulsion. Self-protectiveness and addiction are inevitable within the story. Self-defense occurs in the position of the victim and so does addiction. Self-defense is a position of fear, the fear of losing what you have. Addiction is also based upon a position of fear, the fear of not being fulfilled. Anything that promises relief from the fears and pain of separateness, deficiency and entrapment is addictive. Self-defense and addiction are fear-based “solutions” to fear-based “problems” . These two primary solutions do not work in spite of our constant effort. We perceive danger and we self-protect. When we self-protect we are cut off from self-fulfillment and so we become addicted to something which promises us fulfillment, security and symptom-control.

Generally, the significance of these three unconscious beliefs have to be taught to the client, to the story-teller. But even so, the client must then investigate for herself to find out what the programming is that accompanies her pain and her symptoms. “My son’s life is doomed to failure” at 14, said a distraught mother. “My violent son has to be controlled,” she exclaimed. She has to “own up to” the fearful sense of failure and violence in her own thinking: “I am failing myself; I am violent to myself. How would my life be if I let go of failure thinking and violent thoughts?” She believes that she is separated from her son, deficient in love and wisdom, and trapped with his misbehavior. But is she separated from herself, not loving herself, and trapped with her own misbehavior toward herself? Perhaps her own beliefs are causing her pain and symptoms. She must claim her spirituality and envision her infinite nature before she can deal with her son’s misbehavior. She cannot see his true self when she has not seen her own.

What is the cause of your pain and your symptoms? If you are defensive and addicted, what are you protecting and what are you addicted to? Are you protecting your need to see your story as right, and are you addicted to the rightness of your story? You can’t be happy/successful/symptom-free and continue to self-protect your story and be addicted to being right in your story. You are not defending your self, but only your story about yourself. You are not addicted to anything but your story’s seeming rightness. The Course in Miracles asks “Had you rather be right or happy?” Insisting on being right about your unconscious story has produced your symptoms, has it not? You want to get rid of your hurts and your symptoms, do you not? Then take a look at your victim story. Is this story the truth about who you are? Did God create a victim? No? Then where did the “Poor Me” experience come from? Perhaps from your ego story and its unconscious belief system? And where did your ego story come from? From spiritual amnesia. And so your divinity left a witness to itself in your pain and in your symptom. Be thankful for the gift and purpose of your symptom and its suffering. In a strange way, God has rigged the universe for your benefit, for your awakening.

Truth is a threat to the entire human belief system which says that guilt, fear, hurt and death are reality-based. Truth is a threat to the belief in victimization, and all of the pain and symptoms that go with it. The belief that God and his creation causes you pain puts you at seeming odds with God. As soon as you realize that all of your pain comes from incorrect beliefs, you suddenly begin to realize that you are one with God. If my beliefs are the cause of all of my pain, then I have no enemies, for they are in spiritual amnesia also. Then I can forgive and forget my illusion-based pain and the whole package of fear, guilt and punishment that goes with it. Once this whole package disappears, I am in my natural state of unconditional love and peace.

Memory, identity and story are all the same. They are a sequence of events which are woven together by the ego; they are snapshots of the infinite evolving into the finite, eternity evolving into time.

David Hawkins makes the point that you cannot experience the infinite asthe infinite. You can only be the infinite, but once it comes into time, then you can experience it. Once it comes into finite form, you can experience it. You can appear to be separate enough from the infinite to experience it, but what we experience is our story, which is the way we have connected together the events of creation.

The infinite is constantly becoming finite. The Eternal is constantly becoming time. The formless is constantly becoming form. The Self is constantly becoming the self. The invisible the visible. There is nothing but the infinite and the infinite in form, and both of these are one. There is no subject and object once you reach the 600 level (on a scale from 1 to 1000 vibrations per second). The finite and the infinite are both God’s will. There is nothing we can do outside of His will. There is no separate finite world. We are always moving in and out of the infinite whether we recognize it or not. The merely finite does not exist. Anything that appears to be merely finite is an illusion. Anything that appears to be finitely caused is an illusion. Anything that happens, happens in consciousness, and is an activity of consciousness or spirit. That is why we say that symptoms arise from within consciousness, and not merely from an act of one finite thing upon another. No act is merely finite. All events and acts are the result of infinite consciousness since we are infinite/finite beings in an infinite/finite world.

In any single moment, there cannot be a problem, only if events are strung together in a story about the past or future, which do not exist.

“What if and then what” is a tool for self-awareness. What if I let go of something I want or value? Then what? brings up the next obstacle. What if I let go of that? brings up the next obstacle, etc

In the Hawkins model, only 4% of the world’s population is able to get past the 500 level. The level of unconditional love is 540, which is lovingness toward all life and dedication to its support. One is forgiving, charitable, benign, peaceful and easy going. Happiness is independent of external circumstances or events. Judgmentalism disappears and is replaced by desire for understanding and compassion. The innate beauty and perfection of all things begins to surface. The recurrence of any thoughts or feelings which are less than loving is experienced as painful or unwelcome.

Pattie is unable to sleep or eat much because of her extreme stress. Her husband is having his third affair. She has begun to accept some responsibility for her part in the marital discord which feeds into his acting out. She seems to feel that she has not given him the attention he needed, and he agrees and blames her for his affair. He refuses to give up his friendship with this woman at work, insisting that the affair is over. Regular phone calls between her husband and the woman upset Pattie and feed her distrust. We attempted to re-define the problem in such a way that she sees that he has a codependency problem which he is trying to solve with two women. He doesn’t trust himself. Pattie feels now that she can focus on the problem differently, without telling herself that he is acting out due to her. She is ready now to focus on appreciating herself more.

The chief problem in psychotherapy then is the context in which the painful and problematic symptom occurs. The context is infinity. We usually assume and pretend that the context is finite, but it never has been and never will be. Mis-diagnosis therefore is usually due to context ignorance. The context is the fact that you are an in infinite spiritual being, and no human problem can be understood apart from that fact.

Fear is the belief that we will lose what we have or not get what we want.

-Byron Katie

An Experimental Hypothesis

Take it for a trial run

Einstein said that theory that determines what we can see.So let’s use Infinity Theory as a “suppose it were true” kind of hypothesis. It might be worth it to make your life a scientific experiment in order to test out this hypothesis thoroughly. You don’t need to take my word for it because it is going to cost you your so-called sanity when you do believe it, and it is going to seem too good to be true, and no one will believe you, and if you stick with it, you won’t care what other people think. The fear of rejection will no longer control your consciousness. You will be a “fool for Christ’s sake,” and by that I mean for your own sake and everyone else’s.And what is this experimental hypothesis?That I am Infinite, and that all of my past, present and future symptoms (troubles) are clues to that Infinity.And there are several sub-hypotheses to this grand thesis:

If you take total responsibility for everything that happens to you, it will not be a burden, but a relief, and you will recover the power you have always been looking for and thought you never had. Responsibility = power.

What you thought were real problems were just states of mind that can be changed

Every event in this universe is designed for your benefit

This ingenious universe is attempting to communicate to you every moment important clues about your lost treasure

Being right is not getting you what you want

Desire is not about getting entertaining goodies in your prison cell, but it is about release from the whole notion of deprivation and imprisonment.

My self-image and my reputation is not who I am.

I don’t need to change the world or anyone or anything in it in order to to discover my Infinite Self.

In Infinite awareness, “control” becomes a non-issue, whereas in the self-image belief system control is everything.

In Infinite Vision, all things are possible

What appears to be emptiness is actually infinite potentiality, or invisible Spirit.

That the inheritance of Infinity is already mine and I cannot lose it. I can only speed up or slow down its arrival by my attachment to my present beliefs and suffering.

That past and future are states of mind that can be completely re-visioned and transformed without a scar left.

How to identify and uproot inner unconscious beliefs that control your outer world?

Observe self-talk

Notice when you are telling yourself what you don’t want and turn that statement into what you do want

Analyze the essential element in what you do want, and see what it represents. You can get this essential meaning by asking “What for?” Let’s say you want a new Cadillac. What for? To feel important and respected. Do you not feel important and do you not respect yourself? Why not? Do you hold a belief that you are not important and respected unless other people think so or unless you have a Cadillac? Do outward things control your sense of importance and self-respect?

Is the belief which is driving you one of the unholy trinity: (1) the belief in separation (2) the belief in lack (3) the belief in victimization and entrapment?

Confront that belief directly and deny its power to control you any longer. I am never alone. I am not empty or lacking in any Good Thing. I am not a victim. I am not trapped.

Confess: I am connected to everything. I am full of God’s love, peace, prosperity, bliss, health, and energy. I am free.

Every time you feel prone to excuse or blame, drop it.

Look for something good in every situation

Remind yourself that you are an Infinite Being in a finite world.

Remind yourself that all things are possible, and that all things work together for Good.

Any time that you are upset or anxious, start looking for the belief that triggered it. What was I just now telling myself?

You will usually find a “justifiable” reason for your upset, but no reason is good enough. Do not allow yourself to dwell upon finite beliefs and to create mis-qualified energy again.

Be playful with yourself about your motives and goals. All of our motives and goals are driven by beliefs about avoiding something or desiring something. And so whether what we seek to avoid or to obtain seems “good” or “bad” it is still useful because in the final analysis, for we are only seeking the Infinite.
All fears and wishes are about the Infinite. All behaviors are forms of the search for the Infinite. All symptoms and symbols refer to the Infinite. Although almost none of our conscious motives seem to be about the Infinite, they are all about the Infinite. Infinity Theory does not say that we should be Infinite, it says that we are Infinite.

All of the above steps flow in a natural progression from one to another, but I noticed that between just before the last step, there was a gap, a jump, and apparently the necessity for that leap cannot be removed.

It Is Finished!

You do unto others as you perceive they do unto you. If you live in an attack/defense type of thinking world, you will see others as also in the attack/defense mode. If you have perpetrator/victim thinking, you will see others as perpetrators or victims. If you believe in attack, defense, perpetration, and victimization, you will become involved in rescuing. If you become involved in rescuing, you will fail. You cannot rescue anyone. You cannot change anyone. Everyone is creating their own circumstances for their own purposes. You can only love, teach and be responsible for yourself. Every one creates his own victim dilemma. Everyone creates his own strategies for solving this dilemma. No one can rescue you because no one has victimized you.

Rescue is what the ego is constantly trying to do, without saying so. But how can the ego rescue if the ego is the agent of victimization? We have victimized ourselves, but we cannot rescue ourselves.

The little cartoon below is interesting. It suggests that you crucify yourself and others. This is our most common belief. We assume that others have crucified us and that we have crucified others. This sets us up for guilt, shame, manipulation, attack and defense. While it is logical to say that if you crucify others you crucify self, and if you crucify self you crucify others, Infinity Theory says that Poor Me is just a painful perception. You do not have to live in a crucify or get crucified world any longer. Jesus’ crucifixion finished all of that, although we have not yet caught on. He said “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Martyardom is finished. Victimization is finished. Suffering about victimization is finished. Protection against victimization is finished. Wake up. Smell the coffee. The nightmare of victimization is over. It is finished. All fear-based thinking is finished. All attack and defense thinking is finished. All fear is exposed as illusion. Get over it. Let it go. Relax. Trust. Follow your bliss. How many lifetimes have been wasted in power struggles and symptom management?

God is not mocked. You are as God created you. You don’t need to anxiety yourself, depress yourself, scare yourself, anger yourself, pity yourself, protect yourself, worry yourself, avenge your wounds, medicate your symptoms, waste your energy, prove you are right. It is finished. Live! Enjoy! The crucifixion is over. Victimization is over. Live in the Spirit. You are free.

The Church of Infinite Imagination

A Location in Time and Space

WHERE DOES THIS CHURCH MEET? In your Infinite Imagination.WHEN? Any time you choose.WHO IS THE MINISTER? Dr. J, a voice crying in the internet wilderness.WHAT DO YOU TEACH? Who you are.UPON WHAT AUTHORITY? The Cosmic Christ.WHAT BIBLE DO YOU USE? The inspired word of God, wherever it may be found.WHO ARE THE MEMBERS? The New Humanity.WHAT DOES IT COST? Your pityful self-image.HOW DO I PARTICIPATE? Tune in daily at this address.OF WHAT PRACTICAL VALUE IS THIS? The universe is your inheritance and the feast begins today.WHAT IS INFINITE IMAGINATION? Infinite Imagination is who you are, and what you are manifesting in your life.IS THIS A RELIGION OR WHAT? Religion is an external psychological belief system. Infinite Imagination is your inmost reality.WHAT ABOUT TITHES AND OFFERINGS? Whatever you give to your neighbor, you give to yourself.WHO PAYS YOUR SALARY? I AM pays me, the same as who pays youWHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS? Infinite Imagination is the ultimate addiction.WHAT IS YOUR DOCTRINE? Infinite Imagination is who you are.WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD OF THIS BEFORE? The time has come for planetary awakening.WHY DO I FEEL INADEQUATE IF I AM SUCH AN INFINITE BEING? You are addicted to your victim self-image.I FEEL INSULTED. Good, that’s a start. Any human god should be insulted and angry, considering how we live.HOW DO YOU KNOW I AM A HUMAN GOD? Because Jesus said so (John 10:34) and because you have symptoms of the fatal illness of ignorance.YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW ME, HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH THINGS? I have been a practicing psychotherapist for 40 years and I have seen the mis-used human imagination many thousands of times. And so I would like to give back something to you, to lighten your load.CAN I HANDLE IT? It won’t be nearly as hard as the self-betrayal you are practicing now.WHAT IF I DON’T AGREE WITH THIS NEW DOCTRINE? This teaching is as ancient as the perennial philosophy, and besides it generally takes a year to grasp the main tenets of this new lifetime study. We have 25,000 hours of tapes playing in our head to cut through before we can get down to the constructive and free use of infinite imagination.I HAVE TOO MANY PROBLEMS TO WORRY ABOUT SUCH THEORIES. You have too many problems because you create them through your unawareness.I DON’T HAVE THE TIME. You are an Eternal and Infinite Being and that’s why this study is worth your full-time effort. I know because that is all I do. Otherwise, life is too boring. I mean, how many football games and soap operas can you stomach? How many sexual and financial struggles can you endure? How many drugs can your adrenals stand? Don’t worry, when you get tired of Peyton Place, you will be ready to move on to the Real Mystery of Infinite Imagination.HOW DID YOU LEARN THIS? I just keep waking up to more and more of the truth!WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SPIRITUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY? You are by inheritance a living part of the New Humanity and spiritual psychotherapy is the process of realizing this.

I Doubt It

Man is Imagination. Reason, thoughts, feelings, behavior and the world itself are functions of imagination.What you see is what you imagine to be.I am consciousness, I am infinite life, love, energy, health, prosperity, light, intelligence, bliss, truth, peace, and power—when I step out of my finite beliefs and limited states of belief and disbeliefI doubt and resist this Secret knowledge of my infinite nature because:It is blasphemousIt is anti-ChristianIt is irrationalIt is disturbingIt is impossibleIt is dangerousIt is confusingIt is irrelevantIt is imaginaryIt is contrary to what I have always thoughtIt requires a complete change of viewpointI am attached to my beliefs and strategiesIt would be scary to changeIt would be foreign and strange to meThat is not my familiar self-imageIt isn’t practicalI can’t grasp itI would lose too muchI would feel crazy or stupid to believe itMy beliefs are good common senseI don’t want to be wrongGod might strike me deadMy significant other might not agreeI could be ex-communicated

I would feel foolish and alone

People might laugh at me and reject me

I would never be so arrogant as to believe such things

These ideas sound imaginary, not “real”

I’m too busy surviving to think about such nonsense

Scientists wouldn’t agree

I know what is real, why raise questions?

I haven’t got time to question everything

Given some time, I can make my own strategy work

My only problem is with other people

Imagination is for dreamers

I’m hurting too bad to think about theories

What good is caring about the truth if no one else does

I don’t even want that much power and responsibility

I’d just rather be a couch potato and not think so much

Raising questions gets me in trouble

The cards are stacked against you anyway

How could anything so incredibly beautiful possibly be true!

Infinity theory is psychological and theological heresy because man is basically neurotic and sinful.

This is just more New Age fluff

I’m not that greedy, I just want to pay my bills and get a little—and be normal

Night and Day

A million Einsteins?

Day and night, night and day, I ask myself: can infinity theory be true? How can it possibly be true? Night and day I dwell upon this single unfathomable mystery, this seeming impossibility of total potentiality. Infinity Theory is awesome even as a possibility, much less as the one and only reality. Always new, incredibly and astonishingly refreshing, unbelievably shocking. Infinity theory just keeps turning, twisting and dancing, like a million diamonds in the sun. It shakes me to my foundations. There is no way that I can do justice to writing about Infinity theory.I give up and yet I cannot. I am totally addicted to this Awesomeness. How could Infinity appear in and as me? I am burst asunder, split in two like a boulder hit by a bolt of lightning.It seems to me that if a million Einsteins thought, and a million Picassos painted, and a million Carusos sang, and a million Astaires danced, and a million Shakespeares acted, and a million Freuds analyzed – for a million years – we would not have even gotten past the opening scene of exploring and expressing the mystery of this eternal opera. Until this very moment in my life I never knew what it might possibly mean to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all of my strength. Infinity stretches me “beyond imagination” to the point where I can hear the galaxies singing praises and the porpoises squeaking their joyous good mornings to one another.This body/mind is the conscious or unconscious vehicle of Infinite Imagination. When this body/mind is the unconscious vehicle of Infinite Imagination, the vehicle is abused and shows forth signs of that abuse which we call symptoms or stress. When this bodymind awakens to the meaning of its symptomatic or stressful existence, the Infinity of Imagination begins to come alive, and the generations of abuse are restoredAnd so, is the divinity of man just a ridiculous metaphysical idea which has somehow in this last minute of human evolution been pasted onto the intellectual odyssey of mankind? And how could such a seeming latecomer cut to the very core of the entire spectrum of ethical, social, political, psychological, medical and theological dilemmas of 21^st century mankind? How could something so apparently superfluous be so intimately relevant, even to your breathing? Yes, it is nearer than your breath and its consciousness or unconsciousness is as vital as oxygen itself.If Infinity is your nature, then the exclusive belief in finitude is what becomes ridiculous, superfluous, illusory and anti-survival. I have argued here that the Secret Knowledge constitutes the essence of the perennial philosophy which has been known by the ancients since time began. And I argue that this Secret Knowledge is the inherent spiritual core of all of the sciences, philosophies and religions, and that we are ready for its realization. This Secret Knowledge is the IT, the cornerstone, which the builders (that’s us) rejected. And, if you want to characterize Infinite Imagination in a personal way, you can say that it is the Christ Consciousness, and that everyone is this Christ Consciousness unawares. It took a remarkable artist/philosopher/mystic named William Blake in the 19^th century to so name it:

The eternal body of man is the Imagination: that is, God himself. The divine body :Jesus: we are his members

-William Blake

Man is all imagination. God is Man and exists in us and we in Him…The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination, that is, God Himself.

-William Blake

But whether we name it by this label or not, I am proposing that Infinite Imagination is the essence of the Christ, the Atman, the Buddha, the I AM, Hercules, and the hero archetypes of the ages. Infinite Imagination is the essence of what Jung called the Self. This Secret Knowledge belongs to every human being and is our inheritance from the Father. In fact, it is who we are.

When I said No One Knows I did not mean that I know and you don’t. I meant that No One Knows.

Today I received two industrial catalogs in the mail. On the cover of one it said “Create: release your imagination.” And on the other it said : “Finish: release your imagination.” Isn’t that amazing? The advertisers are saying that we have to learn to create, to release our imagination and to finish. Of course, they are selling their products, but how much synchronicity can a guy take?

In the same mail, I received an ad selling a book on hypnosis

techniques by a French professor Tepperwein, in which ad I found the following claims:

Hypnotize disease out of your body

Command your face to firm up, your hair to grow fuller again, even your breasts to increase their size

Transport yourself back to the deep sleep you had as a child

Convince your body to burn fat

Compel your colon to clean itself out at will

Numb completely the taste buds that drive you to smoke

Set up steel blocks around your pain centers that even a dentist’s drill can’t get through

Command any person’s body to pull the addiction out of alcohol and drugs

Quiet a child’s bladder so that no bed-wetting occurs

Eradicate fears, anxieties, paranoias, worries

Triple the power of your mind

Make your mind like a video-camera through self-hypnosis

Liberate your buried genius

Become a winner in any sport

Go back into your childhood and relive its joys and banish its ability to bind you to errors of the past

Explore the infinite possibilities of your hidden mind

The author quotes cases and studies as evidence of his promised results. The point that I am making here is found in the last benefit promised: “the infinite possibilities of your hidden mind.”

William James, father of American psychology, was also the head of a committee on hypnotism research. In 1886 he put Leonora Piper into a light hypnotic trance. As she went deeper into the trance, he was hardly able to get her to open her eyes, and when she did she could hardly move or speak. He tested her by pricking her arm with a needle, but she appeared to feel nothing. She could not seem to clench her fist on demand. He even made a small incision on her wrist that remained open but did not bleed. He took a deck of cards and asked her to identify each card as he showed it only to himself and she was able to identify a majority of the cards. When he awakened her, the wrist began to bleed immediately.

When the everyday mindset and its belief systems are set aside, as in hypnosis or self-hypnosis, the subject enters a different state, and is able to accomplish unusual or extra-ordinary things. What is this “hidden mind’ which has such “infinite possibilities?”

Eugene Taylor in Shadow Culture: Psychology and Spirituality in America”traces the impact of visionary psychology on the dominant culture of normative science and mainstream religion. Our dominant American culture is outward, rational, reductionistic, sensory, driven by the letter of the law; whereas, the alternative shadow subculture is inner, contemplative, ascetic and mystical, driven by a belief that it is the true aristocracy of the spirit. Taylor points out that the major difference in these two cultures is the awareness of the power of the unconscious in human affairs. Whereas the reality of the unconscious is recognized in art, religion, advertising and propaganda, it remains largely a mystery in education, medicine, physical illness, criminal rehabilitation, and the understanding of prejudice and violence, even among the college educated. Visionary psychology gives a major place to the recognition of transcendence, symbols, mental imagery, inner technologies and maps of consciousness. The denominational churches, science as usual, and psychology as data research are not leading the way in this alternative reality research and visionary psychology.

“God asleep is man; man awake is God”

-Freedom Barry

God and man then are not differences in substance but differences in intensity of Being. We are to learn to regard our being, our I AM, as the infinite I AM, fallen asleep to its infinitude. William Blake conceived of the Ultimate Being as imagination, with divine and human as merely terms descriptive of the opposite functioning poles, or intensity levels, of this one Being, of Imagination.

WHAT IS IMAGINATION?

Can you imagine?

Consider these propositions:

1. You are imaginative

2. Imagination creates the phenomenal world
3. You create your worldview and experience through your imagination

4.You create good and evil in your worldview

5. Imagination is infinitely creative

6. Imagination is infinite

7. You are infinite imagination

8. You create infinitely

9. God is the basis of your infinite creative ability

10. You imagine who you are, you forget who you are; you can develop amnesia about who you are.

11.You often mis-imagine who you are

12. You can re-imagine who you are; you can refuse to re-imagine who you are

13. When you refuse, you develop a symptom of that refusal and yuu cannot explain that symptom to yourself or explain it away

14. If you get rid of one symptom of your amnesia, another appears

15. Symptoms appear where amnesia has occurred

16. Symptoms are the encoded language of the contracted imagination

17. Imagination is still functioning and creates dreams, visions, nightmares, archetypal symbols and symptoms for your awakening to Infinity.

18. You are “tried in the furnaces of affliction” by all sorts of symptoms and suffering until you finally awaken completely from your amnesia.

19. Every belief system has a premise, a bottom line assumption, which, whether clear and known or not, governs the outcome or final product of the entire system.

20. Infinite Imagination is already the bottom line in every operating belief system, and it is this premise, this reality, which produces the symptom.

21. This premise was inborn by God’s choice, not ours. This premise is the hardware, our true self. Our own installed software, our story, has its own set of assumptions and limitations which run counter to our Inborn Christ pattern, and set up our stress parameters. This installed programming comes from our particular family and culture, as well as from the racial collective mindset. The stress between the inborn Christ pattern (the true self) and the socially installed psychological programming (our story) is universal and inevitable. This dissonance is what we have called being asleep or dreaming nightmares. Awakening is our inevitable destiny.

22. God is buried in you, asleep in you, asleep as you, disguised as you and experiences your entire mis-imagined existence of stress and suffering, until you both awaken as conscious partners.

23. God’s life and your life are inevitably linked in Infinite Imagination
and without this awareness, you cannot be your Self.

24. God is infinite imagination

25. God imagined me individually

26. God created me in the likeness of infinite imagination so that I might create and imagine as he does

27. We are like the potter who shapes the clay pot of this world and when mistakes are made, we re-imagine what we have made without the defects. (Jeremiah 18)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness

Genesis 1:2

O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee

1 Chronicles 29:18

Imagination rules the world

–Napoleon

You can fill a man with knowledge and all you have is a man filled with knowledge, but spark his imaginative powers and he can conquer the Universe.

-Einstein

Who is William Blake?

Poet, artist, mystic, philosopher, universal realized man, born in London, 1757, and died in 1827.

Who is William Blake?

Meditate upon his words and you will know yourself better today:

What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all that a man hath—his wife, his children. Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy and in the withered field where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain.

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite: for man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.

“To see a World in a grain of sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your hand
And Eternity in an Hour.”

Man must, and will, have some religion

What is morality but the things which relate to the body which dies? What is immortality, but the things relating to Spirit, which lives eternally?

The idiot Reasoner laughs at the Man of Imagination and from laughter proceeds to murder by undervaluing the power of his slanderous remarks

He who will not comingle in Love must be adjoined by hate

Do what you will, this life’s a fiction, and is made up of contradictions.

In every bosom a universe expands as wings

Go, tell them that the worship of God is honoring his gifts in other men, and loving the greatest men, each according to his Genius, which is the Holy Ghost in man.

Awake! Awake o sleeper of the land of shadows-wake! Expand! I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love

He whose face gives no light shall never become a star

Why stand we here trembling around calling on God for help, and not ourselves, in whom God dwells, stretching a hand to save the falling man.

He who would see the Divinity must see him in his children

And every natural effect has a spiritual cause, and not a natural, for a natural cause only seems; It is a delusion.

A pretense of Art to destroy art; a pretense of liberty to destroy liberty, a pretense of religion to destroy religion.

For not one sparrow can suffer and the whole Universe not suffer also, in all its regions, and its Father and Savior not pity and weep.

Every man’s wisdom is peculiar to his own Individuality

The religions of all nations are derived from each nation’s different reception of the Poetic Genius.

What is Sin but a little error and fault that is soon forgiven?

Man’s desire are limited by his perceptions-none can desire what he has not perceived.

And now begins a new life, because another covering of earth is shaken off

What have I said? What have I done? O all powerful human words!

Jesus died because he strove against the current of this wheel of death, sin, sorrow and punishment: opposing nature.

The imagination is not a state—it is the Human Existence itself Affection or love becomes a state when divided from Imagination. The Memory is a state always, and the Reason is a State. Created to be annihilated and a new Ratio created. Whatever can be created can be annihilated—Forms cannot. The Oak is cut down by the ax, the Lamb calls by the knife. But their forms Eternal Exist Forever. Amen. Halleujah!

Our own imagination-those worlds of Eternity in which we shall live forever

If the sun and moon should doubt, they’d immediately go out.

He who will not defend truth, may be compelled to defend a lie, that he may be snared and caught and taken

Where shall we take our stand to view the infinite and unbounded?

He who sees the Infinite in all things, sees God. He who sees Ratio (the rational) only, sees himself only.

For everything that lives is holy.

Man liveth not by Self alone, but in his brother’s face each shall behold the Eternal Father, and love and joy abound.

He who has few things to desire cannot have many to fear

I must create a system—or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

This world of imagination is the world of eternity. It is the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the vegetated body. This world of Imagination is Infinite and Eternal, whereas the world of generation of vegetation is finite and temporal. There exists in that Eternal World the permanent realities of everything which we see reflected in this vegetable glass of nature.

Why should punishment weave the veil with iron wheels of war when forgiveness might it weave with wings of cherubim?

We who dwell on earth can do nothing of ourselves: everything is conducted by spirits, no less than digestion and sleep.

All deities dwell in the human breast

And throughout all eternity I forgive you—you forgive me. As our dear Redeemer said “This the Wine, and this the Bread.”

How do you know but every bird that cuts the airy way, is an immense world of delight, closed by your senses five?

There is a void, outside of existence, which if entered into, englobes itself and becomes a womb.

I have been very near the Gates of Death and have returned very weak and an old man feeble and tottering. But not in Spirit and Life—Not in the Real Man–The Imagination liveth forever. In that I am stronger and stronger as this Foolish Body decays.

Every honest man is a prophet.

That man may be purified by the death of thy delusions.

If I were pure, never could I taste the sweets of the Forgiveness of Sins. If I were holy, I could never behold the tears of love of him who loves me in the midst of his anger in the furnace of fire.

Can a poet doubt the visions of Jehovah? Nature has no outline, but Imagination has! Nature has no tune, but Imagination has! Nature has no supernatural and dissolves: Imagination is Eternity.

I am in God’s presence night and day, and he never turns his face away.

Every man’s wisdom is peculiar to his own individuality

The Spirit of Jesus is continual forgiveness of Sin: he who waits to be righteous before he enters the Savior’s kingdom , the Divine Body, will never enter there.

To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal eyes of man inwards into the worlds of thought, into Eternity ever expanding in the bosom of God, the Human Imagination.

I know of no other Christianity—and of no other gospel-than the liberty, both of body and mind, to exercise the Arts of Imagination.

The religions of all nations are derived from each nation’s different reception of the Poetic Genius.

For every pleasure money is useless

Follow me with my plow.

Let him not say he knows better than his Master—for he only holds a candle in the sunshine.

I am perhaps the most sinful of men: I pretend not to see holiness, yet I pretend to love, to see, to converse with daily as man with man, and the more to have an interest in the Friend of Sinners.

All distress inflicted by heaven is a mercy.

Prisons are built with stones of Law, brothels with bricks of Religion.

His wife, Catherine, said of him: “I have very little of Mr. Blake’s company. He is always in Paradise.”

Wordsworth’s verdict after Blake’s death reflected many opinions of the time: “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

Hard Wired

Are you tired of the old movies playing in your head?

We are hard-wired for the Infinite. No matter what software program is plugged in and running in your computer, your hard wiring can handle any program. No matter what kind of junk is coming in on your television set, you can always find a better program. Once Timothy Leary said that awakening is as simple as changing TV channels. Oh, that it were! We don’t even know that it is software playing and that this is a television soap opera that we are living. We are not just listening or watching. We have married the script. We consider the software to be reality. We pretend unawares that we are right in the middle of the television soap opera. Of course, we tell ourselves that any idiot could tell the difference between software and hardware and between the television set and a poor movie. Then why are we so addicted, why are we so clinically depressed, so suicidal and homicidal? Why are we so stressed if we are so aware?No, we are not aware of what we are hard-wired for. We are not aware that our life story is a soap opera and playing like a piece of software. Are we aware that we are all one, and that we are Infinite Imagination, that we living out our symptoms of awakening, that we are human gods in the making, that we are limited only by the abuse of our imagination? Are we aware that the Drama Triangle is a rat-race, and no more? Are we aware that the Cosmic Christ is asleep in us? That we are miracle workers, that we are magicians, that our brains are capable of containing twelve university libraries of knowledge, that we only use five percent of our abilities, that human cells could probably live forever under the right laboratory conditions? Are we aware that we are sleeping giants, capable of unbelievable creativity, wisdom and love? Are we aware that our narcissism is programmed limitation? Are we aware that our self-esteem is programmed foolishness? Are we aware as Kafka said that we are living in huts beside immense castles? Are we aware that our suffering is not due to our limitations but to the infinitude we have rejected as preposterous? Are we aware that we are human gods acting like puppets? Are we aware that we are designed and hard-wired for universality, but that we have settled for degraded and arrogant self-imagery? Are we aware that our shame, blame and fear have no further reason to exist? Are we aware that the Christ “finished” all of those games?

“It is finished” John 19:30

Of course, though, it is not finished until you say so with total awareness. And we will continue with the same old story, the same old programming, the same old soap opera, until the Christ awakens in you and I on our Christmas morning when we say “Yes, it is finished.”

Zapped!

How did we create this deadness, this sleep, this ignorance, this madness, this Drama Triangle? All you had to do was to be born in this collective human energy field and you are zapped! Whatever degree of enlightenment we attain is helpful, but everybody who is finite gets to be zapped! God even zapped himself by becoming this finite world. And how much he longs to be re-born, to awaken, to come alive, and to have tea with you and me. The whole creation longs for that day:

The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8:22

So what about Melchizadek, Jesus, Krishna, and Buddha? Were they zapped too? We are forever indebted to the light they brought to this planet, for these pioneers who awakened to Infinity and gave their entire existence to the Greatest Love Story Ever Told. I have no doubt that they were zapped by the collective human energy field, but thank God they did not buy the pityful dark story about humanity. They opened the door to consciousness for all of us. They showed us what is possible. And do not think that we are to worship them, for “Greater works than these shall you do” (John 14:12) The very fact that Infinite Potentiality is possible should give us courage. If even God has been put to sleep by the finite, do not be so surprised that we are. And if these human beings were able to wake up to Infinity, so can you and I.

The Victim Experience

The Old Testament speaks of the “furnaces of affliction” and the New Testament of “crucifixion” and modern psychology of “the “victim” experience. All three of these terms refer to the experience of “human suffering.” We have argued here that “human suffering” is a state of mind which we create unawares by what we tell ourselves. Since it appears from our senses that such suffering arises from outside, we react with defensiveness and blame toward that outside source. Since that outside source is having a similar experience, that person reacts with counter-defense and counter-blame, and the cycle of conflict rages on.

We have argued also that these “states of mind” are created and fed by certain unconscious assumptions or beliefs on a continual moment by moment basis. For example, take note of how often you may be saying to yourself:

I am limited by

I am deprived of

I am trapped in

I don’t have

I wish I could

I can’t

Ain’t It Awful that

Poor me

I have a right to be angry about

I don’t get enough

I have too much

There is not enough

It is depressing that

I lost

I am hurt by

It is unfair that

No one cares that

I will never

Why is ……. Happening to me

No one appreciates it that

My life is harder than

I am better than

I try harder than

I should

I feel guilty about

I regret that

I am ashamed of

I resent

I blame

I avoid

I dream about

I wish

I am lacking in

I am handicapped by

I am controlled by

I am jealous of

I envy

If only

Someday I will

I am stuck with

My luck is

I am hurt by

I will get even with

I will prove

I will disprove

I’ve had enough of

You have no right to

I am putting up with

I refuse to put up with

I am sacrificing

I am tired of sacrificing

I am obligated to

I am tired of feeling obligated

I am paying for

I pity

I am sick of pitying

I hate

I am afraid of

I’m anxious about

I worry about

I am right about

I am wrong about

I hate feeling wrong about

I miss

I am losing

I can justify

I can’t justify

I want

I need

I brag on myself that

I put myself down that

My strong points are

My weak points are

I’m lonely because

I’m afraid because

I’m angry because

I’m envious because

I’m sad because

I’m stuck because

I intend to

I refuse

I resist

I would like to control

I would like to prove

I would like to show

I am justified in

I make up for……by………

I was cheated when

Awareness of one’s self-talk is required for Infinity Vision. Self-examination means that I pay attention to the self-talk that re-enforces my belief system and leads to my symptomatic behavior. How many of these precious beliefs are you willing to examine and release? The self-image is married to these beliefs. Everyone wants a divorce these days. But if you are married to false beliefs, you should consider divorcing them first. If you divorce your spouse and remain married to false beliefs, have you really changed your mind?

The first message of the Good News of Infinite Imagination is metanoia, to “radically change your mind,” to become aware of your self-defeating self-talk. That is the “work of consciousness.” If you do not do your “psychological work” you will not allow Grace to do its work. Awareness is your psychological work. The Gift of Infinite Imagination is the activity of Grace. If you continue to choose unawareness, Grace will seem like an empty word.

God is limited by our ignorance. God suffers in the “furnaces of affliction” with us due to our blindness to our self-defeating self-talk. Victimization is self-inflicted. Your life is out of control because you give your power to false beliefs.

False beliefs lead to addictive solutions. False beliefs and their addictive solutions are symptoms which lead to more suffering. This whole trap is set up for your awakening. Thank God for your furnace of affliction. Thank God for the awareness of the power of your self-talk. That same power is your salvation. Blake said that there is a string, which if you wind it up into a ball, leads you out of the morass. You don’t have to look very far to find that string. Just take any one of those sentence completion answers you just completed, and wind it up. It is connected to the entire false belief system, and if you keep winding it up, you will arrive at Infinite Vision. Every symptom you have is connected to the God within, to the Pattern Man that you have forgotten. That is why you can afford to be thankful inall things, and that is why all things work together for good, and that is why all things are possible, and that is why whatsoever you ask will be granted, and that is why this entire universe is rigged in your favor, and that is why you cannot fail.

Just realize that you have been looking at the world through glasses of finite sight and trying to settle for victimization, perpetration or rescuing, and that you cannot do it.

The Qualifications of Disillusionment Therapy

Who can be a patient?

The Qualifications for this type of Spiritual Disillusionment Therapy

To undertake spiritual psychotherapy, you must qualify to become a patient by exhibiting some of the following characteristics:

Symptoms of unexplainable pain or illness

Disappointment and dissatisfaction

Disenchantment with one’s chosen self-rescue plan

Unanswerable questions

Unrelenting guilt, embarrassing shame, irrational anger or ungrounded fear

Failure of our ego tactics to work and to satisfy

A key figure in your drama fails, leaves or dies

Your dreams are broken

You take off your mask

You begin to see that the world is your mirror

You have not yet understood that the universe has only one all-inclusive purpose, your self-realization.

If this list of qualifications seem to exclude 99% of the human race, so be it. This net is cast only for the 1% on any given day, and 25% at best. I have no illusions that spiritual psychotherapy could include everyone. Of course, if you scratch the surface of consciousness more than one inch deep, this readiness becomes apparent. But most of us have not yet looked there.

Who is Qualified to Benefit Most from Studying this Material?

If you still think you can solve your problems without awareness of your spirituality, you are not qualified

If you still think you are or can be in control of your symptoms, you are not ready

If you still think a pill will solve your pain, you are not digging deep enough

If you still think someone else is responsible for your dilemma, you are not aware yet

If you still think everyone else but you needs therapy, you are not insightful enough

If you have no symptom, you don’t need a doctor

If you still think your pain has a finite cause and your ego can fix it, go for it

If you are not disillusioned, you are not yet ripe for healing

If your defenses of denial, projection and rationalization are still working for you and you are not yet ready for honesty, don’t bother with Infinity Theory

If something isn’t broke, why fix it?

The Good News is only available to the imprisoned, the broken hearted, the blind, the bruised and the poverty stricken.

If the mediocrity of consumerism and co-dependency still satisfy you, then you are not ready

If you are not yet asking soul-searching questions, then forget it

If you still have finite human hopes and dreams, pursue them

If you think a better partner, a better job, the lottery, or a better drug will cure you, go for it.

Don’t bother with spiritual psychotherapy if you think there is a solution to be found in dualistic philosophy and dualistic religion. The path of understanding is only for those who truly hunger and thirst for it.
If you think you have something finite to lose, why go for infinity, where you risk losing and finding everything
If you think you have something to lose, you are going to be protecting that finite thing, whatever it is.
If you think your ego game and tactics can get you what you want, you are not going to be interested in the disillusionment process.
Infinity Therapy offers only one thing, total disillusionment and total fulfillment. The only thing which keeps us from our divinity is our pet illusions.
The only thing that constantly devalues and deteriorates our self-esteem is our belief system.
The only thing that keeps us from salvation is our self-rescue plan.
The only thing that keeps us from enlightenment is our dualistic sick religion.
In case you haven’t noticed, I have just planted a psychological bomb under your comfort zone.
If you are not on already on the edge, you are not going to be willing to see the hidden dangers in your comfort zone story.
If you haven’t filed moral, financial, and emotional bankruptcy yet, just wait.
If you are not willing to give 9.6 minutes per day to the disillusionment process and to the discovery of your divinity, then you are not ready.
Jesus said that only one out of four would be qualified at any given time. Otherwise the seed of truth falls in shallow ground, rocky turf, bird-infested fields, and does not germinate, sprout, grow, flower and produce fruit. And so for some people, it may take four more lifetimes of soil preparation before readiness occurs.
Our story is a strange mixture of positive and negative illusions and it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other. Only the Spirit is qualified to teach us such distinctions.

Religion is the Patient

Is the Way of Understanding a new religion? Absolutely not. We have over 6 billion religions already in the world, because each person has his own.

What are the characteristics of sick religion?

Each religious viewpoint has its own health or unhealthiness, according to the degree that it allows self-knowledge and awakening to the limitations of our own self-prescribed story. Religion by any definition is one’s spiritual awareness. Sickness by any definition is something unhealthy.

A sick religion would be anything unhealthy in one’s spiritual perception. Religion is as sick or healthy as the viewpoint of the person. Symptoms indicate the degree of health or sickness that is present. The ability to diagnose the meaning of symptoms depends on the spiritual knowledge of the doctor. Every patient is his own doctor, so we are right back where we started, with self-justification.


Leonard Cohen has written a song with the recurrent theme “Everybody Knows”:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed: the poor stay poor, the rich get richer. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows. Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody’s got this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died. Everybody’s talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long stem rose. Everybody knows.

My point here is that everybody knows that religion is sick, and no one has the courage to say so. What have I got to lose? Let’s face it: what else could be sick? Can you tell me? Man is a spiritual being, and nothing but his religion can be sick. His body is simply a reflection of his sick religion. While it is true that you can treat the body and occasionally make some improvements, the mind will make it sick again if the mind is attached to sick religion. It’s that simple. So let’s quit denying it. Let’s face reality and take responsibility.

Everything Jesus said was addressed to the religious community and to the soul of man. He gave us the dignity of being spiritual beings. He didn’t stoop to blaming it on sociology, psychology, or philosophy. He laid right on the line where it should be: sick religion. And so did William James (the father of modern psychology) in Varieties of Religious Experience, and Soren Kierkegaard in The Sickness unto Death, and Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra, and Wayne E. Oates in When Religion Gets Sick.

All six billion of us on the planet have probably made our own diagnoses of the illnesses of society. We know something is wrong as we listen to the news’ pundits daily diagnoses of society’s fatal symptoms. This work is chiefly a commentary on the sickness of our religious perceptions. I do hope that the diagnoses here sheds some light on the facts that: (1) that religion is our basic sickness unto death (2) that everyone is religious to the core (3) that God is vitally involved in our human suffering (4) that in reality there can be no victims of this fatal disease.

Sick religion is without a doubt the chief patient. The symptoms of this condition are epidemic and evident to even the most fanatical denier. Everyone has this disease which I have nicknamed “frogitus.” Frogitus is the inferiority complex or curse which turned all princes into frogs and froze all princesses into a state of sleep. Everyone has their own brand of frog medicine, which works only about as well as our prescriptions in general.

My best definition of sick religion is simply our ego-protective fear-based story about our human identity. Our stories are no more transformative than their authors.

Summary:

Religion (sick values) is the patient

Our self-limiting story is the germ

Mis-imagination is how the infection spreads

Self-crucifixion (and scapegoating) is the chief symptom

Paradoxical shock is the bedside manner required for healing

Forgiving Love is the cure

Awakening from our anemia and amnesia is the antidote

Resurrection is the prognosis

Jesus Christ is the New Archetypal Physician who has already healed our spiritual amnesia

Jeremiah says that the day will come when

“I will put my law within them, and on their hearts I shall write it; and I will be their God and they will be my people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and his man his brother, saying : ‘Know the Lord’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:33-34).

When that day comes, Christ will have returned.

When Solomon looked at all of our foolish stories, he exclaimed “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!” When Jesus looked at the same foolishness, he wept. Today when we look at the same foolishness, we have to inquire.

Your mind can be possessed by illusions, but your spirit is eternally free

You have paid dearly for your illusions, and nothing you have paid for bought you peace

Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them

Grandeur is the right of God’s Son, and no illusions can satisfy him

Time and space are one illusion, which takes different forms

To choose illusion is to let truth go

The opposite of illusion is not disillusionment but Truth

Freedom from illusions lies only in not believing them

A Course in Miracles

The Wolf at the Door

Identity Issues

The Wolf At the Door

You are a perfect, whole, infinite spiritual being, exactly as God created you, except for your imperfect, finite, piecemeal sometimes inhuman story about it all. The story that we created in our fearfulness and short-sightedness, is such a mixture of fiction and fact that honestly we cannot tell the difference between reality and illusion. God will not be defeated. You are made in his perfect, total, beautiful image and He has guaranteed that at least 1% of that image cannot and will not be destroyed, corrupted, endarkened, lost or forgotten. It will not be forgotten because of our symptoms, even if for no other reason.

Even our most flawed creations and evil imaginations are evidence of our godhood. Even when the entire forest is burned down, there is a seed left hidden in the stump (See Isaiah 6). Our very ability to sow seeds of failure, destruction and corruption demonstrates our creative power. No other species on earth can make such a mess of life in the world as a human god. The extent of our depravity is exactly a mirror of our divinity. When our godly powers are released through our ego perceptions of the world, look what a manic-depressive mess we can create. Hidden in this travesty of confusion, I am just as God created me, except to the extent that I live unconsciously in the story that I have created about myself and the world. The infinite God is my creator and I am the creator of my limited and limiting ego image of myself, and my suffering is the difference between the two. Even though what I created is largely illusory, in no way can it undo who and what I truly am. The purpose of my life then is the re-discovery of my true self, beginning with the gift of my most anguishing and life-threatening symptom.

“What I feared has come upon me” is the cry of Job and everyman, and this cry is the necessary beginning of our call to rebirth. God cannot be truly met face to face until we have endured and seen through the worst fears that we have energized as ultimate. We do not know that our worst fear is unreal until that moment in time when we stare it fully in the face and see the truth dissolve it into nothing. All of the false gods in this ego world that we have created are gods of fear. We use the best energy of our days fighting off the wolf at the door, without realizing that we are creating that wolf in our imagination. There is no such wolf, and there is no reality to such fears. The Wolf at the Door is merely a nightmare, a fairy tale, a story we have told ourselves without awareness. Let us wake up to the fact that there is only God, and God is peace and love, and He exists in us as our true identity.

You want love? Unconditional love is your true nature

You want security? The Infinite Void is the source of all security

You want less stress? The peace of God passes all understanding

You want power? The Eternal within you is the source of all Power

You want freedom? Truth is freedom from your self-entrapment

You want to know? The fountain of wisdom whispers to you from within

You want enjoyment and pleasure? Consciousness is bliss

You want to escape mediocrity? Getting to know yourself is the supreme adventure

You want togetherness and belonging? You are one with God and the universe

You want creativity? Divine Imagination is creativity

You want motivation? The Spirit is your Inspiration

Cursing or Blessing: Its Your Choice

As with many other aspects of spiritual psychotherapy, this is a handout for educational purposes. “Educare” (education) in Latin means to “draw out” . What we draw out in this case is an inner understanding of the truth presented from without (through the Scriptures).

He whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. Numbers 22:6

Thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed. Numbers 22:12

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. Deuteronomy 11:26

The LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Deuteronomy 23:5

When he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart. Deuteronomy 29:19

They only consult to cast him down from his excellency. They delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Psalm 62:4

Let them curse, but bless thou. Psalm 109:28

There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. Proverbs 30:11

Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Jeremiah 20:14

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Matthew 5:44

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Romans 12:14

Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the likeness of God. James 3:9

Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died. Mark 11:21

And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. Matthew 14:21

I used to wonder why Jesus cursed and killed a fig tree just because there were no figs on it. Now I realize that he was demonstrating how we misuse our spiritual power. We curse and kill every day, unknowlingly. Don’t we discourage and destroy with our negativity? Even voodoo practices demonstrate this. Larry Dossey wrote a whole book on how negative prayer works: Be Careful What You Pray For, You Just Might Get It. (1997)

And then Jesus blessed a little boy’s lunch and 5000 people were fed. Blessing multiplies, just like cursing kills.

On the subject of blessing and cursing, let us begin with three assumptions:

1. The Power of the universe is in you.

2. We use that power every day, knowlingly or not

3. We curse or bless with that power

What are some other words for cursing? (condemn, criticize, put down, belittle, dishonor, disrespect, neglect, avoid, deny, withhold, judge, resist, fear, etc) You only curse what you fear.

What are some other words for blessing ? (respect, honor, love, give, radiate, etc?)

Whatever you bless, blesses you.

Whatever you curse, curses you.

Whatever you deny, denies you

Whatever you harm, harms you

Whatever you love, loves you

Do you fear that people take advantage of your blessing? No one can take advantage of you. You just can’t control other people or their reactions. (See my chapter on the Enlightenment Formula: Do whatever you do 100% and leave the results to God.)

“Whatever is, is good” said St. Augustine. But why? Because it is all good; it is all from God, the All good.

Dr. Royal Rife discovered in his microscope studies that every disease has an energy frequency. Below 50 on the scale is sickening and lowers one’s resistance to disease.

When you bless your food, your car, your house (“Bless This House” the song goes), your body, your thoughts, your family, your enemy, you raise your own energy, and your own healing powers.

The more you bless, the higher your energy rises; the more youcurse (judge, resist, dread, fear and criticize) the lower your energy goes, and more of the same is added unto you.

Please notice that cursing is equivalent to illusions, fear, weakening and sickening, and that blessing is equivalent to miracles, love, strengthening and healing.

Peace be unto you, said the early Christians.

Assignment: Consciously curse or bless this week. When we think or say:

“God damm this” or “God bless that,” we are using the power of God to damm or bless, to weaken or strenthen. Realize that we curse Saddam and he curses us.

I studied the Guiness Book of Records. I noticed that Jesus was not recognized as the champion of consciousness. And we may not have noticed that he said that whatever I do, you can do better! Why? Because he adds his power to ours. When we think, pray and bless “In the Name of Jesus” we are using the power of the champion of consciousness. While his consciousness was clearer, stronger and faster than ours, ours is just as powerful and real, but like an unused muscle, may need use and practice.

We have only three choices each moment: (1) to curse (2) to bless or (3) to forgive. But be aware, you will curse every day, and when you do, cancel it, forgive it. I say “you will curse every day” because we are habitually conditioned to fear, to react, to judge, to belittle, to condemn, to gossip, to resist, and to try to control.

Although you will curse, you can correct that judgment by forgiveness. If you do not forgive, you are stuck with your curse, and you will magnetize unto you exactly what your judgment was against. You don’t like some things that are in your life? You put them there by your judgments, by your “curses” . Take that responsibility, and stop blaming it on others or on circumstances. You are not a victim. You are not a beggar. You are a god in disguise. Wake up!

Make a written list some things you could bless in your life, some things you want to heal, forgive, empower, and transform. Visualize that it is done. The result is up to God.

If the All Good is in everything, we can release that good by the practice of blessing. Everything on the face of the earth contains the seed of divinity. What is in a seed? Within an apple tree seed, there are many seeds, and potentially many apple trees. Blessing is the way you spread, water, and warm the seed. Be a Johnny Appleseed of spiritual and material blessings. Silently spread your gifts through the inner act of blessing. You can spread the seeds of peace, healing, rejuvenation, love, wealth, forgiveness, and joy. These are your apple tree seeds.

Where is My Good?

Hidden Potential

Where, when and how is My ultimate Good manifesting into the tangible here-and-now mystery called my finite experience? I struggle with my largely futile attempts to grasp the mystery of this process, but only now and then do I glimpse its profound power and pristine beauty. In those precious moments I begin to see and appreciate the fact that God is that process and that somehow I have attracted and drawn that experience to myself in all of its strangeness and misery for my own awakening and growth.


All of my notions of what my Good should be are shaken to the core when they do not match what I think is happening and should be happening. My vision is born again when I ask what these events really mean. The potential godliness of each present moment is not seen until I let go of judging it according to any of my preconceived expectations and standards. My so-called security and control mechanisms are constantly being revised and updated because they do not free me to realize and know the Great Plan, the ultimate composite will of God and my True Self.


Every single moment of my daily experience is then known to be exactly what I needed, my Ultimate Good, in whose strange package lies my peace and joy. That is what “I have plans!” really means. My plan is to become increasingly aware of the Great Plan and the Great Presence as it is wrapped in and manifested through the daily finite forms of my experience. The Great Spirit is always flowing through me, as twisted as it may appear to me within my story.

God’s Story is unfolding within my own frustrating belief system, in all of the confusing opinions and contradictory mis-imaginations that I have created. Each of those twisted narratives has its own ultimate meaning which I must become aware of, if I would unravel the symptoms and suffering that I am living. Each so-called “stress’ in my life is merely my mis-judgment of God’s gifts and of God Himself in those gifts. Waiting and searching for God and for my ultimate good, as though it could exist in some nebulous there and then time and place, is futile. There is no such time and place except right here and now. I am in paradise, although it is clothed in the tattered garments of my mis-judged experience. Suddenly I come to an opening in this human forest and I can look out and see for miles and miles from this mountain top on which I unknowingly live. Paradise is hidden in the drama and props of my daily experience.

Samuel Becket’s Waiting for Godot is a parody about our stupid, stumbling conversations while we are waiting for the arrival of Godot (our Good)

This play is a repetition of circular motions, echoes, actions, and gestures which moves within a prescribed circumference, the Cartesian circle seeking a reference point outside itself, …but Waiting for Godot has a structure which never defines a larger circle outside of the simple factual assertions and haunting epistemic questions which it makes. There are also many cycles and vicious circles in our ego story which never break out into the reality of Godot. The ego never looks within the symbols of its own story, but is always looking outside for Godot, who never seems to come.

God’s ministers have come to waken him from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused, bewildered memory of this distorted tale. God’s Son can smile at last, on learning that it is not true. -A Course in Miracles

Let us seek until we find:

the good hidden in our evil

the healing disguised in our pain

the light enfolded in our darkness

the potential mistaken for our emptiness

the unity inherent in our dividedness

the security underneath our insecurity

the blessing given in our adversity

the peace within our stress

the answer concealed in our questions

the strength ignored in our weakness

the genius masked in our stupidity

the freedom overlooked in our bondage

the joy implicit in our sorrow

the truth underlying our illusions and lies

the extraordinary possibilities in the ordinary

the courage denied in our fear

the riches unnoticed in our poverty

the love overwhelmed by our jealousy

the order within our chaos

the medicine signaled by our symptoms

the purpose arising out of our accidents and losses

the meaning lost in our tragedies

the sanity encased in our insanity

the aliveness erupting out of the death of God

the spirit symbolized in matter

the still small voice not heard in our noisiness

the infinity obscured in our finiteness

the divinity prohibited in our human unawareness

The Wolf at the Door is just a nightmare. Go into that door of your imagination and look around. Look carefully, deeply. The image of fear will disappear and in its place you will find the truth.

Pain and the Victim Experience of Hope

Hope springs eternal

Every spiritual psychotherapy session fluctuates between hopelessness and hope. Hope and hopelessness saturate our human story. Neither can be separated from the other within our story, and neither can be eradicated in the finite realm of existence. Both hope and hopelessness point to our Infinite nature.

The center of the Karpman triangle (perpetrator/victim/rescuer)is pain/hope. The victim/perpetrator/rescuer lives on the hope of escape from pain. Because of the good/bad mindset, there is 50% pain and 50% hope of relief (pleasure). This 50% keeps us on the hope treadmill, but it is a game that cannot be won. What an insult to human intelligence! We are playing a game that cannot be won. It’s just like football mania. We spend years rooting for our football team to win, and ten years later although they may have won a championship or two, everyone ends up playing about 500 ball. In the meantime we live on the hope of winning. We gamble on the Lottery against horrendous odds, and yet hope is renewed when we hear about someone winning. We gamble in Las Vegas with great anticipation and excitement and Las Vegas always wins more than we do over the long haul. We live on hope, do we not? We are going to beat the odds. Hope springs eternal.

But where does such stupid hope come from? And why do we have such irrational hopes? And why is a sucker born every minute? And why are there easy marks for every scam that comes along? Is it because the con artist is so clever? Why do we believe liars? Why are we subject to a line of bull? Why do we buy into flattery? Why do we get duped over and over? Why do we become victims? Why does perpetration seem to work sometimes?

These are interesting questions for the stupid geniuses that we are. In spite of our apparent stupidity, I believe every person is a genius in their own way. It is true that people have different talents, but infinity is our nature. But because we cannot even imagine our infinity, we are subject to the victimization of hope.

In other words, we are infinite beings with a finite belief system. This finite belief system makes us patsies because we know at some level that we live in an infinite universe. We want to believe it so much that we subject ourselves to unbelievable odds. And we are so excited when someone beats the odds. We are so tantalized by Guiness Records. We cheer when someone breaks the record! That means that we can too. Each of us is capab le of breaking some record. We can escape our confinement to mediocrity! Even if we have to drink or drug ourselves into oblivion, we refuse to be mediocre. We keep on cheering our team, we keep on playing the lottery, we keep on gambling at Vegas, we keep on hoping for that romance. Even at 75 years of age, we sparkle with hope of finding a lover. Even in the reading of the 700^th romance novel, we renew our hopes. Even with the 400^th diet, we read it again with fervor. Even with a record of 500 multi-level marketing failures, we read one more pitch with interest.

Oh, yes, we are skeptics and cynics, but none of our rational arguments prevail over hope. We are still setting ourselves up one more time. Just one more time. Just one more effort. Just one more try might do it. We cannot give up. Hope keeps the human experiment going. Even the suicidal person secretly hopes that at the last moment someone will rescue him. The magical rescuer will come. Someone will prove that my hope is not futile. Someone will love me unconditionally. Someone will give me the security and the money I am entitled to. Someone will find me attractive. The Cinderella story will come true. The Magic Wand does exist. The Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow must be true. Even at the latest meeting of Cynics Anonymous, the president of the club went on a wild goose chase and didn’t show up for the meeting! The fifth marriage has promise. I know it does.

At the bottom of Pandora’s Box lies Hope. Isn’t it interesting that we cannot get rid of Hope? You can bury it every day, but it will resurrect. You cannot get rid of Hope. You can destroy your body but you cannot destroy Hope. There is no such thing as a cynic. There are only naive Hopefuls and cynical Hopefuls. Every person you meet on the street is a Hopeful. Every person’s middle name is Hopeful. Don’t forget that.

Hope is a major key to our infinite nature. You are an infinite being conned by a finite belief system, victimized by your dominant daily thoughts. Hope is the source of your pain, and you cannot get rid of pain because you cannot get rid of Hope. Hope is eternal, because you are eternal. You can get your gun and go out and kill twenty people who seem to have it better than you, and spend your life in jail, but you cannot kill Hope. Even if you kill twenty people and then commit suicide, you cannot kill Hope. One day you will come back and hope again. And to compensate for your crime, you may choose to be killed twenty times in the next twenty lifetimes, but after twenty times, you will hope again.

Why can’t hope be destroyed? And why does hope bring pain? And why does hope make us victims? And why does Hope continue to drive us until we wake up?

Hope means that you are an infinite being who is still pretending to be merely finite, and you can’t get away with it. No matter what a sad pityful story you create to prove that life is a bitch, you can’t do it. You will never prove to yourself or to anyone else that life is hopeless. Even if you are the president of the Complainer’s Club and even if you are a scientist who collects horror stories, you will never convince even one person that the world is evil and hopeless, not even yourself. It can’t be done.

Even the sickest, oldest, poorest, loneliest, most negative person on their deathbed has hope. No one wants to die, even those who beg for it or shoot themselves. Even the serial killer, even the rapist, even the cancer victim has hope. Even the criminal facing execution hopes for a last minute pardon. Even the murderer who hates himself for what he did and asks for execution to punish himself, has hope. All such people have hope for peace of mind when their pain and horror cease.

And so we have the irrationality and indestructibility of hope. In the face of all odds, we have hope. Look at the survivors of unbelievably tragic situations, of wars, of prisoners of war, of concentration camps, of fires…a baby who lives through an ordeal of several hours in the snow. Race car drivers who live through unbelievable crashes and injuries. People go to these races knowing that their favorite driver may be killed on the very next curve, but they have hope he will survive. Otherwise sane and decent people become fools at the race track to beat the odds of death-defying risks.

We climb high dangerous mountains in snowstorms where are chances of survival are slim, but we hope to beat the odds. We hope that we can clone the human body. We hope we will find the Fountain of Youth. We hope to live long enough that a cure for cancer will be found and we can live forever. We hope to find new energy sources to replace gasoline and oil. People want to be immortal. We want to leave something that will survive time. We want to leave something for our kids. We want to get that house built or that book written before we leave here. We want a memorial to our life in the world, a living trust that will bless our grandchildren. We hope to be famous or at least infamous. Even on our deathbed we are thinking of what we can leave behind that will signify the feeling of immortality.

Every culture and civilization known in history had religions that taught immortality. The Egyptian kings had their bodies mummified and placed in immortal pyramids to signify the hope of immortality. We place our bodies in concrete boxes and bury them in the finest metal caskets, dressed in our Sunday best, signifying our hope for the resurrection. Nothing can extinguish this hope.

Even in the face of the terrorism of September 11, 2001, when New York and Washington were attacked, a national resolve was aroused, a determination to make the world safe for democracy, a hope to restore a sense of safety and freedom in the face of such devastating destruction, terror and danger.

What are we saying here? We are saying that hope will never be extinguished because man is an infinite being with a finite belief system. Pain arises because even though we want to believe in infinity and even though we have to believe in infinity, we cannot see how to do it. We are trapped in a frozen energy system of belief in our limitations. Our body’s eyes and our mind’s eyes can only see the finite. But the soul’s hope for infinite vision cannot be eradicated because it is grounded in Reality.

Your rational mind can never convince your immortal spirit that you are less than infinite. It cannot be done. You may collect all the evidence and arguments you wish, but you will never be able to eradicate hope, nor the pain that goes with it, until you awaken to infinity.

Yesterday seven patients came to my office and tried to convince me that their situation is hopeless, that they are impossible. But I cannot be convinced. I know that they are human gods. No matter how sad and horrendous their stories of victimization are, I know that they are hooked, that they are destined for immortality, and that nothing can destroy or stop them. I know that who they are blaming for their suffering is not to blame, any more than they are to blame. I know that the finite belief system is the only problem, and it can be changed because it is not true. It is an illusion, a fiction, a state of mind. The finite belief system is the only hopeless thing in this universe, and it too holds hope because it is a symptom and it can be changed.

I don’t care how shameful, awful, irrational, ludicrous, selfish, and far out your desires, wishes, fantasies, feelings, beliefs, dreams and fears seem to you, they are all indicators of one single thing: your basic, infinite nature.

Your divine human nature is the one thing you can never escape. The question of the ages is: What is human nature? And human nature has always been thought to be evil, and at best, good.

I am arguing that human nature transcends both good and evil, that a human being is best understood as an infinite being in a finite mindset. All of our troubles are due to the ignorance of our infinite imagination. If you really open your eyes, you will see infinity everywhere!

Nothing is separated unto itself. Everything is connected to and part of something bigger than itself. Everything is infinitely connected and infinitely akin to everything else. You have an Infinite Family because you are Infinite. There are no limits to your consciousness or your energy.

Time is a symbol of Eternity; space a reflection of Infinity; sight a contraction of Vision; science a path to Knowledge; the mind a door to Spirit; the body a house for the Absolute. All lust, jealousy, greed, and envy are desires for God contracted into time and space.

Why does hope cause pain? Because hope is not perceived as a symbol of knowledge. Until hope becomes knowledge we shall suffer. Hope says that you are a victim of a dream of something outside of yourself; a fantasy that you will be rescued by something outside of yourself. When hope becomes knowledge, victim/ perpetration/rescue disappear. Faith is the bridge between hope and Knowledge. You cannot cross the chasm between hope and knowledge without the leap of faith, the risk of trust. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, said St. Paul.

What, then, is the clue to your Infinity? Be a scientist and find out. In my case, “lust” or “pornography” was the clue. I had an infinite desire to see the naked female body. It was insatiable. Do you understand? I had an insatiable desire to see!

I also had an insatiable desire to “know.” I have over 5000 volumes in my library. I have probably spent more money on books, journals, audio and video tapes, and education than on all of my other necessities. My craving to know was insatiable.

Also I am a fanatic about gadgets, gadgets to save time and to increase efficiency and control. I was at one time a fanatic about winning in sports. Also I was a fanatic about action and adventure movies, cops and robbers, as to who would win in the battle of good and evil. Sometimes I pulled for the good guys and sometimes for the bad guys. Many of our infinity fantasies are embodied in television dramas, movies, science fiction stories.

Fortunately I didn’t have an insatiable craving for food, although I did have a “sweet tooth” which did not help my cavities and my low blood sugar. A money addiction is also not unfamiliar to me. Greed, envy and jealousy are not strangers in my laundry list of insatiable fixations either. I have seven computers which again ties into my insatiable desire to know and to see.

Go through this checklist of desires and honestly check those that might be clues to your infinity:

( ) The desire to be important, recognized, known

( ) The yearning to be loved, approved, accepted

( ) The urge to get even when rejected

( ) A feeling that you are entitled to respect

( ) A desire for more money, security

( ) The belief that you never have enough time

( ) A drive for excitement, fun, danger

( ) An urge for power and control

( ) A constant demand for appreciation

( ) The need for certainty

( ) The desire to be “right”

( ) The need to be good, better or best

( ) The desire to be bad, worse, worst

( ) The desire to be desireless

Now, lets also be honest about another thing: do you believe you lack what you just said you wanted or desired or needed? Do you tell yourself you don’t have enough of what you said you desired and lack? Are you ashamed of saying what you are lacking?

That desire, that lack, that “not enough” feeling, as well as that shame, are all indicators of your infinity. An infinite being has no lack and no shame. Lack is a belief in limitation. Infinity is not a belief. Infinity is truth because it is everywhere at all times. Lack comes and goes. Lack is a relativity; infinity is an absolute. Lack is a state of mind; infinity is your natural state of being.

When infinite vision awakens in you, you realize that the entire universe belongs to you. In fact, that you are the universe. You are separate from nothing, lacking in nothing, and trapped by nothing. There are no victims, perpetrators or rescuers in this infinite universe.

All of your insatiable desires, hopes and painful deficits point to your unrecognized and forgotten infinity. We live in an infinite universe where there is no lack. There is plenty here for everyone. Only a sense of lack makes greed seem necessary, but lack is a total fiction.

Our lacking mind has created a fictional, lacking world and a sense of greed. The world always and only reflects our state of mind. Awareness of our infinity will reflect an infinite universe.

Watch for clues of infinity in your daily life, in nature, in human excesses and oddities. We are going to consider this teaching as Infinity 2001. We are here to consider our infinite nature and the infinite nature of others. What are your current beliefs about finite human nature? Do you have any data on infinite human nature? Everyone has at least one area where they have seen or touched on the infinite. Find that area in your life. What is the highest idea you ever had? Did you ever say “forever” or “far out” or “incredible” or make exaggerations?

Did you ever notice that on a dollar bill there is a picture of a pyramid with an eye on the top? If you climb to the top of a pyramid you could see a panoramic vision in all directions, could you not? We have had a worm’s eye view of life, instead of a god’s eye view.

Arnold Mindel helps people to push their edges. Life itself pushes us over the edge all the time. That is the only way a bird learns to fly. Your biggest and worst symptom is trying to push you over the edge of your self-limiting belief system.

Tell me one thing that speaks of your infinity. Talent is one ability where you do not believe in your limitations as much as others do in theirs Desire is one place where you allow the thirst for infinity to be admitted. The paradox of hope is one of the chief keys to your awakening to your infinite nature.

“Hell” is our Chief Planetary Delusion

All places shall be hell that are not heaven. -Christopher Marlowe

I’m sorry, but hell is no longer an option for you or anyone you might have thought of sending there. The only purpose of the belief in hell is that when you have passed through it, you will realize that only Heaven is real. Hell is just a temporary state of mind that seems like forever. Don’t you think God knew we would invent hell? We are always telling someone to go to hell. We are always god-damming this or that, but God never does such things. While heaven is considered to be pie in the sky, hell is considered real. But if Infinity exists, then where is there room for hell except in our self-torturing minds?God doesn’t have to punish people, we do that quite well, thank you. In fact, all of God’s efforts have been designed to end our self-torture. This “hell of a mess” we are in is the exact reason we need to see our symptoms and suffering as blessings in disguise just as we are gods in disguise.The only benefit of hellish thinking is to awaken us. It is hard to sleep through a fire. The most apt biblical metaphors for the symbol of hell are: the garbage pile (ash makes great compost), the furnaces of affliction (to burn away our attachments) and the fires that purify ore into gold. If God is a consuming fire, then god might be considered hell to the ego. Hell is not a place on earth or below the earth that you are going to, it is a place in your mind that you are coming from, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Almost without exception whenever I have a client visualize a wall with a door in it, and a troublesome word put on it, the client imagines hell on the other side of that door. Indeed we put hell “out there,” and thus we never find out what it is. The hell behind the door may be hot and painful, or cold and paralyzing, or dreadfully mediocre, or an endless void, but it is your own personal version of hell nevertheless. Hell is just our unexamined angry experience of pain, nothing else.

Hell is the other

-Sartre

God has no interest whatsoever in the infliction of pain to scare and control people. Humans do that to themselves on a daily basis. God’s problem is how to inspire forgiveness, mercy and peace in us. Crime and Punishment (Tolstoy) has been our theme for the management of children and other law-breakers from the git-go and where has that gotten us? Where has symptom–punishment gotten us? Jails full of misguided young talented gods. God has no desire to control human beings or else he would not have given us such freedom in the first place. Even the laws are given to us to protect us from our self-destructiveness and self-judgment.

Hell is life drying up

-Joseph Campbell

The experience of hell (separateness, lack and entrapment) is the experience of pain and is perhaps the chief symptom of our planetary delusions. The only merit I can see in the human doctrine of hell is that it contains , like any other symptom, the gift of potential awakening from our stories. The experience of hell then is the chief human symptom of our misguided imagination and it is simultaneously our chief wake-up call from our nightmares as well.

Hell is nothing other than complete separation from God. -Nicholas

Berdyaev

Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven. So I awoke , and behold it was a dream. -John Bunyan

What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of not being able to love.

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Hell is where no one has anything in common with anybody else, except the fact that they all hate one another and cannot get away from one another and from themselves. -Thomas Merton

The Hell within him. -John Milton

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell. -Bertrand Russell

Both heaven and hell are within us. -Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mankind today must either realize the Kingdom of God or perish. -Albert Schweitzer

The Figure 8 Charm

A sign of the finite or the infinite?

The Figure 8 infinity insignia is interesting, in that it can by turning it upright or on its side, become either a number or a sign of numberlessness, a figure 8 or the Infinity sign. Therein lies its mystery, power and absolute significance for your life.

The ultimate key to your past, present and future lies in understanding the meaning of this symbol.

A symbol is a living sign which exists on the edge between the finite and the infinite. When a symbol reveals the relationship between the Infinite and the finite, it comes alive. When a symbol conceals this relationship, it turns into a symptom.

The Figure 8 here is considered to be a symbol of the finite or limited world. When this figure is turned on its side, it become the mathematical symbol for infinity proposed by the mathematician, John Wallis, in 1650. When you hold this symbol in your hand and turn it back and forth between the two positions, the Act of Switching Positions itself become symbolic of the relationship between the finite and the Infinite, just like shaking hands is a symbolic act of good will or of sealing an agreement.

Symbols hold the meaning of a person’s life. Words are the chief example of symbolic meanings. Objects, sounds, colors, touch, smells, thoughts, feelings and behaviors are also symbols which contain the meaning we assign to them. The word “house” could symbolize one thing to a real estate agent and another to the prospective buyer. The activity of shopping can mean one thing to a man and another to a woman.

In numerology, the meaning of the number eight is certainly indicative of the finite world of practical endeavors, status,, power, and material goals. The number eight symbolizes getting ahead, taking care of business, common sense, hard work.

I am using the number eight, however, to represent any and all numbers. A number is considered here to be symbolic of the finite or limited world of the mind. ( ) on the other hand, is considered to be numberless or symbolic of the infinite and cannot be contained in the mind.

Therefore, please think of this symbol as representative of all other symbols. Consider that when you Switch its Position, you are symbolizing what it means to live on the edge between the finite and the infinite. Turn the Charm upright and then turn it on its side several times. As you turn it back and forth, say to yourself “My life is like the turning of this Charm. I am switching back and forth between the finite and the Infinite at every moment. As I Switch, I remind myself that I am both finite and Infinite and so is everything else.”

All human problems arise from the belief that this world, this life, is only finite, only limited, only visible, only human, only time, only stuff. There is no such world and no such life, and the assumption that there is, is why we are so stressed and unhappy. The only world that exists is the finite/infinite world. The finite world of 8 only exists in our thoughts and belief system.

What does this have to do with you? Absolutely everything! Your self-concept is a finite figure 8 concept. Your Self is infinite. Therein lies a world of difference: the difference between your self image and your Self. Turning this charm will open the eyes of your understanding if you persist.

At the present time your life operates about 95% of the time at the finite sight level. At least 5% of the time it operates at the finite/infinite level or you would not be surviving at all. Our goal is to function 100% of the time on the edge of finite/infinite awareness.

That level of functioning usually takes many lifetimes of trial-and-error experience: many mistakes, much suffering, incredible frustration and anger, repetitive cycles of hope and despair.

But you can shorten those cycles of repetitive experience by inquiring into the meaning of life with this Charm Meditation. This Charm is symbolic of who you really are. This meditation is called Turning-on-the-Charm, and believe it or not, it turns on the charm, not only for others but for yourself .

Insofar as we do not live consciously on the edge between the finite and the Infinite, we develop symptoms of one kind or another. A symptom is a dysfunctional symbol. A symptom, however, is really a gift. It is here to remind you that you are an infinite being in a finite world. Symptoms are here to remind us that we are not merely human and that we do not know ourselves.

“Know thyself” was the counsel of the ancient philosophers. Usually people are not interested in who they are, since they already “know”. But you and I do not know ourselves and we never will totally know the infinity of ourselves, and that is no excuse for not beginning the journey of discovery. Most people, however, see no need to begin this journey until they are in serious trouble. You have some habit, some painful symptom, some relationship failure or loss, some secret suffering, some health or money problem, some medical or psychological symptom, that persists and recurs. Neither advice nor pills remove it. Your symptom is your curse and your blessing. As long as you consider it a curse, you will not get the blessing.

The Figure 8 Charm is here to help you ask questions. Without deep on-going self-inquiry and questioning of every belief held in your mind, you will not discover your infinity. You do not believe in your infinity. Everything you have ever been taught is finite. The entire subconscious mind is filled with thousands of hours of tape recordings about your finiteness, your limitations, your shortcomings, your inadequacies, your lacks, your entrapment, your loneliness and separateness. Not only from this life-time but from the entire history of the human race. Thousands of these limiting finite beliefs are stored in the collective racial mind.

These beliefs have become reality to us. They operate unconsciously like a hypnotic spell. While science has been designed to help us cut through our superstitions and stereotypes by use of the scientific method, science itself tends to fall into the same pit. Until the discoveries of modem physics, science had also fallen victim to its own finite assumptions.

Religion was designed to help us cut through our false belief system, but all too often religion falls into a letter of the law mentality. Religion all too often becomes part of the sickness of the mind. Religion tends to become part of the curse. Many people consider religion to be bad news.

This Charm is a combination of the best of science and the truth of spirituality. This Charm is presented here as a meditation by which you may address your innermost pain and your most persistent symptoms. All of your stress, pain and symptoms arise from the unawareness of your infinite/finite nature. We have bought into the finite belief system of human history and we are victims of that mindset.

Look at your daily thoughts. How often do you feel like a victim of something or someone? How often do you tell yourself a pityful story of “Ain’t It Awful” or “Poor Me”? How often do you take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life? How much more comforting does it feel to tell yourself that someone or something else is to blame for your bad feelings or bad luck? How much of your infinite power do you limit by some outer circumstance? Do you know which beliefs you give power over yourself? Do you know which of your beliefs give you your pain? Do you know which of your beliefs you are making yourself a victim of?

At this point you may say “I don’t know”. And that would be correct. But to admit that you don’t know and at the same time to admit that you want to know, is how you begin the journey of self-discovery. These two admissions will create conscious stress. Up
until you make these two admissions, the real cause of your stress
remains unknown. The real cause of all stress is the conflict,
dissonance, or distance between your self-image and your Real

Self, between what you have and what you want, between what you know and don’t know.

Did you know that you can look at your thoughts, feelings, behavior and self-concept? Yes, you knew that. But who is doing the looking? Who is this observer? I can tell you who the Observer is, but you probably won’t believe it for awhile. The Observer is the Infinite Self. What the Observer observes is the finite world. But 95% of the time we are unaware of the Observer’s activity and 100% of the time we are unaware of what its meaning is. We assume that we are finite beings in a finite world, and that we have to struggle to find a bit of safety and pleasure wherever we can. We have no idea that we are Infinite Beings in a finite world. Until we begin to realize what this means, we are stuck with the good/bad human experience. But we will have our symptoms to remind us that something is awry. Symptoms are both your curse and your blessing. Inquire into them, experience them totally, and you will get the blessing. Your symptoms will not be cured by any pill, advice or clever scheme, only by awakening to Reality. And this awakening begins with asking questions and questioning everything you “see” and believe. You are a creature of finite sight and a being of infinite vision. However, we tend to get stuck in finite sight and to ignore our infinite vision. The wall of ignorance is the ignor-ing of the Infinite. Charmed by the finite world, we enter a hypnotic trance which we call reality, and we come to believe that man can live by bread (the finite) alone.

The Infinity Sign That I Wear

The Infinity Sign that I wear on my lapel brings the question from people: “what is that?” My reply is that it is designed to raise questions. “What kind of questions?” Questions about who and what we are. Am I a body? Am I a brain? Am I a mind? Am I a personality? What am I? The Infinity Sign also prompts me to ask who is this other person? What is this other person? Is this person an object to fulfill my desires or an object which threatens my desires? The awareness of Infinity invokes my questions, thousands of them, and challenges my ordinary answers, all of them. I discovered that my usual answers and thoughts have gotten me into stress and suffering. It is even more radical than that: all of my struggles and pain are due to my thoughts, and my lack of questioning about them. The Infinity Sign that I wear is a sign of unlimited human potentiality and divinity.

THE TWO BASIC SYMPTOMS

All symptoms can be reduced to two basic interdependent opposite strategies: phobias and obsessions Phobias occur when you believe that you have what you don’t want; obsessions occur when you believe that you don’t have what you do want. I want this; I don’t want that. I love this; I hate that. I am this way; I am not that way. This is me; that is not me. I control this; I can’t control that. This is good; that is bad.The world of opposites has deteriorated into strategies of survival called phobias and compulsions. These strategies of compulsive avoidance and compulsive pursuit are re-enforced by various payoffs and costs (primary and secondary gains) to the extent that they harden into habitual patterns called personality traits or types. “That’s just the way I am.” “I’m an extrovert” “I’m a loner” “I’m blunt” “I’m sensitive” “I’m a good guy” “I’m a hard ass”Each unit in a pair of opposites seems to exist by itself, but it does not. Each unit of passive and active is interdependently connected to its opposite. Day cannot be separated from night. The world of contrast has become the world of conflict in our minds. We have made two finite opposites into apparently two infinitely conflicted opposites, and never the twain shall meet: selfish versus unselfish.The “background and foreground” of a gestalt (whole) has become the “me versus not-me” of the divided mind. Both/and has become either/or.A couple are about ready for a divorce. He is super active and she is super passive. He pursues car racing; she pursues intimacy. He talks and doesn’t listen; she listens and doesn’t talk. He plays the nice guy and she plays the bitch. He is satisfied with things as they are; she is dissatisfied with things as they are. He talks 90% of the time about cars and she talks 10% of the time about people. He falls asleep one night while she is talking. She gets angry and goes to sleep on the couch. She tells him that she isn’t going to sleep with him any more. He is upset. She confronts him about why he falls asleep when she is talking. He makes excuses. She won’t accept them. She asks him if he is bored with her or angry with her. He is cornered, either answer is bad for a “nice guy.” She won’t let him off the hook. Finally he says grudgingly that he is angry. She asks why. He says that he is getting even with her for not listening to him by not listening to her. This is the first time she can remember that he ever took the blame for anything. She is exhilarated.Upon further analysis it turns out that he is addicted to whatever car racing means to him and she is addicted to whatever intimacy means to her. He gets what he wants, and she doesn’t. So he is the satisfied good guy and she is the dissatisfied bitch. Only now she won’t fake it any more that things are okay. She won’t sleep with him. She makes it obvious that there is distance between them: the bed and the couch. He cannot overlook that. He is upset. He had been telling himself that everything was okay.It turns out that he is probably avoiding the experience of powerlessness and she is avoiding the experience of loneliness, that he is pursuing powerful cars and she is pursuing intimacy. She listens to his incessant talking about cars, but neither of them understands what that conversation means, and so it becomes superficial and symptomatic. Neither of them understands why she is a bitch and doesn’t listen to him. They are involved in a continuous silent power struggle over who is right. Now it has erupted into a loud argumentative power struggle.He has to get acquainted with his dread of powerlessness and she with her dread of loneliness. He has to get acquainted with his need for intimacy and she with her need for power. They are a perfect match for personal growth. But their strategies have each contained a payoff and a cost. They must explore their payoffs and penalties. This is just good meat and potatoes psychotherapy. Each rejected opposite must be explored and accepted.Each of their symptomatic lifestyles and personality traits has a phobic component and an obsessive component. They absolutely resist something and they absolutely pursue something. They absolutely fear something and they absolutely desire something.Jesus taught us to “resist not, to fear not” and Buddha taught us to “desire not”. Either of these teachings would unhinge the whole system. But it is easy to miss the whole point. These avatars come from the position of the Infinite and their counsels are aimed at the unhinging of the finite mindset. They speak from the Infinite to the Infinite about the relativity of the finite phobic and compulsive strategies people are using as though they were absolute. No desire and no fear is absolute. Any fear and any desire is an invitation to awaken to the Infinite being that you are. Generally speaking, any desire and any fear is relative, but in our conditioned minds we have made some fears and some desires absolute.Infinity Theory goes beyond the gestalt theory of accepting the opposites, although you have to move through the opposites to get there. You have to love your enemy. You have to bear the tension of the opposites until the unity comes. Flipping from one side of a polarity to the other is not enough. People do that all the time. In one situation you are passive, in another active. Or in the middle of an argument you switch strategies. There are some people whose strategy is switching strategies. Many people have multiple strategies. Very few people have just one or two rigid strategies, and they end up sooner than others in some psychiatrist’s office or some law suit.And so I am saying that we may have multiple phobias and obsessions, even about the same opposites. A parent may be obsessively permissive and then obsessively punitive. A housewife may be obsessively neat and then obsessively sloppy. A teenager may seem obsessively compliant and then erupt into obsessive anger. A man may fear commitment and fear freedom. And so people say that couples can’t live together and they can’t live apart. You can’t stop doing it and you can’t fix it. You can’t quit drinking and you can’t keep on drinking. Why?Infinity Theory says that obsessions and phobias are inevitable in the finite mindset, and that they are our invitations to awakening. Each of us has our Symptoms of Infinity, and until we discover our Infinity, we will continue in the endless repetitions of the conflicted opposites. Sure, some of the opposites are not a problem and never were, but others are the self-selected “bones we chew on.” Each of us has his favorite neurosis, his favorite suffering, his favorite symptom, his favorite hidden path to spirituality. Some of our symptoms are “bad” and some are “good” but none of them are considered our path to infinity.

It is the theory which decides what we can observe

Albert Einstein

It is good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes

Ps. 119

He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity

Job

A woman had a vision: I was Infinite Spirit; there was nothing but myself. I desired to go out into the world, although seemingly there was no other world. I knew I had to have form to be seen and communicate.

Neville Goddard

The gospel that I have preached to you was preached to everyone under heaven.

Paul, Colossians

Man is not the creature of circumstance, circumstances are the creatures of men

Benjamin Disraeli

Wherever the sole of your foot shall stand, that I have given to you

Deut 11:24

Rivers, mountains, cities, villages , are all human

William Blake

Give beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may become trees of righteousness.

Isaiah 61

The nature of visionary fancy, or imagination, is very little understood. Everything I see in my world is vision.

William Blake

You only have to raise imagination to the point of vision and the thing is done.

But the nature of visionary fancy, or imagination is very little known.

William Blake

There is no one besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these.

Isaiah 45

A strong imagination begets the event

Joseph Chamberlain Wilson

God calls things that are not seen as though they were seen, and the unseen becomes the seen.

Romans 4: 17

You are gods, all of you, sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, you will die like men and fall as one man, O ye princes.

Psalm 82

I give you the end of a golden string, Only wind it into a ball; It will lead you in at Heaven’s Gate, Built into Jerusalem’s wall

William Blake, Jerusalem

Oh, let your strong imagination turn the great wheel backward, until Troy unburns

H.G.Wells

Man is all imagination. God is Man and exists in us and we in Him…The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination, that is, God Himself.

William Blake

Objective reality is solely produced through imagination

Fichte

There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find, Nor can his Watch Fiends find it; but the Industrious find This Moment and multiply, and when it once is found it renovates every moment of the day if rightly placed.

William Blake

God only acts and is, in existing beings or men

William Blake

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Isaiah 55:1

Mental things are alone real; what is called corporeal, nobody knows of its dwelling place: it is in fallacy, and its existence an imposter. Where is the existence out of mind or thought? Where is it but in the mind of a fool?

William Blake

The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems to the solution of which the mystic aspires. Supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme delight lie in the far-off solution of this mystery

Douglas Fawcett

Human history, with its forms of governments, its revolutions, its wars, and in fact the rise and fall of nations, could be written in terms of the rise and fall of ideas, implanted in the minds of men.

Herbert Hoover

He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than his perishing eye can see, does not imagine at all.

William Blake

If the spectator would enter into these images in his imagination, approaching them on the fiery chariot of his contemplative thought, if he could…make a friend and companion of one of these images of wonder, which always entreats him to leave mortal things…then would he arise from his grave, then would he meet the Lord in the air, and then he would be happy.

William Blake

Nothing can act but where it is: with all my heart; only where is it?

Thomas Carlyle

This is an age in which the mood decides the fortunes of people rather than the fortunes decide the mood

Sir Winston Churchill

…all you behold, though it appears without, it is within; in your imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow

William Blake

The distinction between what is real and what is imaginary is not one that can be finally maintained…all exiting things are, in an intelligible sense, imaginary

John S. MacKenzie

Imagination is more important than knowledge

Albert Einstein, On Science

Imagination, the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow. What is the life of man but art and science.

William Blake

I rest not from my great task to open the eternal worlds, to open the immortal eyes of man inwards into the worlds of thought: into eternity ever expanding in the bosom of God, the Human Imagination

William Blake

Man is either the ark of God or a phantom of the earth and of the water.

William Blake

The eternal body of man is the Imagination: that is, God himself. The divine body :Jesus: we are his members

William Blake

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it

Isaiah 55:11

Man should not stay a man: His aim should higher be. For God will only gods, accept as company

Angelus Silesius

Four mighty ones are in every man (producer, author, director, Son of God)

William Blake

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts

William Shakespeare

According to the Scriptures, we sleep with Adam and wake with Christ. That is, we sleep collectively and wake individually

Neville Goddard

Let the weak man say, I am strong.

Joel 3:10

Faith is the evidence of things not seen

Hebrews ll:1

God calleth those things which be not as though they were

Romans 4:17

The God State

Where is God?

The one thing that the human mind cannot readily conceive of is that God’s spirit resides in this body: that I am a child of God, an heir of God, that the world is given to me, that all of the qualities of God are gifts to me, that the mind of God is one with my mind, that the will of God is one with my will, that the love of God is one with my love, and that everything else is just a story. Any other will, any other mind, any other feelings, beliefs and manifestations are just part of the story of separation, lack and entrapment. It is truly unbelievable!

Even when you say or read these words, the mind cannot conceive of their reality. To believe that I am a 1000 carat sparkling diamond of light is incredible.

To believe that God is not somewhere outside of us, that god is within, is incredible. Is this body a temple of God? Is it true that in this son of God there is no disease, no lack, no poverty, no darkness? Is it true that all of our stress, fear, pain, doubt and warlike qualities are strictly illusions, strictly part of the story that we tell ourselves about this world and our place in it? Can you be aware of this for ten minutes? How about five?

Hear, then, your story in the dream you made, and ask yourself if it be not the truth that you believe that it is not a dream. A dream of judgment came into the mind that God created perfect as Himself. And in that dream was Heaven changed to hell, and God made enemy unto His Son. How can God’s Son awaken from the dream? It is a dream of judgment. So must he judge not, and he will waken.

A Course in Miracles

The mission impossible is to be aware of who you are. To remember your infinite nature, even 1 % of the time, would be incredible. 10% of the time would be a revolution. If we are awake 16 hours a day, 10% would be 96 minutes a day, dedicated to remember our divinity. We watch more useless television than that per day. Can we even do it even 9.6 minutes (1%) of one day? Who can remember for 9.6 minutes the truth and glory of God within? Jesus said “I and the Father are one.” What a glorious realization! Jesus seemed to be aware of that incredible fact in some of the most difficult of circumstances and not just in a flash of prayer. He said that his own mind and consciousness is given to us and is growing in us, but if we do not receive and acknowledge this growth, it will be shut out by the circumstantial story that crowds in upon us from every direction in every waking moment.

Perhaps when we go into deep sleep at night, we enter that God-state, but can we reside in that God-state during the day, for 9.6 continuous minutes (1%) much less 96 minutes

(10%)? Can we stay in that god-state long enough to realize that there is no disease, no poverty, no loneliness, nothing to fear? Long enough to realize that divinity is our natural enlightened state of being? No one can say “I and my Father are one” except the individual by the gift of the Spirit. No one can say it for you or about you. You can only say it for and about yourself. That is why Jesus could not teach it to others. He had to come to that realization and embody that awareness himself. To say that there is no evil and no lack, is a personal awareness that cannot be taught or conferred upon another. Is God perfect? Are you one with God? Then you too are perfect, except for your beliefs otherwise. Can you say unequivocally “I am separate from nothing; I lack nothing; I am trapped by nothing ? Aside from my story of self-deceit, I am free, I am one with the god-state.”

I just now took 9.6 minutes dedicated entirely to the realization of oneness. At first there were words, thoughts, feelings, images. Then there was a stretch or jump or letting go of thoughts, words, images and feelings. There was a vast silence , a vast light, a vast peace. Words kept crowding back in and I let them go, but they returned again and again. Words about the god state are just a beginning, a springboard, from which I had to jump, a cliff from which I had to fall. I did not succeed in attaining the god-state of awareness for my allotted 9.6 minutes. I did sense that Eternity was right there, that Infinity was very close, but the word “Eternity” and the thought about “Infinity” were not enough. I just gave 1% of my day to an incredible mission impossible! Could I stand 10% of god-state awareness? Could the god-state become something permanent that could be simultaneously sustained while other things are going on? Could the God-state become the background music and awareness of any self-created story that my mind is running in the foreground? Is that the way life can be? Today I will try to determine if I can sustain any of this awareness while I am doing my usual routine.

Every single thing you can see with your physical eyes is a symbol. This is the greatest secret you can possess.

-Theodor Laurence

What If?

I’d like to believe it!

WHAT IFUnconditional LoveUnlimited ResourcesInfinite IntelligenceSpontaneous CreativityUniversal PowerUnending LifeUncaused Serenity and Ecstasyare constantly available choices for you?But WHAT IFyou didn’t see these choices and without awareness you “chose” by default to put most of your time, attention and energy instead into beliefs about the value or necessity of struggleworrylow self-esteemvictim feelingscontrol and power playsanxious and depressive behavioraddictive “solutions”blame, guilt, and atonement gamesmedicating stressand WHAT IF such ignorant ego choices resulted in a painful crisis or impasse in your life? And WHAT IF you took the challenge to courageously and honestly look for any mistakes in your pet assumptions in spite of your desire to be “right”? And WHAT IF you asked yourself how and why you created your dilemma and what it really means in the bigger picture?And WHAT IF you realized that all of our human behaviors are spiritually motivated and that all of our troubles and crises are actually “wake up” signals to look again!And WHAT IF you looked more deeply into the dark side and saw that

what is driving the 15% annual increase in health costs is the desire to find health and wholeness

what is driving the violent crime and road rage epidemic, not to mention politics, is the disguised wish for self-worth and power

what is driving drug, alcohol and food addictions is the secret need to reduce stress and to “get high”

what is driving the stock market and business world technology craze is really the dream of our alienated society to become wireless and to “get connected”

what is driving consumerism is the fear of lack and the hunger for more

what is driving the sexual compulsiveness of our time is the passion for excitement, intimacy and oneness

what is driving the internet explosion into the information age is the symbolic desire for true knowledge and wisdom

what is driving all of our desires is the search for the Higher Power hidden within and yet beyond all of the fickle tangible gods we usually depend on

And WHAT IF you realized that the Potentials for discovering wholeness, being empowered, getting high, feeling connected, accessing wisdom, and experiencing intimacy and prosperity are already given to you and are presently available to you through a shift in awareness to the Inner Light hidden by this shadowy world?

And WHAT IF you decided to let go of your ego burdens and wake yourself up to YOUR INFINITE SPIRITUALITY each moment of the day, especially when you get a distress signal telling you there is a “problem”?

And WHAT IF God personally guaranteed that whatever you really claim is yours!

WHAT THEN? We could feel grateful to know that we are Conscious Spiritual Beings having human experiences and we could choose to celebrate that life is what we always dreamed it should be, but feared to believe that it actually is.

To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild

flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.

-William Blake, 1805

AMATEUR GODS IN DISGUISE

Know ye not that ye are gods?

-Jesus

Limitations fall away

Like flimsy veils

Out of the debris

There steps a god

Joanna Cherry

I am an infinite spiritual being

an amateur god

hidden in a finite human body and personality

telling myself a victim story of separateness, lack and entrapment
investigating my suffering and symptoms

welcoming with understanding and gratitude their true meaning

so that I may awaken to the full enjoyment of the power of God’s love and peace that is in us all.

I am an infinite spiritual being

He has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Know ye not that ye are gods?

Jesus, John 10:34

2 Peter 1:4
… that you may become partakers of the divine nature

…until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

Eph 4:13:

We shall be like him

I John 3:2

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Psalm 147:5

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened

Ephesians 1:18

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one

John 17:23

My Story

About a year later I was asked to visit a 40 year old female patient named Mary who was withdrawn and claiming to be the Virgin Mary. I visited Mary in her darkened room. I introduced myself and asked her why she was here in the hospital. She said that she is schizophrenic. I asked her how she knew that. She said that the doctors had told her. I asked her if she believes everything she is told. She looked puzzled and said shyly, “I am the virgin Mary.” I asked her what she likes about the virgin Mary. She looked even more puzzled and said: “No one ever asked me that before.” She was quiet for a few minutes, gazing off into space, and then she said “She is beautiful.” I said to Mary “Then Mary you must be beautiful also or you could not recognize such beauty.” She seemed shocked and said, “Oh, no, I am not beautiful. I am ugly. Everyone thinks I am ugly and always have been.” I replied to her “Mary, you are a beautiful spiritual being and you know that ugliness is not the truth about you, and that is why you say that you are the Virgin Mary.” Two weeks later I was again visiting on the ward and I saw Mary out in the day room, dressed quite neatly, playing classical music on the record player. She greeted me with a big smile and we made small talk.

At the tender age of twelve years I had an experience of the infinite Christ light and love that left an indelible impression on my psyche. But also in my youth I saw human suffering in my family and neighbors that seemed to be a complete contradiction to this inner experience of light. My talented sister died of peritonitis at 15 years of age and my family sank into grief and despair. I felt a deep unexplainable calling to reconcile my inferiority and loss feelings with the incredible light within. I had no idea what psychotherapy was at that time in 1945 when World War II was ending and I began college. I had friends who were killed in the war and had heard contrasting stories of heroism as well. I began to prepare for a service but I did not really know what it was to be. I studied psychology, sociology, history, theology and later majored in the newly emerging psychology of religion programs born out of the depths of suffering in World War II. I worked in mental hospitals, a home for delinquent teenagers, jails, and rural churches where I was struggling to find the tools to integrate the conflicts within my soul and my society. It was many years after my master’s and doctoral programs that I began to see the vague meaning of this calling clearly enough to articulate it even to myself.

Little pieces of the understanding of this riddle came here and there to give me inspiration and encouragement, but the final formula presented in this book did not emerge until I was in my 70’s. Neither traditional religion nor traditional psychology satisfied my voracious appetite for a truth deep enough and powerful enough to reconcile the opposites fighting within me. I was pursuing an unspeakable calling to reconcile the opposites by finding a greater unity. I was drawn to Carl Jung and to the mystics of all religions, as well as to the major resources of traditional religion, psychiatry, and science. Any real reconciliation of the opposites would have to satisfy both the demands of spirituality and psychology in the healing of human suffering. If it didn’t work, it wasn’t true.

I worked with every kind of neurosis and human conflict imaginable in myself and others, offering the best understanding and caring that I could muster, but it did not satisfy me. It felt mediocre and fell short of the infinite possibilities that seemed to be just out of reach. Thank God there were breakthroughs and clearings as I struggled through this forest and moved up the mountain of experience.

I was shown how we do this. It was not through intentional, conscious, demonic meanness but through an unconscious false belief system. We deceived ourselves unknowingly. “They know not what they are doing,” Jesus said. Jesus was the guiding figure in revealing the meaning of my dilemma for our human evolution. He used his own life and my own life in explaining to me where this is going. He had appeared in person to me in California in a healing group to which I belonged. He had touched each member of the group on the head. I had no idea what this all meant. Later he appeared to me again concerning the role of forgiveness in this healing of the opposites process. But in 1999 his “appearance” was in the form of the revelation about the meaning of symptoms for our divinity. He had revealed the light to me at twelve years of age, had called me into this search at age 17 when my sister died, and had led me through all sorts of neuroses and addictions throughout the next 55 years but I didn’t realize it.

It was revealed that in the beginning there was nothing but godness, nothing but one vast omnipotent consciousness, and nothing to be conscious of. There was nothingness, no one to talk to, no one to eat lunch with or play checkers with, and worse yet, it was “impossible.” How could God invent and experience a separate world when he was all of everything? God had a problem. So he self-hypnotized himself and thereby invented a time-and-space-world which was made out of himself, since there was nothing else to make a world out of. He contracted himself, reduced himself, divided himself, materialized himself. He had to pull an ingenious sleight-of-hand to fool himself into not recognizing himself. What fun would it be to play chess with someone if it was only yourself and you already knew the next move? He had to forget that it was all himself. He came up with amnesia, with forgetting, with self-hypnosis. He dreamed a dream that there was a world and there was. In this manner he could fellowship with the world of people, animals, nature and objects through a dualistic sense of creation. In this dualistic story, in this dream, God was over there and the rest of creation was over here. Of necessity God created a dualistic story in which he and his creation lived. This creation epic was real in one sense and a dream story in another sense What a paradox!

And so, when a hypnotist puts people “under” , he is temporarily removing them from their already present hypnotic belief system. We are already under a hypnotic spell and the hypnotist de-hypnotizes us, actually, Under hypnosis, we move into the area of infinite potential, and we can do or not do many things heretofore unimaginable. We have documented painless surgery, amnesia, and many kinds of marvelous foolishness which demonstrate this de-hypnosis type of hypnosis.

God’s problem now is how to de-hypnotize without losing the benefits of hypnosis. Can we retain the finite world of experience without losing the infinite context in which the limitations of the finite world exist? Jesus and other avatars and enlightened people have accomplished this as a model for all of us, but mankind has not yet moved fully into the Age of Self-Realization. Hawkins says that in 1986 we moved from level 197 to level 206, which got us out of the ego box into a new degree of integrity for the first time in human history. Now it becomes possible to spell out through Infinity Theory how we can have more and more non-dual experiences above 600. Jesus through the Cosmic Christ role is taking the lead in this evolutionary step through A Course in Miracles and with the pioneering efforts of such people as David Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Albert Einstein, Alan Watts, Nicholas Berdyaev, Paul Tillich, William Glasser, Ken Wilber, David Bohm, Wayne Dyer and other explorers in consciousness research and transpersonal psychology. Infinity Theory is an attempt to pull together some of the contributions to this evolutionary step that we are witnessing at this time in history.

It is the intent of this book to extend Infinity Theory into the holistic practice of psychotherapy, particularly regarding the purpose of symptoms and the necessity for re-diagnosis. Usually the patient’s self-diagnosis is very similar to that of the professional except that the professional uses a more technical vocabulary about chemical imbalance, genetics, conditioning, family history, defense mechanisms, viral or bacterial infections, toxicity, substance abuse, codependency, repression, anxiety, etc. In spiritual psychotherapy, such descriptions are not considered to be causal but symptomatic of something deeper which is not usually suspected. Shakespeare was more accurate when he posed the question as “to be or not to be.” We would revise it read “to be controlled by our story or not to be controlled by our story.” Our symptoms take us all the way to the very roots of existence, to our sense of identity, to our lack of spiritual awareness.

Uncaused Happiness

I have learned, in whatever state I am in, to be content

-Paul

Happiness is hidden inside, behind and underneath the fear-ridden story that we tell ourselves. We are separated from eternal delight by a veil of ignorance and misperception, which is only a story. Where is this paradise that we search for so frantically, inconsistently and wistfully without? Pinpricks of light emerge through this veil and light upon objects and actions in the outer world, such as upon horses and cars, which fascinate and enchant us.

The first step in psychotherapy is to locate the pain, to locate the resistance to the pain, to identify our “solutions” to the pain. Pain is your friend and teacher. It holds the key to opening up the story and penetrating the veil to reach the “holy of holies,” the inner light, the inner peace of infinite bliss. And so in essence we start with our solutions and with our search for consolation, then we move into awareness of our resistance, then to the pain itself, and finally to its message. What is the message of pain? If you inquire into the pain, you will discover the ways that are you out of harmony and out of balance with Reality.

In our fluctuating happiness/unhappiness story we imagine that love is limited to a certain kind of physical love experience, with a certain special person, but in Reality we are love itself. In our story, love experiences come and go, but in Reality Love Itself does not come and go. To know that we are love itself is the secret knowledge. The story is a mixture of fact and fiction, out of which emerges our symptoms and suffering. The pain that we must learn to regard as a friend and teacher will reveal to us that there is a vast difference between our story and Reality. Pain is based on the fact that the story is finite and Reality is infinite. We are committed to the story and unaware of Reality. Within the story we perceive ourselves as separated, lacking and stuck, and therefore we believe that we must have a support system, a special relationship, security and control, upon which we depend. These dependencies are to compensate for our own perceived deficiencies and inadequacies. But such dependencies are unreliable and create anxiety and manipulation, lest we lose that dependency and fall back into our assumed deficiency, guilt and fear.

So we must first decide that our symptom and our pain are not an enemy, not a nuisance, not incidental, nor accidental, but purposeful and meaningful. My client says that he does not have the words to grasp what I am saying to him. We are limited and confined by our brain dictionary. While it may be true that we can have experiences that are not within the scope of our mental dictionary, we will drop those experiences unless we develop language for them. A high percentage of people have extrasensory perception experiences or out-of-the-body experiences, but do not have the language to support these experiences and when they do not fit into the story that we live by, those experiences tend to drop out. While there are experiences outside the drama triangle, such marginal experiences do not seem powerful enough to free us from the victimization experience.

Some seeds fall into our mental landscape and sprout but the ground is too shallow and will not support experiences outside of the Drama Triangle enough to produce ongoing fruit. The victim experience, whether you are dishing it out, or taking it, or rescuing people from it, produces some secondary gains, but in the primary sense these experiences are associated with guilt, fear, pain, anger and other compensatory reactions. The perpetrator side of the Drama Triangle produces guilt and defensive anger; the victim side of the triangle produces pain, self-pity, and resentment; the rescuer side produces stress, overwhelm, inadequacy, manipulativeness, and anger. All three sides of the Drama Triangle produce self-protective anger, relationship problems, health problems, and other symptoms.

That inner state of uncaused happiness then is that Reality which does not depend on outside circumstances. In the ordinary Drama Triangle of our story, we experience pain and the relief from pain we call happiness, as dependent upon outward circumstances. We believe that such happiness results from luck, from manipulation, from fate, from special relationships and circumstances. Uncaused happiness is almost a foreign concept when we are still captive to our story. If we do not break through the veil into uncaused happiness, we will continue to feel hopelessly victimized by the fluctuations of our story

No one decides against his happiness, but he may do so if he does not see he does it

Be you glad that you are told where happiness abides, and seek it no longer elsewhere

Learn of God’s happiness which is yours

Be not content with future happiness

If you do have have happiness always, being what it is, you did not ask for it. -A Course in Miracles

What you don’t know can prolong your sense of hurt

The X Factor

There is an X Factor in life which totally reverses our perception of reality. Although the X Factor seems illogical and incredibly imperceivable, just suppose it were true!

How can one get in touch with the X Factor?

Make a list of the top ten experiences in your life. The highest moments. Those perfect times when everything came together, when the world stood still, when perfection happened, when you felt intensely joyful, peaceful or free. Those experiences in which there was absolute clarity. God was in his heaven and all was right with the worldIt was such a moment in time Whitney Houston sang about a female runner who won an olympic race.

One Moment In Time
Whitney Houston

Each day I live
I want to be a day to give the best of me
I’m only one, but not alone
My finest day is yet unknown
I broke my heart for every gain
To taste the sweet, I faced the pain
I rise and fall,
Yet through it all this much remains

I want one moment in time
When I’m more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heart beat away
And the answers are all up to me

Give me one moment in time
When I’m racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel, I will feel eternity

I’ve lived to be the very best
I want it all, no time for less
I’ve laid the plans
Now lay the chance here in my hands

Give me one moment in time
When I’m more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heart beat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I’m racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel, I will feel eternity

You’re a winner for a lifetime
If you seize that one moment in time
Make it shine

Your team won the game. A dream came true. You graduated. You said your vows. Or you felt high for no reason. A perfect snowflake. Your eyes connected with someone you felt you had known forever. A déjà vu. A transcendent moment lying on the beach or skiing down a slope or catching your biggest fish. An exquisite vision, revelation, insight. Perfection in a grain of sand or a glint of light. You got your raise. Someone special said you were it. Your baby was born. You re-connected with an old friend. You won the lottery, or at least you imagined you might.

When you have made your list of ten exquisite moments or experiences, notice how you are feeling. Does such a “high” excite you and/or scare you? Can you bask in the power of such a transcendent moment when the eternal enters into time?

Now, double that power, X² . Imagine, if you can, how it would feel to double that joy, that excitement, that freedom, that peace, that “all is right with the world.” A famous ad went on for years singing “double your pleasure, double your fun” with Doublemint gum. Go ahead, double your pleasure. Square your experience to X²

Now, raise your experience to the factor of 10. X¹⁰. Can you even imagine X¹⁰? We won’t even mention X¹⁰⁰or X¹⁰⁰⁰. You know the old puzzle about whether you had rather have a $million or double a penny every day for a month. “Double your pleasure” to just a factor of X². That shouldn’t be too hard. “So what!” the skeptic in us reverberates. “Don’t count on it. It was just a coincidence. What goes up must come down. Be careful. Your hopes will be dashed. Only chidlren and fools expect such.” Etc. Etc. Etc.

The next step to X¹⁰ Factor is incredible. Unbelievable, but true.

If you have managed to make your list of the ten highest moments and to bask in the sun of such a memory, you have just experienced the X Factor in its most minimum tangential manner. Now if you have been able to double it to X², you have gone further up the mountain. If you have been able to go to X¹⁰, you have suddenly come to a break in your trudging up the mountain. You have come to a clearing in which you see an expansive breath-taking view of clouds, the sun, and other mountain ranges that seem to go on forever. If you reached X¹⁰⁰, it is like you were flying through a cloud cover and suddenly your plane comes out of the fog and you can see the earth below or billowy clouds extending forever. If you reached X¹⁰⁰⁰, it might be what John Glenn and the astronauts saw when they first looked back from the moon at the earth and took that incredible photo of the beautiful blue earth orb below.

Now you have touched the X Factor. Now you have transcended the mundane, the banal, the mediocre. You have experienced Reality. You have reached the borders of Infinity. You have penetrated into the core of yourself. This is the way it is. The rest is just your mediocre story, your imagined picture of the way it is. It is the “Rest of the Story” that Paul Harvey always speaks about on his radio broadcasts. It is the Kingdom of Heaven in which Jesus consciously lived and pointed us towards. It is that liberty for which the soldiers died on the battlefields. It is that spine tingling chill, that goose-pimpled experience when you listen to your favorite music or the crescendo of the Star Spangled Banner sung by the fat lady before the game. It is the thrill you feel for the winner of the Olympics metals. It is the high you experience with your favorite drug, food or sexual encounter. It is when you are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is that moment of re-union after a long exiled homelessness. You have been there and you are still there. Just because the day is cloudy does not mean that the sun is gone. You just forgot where and what it is. You wiped away the tears quickly so no one would see them. You were glad that the shivers were going down your back and hidden from public knowledge. You entered the world of ecstasy but you couldn’t put it into words and so you told yourself it was not real. You got addicted to it, but you kept it a secret lest it evaporate before your very doubtful eyes.

Everyone knows the X Factor. It is a momentary re-connection to a Reality you once knew. All music, art and ecstatic experience point to that trascendent reality, to that timelessness, to that indefinable unexplainable Reality. It existed before time. It is Home. It is Reality. It still exists in the core. It is the Infinite hidden by or concealed through all finite forms. It is that which you seek and for which you have died many times feeling you could never have it. It is God. The X Factor is God in time, God in experience. The X Factor is Reality. The rest is just our impoverished, diminished, and minimized story.

Reduce Reality by a factor of X₁₀₀₀ and you have our impotent dudgerous story of separateness, lack and entrapment. There you see exposed our daily, sad, violent, fear-ridden story of victimization, war and losses. Our daily diet. Our daily view of things. Jesus said to sell everything and find this treasure. Jesus said it is worth forgiving anyone of anything to enter the door of this kingdom. Jesus wept about it, saying that he would have gathered us as a hen does her chicks, but we would not. He cast the seeds of this X Factor everywhere he went, but only 25% produced fruit. It is the same today.

Everyone is not yet aware that we are attached to our symptom-producing, fear-ridden identity story. Jesus saw the divine everywhere, in everyone, and this was the miracle he lived. Every symptom you have ever had was a symbol of the X Factor. It was a wake-up call from the drudgerous nightmare of daily perception. It was a wake-up call to Reality. It is the X Factor, the barely known. That is what the Secret Knowledge is about. That is what your symptoms and suffering are about.

You have been there. You are still there and just don’t realize it. The X Factor is your kingdom, your Home, your core, your Self, your wholeness and perfection. All of your problems arise from the false identification in our story. That is the infinite meaning of every symptom you ever had or ever will have. The X Factor is closer than your breathing. Wake up and smell the coffee. X¹ becomes X². X² becomes X¹⁰. X¹⁰ becomes X¹⁰⁰⁰. X¹⁰⁰⁰ becomes Infinity. Glory to God! Peace on earth. Good will to men. The three wise men traveled from afar to see the birth of this. Xmas is indeed the birth of the X Factor. Welcome home.

The X Factor

What you don’t know can prolong your sense of hurt

There is an X Factor in life which totally reverses our perception of reality. Although the X Factor seems illogical and incredibly imperceivable, just suppose it were true!How can one get in touch with the X Factor?Make a list of the top ten experiences in your life. The highest moments. Those perfect times when everything came together, when the world stood still, when perfection happened, when you felt intensely joyful, peaceful or free. Those experiences in which there was absolute clarity. God was in his heaven and all was right with the worldIt was such a moment in time Whitney Houston sang about a female runner who won an olympic race.

One Moment In Time
Whitney Houston

I want one moment in time
When I’m more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heart beat away
And the answers are all up to me

Give me one moment in time
When I’m racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel, I will feel eternity

I’ve lived to be the very best
I want it all, no time for less
I’ve laid the plans
Now lay the chance here in my hands

You’re a winner for a lifetime
If you seize that one moment in time
Make it shine

The next step to X¹⁰ Factor is incredible. Unbelievable, but true.

I Am In the Center of God

How do you get there?

The Center of God

I was awakened today by an ecstatic nuclear experience of being in the center of God, accompanied by the words “I am in the center of God” and I felt this tingling realization of infinite awareness. Godness extended forever in all directions and there was nothing but God, and I was a differentiated point of unique awareness within this allness. This could have well been Wayne Dyer’s 100,000 volt point of health, emotions and consciousness. It truly was and still is an experience of “being plugged into God,” although it was more of being a part of the Infinite energy of bliss. It was a graphic, peaceful, forever and endless awareness. It was not even sensational, just a powerful, quiet, flowing awareness. Nothing else was in this energy field. This experience was a one-shot vision or dream scene, with nothing before or after it. It was not a conjured up event, but a total gift of realization or awareness. It feels like an awareness that I can keep alive and/or return to at any moment. It is a pervasive ontological realization. It is a beingness, the way things are.

I do only the work of infinite imagination

I eat only God

I see only God

I sleep God

I imagine God

I breathe only God

This body is a body of godlight

What I consistently expect, intend and predict comes true because

I vibrate at the speed of godlight

All power in heaven and earth is given to me in this godlight

This entire world is a mental construct, amenable to imagination

I am the light body of Christ

How do you enter such a kingdom of awareness? Is Infinity Theory practical?

Do you go right or left at the next corner? How do you get there? No doubt you’ve heard the old joke about the visitor who got lost and stopped at a roadside farm to ask for directions. The farmer scratched his head and told the visitor to take a right at the next barn and then go left at the grocery, but no—that won’t work. Then he pointed to the left and said to go across the river and take a right at the first stop sign. But then he said that wouldn’t work either. After trying numerous other suggestions, finally in utter frustration the farmer threw down his hat and said “You just can’t get there from here!”

Giving directions is sometimes not much better than trial-and-error. But Blake said that there is a string which if wound up will lead you out of the cave of darkness. Rumi said that the gnat in your buttermilk becomes your buttermilk. Paul said that in your weakness lies your strength and that adversity is a blessing in disguise. The prophets said that the furnaces of affliction turn ore into gold. I am arguing that your symptom is your surest guide, just like the failed Messiah showed us the path to renewal.

What does it mean that you can’t get there from here? The Bible begins with the statement in Genesis that God put Adam to sleep, and it concludes by saying “Awake thou that sleepest.” Even the nursery rhyme has it that “Life is but a dream”. Do you turn right or left? Do you play cop or robber in this grand human drama? From my vantage point there now appears to be a cop in every robber and a robber in every cop.

Every night we dream, and every day we live our dream. We are dream-makers. We are dreamers who forgot that we are dreaming. But there are dream-catchers. You can catch yourself dreaming. I notice that I am interested in buying every book that gets published on dreams and dreaming. But dreaming is far more extensive than we ever dreamed!

Something awakens us from our nightmares, and there is something to awaken us from our day-dreaming. Not a day passes without the experience of dream-making and dream-breaking. The only thing between you and what you want are your nightmares and daydreams. Whether you become a law-keeper, and follow all of the rules in all of the holy books, or become a law-breaker and violate all of the rules in the holy books, you are still in dreamland. You are still a victim of your finite belief system that you have dreamed up through your infinite imagination.

But life gives us wake-up calls every day. I have made a list of my wake-up calls to shock me back into the center of God:

Anxiety in any form

Victim experiences in any form

Anger or fear in any form

Physical, emotional or mental illness in any form

Addiction in any form

Manipulation in any form

An enemy in any form

A negative thought in any form

Any win/lose games I play

Any sense of guilt or blame I entertain

Any hopelessness or helplessness that I conjure up

These are all symptoms of dreaming, of amnesia, of delusion, and of self-betrayal. You can’t improve upon infinity, upon perfection. Just wake up, you are already there. How can you “get there from here,” when you are already in the center of God-consciousness which extends forever in all directions? Wake up, you are in the center of God.

You struggle, you vent your anger, you depress yourself, you punish yourself or others, you experience cynicism and anxiety, you seek to win this power struggle, you try to prove your guilt or innocence, you struggle to be right? That is what we have been doing all along in our story and it is nothing new. You can argue that you are a realist and that I am a dreamer. Each of us makes his own determination about reality, but we have no choice about our symptoms. Symptoms are the result of unconscious beliefs about what is real. Symptoms are wake-up calls provided by providence to awaken us from our dreams and nightmares. I call it paradoxical shock therapy. You can’t get there from here because you are already there. It’s all God. “Awake thou that sleepest.”

Romans 13: 11 “Now it is high time to wake out of sleep.”

1 Corinthians 15:34 “Awake to righteousness.”

Matthew 8:25 “And his disciples came to him and awoke him saying “Lord, save us, we perish.”

Ps. 73: 20 “Oh, Lord, when thou wakest…”

Luke 9:32 “And when they woke, they saw his glory…”

John 11:ll “I go that I may awaken him out of sleep.”

Joel 1:5: “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep…”

Proverbs 23:35 “When shall I awake?”

Ephesians 5:14: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

Isaiah 23:19: “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.”

Dreams are paradoxical. They mislead and yet they lead us home. Dreams are made to be broken. Broken dreams lead to reality if you follow the yellow brick road to Oz. If you follow the string out of the cave of darkness. If you learn the secret password “Sesame.” If, when you hit bottom, you realize it is not the bottom. If, when you complain, you realize that you are still asleep.

Isaiah 23:19: “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.”

Suppose it’s all good and we don’t know it?

Good!

You feel out of control? Good, infinity does not need controlling

You feel weak? Good, weakness is a misnomer for surrender to Life

You feel angry? Good, that is a signal your old ways don’t work anyway

You feel like a victim? Good, when you get enough of that you will give it up

You feel insecure? Good, feel it until you break through to Truth

You fear hurting someone or being hurt? Good, you need to realize hurt is a mis-belief

You feel alone? Good, this gives you a chance to realize that loneliness is a mere belief that you use to make yourself seem strong and to reduce the threat of loving

You feel inadequate? Good, infinity includes inadequacy and adequacy and all other opposites

You feel depressed? Good, you will soon realize you don’t have to depress yourself

You feel crazy? Good, the ego is nuts anyway, and you are ingenious

You feel unloved? Good, now you can realize you are Love Itself.

You hate someone? Good, that means you don’t know them

You are jealous? Good, you have an awesome capacity for pleasure

You are in pain? Good, find out why and how you do that to yourself

You don’t like bullies or victims? Good, because in reality there are no such things.

You are miserable? Good, get to know the real you who has never been miserable

You want things to change? Good, you made things the way they are and you can re-make them

No one cares! Good, now you have a chance to find out what “not caring” really means

I don’t like myself. Good, then you can realize that “I” is not the same as “myself.”

You lost your job, your partner, your health? Good, these are just the prices you have created to awaken to winning it all.

You dread criticism? Good, just look at why you are critical

You hate being shy? Good, you need to realize you are rejecting your boldness and courage

You insist upon being dependent or independent? Good, you are radically both

You are ashamed? Good, all of us should be ashamed for settling for less that than the infinite beings that we are

You feel guilty? Good, you can practice forgiveness of yourself and others.

Life is a constant struggle? Good, you can look at the beliefs that you use to stress and pressure yourself, and choose to letgo

Good!

Suppose it’s all good and we don’t know it?

You feel out of control? Good, infinity does not need controllingYou feel weak? Good, weakness is a misnomer for surrender to LifeYou feel angry? Good, that is a signal your old ways don’t work anywayYou feel like a victim? Good, when you get enough of that you will give it upYou feel insecure? Good, feel it until you break through to TruthYou fear hurting someone or being hurt? Good, you need to realize hurt is a mis-beliefYou feel alone? Good, this gives you a chance to realize that loneliness is a mere belief that you use to make yourself seem strong and to reduce the threat of lovingYou feel inadequate? Good, infinity includes inadequacy and adequacy and all other oppositesYou feel depressed? Good, you will soon realize you don’t have to depress yourselfYou feel crazy? Good, the ego is nuts anyway, and you are ingeniousYou feel unloved? Good, now you can realize you are Love Itself.You hate someone? Good, that means you don’t know themYou are jealous? Good, you have an awesome capacity for pleasureYou are in pain? Good, find out why and how you do that to yourselfYou don’t like bullies or victims? Good, because in reality there are no such things.You are miserable? Good, get to know the real you who has never been miserableYou want things to change? Good, you made things the way they are and you can re-make themNo one cares! Good, now you have a chance to find out what “not caring” really meansI don’t like myself. Good, then you can realize that “I” is not the same as “myself.”You lost your job, your partner, your health? Good, these are just the prices you have created to awaken to winning it all.You dread criticism? Good, just look at why you are criticalYou hate being shy? Good, you need to realize you are rejecting your boldness and courage

You insist upon being dependent or independent? Good, you are radically both

You are ashamed? Good, all of us should be ashamed for settling for less that than the infinite beings that we are

You feel guilty? Good, you can practice forgiveness of yourself and others.

Life is a constant struggle? Good, you can look at the beliefs that you use to stress and pressure yourself, and choose to letgo

The 1% Factor

Your Guarantee

Psychologists estimate that even the most talented people use less than 10% of their ability and most of us use only 1% or less. No wonder we are so frustrated! This lack does not appear to be merely a lack of effort but a constriction of awareness. Alan Walter has prepared a chart which illustrates this contracting of awareness as a loss of energy units.Scientists tell us that the visible light spectrum is less than 1% accessible to our sight, and the audible spectrum is not much more. Both of these elements of the electromagnetic spectrum added together take up very little space on the chart. . The vast majority of energy vibrations in the universe are not accessible to human perception.Brain physiologists report that of the 10,000 pieces of data available to our perception each second, only 5-7 bits can be sensed at once. That leaves 9,993 bits of data that are not active in our awareness. According to the research of Dan MacDougald, this limited amount of data is accessed through three major filters in the mind: fear, hostility and love. The fear filter only tunes into threatening and fearful data; the hostility filter only allows us to access irritating and negative data, and the love filter allows to see what is good in any situation.Infinity Theory maintains that reality is not what it seems because our view of reality is shaped and controlled largely by our story. For example, we have a story that matter is solid and pervasive, but in actuality at the subatomic level there is less than 1% of what could be called matter in the entire universe.It is as though there are dots and we fill in the lines between the dots with our imagination. Then we name things and they become objects in our semantic brain dictionary and we have little if any awe, wonder and mystery left about them. The infinite living universe has become largely (99%) a world of finite forms, a world which Buber characterized as an “It” world. The sense of “Thou” has been lost.Man the Manipulator has learned various tactics and strategies for “controlling” his environment, the success or failure of which becomes the measure of his self-esteem. But alas, in spite of all of man’s wishes to the contrary, control is largely a failure (99%) as a strategy.The human sense of failure is one of the most painful experiences that humans have, especially in the light of our infinite potentialities.Shrouded in a secret sense of shame, guilt and fear, we develop a mask of success which serves to temporarily hide our inner doubts and shadowy subconscious inferiority. This mask, however, does not work because of the appearance of what we have called our symptoms. As hard as we may try to hate and hide the symptom signal, it is not possible. In fact, the more we deny its presence and meaning, the more tenaciously and ferociously it re-appears in various forms to get our attention. Since we have no idea what a symptom means, we usually resist and reject is life-giving message.I have argued in this book that the symptom is a symbolic life-giving message that appears as a humiliating representation of our self-deceptive ego story. I have listed elsewhere a half page of typical symptoms, whether they be called stress, headaches, or failure.These symptoms consume so much of our energy (up to 99%) that we spend almost full-time trying to self-medicate what they represent. We are focused so much upon the survival of our ego story and what it masks that we have lost the awareness of our true divine identity and capabilities.The infinite power of our spiritual self, which I have called the imagination, is now operating almost entirely (up to 99%) unconsciously. Our awakening to the infinite power of imagination, therefore, is our major task in life.“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” – Carl JungThis awakening is called for in our symptomatic “problem”. We are so controlled and victimized by our story, however, that we have little or no time for such intangible trivialities. We just want to be distracted or we go to the doctor for pills. In most cases, a terrific shockis needed, and life usually provides that disturbance in our increasingly frustrating and annoying symptoms. The ego’s denial of this infinite universe is massive and almost complete at times (up to 99%).I am arguing here that the denial and unawareness of infinity may be 99% but it can never be 100% because of the Grace of our Creator. 1% of infinite power remains as a signal of our lost imaginative connection to God. This 1% cannot be lost, buried, rejected, repressed, or forgotten. God has not left himself anywhere without witness. There is a door to the infinite universe within your self, and it is at least 1%. It is often called the “still small voice”. In the scriptures it is called the “mustard seed”. It is the tiniest of all the seeds, and yet when planted and nurtured it grows into a giant tree in which the birds build their nests.The stone that the builders rejected (the Self) becomes the chief cornerstone of the entire edifice.1% is all that is needed. That 1% Factor is the doorway to the Infinite realization of who you are. The 1% Factor, which I call the imagination, has been discounted and relegated to the refuse pile by most people and especially by western culture. Imagination has been discredited and discounted by such slighting terms as wishful thinking, fantasy, daydreaming, and unrealismFor the most part, imagination is reserved for artists, poets, children and women. The left brain dominates the right brain.But just suppose that imagination is the door to self-discovery. Just suppose that its presence is signaled by our symptoms. Just suppose that imagination is God. Just suppose that this secret passageway to the limitless is already being mis-used unconsciously by every human being on a daily basis, which keeps us separated, deprived and trapped in a failure story. Just suppose that human suffering in all of its myriad forms arises from the abuse of the imagination.Just suppose that the cost for the knowledge of this secret passageway to the infinite is not a million dollars or even ten thousand dollars, and just suppose that you would not have to go to India or to New York City or to graduate school, or wait til your dying breath, to find this door.Just suppose that the price of admission to get your foot into the door of this infinite world is only 1% of your time each day! (1% of your waking time would be 9.6 minutes). Close your eyes and relax for 9.6 minutes. Whatever thoughts, words, feelings and images come into your mind, drop them and let your attention penetrate these forms. Do not get carried away with your story, with all of its so-called problems and solutions. Just breathe consciously. Your breathe is the spirit and it knows where that door is.Your ego story cannot go there. Your ego has created the very story that causes you to ignore this still small voice and its secret knowledge of the 1%.At some point in your dedication of this 1% of your day to this priceless journey, you will encounter a light. This living light is yourself, hidden under a basket of words, thoughts, and images, which we have called the story. In an ancient Japanese dialect, I discovered the word YAMI. As in many oriental languages, words are made up of images. In the case of YAMI, there were two images: a flame and a covering. YAMI means sickness

The hidden light is the cause of our sicknesses, and the symptoms thereof. Jesus said that we are not to hide our light under a bushel basket. Isn’t it interesting that probably for centuries, going back to the very beginning of language itself, it was known that sickness was a covered light. What is it that covers that light? I believe it is our story, our ego self-deception. And I believe that our story may have darkened our awareness up to 99%, but not 100%.

1% of your consciousness remains available, guaranteed!. Most warranties are only for a year or two. This warranty is forever. A warranty is only as good as the strength of the manufacturer. Fortunately for us, God’s guarantee is as good as God himself.

God created you in his own image, in his own imagination, and you are a spiritual being, guaranteed!

The fact that your finite story has covered up the awareness of this Light does not matter. 1% remains and that is all that is necessary for awakening. That 1% mustard seed represents the entire infinite mind of God that exists in you. That 1% Factor is alive and it is guaranteed. Jesus discovered that 1% doorway to the infinite imagination. In his consciousness, that seed took root, grew and blossomed into a giant awareness that continues to grow and produce fruit until this day. He said “The Father and I are one.” He realized who he was, and he claimed that realization for the entire humanity. No one can realize this fact for you, that you are one with your source. Jesus stated it for himself and I must be able to state it for myself. No one can do it for me or to me. Until I make this discovery, I will remain a victim of my story of limitation, restriction, separation, deprivation, entrapment and suffering. And I will have symptoms, guaranteed. And those symptoms are the 1% doorway of return and awakening, guaranteed.

What is the basic problem in this world which prevents our self-realization? The major human problem is sick religion.

In the Japanese language, I am told, there is a symbol for the word sickness:Yami. Yami is made up of two characters, one of which is like a little box and inside of that little box is a flame-like character. Sickness then is a covered light. I was quite surprised to discover that this ancient archetypal understanding of sickness was built right into an oriental language. It reminded me of Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in which he said “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

The peace of God is shining in me now. Why wait for Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who bear the light in you are alien here as well. The light came with you from your native home, and stayed with you because it is your own. It is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source. It shines in you because it lights your home, and leads you back to where it came from and you are at home.

A Course in Miracles, WB 188

Every person has his or her own sick, distorted, perverted, incomplete, endarkened story by which he or she lives and dies. Everyone prays to his own homemade god all day long every day. Non-worship is impossible. We give our power and glory to something. We never stop seeking for the infinite.

It is impossible. We make our preferred finite forms into the infinite, excluding their opposites. In all opposing forms, God is excluded. In our rush for safety and our desire to be right and to succeed at our game, our world narrows and contracts until we are imprisoned in a self-fulfilling prophecy which is our story. But our Guaranteed 1% remains and cannot be destroyed, and appears in our symptoms.

Even after the ravaging fires of unbelievable human crises, a seed remains in the stump of the burned trees of life (See Isaiah 6). The remaining seed of imagination is all that you will ever need to recover your lost life force. That seed has always been present, and has been used for good or for evil, and cannot be destroyed.

A large sealed earthenware pot about 10,000 years old was discovered in an Egyptian pyramid. When it was unsealed, it was discovered to be full of wheat seed. When some of these seeds were planted, they sprouted and grew wheat!

God has not left himself without witness

-The Acts

Sharpening our Tools for the Hunt

What are you “hunting” for?

The chief question in therapy is “What do you want and where do you think it is?”

We have long since stopped asking what we want because we assume it cannot be acquired, and so we settle for manipulating to get a modicum or survival amount of what we want.

And even if we do get what we want, the things we wish for are only symbolic. If you want a million dollars, what does that symbolize? Power, security, wholeness, completeness, love? It would be well to ask a person what they want and what it symbolizes. In other words, What do you want that for? A million dollars symbolizes the lost treasure of Self. People who have a million want two or four million. The want is infinite.

It is equally as important to ask what a person does not want, because what the ego does not want is change. Self-change . We may want others to change and siuations to change, but self-change? No. Change means growth; and growth means risk. It means giving up some “control”. The reason we don’t have what we do want is that we are always resisting what we don’t want. To know that you are infinite means tremendous growth and tremendous change. It would seem like incalculable risk..What the ego wants is satisfaction without change. Power without change. Success without change. Freedom without change. None of these things are possible. To accept that I am not separated, not deficient, and not trapped would require unbelievable change.

The ego wants better results with the same effort, with the same belief system. What we resist most is the changing of our beliefs, especially the beliefs about our identity. We want others to change their beliefs and behavior so that we won’t have to change ours. Why do we resist and fear change? Because we believe the way I am is me. My ego is me. If I were to change my ego, I fear that I would be a failure, a freak. I would disappear. I have grown accustomed to the idea that my ego is me. Habitual me. Chronic me. Self-programmed me. The me I have been taught and learned that I am. Each ego sets out to prove or disprove something, and we spend a whole lifetime doing it.

The real issue when someone misses a session or drops out of therapy is “Are yiou important? Are you worth the time and cost required to discover yourself? Can you honestly say that you are yourself?

You never possess anything. You only experience things. You only experience your own consciousness of things. You experience “your car” just as you experience “your moon”. That is, according to your interpretation of your car and your moon. You never experience your car or your moon, only your interpretation, your story, your judgments, your beliefs about them You experience your chronic interpretations or habitual judgments about a thing. All of those experiences are filtered through your self-concept, your habitual self-interpretation. Your ego.

Don recalled a smidgeon of a dream that his friends were impressed that he was such a good knife sharpener, as they prepared to go hunting. I commented to Don in our dream analysis that perhaps he is impressed as he is sharpening up his tools for the hunt. Don has spent his whole life trying to avoid and deny certain childhood experiences he had which shaped his self-image. We call this his symptom. None of the things he has done have really changed his symptom after 20 years. Now he is in therapy and is doing some good dreamwork. We noted that only 1% of our life is conscious and that 99% is unconcscious. This means that we don’t know ourselves. I ask Don to question himself daily as to the positive meaning of his symptom. I remind him that his unconscious knows the beneficial meaning for his terribly shameful conscious opinion of his symptom. Now he is engaging the conscious use of his unconscious through his dreams and dream analysis. He is sharpening up his tools for the hunt. The “hunt” is his search for the meaning of his symptom and for the meaning of his life.

We are all being challenged on a daily basis to “sharpen up our tools for the hunt.” We are always hunting, fishing, seeking, desiring, looking, wanting, searching. We desire something and we think it is to win the lottery, to get a new suit or dress, to own our home, to find the perfect mate, to get ahead, to get rich, to get even with someone, to put our kids through college, to retire, to leave a legacy for our grandchildren, to prove or disprove something, etc. On the surface, in our story, we think we know what we desire and what it is for. But we do not.

Everything is life is symbolic, metaphorical. We are spiritual beings living in a “physical” world. We are infinite beings living in a finite world. We have never had one physical, finite experience. Not one. We have never eaten one physical hamburger or drank one physical cup of coffee. All of our eating and drinking is symbolic, metaphorical, spiritual. We only experience the meaning we assign to things. We are creatures of meaning. Even our so-called meaninglessness is meaningful. We eat, drink and live our interpretations. We are consciousness and we only experience our interpretations of things.

Your mouth does not experience a peach. Only your consciousness of the peach is experienced through your senses. Your senses do not experience anything. They merely report electronic impressions of data. Cameras do not experience what they photograph. Neither do our senses. Your senses are like a camera. They report data. But you have the experience of the data. You like or dislike it. You want it or you don’t want it. Cameras don’t like or dislike data. But you are not a camera, nor are you your senses. You are the experiencer of all data. You are the interpreter of the meaning of data. And for the most part you are the unconscious interpreter and experiencer of that data. In actuality you are the chooser of what data means to you. Those choices are largely made by your ego. But those choices are shaped and given a false meaning by the ego because the ego is itself a false interpretation of your identity. We had better “sharpen our tools for the hunt.” Otherwise we will have misled ourselves into thinking that what we want is to win the lottery.

No one wins the lottery. The lottery is all just electronic data, digits in the mind. So are the beliefs in bankruptcy, poverty, inadequacy, loneliness, and entrapment. What you want is to discover your Infinite Self and to escape from the falseness of the belief in the finite self.

Incredible, isn’t it? All of this time we have been misleading ourselves. Unless the want-er becomes self-realized, there will be no lasting peace or satisfaction. Lotteries, large and small, come and go. The elusive “pots of gold at the end of the rainbow” always seems to escape us. Let us sharpen our tools for the hunt. Consciousness itself is what we are always unconsciously and frustratingly hunting for in the wrong places.

As the Russia fairy tale explained it, the King’s Archer had to cross the river of fire and go into the Land-Of-I-Know-Not-Where and to bring back I-Know-Not-What in order to save his beautiful wife. I interpret this to mean that we also, in order to rescue the beauty of life, have to cross the river of fiery experience, and go into the Land-of-I-Know-Not-Where to bring back I-Know-not-What. Our “hunt” is for Infinity Vision. When we begin to recover Infinity Vision, we find Infinity in a grain of sand, as Blake put it. God is in every form, in every experience, under every rock, in every moment.

Where do you think God is? That is the most important decision you will ever make. God is the lottery. God is the moon. God is this website. God is the hunt. Your entire story is about the hidden god that you are. The ego is just a mistaken interpretation of all of the god data in the world. The ego is a paradox. You will never find your self as ego, but the ego will lead you to yourself because it carries symptoms in its wake. Symptoms are the ego’s most embarassing creations, but they are the constant reminder of something more, of forgotten Infinity. It is my fervent hope that this website is a tool sharpener for your hunt. It has been and continues to be, for me.



What is Worth Hunting For?
Is Selfhood a given? Does self-awareness come with the package? Is the first birth enough?

Do you have to be be spiritually awakened? Do you have to seek this awakening each day?

What are you hunting for?

Cars rust; what doesn’t?

Muscles sag; what doesn’t?

Flowers wither; what doesn’t

Houses burn; what doesn’t?

Eyes dim; what doesn’t?

Clothes wear out; what doesn’t?

Weather changes; what doesn’t?

Reputations fluctuate; what doesn’t?

Money disappears; what doesn’t?

Computers crash; what doesn”t

Bodies age; what doesn’t?

Relationships sour; what doesn’t?

Beauty fades; what doesn’t?

Sex declines; what doesn’t?

Minds alzheimer; what doesn’t?

Whatever doesn’t would be worth hunting for, right? Jesus asked it this way

And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul (Self) in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul (Self)? Mt 16:26

And if you hunted, where would you be apt to find it? Outside somewhere? Is Self-awareness something society can give you? Is it something you can inherit? Is it something you can buy or earn? Is it something you get from your spouse? Is it something you get from religion? Is it accidental? Where is the greatest treasure in the world located? Can you find it by inquiry?

13 Tools of Self-awareness

Throughout this website we have been reviewing 13 tools of self-awareness for spiritual psychotherapy:

1. Question your beliefs: what am I telling myself?

2. De-coding your symptoms

3.. The world is your mirror

4. Dream analysis and dialog

5. Inquiry and meditative prayer: listening

6. Unconditional thanksgiving

7. Forgiveness

8. Loving what is

9. Self-study: Who am I?

10. The reflective pursuit of meaning

11. The conscious use of imagination

12. Follow your bliss all the way

13. Living on the Edge of the Infinite and the finite

Sick Religion

What is actually sick?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4: 18-19)

Luke, the physician, did not miss Jesus’ mission to those who were sickened, impoverished, imprisoned, broken, blinded, and bruised by false religion. What is false, sick, crippled, incomplete religion? I see twelve characteristics of such stories that we tell ourselves:

An impoverished, debunked imagination
Blindness to the dominating power of our human story
Holds itself to be right and others wrong
Excludes most of humanity
Believes in victimization
Denies God’s humanity and man’s divinity
Motivated by a fear-based belief system
Blind to the redeeming values hidden in man’s problems, sins, symptoms and suffering
Lack of the ability to unconditionally love everything and praise God for all things
Denies the relative, finite nature of evil, sin, wrong, hell, satan and demons, as states of mind in our self-manufactured story
In our sick, entrapping, blinding, impoverished and incomplete religious story, we may be asleep, addicted, unaware, possessed, angry and feel hopelessly alone. Like Don Quixote, we may be chasing windmills of the mind. We may wear ourselves out listening to the same broken record or going around and around in the same rut.

But even so, who wants to hear the “good news” that his story is off-course, incomplete, entrapping and symptom-producing? Behead any such messenger!

Every religion, however organized or disorganized, has at least 1% of truth in it. Usually, however, there is not more than 50% of truth in it because most religions either deny God’s humanity or man’s divinity. And then comes that loaded question: did Jesus die for our sins? Of course, he died for the mistakes of our sick religions, there is nothing else worth dying for. But remember, even his death would do no good except for the 1% Factor, which Jesus never lost sight of.

Is every religion sick? Yes, to some degree, because all religions are dualistic

Is everyone religious? Absolutely, because we are infinite beings in a finite world

What is religion? It is whatever we think will hold us together and make us happy.

What about atheists and materialists? Every human has infinite beliefs about something, even about doubts or incomplete beliefs. There is no one without a belief system which he has designed for survival in the midst of a seemingly finite, chaotic, dangerous world.

Do even psychopaths and schizophrenics have the 1% Factor? Everyone has the same irreducible guarantee. We all have elements of paranoia and split thinking in our stories, to whatever degree we deny that we are one with God, with others and with creation. After one night that Jesus spent with a wild raging demoniac in the graveyards, the man became sane. Others returned to themselves when the “demons” of confusion, fear and sickness were “cast out.” On the cross, a psychopathic thief awakened from his paranoid nightmare and entered into the soul’s paradise.

After a lifetime of rehabilitating the criminal mind, Dan MacDougald discovered that paranoia (fear) was the root of the psychopathic religion. Severe panic is also certainly a key to the condition of the schizophrenic religion. To listen to the voice of the religion of Republicanism, tune into the Rush Limbaugh show any afternoon. Everyone teaches and preaches his own brand of sick religion. What is yours? What is mine?

When Jesus announced the good news about our sick religiosity, people got upset. Who wants to think they are incomplete, blinded, imprisoned, poor, and bruised? And then he announced out loud the ultimate egocentric claim that “I and my father are one.” In these six words, all false religions were laid bare because the hidden inner belief in every human story is that I am right and you are not, that you have victimized and robbed me. Jesus exposed our own hidden belief that we are the most inferior and the most superiors being in the universe. Of course, no one would admit to such a belief, and when Jesus seemed to be saying the same thing, people were enraged, so shocked and enraged that they did not hear the “rest of the story,” and we rarely have until this day. What is the “rest of the story” anyway? Jesus told the “rest of the story” when he said: “Don’t you know that you are gods?” ( John 10:34) But it was too late, his destiny was sealed. At the very end as he was dying, he exclaimed “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” His death was totally about our ignorant, sick, human religions and their victims.

Until we see and admit the sickness of our own story, we are stuck. But not without symptoms! Guaranteed! The discrepancy between our narcissistic story and the truth of our oneness with God and one another is always signaled by symptomatic pain of some sort. Crucifixion of our self or others is inevitable until our psychopathic and schizophrenic stories are brought out into the light of day. Then we will see how self-crucifixion happened and how resurrection through The 1% Factor is accomplished.

And so how do we find The 1% Factor and awaken the power of imagination to its rightful spiritual function? The Bible only speaks of “evil imaginations” (33 times) because we have not understood and rightly used our imagination. Look all around you. Everything that your eye lights upon was created by imagination, was it not? Didn’t your automobile, your kitchen table, your clothing, and your pictures on the wall begin with imagination? Did not our creator fashion the sun, moon, stars, trees, animals and humans through His imagination? Are we not created in His or Her “image” ? Were we not assigned the task of naming things? Did we not mis-use our imagination in the creation of our human problems? Is not every single man-made object, language, story, invention, and relationship fashioned by imagination? Do not all of our mis-judgments and problems arise from “evil” imaginative strategies? Is not evil, fear and human suffering a creation of the mind of man? Is not forgiveness a function of an imagination restored to its god-awareness?

The scriptures tell us that the mind of Christ is born and growing in us. Is this spiritual mind not the mind of imagination? William Blake went so far as to say “Christ is your imagination”. What kind of rank heresy is that, asks our logical mind? But just suppose that the 1% Factor is your discredited Christ function, the imagination. This imagination is perhaps the only door through which you can realize and say “I and the Father are one.” Otherwise, religion will not compute, and we will remain stuck in the “evil imaginations” of sick religion.

I have asked myself how the spiritual function of imagination can be restored? How can it be made conscious that we have unknowingly created our own problems and suffering, all of them. Otherwise, we will remain irresponsible and symptomatic. All of our sick religions in the 21^st century are beginning to awaken to the redeeming power of the Christ function, which we all imagination. We have a lot of crow to eat. There is a lot of egg on our faces, all of us. But the Christ stands and knocks gently at the door of the 1% Factor.

Is everyone’s religion falling short? Absolutely, look at this mess we are in. Is there a redeeming factor in everyone’s “religion?” Absolutely! Guaranteed! Where is the voice of truth going to speak next? No one knows, but if you listen carefully, you will hear the 1% Factor in every event, in every communication, in every painful symptom.

It does virtually no good to deny, justify or patch up our fear-based, control-oriented story.

It would be more beneficial to step outside of this story and look for its contradictions, flaws and inconsistencies. Unfortunately, we have spent a lifetime creating and polishing this worldview, and we are so attached to it that we will defend it to the death. We identify this story and its strategies with our very selfhood and with our very survival. We’re ready to resist any real inquiry into the validity of our story. We have censors and guards set up at the entrance to the mind. Jehad means the willingness to die for my holy cause and to get rid of all infidels at any cost. Jehad is conspiracy theory squared. All wars are holy wars. All murders are holy murders. All hostility is designed to protect our story. All self-defense is defense of our self-conceived lies.

Imagination therapy is designed to get around these censors and defenses. Since imagination is the deepest uncensored level of the mind, you can get past the story and investigate its symbolic underpinnings without arousing as much reactive fear and self-defense. After all, what harm could there be in imagining two animals and having them talk to each other? What danger could there be in visualizing a door with the name of your symptom on it and going through the door?

What problem could there be in uncovering a treasure chest at the bottom of the sea and bringing it to the surface?

What threat could there be in staring into the eyes of a nightmare monster until its eyes become friendly?

How much strain would it be to imagine repairing and rebuilding an old house until it is livable and beautiful?

It is not those who are healthy who need a physician

-Jesus

Pain and Hope

What a paradox!

PAIN AND THE VICTIM EXPERIENCE OF HOPE

The center of the Karpman triangle is pain/false hope. The victim/perpetrator/rescuer lives on the hope of escape from pain. Because of the good/bad mindset, there is 50% pain and 50% hope of relief (pleasure). This 50% keeps us on the hope treadmill, but it is a game that cannot be won. What an insult to human intelligence! We are playing a game that cannot be won. It’s just like football mania. We spend years rooting for our football team to win, and ten years later although they may have won a championship or two, everyone ends up playing about 500 ball. In the meantime we live on the hope of winning. We gamble on the Lottery against horrendous odds, and yet hope is renewed when we hear about someone winning. We gamble in Las Vegas with great anticipation and excitement and Las Vegas always wins more than we do over the long haul. We live on hope, do we not? We are going to beat the odds. Hope springs eternal.

Why can’t hope be destroyed? And why does hope bring pain? And why does hope make us victims? And why does Hope continue to drive us until we wake up?

We climb high dangerous mountains in snowstorms where our chances of survival are slim, but we hope to beat the odds. We hope that we can clone the human body. We hope we will find the Fountain of Youth. We hope to live long enough that a cure for cancer will be found and we can live forever. We hope to find new energy sources to replace gasoline and oil. People want to be immortal. We want to leave something that will survive time. We want to leave something for our kids. We want to get that house built or that book written before we leave here. We want a memorial to our life in the world, a living trust that will bless our grandchildren. We hope to be famous or at least infamous. Even on our deathbed we are thinking of what we can leave behind that will signify the feeling of immortality.

Your divine human nature is the one thing you can never escape. The question of the ages is: What is human nature? And human nature has always been thought to be evil, and at best, good.

Go through this checklist of desires and honestly check those that might be clues to your infinity:

( ) The desire to be important, recognized, known

( ) The yearning to be loved, approved, accepted

( ) The urge to get even when rejected

( ) A feeling that you are entitled to respect

( ) A desire for more money, security

( ) The belief that you never have enough time

( ) A drive for excitement, fun, danger

( ) An urge for power and control

( ) A constant demand for appreciation

( ) The need for certainty

( ) The desire to be “right”

( ) The need to be good, better or best

( ) The desire to be bad, worse, worst

( ) The desire to be desireless

Our lacking mind has created a fictional, lacking world and a sense of greed. The world always and only reflects our state of mind. Awareness of our infinity will reflect an infinite universe.

What is Fear?

The unreality in our story

What is Fear?

God is not the author of fear. You are

Fear is a judgment never justified

Fear is a symptom of your own deep sense of loss

The thing you fear is gone

You are fearful because you have forgotten

The world contains no fear that you laid not on it.

Fear demands the sacrifice of love, for in love’s presence fear cannot abide

-A Course in Miracles

Fear is ignorance, blindness, prejudice, and misunderstanding. Fear is illusion. Fear is the only problem in our human story. Fear is the illusory belief system which says that we are separated, lacking and trapped. Fear is the unawareness which prompts our foolishness. Fear is the mainspring of our lies and deceptions. Fear is the wrongful use of imagination. Fear is the basis of all our symptoms. Fear is what we need to be aware of and to see through. FEARLESS is an interesting motto but LOVINGNESS would be a better one. If fear is illusory, we don’t need to fuel and energize such thoughts, feelings and activities any more. Love is the basis of the absolute sacredness of individuality. Love is the awareness that each person is completely and absolutely an individual expression of the ONE LOVE. Love is the insightful awareness that fear is an illusion. Fear is the notion that perfection and love are illusions. Love and fear are mutually exclusive. Perfect love casts out fear.

Psychologists talk about rational and irrational fears. Once you admit that any fear is rational, the floodgate is opened and every plague known to mankind enters that door. We should be afraid of trucks, war, germs, robbery, disease and death? Insurance companies are the richest companies in the world, and are fear-based. DSM IV is full of phobias and compulsions as well as addictions, all of which are fear-based. The word “cancer” carries tons of fear. All of our human stories are tinged with fear and survival reactions and tactics. Some of the great ones have said “Fear not.” Or “Love and do as you please.” True perception sees only love and only Good everywhere, inside and out, whether we are alone or together.

To see evil is to experience fear. “Resist not evil” means to keep your eye on the Good, on love. You can find many reasons to fear anything, but you only need one reason to see Good and Love: only Love is real. Rational fear is not rational. Why would love step in front of a truck? Examine that. Our fears are immature and our loves have to grow until they reach maturity or perfection, and then fear is gone. Gone where? It never was real.

We do many stupid things out of ignorance, and fear is ignorance. Love educates. Fear blocks true learning. Fear says that love is limited, weak and exhaustible, undependable, unreliable, unable to work in the world of business, politics, rehabilitation of criminals, prevention of drug abuse and alcohol abuse. But when it has been tried, it has worked. A whole book could be written on this. Fear says that love does not protect you from harm, and that there is much harm in the world that we need protecting from. We sell our souls for love because we believe we lack it The reason we have a problem with love is that love is trust. The ego prefers the control tactics of fear because we think fear is real and that control works better than trust. Hawkins’ kineosology proves that fear weakens. We spend a whole lifetime trying to control, and we fail, because there is nothing to control. Why does love need controlling? Why would you need to beg and fight for a cup of water when have a river inside of you?

Fear controls our mind. Love and all of its symbols is all that we could want. What are love’s symbols? Money and stuff. We are obsessed with money and stuff because they represent love, which we can’t see and don’t think exists. Things can become empty symbols of love when we cling to them instead of enjoying what they represent. All of the things in the world will not compensate for the awareness of what they represent. Possessions are simply love in form. Forms change. Nathan had motorcycles, cars, trucks, three wheelers, and a new house, but he lost his beloved. Now these toys mean nothing. All of the things he possessed did not make him a man. Only the awareness of love and its meaning makes a man. Power without love becomes powerlessness. Possessions without love leave one possessed and empty. Control and dependence on fear is a poor substitute for the trust in love.

Your thoughts and beliefs attract more of the same. Watch what you believe.

You experience what you attract

You attract what you perceive

You perceive what you think

You think what you fear or love

You fear or love what you imagine

Are you experiencing what you want?

If not, forgive yourself and choose again.

Re-imagine

Re-think

Re-perceive

Embrace love and let the illusion of fear go

Your world of experience will change

And you will attract what you want

Why is so much of our story and our identity fear-based? Programming. After centuries of fear-based experiences, perceptions, and imaginations, it is no wonder that the fearful collective mind controls us. The battle therefore is between the illusory fear in our collective mind, which is programmed, and love reality in our superconscious Self, which is not programmed. The failure of our fear-based programming and behavior is actually not a failure at all. The “failures” in our fear-based story is simply a consequence of our mistaken perceptions and mis-used imagination. These consequences we call symptoms, which are friendly reminders and life-saving red flags to help us to get back on course and to re-discover our true nature.

If love is a confusing word to you, just use the word peace, joy, or ecstasy, they all mean the same thing. All too often love is confusing because it is perceived as arising from outside of ourselves rather than from within. Of course, we can attribute peace, joy and ecstasy to an outside location also. But the truth of it is that there is nothing outside of ourselves, outside of our consciousness. You are infinite consciousness, however strange that may seem. The belief that you are a very small speck in an immense field is the direct cause of all of our self-esteem and practical problems. The full realization that we are infinite is a lifetime achievement, i.e., the challenge to regain and retain the territory of your infinite nature . Our programming against the reality of our infinite nature is spotty, however, and too shaky to stand. Although we have massive amnesia, everyone can begin to educate himself about the meaning of the fear-based paradigm of avoidance and control.

Scientists have discovered a black hole in space named MCD-630-15, a galaxy 130 million light years away. The equivalent of 100 million exhausted suns have been sucked into this totally black hole called a singularity, smaller than an atomic particle, out of which may be pouring a constant new source of cosmic energy, spinning incredibly fast. They have gathered tons of data about this phenomenon during the last decade, but they are constantly revising the theory in order to make sense out of this data.

This doesn’t seem so strange to me because we don’t have an accurate model for what we are seeing and for all of the data we are gathering in our own universe of experience.. I have called my current model Infinity Theory, in order to explain the mysterious phenomena we are experiencing in our daily lives. We know a little bit of how it works, but we don’t know what it is. A new model of the universe is emerging which is based on love’s reality, and not fear’s programming. (See Green, The Universe is a Green Dragon)

What does it mean that you are a spiritual being? Our identity story is comprised mainly of psychological and social conditioning, which blocks out the still small voice of our true spiritual identity. A spiritual being is characterized by a consciousness of the eternal and infinite meaning of our psychological and social story.

Jesus practiced a rhetoric of shock in order to break down preconceived associations

Harold Bloom

Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to that person.

Gospel of Thomas

The shocking claims that Jesus made for the New Humanity:

All power in heaven and earth has been given to me (Matthew 28:18)

I am the resurrection and the life (Jo 11:25)

I am the way the truth and the life (Jo 14:6)

I am the good shepherd (Jo 10:11)

I am the light of the world (Jo 8:12)

I am the bread of life (Jo 6:35)

Courage! It is I. Be not afraid (Mk.6:20)

I am the door (Jo 10:7)

I am the vine, you are the branches (Jo 15:5)

Who are you looking for? (Jo 18:8)

Fear not

-Jesus

What Are We Afraid Of?

Who ever heard of the fear of gravity, barophobia?

Gravity, Anyone?

I love and trust the universe, reality, and God, totally and completely, do I not? Is there any control in that statement? What do I control? What do I imagine that I control? The control I have is a story which says that I am in control. We think that in this age of science that we are logical beings, and that things make sense. But look at the universe. Does it make any sense whatsoever? Look at the billions of galaxies of stars, without beginning or end, spinning and shining, with nothing holding them up. But wait, we have a story about that. It is gravity! Gravity holds the universe up. Ah, gravity. What is gravity? It is a word in our story, that is all. I looked up gravity on the internet and found over two million listings about it. Even the most erudite definitions and explanations tell me essentially nothing.

At its most simplistic level, gravity is just the attraction of one mass to another. Now what possible attraction could one huge rock (planet) have for another? Go out in the yard and pick up two rocks and see what attraction they have for one another. The earth and the moon are assumed to be just two large rocks. What makes them float and spin in space? Gravity? You have got to be kidding! How rational is that? On one internet site there were all of these mathematical formulas explaining the weights and distances of these rocks and their attraction for one another. It is hysterical. It is comical.

This computer I am typing on sends signals to a million other computers instantaneously through open space and tells me in .06 seconds that there are 2,290,000 articles on gravity available in this universe of knowledge. But not one of these articles can tell me what gravity is. Yet I love and trust gravity each second of my existence, do I not? I may have a fear of flying, but I am flying through space at 186,000 miles per second as I sit here I my chair, am I not? The speed of racing cars may be frightening to some of us, but they are nothing compared to the speed of just lying in my bed at night. What are you afraid of? What are you trying to control?

I found a list of over 500 hundred phobias (symptoms) online, listed below:

Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing.
Acarophobia- Fear of itching or of the insects that cause itching.
Acerophobia- Fear of sourness.
Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.
Acousticophobia- Fear of noise.
Acrophobia- Fear of heights.
Aerophobia- Fear of drafts, air swallowing, or airbourne noxious substances.
Aeroacrophobia- Fear of open high places.
Aeronausiphobia- Fear of vomiting secondary to airsickness.
Agateophobia- Fear of insanity.
Agliophobia- Fear of pain.
Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places like markets. Fear of leaving a safe place.
Agraphobia- Fear of sexual abuse.
Agrizoophobia- Fear of wild animals.
Agyrophobia- Fear of streets or crossing the street.
Aichmophobia- Fear of needles or pointed objects.
Ailurophobia- Fear of cats.
Albuminurophobia- Fear of kidney disease.
Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.
Algophobia- Fear of pain.
Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic.
Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.
Altophobia- Fear of heights.
Amathophobia- Fear of dust.
Amaxophobia- Fear of riding in a car.
Ambulophobia- Fear of walking.
Amnesiphobia- Fear of amnesia.
Amychophobia- Fear of scratches or being scratched.
Anablephobia- Fear of looking up.
Ancraophobia or Anemophobia- Fear of wind.
Androphobia- Fear of men.
Anemophobia- Fear of air drafts or wind.
Anginophobia- Fear of angina, choking or narrowness.
Anglophobia- Fear of England, English culture, etc.
Angrophobia – Fear of anger or of becoming angry.
Ankylophobia- Fear of immobility of a joint.
Anthrophobia or Anthophobia- Fear of flowers.
Anthropophobia- Fear of people or society.
Antlophobia- Fear of floods.
Anuptaphobia- Fear of staying single.
Apeirophobia- Fear of infinity.
Aphenphosmphobia- Fear of being touched. (Haphephobia)
Apiphobia- Fear of bees.
Apotemnophobia- Fear of persons with amputations.
Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Arachnephobia or Arachnophobia- Fear of spiders.
Arithmophobia- Fear of numbers.
Arrhenphobia- Fear of men.
Arsonphobia- Fear of fire.
Asthenophobia- Fear of fainting or weakness.
Astraphobia or Astrapophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
Astrophobia- Fear of stars and celestial space.
Asymmetriphobia- Fear of asymmetrical things.
Ataxiophobia- Fear of ataxia (muscular incoordination)
Ataxophobia- Fear of disorder or untidiness.
Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection.
Atephobia- Fear of ruin or ruins.
Athazagoraphobia- Fear of being forgotton or ignored or forgetting.
Atomosophobia – Fear of atomic explosions.
Atychiphobia- Fear of failure.
Aulophobia- Fear of flutes.
Aurophobia- Fear of gold.
Auroraphobia- Fear of Northern lights.
Autodysomophobia- Fear of one that has a vile odor.
Automatonophobia- Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues – anything that falsly represents a sentient being.
Automysophobia- Fear of being dirty.
Autophobia- Fear of being alone or of oneself.
Aviophobia or Aviatophobia- Fear of flying.


Bacillophobia- Fear of microbes.
Bacteriophobia- Fear of bacteria.
Ballistophobia- Fear of missiles or bullets.
Bolshephobia- Fear of Bolsheviks.
Barophobia- Fear of gravity.
Basophobia or Basiphobia- Inability to stand. Fear of walking or falling.
Bathmophobia- Fear of stairs or steep slopes.
Bathophobia- Fear of depth.
Batophobia- Fear of heights or being close to high buildings.
Batrachophobia- Fear of frogs, newts, salamanders, etc.
Belonephobia- Fear of pins and needles. (Aichmophobia)
Bibliophobia- Fear of books.
Blennophobia- Fear of slime.
Bogyphobia- Fear of bogies or the bogeyman.
Botanophobia- Fear of plants.
Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells.
Brontophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
Bufonophobia- Fear of toads.



Cacophobia- Fear of ugliness.
Cainophobia or Cainotophobia- Fear of newness, novelty.
Caligynephobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Cancerophobia- Fear of cancer.
Carcinophobia- Fear of cancer.
Cardiophobia- Fear of the heart.
Carnophobia- Fear of meat.
Catagelophobia- Fear of being ridiculed.
Catapedaphobia- Fear of jumping from high and low places.
Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting.
Catoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors.
Cenophobia or Centophobia- Fear of new things or ideas.
Ceraunophobia- Fear of thunder.
Chaetophobia- Fear of hair.
Cheimaphobia or Cheimatophobia- Fear of cold.
Chemophobia- Fear of chemicals or working with chemicals.
Cherophobia- Fear of gaiety.
Chionophobia- Fear of snow.
Chiraptophobia- Fear of being touched.
Chirophobia- Fear of hands.
Cholerophobia- Fear of anger or the fear of cholera.
Chorophobia- Fear of dancing.
Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia- Fear of money.
Chromophobia or Chromatophobia- Fear of colors.
Chronophobia- Fear of time.
Chronomentrophobia- Fear of clocks.
Cibophobia or Sitophobia or Sitiophobia- Fear of food.
Claustrophobia- Fear of confined spaces.
Cleithrophobia – Fear of being locked in an enclosed place.
Cleptophobia- Fear of stealing.
Climacophobia- Fear of stairs, climbing or of falling downstairs.
Clinophobia- Fear of going to bed.
Clithrophobia or Cleithrophobia- Fear of being enclosed.
Cnidophobia- Fear of stings.
Cometophobia- Fear of comets.
Coimetrophobia- Fear of cemeteries.
Coitophobia- Fear of coitus.
Contreltophobia- Fear of sexual abuse.
Coprastasophobia- Fear of constipation.
Coprophobia- Fear of feces.
Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns.
Counterphobia- Preference by a phobic for fearful situations.
Cremnophobia- Fear of precipices.
Cryophobia- Fear of extreme cold, ice or frost.
Crystallophobia- Fear of crystals or glass.
Cyberphobia- Fear of computers or working on a computer.
Cyclophobia- Fear of bicycles.
Cymophobia- Fear of waves or wave like motions.
Cynophobia- Fear of dogs or rabies.
Cypridophobia, – Fear of prostitutes or venereal disease.



Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions.
Defecaloesiophobia- Fear of painful bowels movements.
Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations.
Dementophobia- Fear of insanity.
Demonophobia or Daemonophobia- Fear of demons.
Demophobia- Fear of crowds. (Agoraphobia)
Dendrophobia- Fear of trees.
Dentophobia- Fear of dentists.
Dermatophobia- Fear of skin lesions.
Dermatosiophobia or Dermatophobia or Dermatopathophobia- Fear of skin disease.
Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body.
Diabetophobia- Fear of diabetes.
Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school.
Dikephobia- Fear of justice.
Dinophobia- Fear of dizziness or whirlpools.
Diplophobia- Fear of double vision.
Dipsophobia- Fear of drinking.
Dishabiliophobia- Fear of undressing in front of someone.
Domatophobia or Oikophobia- Fear of houses or being in a house.
Doraphobia- Fear of fur or skins of animals.
Doxophobia- Fear of expressing opinions or of receiving praise.
Dromophobia- Fear of crossing streets.
Dutchphobia- Fear of the Dutch.
Dysmorphophobia- Fear of deformity.
Dystychiphobia- Fear of accidents.



Ecclesiophobia- Fear of church.
Ecophobia- Fear of home.
Eicophobia or Oikophobia- Fear of home surroundings.
Eisoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors or of seeing oneself in a mirror.
Electrophobia- Fear of electricity.
Eleutherophobia- Fear of freedom.
Elurophobia- Fear of cats. (Ailurophobia)
Emetophobia- Fear of vomiting.
Enetophobia- Fear of pins.
Enochlophobia- Fear of crowds.
Enosiophobia or Enissophobia- Fear of having committed an unpardonable sin or of criticism.
Entomophobia- Fear of insects.
Eosophobia- Fear of dawn or daylight.
Ephebiphobia- Fear of teenagers.
Epistaxiophobia- Fear of nosebleeds.
Epistemophobia- Fear of knowledge.
Equinophobia- Fear of horses.
Eremophobia- Fear of being oneself or of lonliness.
Ereuthrophobia- Fear of blushing.
Ergasiophobia- 1) Fear of work or functioning. 2) Surgeon’s fear of operating.
Ergophobia- Fear of work.
Erotophobia- Fear of sexual love or sexual questions.
Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news.
Eurotophobia- Fear of female genitalia.
Erythrophobia, Erytophobia or Ereuthophobia- 1) Fear of redlights. 2) Blushing. 3) Red.



Febriphobia, Fibriphobia or Fibriophobia- Fear of fever.
Felinophobia- Fear of cats. (Ailurophobia, Elurophobia, Galeophobia, Gatophobia)
Francophobia- Fear of France, French culture. (Gallophobia, Galiophobia)
Frigophobia- Fear of cold, cold things.



Galeophobia or Gatophobia- Fear of cats.
Gallophobia or Galiophobia- Fear France, French culture. (Francophobia)
Gamophobia- Fear of marriage.
Geliophobia- Fear of laughter.
Geniophobia- Fear of chins.
Genophobia- Fear of sex.
Genuphobia- Fear of knees.
Gephyrophobia, Gephydrophobia, or Gephysrophobia- Fear of crossing bridges.
Germanophobia- Fear of Germany, German culture, etc.
Gerascophobia- Fear of growing old.
Gerontophobia- Fear of old people or of growing old.
Geumaphobia or Geumophobia- Fear of taste.
Glossophobia- Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge.
Graphophobia- Fear of writing or handwriting.
Gymnophobia- Fear of nudity.
Gynephobia or Gynophobia- Fear of women.

Hadephobia- Fear of hell.
Hagiophobia- Fear of saints or holy things.
Hamartophobia- Fear of sinning.
Haphephobia or Haptephobia- Fear of being touched.
Harpaxophobia- Fear of being robbed.
Hedonophobia- Fear of feeling pleasure.
Heliophobia- Fear of the sun.
Hellenologophobia- Fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology.
Helminthophobia- Fear of being infested with worms.
Hemophobia or Hemaphobia or Hematophobia- Fear of blood.
Heresyphobia or Hereiophobia- Fear of challenges to official doctrine or of radical deviation.
Herpetophobia- Fear of reptiles or creepy, crawly things.
Heterophobia- Fear of the opposite sex. (Sexophobia)
Hierophobia- Fear of priests or sacred things.
Hippophobia- Fear of horses.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
Hobophobia- Fear of bums or beggars.
Hodophobia- Fear of road travel.
Hormephobia- Fear of shock.
Homichlophobia- Fear of fog.
Homilophobia- Fear of sermons.
Hominophobia- Fear of men.
Homophobia- Fear of sameness, monotony or of homosexuality or of becoming homosexual.
Hoplophobia- Fear of firearms.
Hydrargyophobia- Fear of mercurial medicines.
Hydrophobia- Fear of water or of rabies.
Hydrophobophobia- Fear of rabies.
Hyelophobia or Hyalophobia- Fear of glass.
Hygrophobia- Fear of liquids, dampness, or moisture.
Hylephobia- Fear of materialism OR the fear of epilepsy.
Hylophobia- Fear of forests.
Hypengyophobia or Hypegiaphobia- Fear of responsibility.
Hypnophobia- Fear of sleep or of being hypnotized.
Hypsiphobia- Fear of height.

Iatrophobia- Fear of going to the doctor or of doctors.
Ichthyophobia- Fear of fish.
Ideophobia- Fear of ideas.
Illyngophobia- Fear of vertigo or feeling dizzy when looking down.
Iophobia- Fear of poison.
Insectophobia – Fear of insects.
Isolophobia- Fear of solitude, being alone.
Isopterophobia- Fear of termites, insects that eat wood.
Ithyphallophobia- Fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis.

Japanophobia- Fear of Japanese.
Judeophobia- Fear of Jews.

Kainolophobia- Fear of novelty.
Kainophobia- Fear of anything new, novelty.
Kakorrhaphiophobia- Fear of failure or defeat.
Katagelophobia- Fear of ridicule.
Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down.
Kenophobia- Fear of voids or empty spaces.
Keraunophobia- Fear of thunder and lightning.
Kinetophobia or Kinesophobia- Fear of movement or motion.
Kleptophobia- Fear of stealing.
Koinoniphobia- Fear of rooms.
Kolpophobia- Fear of genitals, particularly female.
Kopophobia- Fear of fatigue.
Koniophobia- Fear of dust. (Amathophobia)
Kosmikophobia- Fear of cosmic phenomenon.
Kymophobia- Fear of waves.
Kynophobia- Fear of rabies.
Kyphophobia- Fear of stooping.

Lachanophobia- Fear of vegetables.
Laliophobia or Lalophobia- Fear of speaking.
Leprophobia or Lepraphobia- Fear of leprosy.
Leukophobia- Fear of the color white.
Levophobia- Fear of things to the left side of the body.
Ligyrophobia- Fear of loud noises.
Lilapsophobia- Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes.
Limnophobia- Fear of lakes.
Linonophobia- Fear of string.
Liticaphobia- Fear of lawsuits.
Lockiophobia- Fear of childbirth.
Logizomechanophobia- Fear of computers.
Logophobia- Fear of words.
Luiphobia- Fear of lues, syphillis.
Lutraphobia- Fear of otters.
Lygophobia- Fear of darkness.
Lyssophobia- Fear of rabies or of becoming mad.

Macrophobia- Fear of long waits.
Mageirocophobia- Fear of cooking.
Maieusiophobia- Fear of childbirth.
Malaxophobia- Fear of love play. (Sarmassophobia)
Maniaphobia- Fear of insanity.
Mastigophobia- Fear of punishment.
Mechanophobia- Fear of machines.
Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection.
Medorthophobia- Fear of an erect penis.
Megalophobia- Fear of large things.
Melissophobia- Fear of bees.
Melanophobia- Fear of the color black.
Melophobia- Fear or hatred of music.
Meningitophobia- Fear of brain disease.
Menophobia- Fear of menstruation.
Merinthophobia- Fear of being bound or tied up.
Metallophobia- Fear of metal.
Metathesiophobia- Fear of changes.
Meteorophobia- Fear of meteors.
Methyphobia- Fear of alcohol.
Metrophobia- Fear or hatred of poetry.
Microbiophobia- Fear of microbes. (Bacillophobia)
Microphobia- Fear of small things.
Misophobia- Fear of being contaminated with dirt of germs.
Mnemophobia- Fear of memories.
Molysmophobia or Molysomophobia- Fear of dirt or contamination.
Monophobia- Fear of solitude or being alone.
Monopathophobia- Fear of definite disease.
Motorphobia- Fear of automobiles.
Mottephobia- Fear of moths.
Musophobia or Murophobia- Fear of mice.
Mycophobia- Fear or aversion to mushrooms.
Mycrophobia- Fear of small things.
Myctophobia- Fear of darkness.
Myrmecophobia- Fear of ants.
Mysophobia- Fear of germs or contamination or dirt.
Mythophobia- Fear of myths or stories or false statements.
Myxophobia- Fear of slime. (Blennophobia)

Nebulaphobia- Fear of fog. (Homichlophobia)
Necrophobia- Fear of death or dead things.
Nelophobia- Fear of glass.
Neopharmaphobia- Fear of new drugs.
Neophobia- Fear of anything new.
Nephophobia- Fear of clouds.
Noctiphobia- Fear of the night.
Nomatophobia- Fear of names.
Nosocomephobia- Fear of hospitals.
Nosophobia or Nosemaphobia- Fear of becoming ill.
Nostophobia- Fear of returning home.
Novercaphobia- Fear of your step-mother.
Nucleomituphobia- Fear of nuclear weapons.
Nudophobia- Fear of nudity.
Numerophobia- Fear of numbers.
Nyctohylophobia- Fear of dark wooded areas, of forests at night
Nyctophobia- Fear of the dark or of night.

Obesophobia- Fear of gaining weight.(Pocrescophobia)
Ochlophobia- Fear of crowds or mobs.
Ochophobia- Fear of vehicles.
Octophobia – Fear of the figure 8.
Odontophobia- Fear of teeth or dental surgery.
Odynophobia or Odynephobia- Fear of pain. (Algophobia)
Oenophobia- Fear of wines.
Oikophobia- Fear of home surroundings, house.
Olfactophobia- Fear of smells.
Ombrophobia- Fear of rain or of being rained on.
Ommetaphobia or Ommatophobia- Fear of eyes.
Oneirophobia- Fear of dreams.
Oneirogmophobia- Fear of wet dreams.
Onomatophobia- Fear of hearing a certain word or of names.
Ophidiophobia- Fear of snakes. (Snakephobia)
Ophthalmophobia- Fear of being stared at.
Opiophobia- Fear medical doctors experience of prescribing needed pain medications for patients.
Optophobia- Fear of opening one’s eyes.
Ornithophobia- Fear of birds.
Orthophobia- Fear of property.
Osmophobia or Osphresiophobia- Fear of smells or odors.
Ostraconophobia- Fear of shellfish.
Ouranophobia- Fear of heaven.

Pagophobia- Fear of ice or frost.
Panthophobia- Fear of suffering and disease.
Panophobia or Pantophobia- Fear of everything.
Papaphobia- Fear of the Pope.
Papyrophobia- Fear of paper.
Paralipophobia- Fear of neglecting duty or responsibility.
Paraphobia- Fear of sexual perversion.
Parasitophobia- Fear of parasites.
Paraskavedekatriaphobia- Fear of Friday the 13th.
Parthenophobia- Fear of virgins or young girls.
Pathophobia- Fear of disease.
Patroiophobia- Fear of heredity.
Parturiphobia- Fear of childbirth.
Peccatophobia- Fear of sinning. (imaginary crime)
Pediculophobia- Fear of lice.
Pediophobia- Fear of dolls.
Pedophobia- Fear of children.
Peladophobia- Fear of bald people.
Pellagrophobia- Fear of pellagra.
Peniaphobia- Fear of poverty.
Pentheraphobia- Fear of mother-in-law. (Novercaphobia)
Phagophobia- Fear of swallowing or of eating or of being eaten.
Phalacrophobia- Fear of becoming bald.
Phallophobia- Fear of a penis, esp erect.
Pharmacophobia- Fear of taking medicine.
Phasmophobia- Fear of ghosts.
Phengophobia- Fear of daylight or sunshine.
Philemaphobia or Philematophobia- Fear of kissing.
Philophobia- Fear of falling in love or being in love.
Philosophobia- Fear of philosophy.
Phobophobia- Fear of phobias.
Photoaugliaphobia- Fear of glaring lights.
Photophobia- Fear of light.
Phonophobia- Fear of noises or voices or one’s own voice; of telephones.
Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.
Phthiriophobia- Fear of lice. (Pediculophobia)
Phthisiophobia- Fear of tuberculosis.
Placophobia- Fear of tombstones.
Plutophobia- Fear of wealth.
Pluviophobia- Fear of rain or of being rained on.
Pneumatiphobia- Fear of spirits.
Pnigophobia or Pnigerophobia- Fear of choking of being smothered.
Pocrescophobia- Fear of gaining weight. (Obesophobia)
Pogonophobia- Fear of beards.
Poliosophobia- Fear of contracting poliomyelitis.
Politicophobia- Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians.
Polyphobia- Fear of many things.
Poinephobia- Fear of punishment.
Ponophobia- Fear of overworking or of pain.
Porphyrophobia- Fear of the color purple.
Potamophobia- Fear of rivers or running water.
Potophobia- Fear of alcohol.
Pharmacophobia- Fear of drugs.
Proctophobia- Fear of rectum.
Prosophobia- Fear of progress.
Psellismophobia- Fear of stuttering.
Psychophobia- Fear of mind.
Psychrophobia- Fear of cold.
Pteromerhanophobia- Fear of flying.
Pteronophobia- Fear of being tickled by feathers.
Pupaphobia – fear of puppets.
Pyrexiophobia- Fear of Fever.
Pyrophobia- Fear of fire.

Radiophobia- Fear of radiation, x-rays.
Ranidaphobia- Fear of frogs.
Rectophobia- Fear of rectum or rectal diseases.
Rhabdophobia- Fear of being severely punished or beaten by a rod, or of being severely criticized. Also fear of magic.(wand)
Rhypophobia- Fear of defecation.
Rhytiphobia- Fear of getting wrinkles.
Rupophobia- Fear of dirt.
Russophobia- Fear of Russians.

Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween.
Sarmassophobia- Fear of love play. (Malaxophobia)
Satanophobia- Fear of Satan.
Scabiophobia- Fear of scabies.
Scatophobia- Fear of fecal matter.
Scelerophibia- Fear of bad men, burglars.
Sciophobia Sciaphobia- Fear of shadows.
Scoleciphobia- Fear of worms.
Scolionophobia- Fear of school.
Scopophobia or Scoptophobia- Fear of being seen or stared at.
Scotomaphobia- Fear of blindness in visual field.
Scotophobia- Fear of darkness. (Achluophobia)
Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public.
Selachophobia- Fear of sharks.
Selaphobia- Fear of light flashes.
Selenophobia- Fear of the moon.
Seplophobia- Fear of decaying matter.
Sesquipedalophobia- Fear of long words.
Sexophobia- Fear of the opposite sex. (Heterophobia)
Siderodromophobia- Fear of trains, railroads or train travel.
Siderophobia- Fear of stars.
Sinistrophobia- Fear of things to the left, left-handed.
Sinophobia- Fear of Chinese, Chinese culture.
Sitophobia or Sitiophobia- Fear of food or eating. (Cibophobia)
Snakephobia- Fear of snakes. (Ophidiophobia)
Soceraphobia- Fear of parents-in-law.
Social Phobia- Fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations.
Sociophobia- Fear of society or people in general.
Somniphobia- Fear of sleep.
Sophophobia- Fear of learning.
Soteriophobia – Fear of dependence on others.
Spacephobia- Fear of outer space.
Spectrophobia- Fear of specters or ghosts.
Spermatophobia or Spermophobia- Fear of germs.
Spheksophobia- Fear of wasps.
Stasibasiphobia or Stasiphobia- Fear of standing or walking. (Ambulophobia)
Staurophobia- Fear of crosses or the crucifix.
Stenophobia- Fear of narrow things or places.
Stygiophobia or Stigiophobia- Fear of hell.
Suriphobia- Fear of mice.
Symbolophobia- Fear of symbolism.
Symmetrophobia- Fear of symmetry.
Syngenesophobia- Fear of relatives.
Syphilophobia- Fear of syphilis.

Tachophobia- Fear of speed.
Taeniophobia or Teniophobia- Fear of tapeworms.
Taphephobia Taphophobia- Fear of being buried alive or of cemeteries.
Tapinophobia- Fear of being contagious.
Taurophobia- Fear of bulls.
Technophobia- Fear of technology.
Teleophobia- 1) Fear of definite plans. 2) Religious ceremony.
Telephonophobia- Fear of telephones.
Teratophobia- Fear of bearing a deformed child or fear of monsters or deformed people.
Testophobia- Fear of taking tests.
Tetanophobia- Fear of lockjaw, tetanus.
Teutophobia- Fear of German or German things.
Textophobia- Fear of certain fabrics.
Thaasophobia- Fear of sitting.
Thalassophobia- Fear of the sea.
Thanatophobia or Thantophobia- Fear of death or dying.
Theatrophobia- Fear of theatres.
Theologicophobia- Fear of theology.
Theophobia- Fear of gods or religion.
Thermophobia- Fear of heat.
Tocophobia- Fear of pregnancy or childbirth.
Tomophobia- Fear of surgical operations.
Tonitrophobia- Fear of thunder.
Topophobia- Fear of certain places or situations, such as stage fright.
Toxiphobia or Toxophobia or Toxicophobia- Fear of poison or of being accidently poisoned.
Traumatophobia- Fear of injury.
Tremophobia- Fear of trembling.
Trichinophobia- Fear of trichinosis.
Trichopathophobia or Trichophobia or Hypertrichophobia- Fear of hair. (Chaetophobia)
Triskaidekaphobia- Fear of the number 13.
Tropophobia- Fear of moving or making changes.
Trypanophobia- Fear of injections.
Tuberculophobia- Fear of tuberculosis.
Tyrannophobia- Fear of tyrants.

Uranophobia- Fear of heaven.
Urophobia- Fear of urine or urinating.

Vaccinophobia- Fear of vaccination.
Venustraphobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Verbophobia- Fear of words.
Verminophobia- Fear of germs.
Vestiphobia- Fear of clothing.
Virginitiphobia- Fear of rape.
Vitricophobia- Fear of step-father.

Walloonphobia- Fear of the Walloons.
Wiccaphobia: Fear of witches and witchcraft.

Xanthophobia- Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow.
Xenoglossophobia- Fear of foreign languages.
Xenophobia- Fear of strangers or foreigners.
Xerophobia- Fear of dryness.
Xylophobia- 1) Fear of wooden objects. 2) Forests.
Xyrophobia-Fear of razors.

Zelophobia- Fear of jealousy.
Zeusophobia- Fear of God or gods.
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat.
Zoophobia- Fear of animals.



Suppose one person had all of these phobias. Yet that person is still trusting and loving the universe, flying through space at 186,000 miles per second, held in place only by something called gravity, which has never been explained and makes no sense. Outside of his story, this paranoid person trusts and loves the entire universe totally and absolutely. Isn’t that interesting! He trusts and loves God and every circling star, totally and without reservation.

Just take time to read through this list, and substitute “love of” for “fear of” and you will know the truth. Fear is a lie. Love is the truth, outside of our story. Our story is a fiction. Our story is based upon some wild notion that we need to control, that we should control, that we can control, that control is necessary, that we are inadequate if we are not in control. But I keep asking, how can infinity be in need of control? Control is a crock. Control is a fear-based story. Love is enjoyment.

Take a couple of minutes each day and try to imagine an endless universe, an infinite universe. Go out as far as your imagination allows and you will find more and more and more. There is no boundary that we know of. That should erase our epistemophobia, our fear of knowledge, because our fears are just part of a story that is fecicious, a story that says we are merely finite, that we should be in control of an infinite universe of love. Step outside of your story, and you have a perfect universe of love, beauty, and grace. When you and I love everything in this phobia list, we will be at home. We will, for the first time, know ourselves. Look especially at these phobias:

Zeusophobia- Fear of God or gods.

Theophobia- Fear of gods or religion

Phobophobia- Fear of phobias

Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge

Barophobia- Fear of gravity

Apeirophobia- Fear of infinity

Odynophobia – Fear of pain

Octophobia – Fear of the figure 8

Hypengyophobia- Fear of responsibility

Philophobia- Fear of falling in love or being in love


Before we leave the subject of phobias, we should take note of the above phobias from the viewpoint of Infinity Theory. First of all, phobiaphobia is the fear of fear itself, which Franklin D. Roosevelt said is the only fear we have. Theophobia is the fear of God. Philophobia is the fear of love, which is probably the root of all fear. Gnosiophobia is the fear of knowledge. And who doesn’t have odynophobia, the fear of pain? And we note the fear of gravity, barophobia!

But most interesting here is octophobia, the fear of the figure 8, which we have chosen as the symbol of the finite. We fear the finite. And then we have apeirophobia, the fear of the infinite. That covers everything, doesn’t it? That covers our whole story, the whole story of fears, the whole story of illusions that we have invented to amuse ourselves. Enjoy!

So, back to our story. Gravity is a grave subject, isn’t it? grav·i·ty is the natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of that body. The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Grave consequence; seriousness or importance: They are still quite unaware of the gravity of their problems.

Gravity then is seriousness, something heavy, an attraction of heaviness, an attraction between bodies. Interesting, isn’t it? The attraction between finite things. The infinite attractiveness between finite things. After all, that is what love is and that is what life is and that is what I am. An infinite attractiveness between finite things. Wow! Would that our attractions could just be lighter, more full of light.

In my understanding thus far, the average person is out of control because he blames others and externals for his condition. This state of mind we can call other-blame or self-victimization. If we are to move psychologically at all, we must take step two and move into self-responsibility and into self-control. Then we are in position to move into stage three, which is self-surrender, or God-control.

The Unholy Trinity: Separated, Lacking and Stuck

Our false belief system

Separated, Lacking and Stuck

Our low self-esteem story arises from the three fictional beliefs in being separated, lacking and stuck. To help locate some of the specific sources of these three beliefs in your story, please answer the following questions or complete the following sentences:

The sense of separateness or aloneness

What separative thoughts do you have?

What are you telling yourself that makes you feel lonely, isolated, abandoned?

Do you have emotions of fear, jealousy, guilt, anger, self-righteousness?

I most often feel separated from__________

I feel left out of_______

I would like to be closer to________________

I can’t forgive_____________

I am critical of others who______________

I envy others for_________________

I feel unworthy about___________________

The sense of lack, deprivation, or insecurity

I compare myself with__________

I feel inadequate about______________

I feel incomplete about____________

There is not enough _________________

I have less than____________________

I feel cheated of____________________

I would like to have more____________

A quality missing in me that I see in others is________________

If I could live my life over, I would_____________

I don’t have the ability to________________

3.The sense of being trapped or stuck

What do you feel trapped about?

I feel burdened with_____________

I am too involved with___________

I can’t seem to get out of____________

I feel handicapped by________________

I feel victimized by_______________

One habit I am stuck with is__________

An attitude I would like to get rid of_____________

An obstacle in my path is_____________

Scriptures to Remind us of our Unity, Wholeness and Freedom

The spiritual truth about these three beliefs is that separation is only found in our story, that deprivation is only found in our story, and that entrapment is only found in our story. The truth, outside of our story, is that unity, security and freedom are already ours to recognize and claim

Unity

Nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)

He is our peace, for He hath broken down the middle wall of partition (Eph 2: 14)

You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled unto Himself (Col. 1:21)

You life is hidden with God in Christ (Col 3:3)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ (Gal 3:28)

I pray that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in oneness (John 18 :21-23)

Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Matt 26:20)

Wholeness, security and plenty

We are not sufficient of ourselves, our sufficiency is of God (2 Cor 3:5)

My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want (Ps 23: 1)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4: 13)

My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4: 19)

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid (Mtt 5:14)

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4)

Freedom

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32)

If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you (Matt 6:14)

Perfect love casts out fear (I john 4:18)

Whosoever keepeth the word of God, in him verily is the love of God perfected (I John 2:5)

For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content (Phil 4:11)

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10)

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made mefree from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32) Now being made free from sin, you have become servants of God (Rom 6:22)

Nothing shall be able to separate you from the love of God -PaulThe Lord is my shepherd; I am not in want -DavidYou shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.-John

Are You a Victim?

I’ve got scars to prove it!

I admit that this is an awful picture of a “crucified” woman victim. It could also be a child victim. It could be any picture of the self-victimization of the soul. All victim stories are reducible to the self-victimization, or the victimization of the inmost soul, the Inner Self, the Christ Self. Eventually the truth is discovered that the ego “crucifies” the soul. How is this so?

The soul knows the inner world and its language, but the ego mind has shut out the soul, discounted its value and language, tied it up with rope and thrown it in the closet of the shadow world. The only way the soul usually gets to speak is in dreams and in symptoms. The ego mind has repressed the innermost soul, with all of its resources and powers. The mind has to learn to listen again to the still small voice of infinity. Ego judgments, opinions and fears drown out the intuition, and make us feel like victims.


You are a spiritual being who has been on this planet for many lifetimes. You have lived and re-lived the same kind of victim story over and over. Now you have come to a crisis point in your evolution as a soul. Many kinds of experiences arise in this long spiritual journey that we are making. Conventionally a person can be ignorant of the meaning of this journey and spin quite a yarn of mis-information. This tale of woe leads into many detours and deadend streets. But we are now in position to understand why we keep repeating the same broken-record lessons over and over. If your path seems repetitive and boring, that is because you are caught in a cycle. We now have the knowledge and the tools to help anyone correct the mistakes in their puzzle of life, and to break the repetitive cycle in which we caught like a fly in a spider web: the victim experience.

“What tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

Sir Walter Scott.

The level of deception that we are speaking of here is self-deception, the most deadly of all. The language of the soul is spoken in music, art, dreams, hunches, eros, and symptoms. It is not that ego language is totally devoid of spirituality. Every action and word is full of twisted, contracted, and disguised infinity.

To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour…If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.

-William Blake

Why is the soul such a threat to the ego? The soul is so huge, so rich, so unknown, so incredibly beautiful, so wise that the ego feels little, poor, known, ugly and stupid. Consequently the ego must reduce the soul to its own image. The ego perceives itself as a potential victim and so it would make everyone else a victim also. Re-birth is a letting go of the belief that the victimization experience would be catastrophic. The ego is married to its own pathetic, self-limiting story.

The caterpillar has well learned its tree-bound story and does not envision the butterfly possibility. Crawling into a cocoon type of death is reluctantly done, but remains its only hope for butterfly transformation and freedom. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly, just as the ego surrenders to the Christ-like soul, saying “Thy will be done.”

How does the ego become soul? It is a letting go, awakening, self-realizing process. We are already soul but have only dreamed otherwise. As crude as it may seem, the symptom is the ego-humiliating doorway to the cocoon experience. When the ego surrenders to its polar opposite experience, wholeness returns.

And so, you believe you are or could be a victim? You have felt such humiliation before and run from it as fast and as far away as possible. You threw that experience into the shadow world of pain and powerlessness. Now you face it. Are you a victim or not?

Don’t run. Don’t flinch. Look at it. Listen to its pain. It is not so. It is a lie. Lies hurt, but they are still lies. This is not what God made. This is not what you are. You are just looking in a smoky distorted mirror. You are not a victim. That is just a nightmare. Awaken all ye that sleep. Awaken to infinity!

Yes, you may have felt crucified, but what about the rest of the story? Three days later, we have the resurrection.

Do you feel victimized? Join the club, there are six billion of us living here now on earth, no matter how it appears in the exterior story. Some of us may appear to be above it all, some of us appear to be successful abusers, some of us appear to be weary would-be rescuers, but all of us subscribe to the victim theory. The alternative offered here is called Infinity Theory, and it is free for the taking. Have some! Have it all! You don’t even have to buy a book, listen to a tape, go to a workshop, get ten years of psychotherapy, join a religion, pay for your crimes, get even with your abusers, die and re-incarnate, wait for Godot, find a lover, get rich, or move to Hawaii. Just wake up! Everything happens in your consciousness and only in your consciousness. Changing the whole world would not change your consciousness one whit. We’ve created hell in paradise since this whole story began, have we not?

Are you damaged goods?

Injured?

Hurt?

Handicapped?

Imprisoned?

Lost?

Abandoned?

Swallowed up?

Exposed?

Abused?

Put down?

Sick?

Mentally ill?

Unfortunate?

Unlucky?

Condemned?

Dying?

Broke?

Grief-stricken?

A loser?

Fat?

Old?

Brain-fried?

Burned out?

A basket case?

Hopeless?

A psychopath?

A martyr?

Good, you are qualified for awakening!

Read what the scriptures say about you:

“Let that mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

-The Apostle

I am a child of God (John 1:12)
I have peace with God (Romans 5:1)
The Holy Spirit lives in me (1 Corinthians 3:16)
I have access to God’s wisdom (James 1:5)
I am helped by God (Hebrews 4:16)
I am reconciled to God (Romans 5:11)
I am not condemned by God (Romans 8:1)
I am justified (Romans 5:1)
I have Christ’s righteousness (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21)
I am Christ’s ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20)
I am completely forgiven (Colossians 1:14)
I am tenderly loved by God (Jeremiah 31:3)
I am the sweet fragrance of Christ to God (2 Corinthians 2:15)
I am a temple in which God dwells (1 Corinthians 3:16)
I am blameless and beyond reproach (Colossians 1:22)
I am the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
I am a branch on Christ’s vine (John 15:1,5)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:5)
I am chosen by Christ to bear fruit (John 15:6)
I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing his inheritance with him (Romans 8:17)
I am united to the Lord, one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17)
I am a member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I am a saint (Ephesians 1:1)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
I am chosen by God, holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12)
I am a child of the light (1 Thessalonians 5:5)
I am holy, and I share in God’s heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1)
I am sanctified (Hebrews 2:11)
I am one of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5)
I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession and created to sing his praises (1 Peter 2:9-10)
I am firmly rooted and built up in Christ (Colossians 2:7)
I am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)
I may approach God with boldness, freedom, and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
I have been rescued from Satan’s domain and transferred into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13)
I have been made complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
I have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)
I have been given great and precious promises by God (2 Peter 1:4)
My needs are met by God (Philippians 4:19)
I am a prince (princess) in God’s kingdom (John 1:12; 1 Timothy 6:15)
I have been bought with a price, and I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)
I have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)
I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
I am assured that all things are working together for good (Romans 8:28)
I am free from any condemning charges against me (Romans 8:31f)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35f)
I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21,22)
I am confident that the good work that God has begun in me will be perfected (Philippians 1:6)
I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
I am a personal witness of Christ’s (Acts 1:8)
I am God’s coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1, 1 Corinthians 3:9)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
I can do all things through Christ, who gives me the strength I need (Philippians 4:13)

See Yourself as God Sees You by Josh McDowell and Extreme Faith by Neil Anderson and Dave Park.

Are you a victim? If so, did you make yourself one? If you made yourself one, can’t you un-make it? People and circumstances may seem to control your body, but only you control your consciousness. You made this mess, did you not? Are you telling yourself the same old story again today? Just change your story. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.

You can try to change others ‘til hell freezes over and it won’t work, will it?

A Window of Opportunity is Open

The dangerous 40’s?

A Little Talk for Men: The MidLife Window of Opportunity is Open

The mid-life crisis is a window of opportunity. After many years this window opens, a window by which you may step out of your drama, your nightmare, out of your customary pattern, and look at the Bigger Picture. Do not downplay or ignore this window. It comes rarely. It comes at the point of defeat, helplessness, and depression. This Window of Opportunity for healing makes conscious the three beliefs that trap us, separate us and deprive us. Jesus went into the desert to be tested and came out full of light, and announced his mission of good news to the blind, to the deaf, to the broken hearted, to the prisoner, and to the poor.

If you are not qualified by sufficient suffering and readiness, you will not see the Window of Opportunity or hear the good news. His mission was to be fulfilled in the “acceptable year of the Lord,” which means now. The Window of Opportunity is open now, when you are suffering with your symptom. At some remote future time, you may be feeling better and you will just cling to the old self-concept and all of its baggage. Now is the time of transformation. Now is the time to recognize the unholy trinity of beliefs that binds you to your suffering and symptoms: (1) the belief that you are separated, alone and different; (2) the belief that you are lacking, inadequate, and deprived; (3) the belief that you are trapped, stuck and victimized.

Before a man realizes his spirituality, he will usually destroy his relationship to a woman. He will be like a bull in a china shop. Before he realizes his own spirituality, he will be motivated by envy, fear, and powerless anger because she seems to have more intuitive ability. But you are a spiritual being, not just a body or a personality, not just your self-concept. Your beloved is not your enemy, she is just scared and self-defensive. She is just afraid of your bull-in-the-china-shop reactivity.

Realize you are a spiritual being. Nothing limits you except your own story. Nothing can hurt you, deprive you, trap you, victimize you, or make you feel alone or powerless, except these three false beliefs. You are a human god in a body, in a personality. God lives in your body. You do not need to be anxious. You are love itself, you are light itself, you are peace and joy itself. Just relax and realize you are a spiritual being. You are full of wisdom. Just ask for it and it will come to you. The God of Wisdom lives in you. You are full of grace. The God of free flowing Grace lives in you. You are full of peace and patience; the God of Peace and Patience lives in you. You are full of health and power; the God of Health and Power lives in you. You are full of creativity and abundance; the God of Plenty abides in you. You are alive and free; the God of Freedom lives in you.

The Window of Opportunity is now open for you. This window opens when you realize that you have reached a point of crisis. “Crisis” means a dangerous opportunity. “Dangerous” because it may close if you ignore it or run from it. An “opportunity” because you can now see that you have been overlooking your Inner Treasure. You have always looked outsidefor everything. You have begged, bargained and groveled to get a cupful of water, approval, and acceptance. You have overlooked the river of power and peace inside you. Now at this mid-life crisis you are shocked awake. You could lose your sanity, your control, your security, right? Wrong. Your sanity, your control and your security are not outside of you, where you thought they were. The Window of Opportunity shows you that these things are within. They cannot be lost, stolen or taken from you. God has planted them in the depths of your being. No human gave them to you and no human can take them from you. Only your mistaken judgments and opinions about who and what you are has deprived you of this priceless knowledge.

What would you give for priceless knowledge? There is no price for the knowledge that Jesus gave us when he said :”Don’t you know that you are a human god?” You never heard that one, did you? You never will. But it is said clearly in John 10. The Window of Opportunity is now open for this priceless knowledge. Jesus discovered his own inner treasure of priceless knowledge where everyone else does: in the desert. The desert is when nothing is outside for your comfort and support. The desert is when you have lost everything and feel totally empty and alone. There is nowhere to look but within. After 40 days with no food, no friends, no sex, none of theouter comforts of home, no radio or magazines or television, no distractions, Jesus was tempted. The Evil One came and offered him the typical outer world solutions: food, magic and power. He said no. He was already full of the light of this priceless knowledge that God was at the center of his being. He knew that he was a human god, an infinite being. No outside thing could offer him anything he did not already have inside.

Jesus came out of that desert place full of light and announced the Good News to the world. Only Luke the physician heard it clearly enough to write it down in Luke 4. The Window of Opportunity is open for you right now because you are in your mid-life crisis. Do not wait. The next time this window opens your body may be old and sick, stuck in your pain, resentment and emptiness. Look within. Accept this desert time as your gift, your blessing. Wake up from this nightmare of outward looking.

Rabbi Isaac of Krakow had a dream. “Travel to Prague, look under the bridge, and you will find a great treasure.” The first time he had this dream, he ignored it. Rabbi Isaac was a practical man. He sought neither to be nor to appear foolish. Both hopes were tested when his dream recurred. Finally, he donned his cloak and set off for Prague in search of gold. After an arduous journey, he arrived and found the bridge easily. But there was a problem. Soldiers guarded it, day and night. Rabbi Isaac waited for his opening, but the changing of the guards was too efficient. At last, he gave up, cursing himself for his credulity.

As he turned to leave, one of the soldiers finally spoke, “Hey, old man, you’ve been hanging about here for a long time. Now you’re leaving? What am I missing?” Rabbi Isaac sighed. “I had a silly dream. I thought God was talking to me in my sleep. He told me to come here. All the way from Krakow. I shouldn’t have listened.”

“Foolish man,” the soldier replied. “I had a dream like that once, a stupid dream. God told me to go to Krakow and look up a Rabbi Isaac. I would discover a great treasure buried beneath his stove. Can you believe such a thing?” Rabbi Isaac tipped his cap to the soldier, returned to Krakow, and found a great treasure buried beneath his stove

Our society does not supply us with the tools to dig within, but you already have them. Just ask and wait quietly and you will “know.” Guaranteed.

The Man Nobody Knows

Bruce Barton, The Man Nobody Knows (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1925. A business executive in 1925 wrote a thrilling little book by this title, giving a different look at Jesus.

Jesus is the man nobody knows. And so are you.

You are a spiritual being, not just a body or personality. If everyone was blind and could not see the body, it would be interesting to see how the world would be different.

You are a victim of nothing or no one, unless you abdicate your responsibility. Today I tak to you about The Man Nobody Knows, the hidden man of the heart. Some people may know his name, but that does not mean that they know him.

When I first got interested in working with criminals, I contacted a colleague of mine. After some discussion, he decided that he would not get involved, it might ruin his reputation. Reputation is not anyone is. Reputation is who people judge you to be. You are not your reputation. You are not even who you believe yourself to be, because each of us has created his own reputation in his own mind, and that reputation is who he thinks he is.

The Man Nobody Knows is the inner man, the man that Peter speaks of as ” the hidden man of the heart” in 1 Peter 3:4. Jesus was such a man and so are you. Jesus can only be known by knowing yourself, the self beyond reputation, the self beyond our self-concept. The I beyond the me.

Although Jesus was a nobody in the eyes of the world, one may saw him differently:

One Solitary Life

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself..

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

Dr James Allan Francis

The Guiness Book of World Records has collected world record holders in many fields of skill and ability. Jesus isn’t in the Guiness Book of World Records, but he should be considered for the Champion of Consciousness award. His world record was set 2000 years ago, and he claimed that other humans could break his record, but as far as I can judge, no one has broken his Consciousness Championship record in as many areas and with such historical impact. Maurice Bucke, M.D. catalogued 36 cases of persons who had achieved cosmic states of consciousness down through history, but none of them broke the existing record which Jesus had set.

To paraphrase some of Jesus’ record-breaking feats, consider that he:

Ran the entire long distance race that was set before him

Lifted the weight of the world from human shoulders

Vaulted over some of the highest obstacles imaginable

Walked on water

Levitated

Raised the dead

Healed the sick by command

Passed through walls

Materialized objects out of thin air

Proved that bi-location is possible

Exhibited his aura

Was the World’s Greatest Unconditional Lover

Qualifies for the Pulitzer Peace Prize

Ranks as the Most Influential Person in history

Calmed a storm

Fed 5000 men

Is the Most Quoted Non-author

Conquered death

Taught a new ethical code for humanity

Counseled the deranged

Befriended prostitutes, drunkards and party-goers

Healed a soldier’s child

Inspired many of the world’s greatest humans

Removed all limits for human potentiality

Used telepathy

Was one of the world’s greatest story tellers

A champion of the poor, minorities, children, women, outcasts

Demonstrated the power of mind over matter

Communicated with the dead

Predicted the future

Appeared in his resurrected spiritual body

Has visited many people even in the 20^th century

Such feats do not in themselves qualify Jesus as the Champion of Consciousness. Many others have demonstrated parapsychological abilities, and other great teachers and avatars have exhibited various levels and powers of cosmic consciousness. But to me Jesus was the Champion of Consciousness who has opened the door of Consciousness for everyone—past, present and future.

St Paul never met Jesus in the flesh. But he met Jesus the only place he can be met, in the innermost man. To find the Hidden Man of the Heart, you must go into the soul and the heart. Paul was in prison. He went into his heart and he said “I have learned in whatever state I am in, to be content.” What state was he in? Virginia? No. He was in the hidden state of the heart. Paul wrote while he was in prison that Christ is growing in you. Even in prison, the inner man can grow.

Gurdgieff was a modern teacher who told his students that everyone is in prison, and everyone is trying to escape, and that is our primary duty in life. What prison? The prison of the mind, the prison of fear, the prison of victimization, the prison of belief that your outer reputation is you. That is the same box that David Hawkins speaks of, the box everyone is trying to escape from. But we imagine that prison, that box, to be outward, which it is not. The prison is our belief system. Prison is an inner thing. We all may not seem to be prisoners, but we have to learn what the real prison is, which is reputation, not just your reputation, but anyone’s. Reputation is an outer thing which imprisons everyone. Famous or not, rich or not, important or not, educated or not. Reputation is our prison. If you don’t know you are a prisoner of your reputation, you will continue to think you are a victim.

If you have ever been judged or branded in the public’s eyes, it means that you have to really understand branding more than others do. You have to go deeper than reputation to find your power and peace. You have to discover the Hidden Man of the Heart in yourself. That is why we are here at this time on this planet. There is time and there are tools to assist anyone to pass this most difficult test of all. The only free man is one who is free from the prison of reputation. You will then know who Jesus is, what his mission was, and who you are. .

Are you qualified to be a seeker? Are you qualified to be healed? What is a qualifier? How is your credit? Let me see your resume. What is your education? Your job experience? Your court record? Your driving record? Your bank account? Your drug and alcohol history? How many divorces have you had? How far are you behind on your child support? These are qualifier questions you may be asked every day.

What are the qualifiers for the Priceless Knowledge of the Inner Man? You have to be sick, disturbed, rejected, flat broke, bankrupt, an outcast, blind, broken-hearted, or a prisoner. Those are the qualifications for the Inner Man Project. If you are okay, successful, normal, healthy, average, reputable, and have an acceptable history, you are not qualified. If you are doing okay in the outer world of reputation, why would you attempt the difficult task of the inner work? Almost no one does. When the outer fails, the inner becomes a necessity. When the outer seems successful, who would bother?

Who listened to Jesus? (the poor) Who signed up as his students? (fisherman, tax collectors, marginal people) Who were his heroes? (The samaritan, the prodigal son)

Who was the first person to enter paradise with him? ( a thief) Who carried his cross? (a black man) Who did he associate with (drunkards, prostitutes)? Who was the first person to discover his resurrection? (Mary Magdalene) Where did he discover the Inner Man? (in the desert) Who was his mission for? Those who needed a physician, said Luke.

The Inner Man Project is why we are here on this planet at this time. We have been here numerous times before, but this lifetime caps them all. The energy is ten times higher than ever before in history and the outer is stronger than ever before. That means that the inner is even more necessary. The faster and higher you climb the further and deeper you fall. Look at all of the football and music celebrities, how fast they climb and how far they fall. Look at all of the bankruptcies. Look at the economy. We see riches and fame on television nightly, yet we feel imprisoned by our assumed limitations. What a setup! What an opportunity to seek the Inner Man!

A modern song writer sings about;

The man nobody knows.

i’m a SHIT to a life
such a CUNT to your eyes
i really hate myself
so what the FUCK?!
myself i don’t like
most people hate me
just because i pretend that i am strong
doesn’t make you can call me SUCKA
i ain’t a LOSA
oh kiss my ASS …
i’m the man nobody knows,
BITCH!!!

Today I want you to just humor an old man. Let me philosophize, let me tell you a story or two, play games with your head, sometimes serious, sometimes ridiculous. Let’s pretend that we are all on a stage, that we are actors, acting out a drama. Like Shakespeare said, life is a stage and we are the cast. So here we are, acting out numerous roles and parts. We have been here on this stage of life hundreds of times before. Some times we were good guys, and sometimes bad guys, sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes educated and sometimes uneducated; sometimes male, sometimes female.; sometimes priests, sometimes confessors. This time I’m the teacher and you are the student. Next time I may be sitting in your class.

So in this drama, we keep switching roles and parts, but we have to forget our former parts, or we couldn’t keep a straight face and the play would be dull. And so what is the point of it all? Well, that is what I want to talk about tonight. Why did I volunteer for my part for this go-round? Why didn’t I choose to play the judge or the prosecutor or the jury this time? Interesting questions. Well, Central Casting may have given you a little push into being the victimizer and the victim in this particular drama. As long as you were the victim in one round and the victimizer in another, you wouldn’t get it. But now you are both, and you’re in a better position to get it. Do you get it?

Its not that easy to get or we wouldn’t be here still struggling and suffering. Now you have plenty of reason to think I’m just fooling you. And you have scars to show that you were really wounded and abused. Yes, you do. And that is why it is so hard to get it. I’ve been very lucky this go round. I became a psychotherapist. I have listened to 25,000 people’s stories and believe me, they were all different, but yet they were all the same. Finally it dawned on me, thick head that I am. Every story had a bottom line: Poor Me and Ain’t it Awful. And then I realized that victims don’t exist, except in our dramas and stories. It was just a part we were playing that we got caught in .It was so serious! Now before you crucify me, I remind you that I am just spinning your head around to wake you up.

Who is Qualitifed to Benefit Most from this Window of Opportunity?

If you still think you can solve your own problems, you are not qualified

If you still think you are or can be in control of your symptoms, you are not qualified

If you still think a pill will solve your pain, you are not qualified

If you still think someone else is responsible for your dilemma, you are not qualified

If you still think everyone else but you needs therapy, you are not qualified

If you have no symptom, you don’t need a doctor

If you still think your pain is finite and your ego can fix it, go for it

If you are not disillusioned, you are not yet ripe for healing

If your defenses of denial, projection and rationalization are still working for you and you are not yet ready for honesty, don’t bother with Infinity Theory

If something isn’t broke, why fix it?

The Good News is only available to the imprisoned, the broken hearted, the blind, the bruised and the poverty stircken.

If the mediocrity of consumerism and co-dependency still satisfy you, then you are not ready

If you are not yet asking soul-searching questions, then forget it

If you still have human hopes and dreams, pursue them

If you think a better partner, a better job, the lottery, or a better drug will cure you, go for it.

Don’t bother with spiritual psychotherapy if you think there is a solution to be found in dualistic philosophy and dualistic religion. The path of understanding is only for those who truly hunger and thirst for it.

If you think you have something finite to lose, why go for infinity, where you risk losing and finding everything

If you think you have something to lose, you are going to be protecting that finite thing, whatever it is.

If you think your ego game and tactics can get you what you want, you are not going to be interested in the disillusionment process.

Infinity Therapy offers only one thing, total disillusionment and total fulfillment. The only thing which keeps us from our divinity is our pet illusions.

The only thing that constantly devalues and deteriorates our self-esteem is our belief system.

The only thing that keeps us from salvation is our self-rescue plan.

The only thing that keeps us from enlightenment is our dualistic sick religion.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have just planted a psychological bomb under your comfort zone.

If you are not on already on the edge, you are not going to be willing to see the danger in your comfort zone story.
If you haven’t filed moral, financial, emotional, and spiritul bankruptcy yet, just wait.

If you are not willing to give 9.6 minutes per day to the disillusionment process and to the discovery of your divinity, then you are not ready.

Jesus said that only one out of four would be qualified at any given time. Otherwise the seed of truth falls in shallow ground, rocky turf, bird-infested fields, and does not germinate, sprout, grow, flower and produce fruit. And so for some people, it may take four more lifetimes of soil preparation before readiness occurs.

Our story is a strange mixture of positive and negative illusions and it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other. Only the Spirit is qualified to teach us such distinctions.

What are the qualifications for this kind of Disillusionment Therapy then?

1. Symptoms of unexplainable pain or illness

2. Disappointment and dissatisfaction

3. Disenchantment with one’s chosen self-rescue plan

4. Unanswerable questions

5. Unrelenting guilt, embarassing shame, irrational anger or ungrounded fear

6. Failure of our ego tactics to work and to satisfy

7. A key figure in your drama fails, leaves or dies

8. Your dreams are broken

9. You take off your mask

10. You begin to see that the world is your mirror

11. You have not yet understood that the universe has only one all-inclusive purpose, your self-realization.

If this list of qualifications seem to exclude 99% of the human race, so be it. This net is cast only for the 1% on any given day, and 25% at best.

Symptom Analysis Studies

Some contributions from other researchers

Physical Symptoms and New Thought Patterns

by Louise Hay (www.geocities.com/aurasomaga/Physical.htm):

Adrenal symptom: Defeatism. No longer caring for the self.I love and approve of myself. It is safe for me to care for myself.

Allergy symptom: Denying your own power. The world is safe and friendly. I am safe. I am at peace with life.

Alzheimer’s : Refusal to deal with the world as it is. Hopelessness and helplessness.

Anger: There is always a new and better way for me to experience life. I forgive and release the past. I move into joy.

Anorexia, Bulimia : Denying the self life. Extreme fear, self-hatred and rejection.It is safe to be me. I am wonderful just as I am. I choose to live. I choose joy and self-acceptance.

Anxiety: Not trusting the flow and the process of life. I love and approve of myself and I trust the process of life. I am safe.

Arthritis : Feeling unloved. Criticism, resentment. I am love. I now choose to love and approve of myself. I see others with love.

Asthma: Smother love. Inability to breathe for one’s self. Feeling stifled. Suppressed crying. Fear of life. Not wanting to be here. It is safe now for me to take charge of my own life. I choose to be free.

Bronchitis: Inflamed family environment. Arguments and yelling. Sometimes silent. I declare peace and harmony within me and around me. All is well.

Burns: Repressed anger. Burning up. Incensed. I create only peace and harmony within myself and in my environment. I deserve to feel good.

Candida: Feeling very scattered. Lots of frustration and anger. Demanding and untrusting in relationships. I give myself permission to be all that I can be and I deserve the very best in life. I love and appreciate others and myself.

Diabetes: Longing for what might have been. A great need to control deep sorrow. No sweetness left.This moment is filled with joy. I now choose to experience the sweetness of today.

Digestive problems, Ulcers: Dread. Fear of the new. Inability to assimilate the new. Life agrees with me. I assimilate the new every moment of every day.

Ears: Represents the capacity to hear. I hear with love.

Eczema: Breath-taking antagonism. Mental eruptions. Harmony and peace, love and joy surround me and indwell me. I am safe and secure.

Eyes: Represents the capacity to see clearly past, present and future. I see with love and joy.

Fatigue: Resistance, boredom. Lack of love for what one does.I am enthusiastic about life and filled with energy and enthusiasm.

Fever: Anger. Burning up. I am the cool, calm expression of peace and love.

Fungus: Stagnating beliefs. Refusing to release the past.I live in the present moment, joyous and free.

Headache: Invalidating the self. Self-criticism. Fear. I love and approve of myself. I see my-self, and what I do with eyes of love.

Heart : Represents the center of love and security. Longstanding emotional problems. Lack of joy. Hardening of the heart. Belief in strain and stress. I bring joy back to the center of my heart. I express love to all. heart beats to the rhythm of love. I lovingly allow joy to flow through my mind, body & experience.

Heart Giving up. Resistance. “Rather die than change.” Rejection of life. Life is change, and I adapt easily to the new. I accept life-past, present and future.

Hypoglycemia: See diabetes.

Infection: Irritation, anger, annoyance. I choose to be peaceful and harmonious.

Inflammation: Fear. Seeing red. Inflamed thinking. My thinking is peaceful, clam and centered.

Insomnia: Fear. Not trusting the process of life. Guilt. I lovingly release the day and slip into peaceful sleep, knowing tomorrow will take care of itself.

Kidneys: Criticism, disappointment, failure. Shame. Reacting like a little kid. Divine right action is always taking place in my life. Only good comes from each experience. It is safe to grow up.

Liver: Chronic complaining. Justifying faultfinding to deceive yourself. Feeling bad. I choose to lice through the open space in my heart. I look for love and find it everywhere.

Menstruation: Denial of the self. Rejecting femininity, of the feminine principle. I rejoice in my femaleness. I love being a woman. I love my body.

Menopause: Fear of no longer being wanted. Fear of aging. Self-rejection. Not feeling good enough. I am balanced and peaceful in all changes of cycles, and I bless my body with love.

MS, Parkinson’s: Mental hardness, hard-heartedness, iron will, inflexibility. Fear. Intense desire to control everything, everyone. By choosing loving, joyous thoughts, I create a joyous world. I am safe and free.

Nausea: Fear. Rejecting an idea or experience. I am safe. I trust the process of life to bring only good to me.

Pain: Guilt. Guilt always seeks punishment. I lovingly release the past. They are free and I am free. All is well in my heart now.

Pregnancy/Birth/Uterus: Represents the home of creativity. I am at home in my body. Rashes (chest): Irritation over delays. To get attention. I love and approve of myself. I am at peace with the process of life.

Sinus: Irritation to one person someone close. I declare peace and harmony indwell mw and surround me at all times. All is well.

Skin: Protects our individuality. Anxiety, fear. Old, buried guck. I am being threatened. I feel safe to be me. I lovingly protect myself with thoughts of joy and peace. The past is forgiven and forgotten. I am free in this moment.

Sore throat: Holding in angry words. Feeling unable to express the self. I release all restrictions and I am free to be me.

Speech: Insecurity. Lack of self-expression. Not being allowed to cry. I am free to speak up for myself. I am now secure in my own expression. I communicate only with love.

Thymus: Master gland of the immune system. Feeling attacked by Life. They are out to get me. My loving thoughts keep my immune system strong. I am safe inside and out. I hear myself with love.

Thyroid: Humiliation. “I never get to do what I want to do. When is it going to be my turn?” I move beyond old limitations and now allow myself to express freely and creatively.

Thorwald Dethklefsen, Ph.D. and Rudiger Dahlke, M.D. in The Healing Power of Illness offer us the following symptomatic meanings to our physical symptoms, suggesting that illness is a path to healing and perfection.

Their theory is that human consciousness is bipolar; that illness is in our nature; that human illness embodies itself in symptoms; that each of us is a microcosm that includes within itself the macrocosm, including the conscious and the shadow; that in our symptoms we are forced to live out what we don’t want; that symptoms make us honest; that in our symptoms we have what our consciousness lacks; that healing is made possible only by integrating the shadow; that healing is wholeness and oneness with all that is; that illness prevents us from straying from the road that leads to oneness.

Every infection is an inner conflict that has taken on physical form.

When we are unwilling to open ourselves to conflicts that might irritate us, we are forced to open our bodies to irritations instead.

Fever is healthy, and grappling with our inner conflicts is even healthier.

Avoiding awareness of the natural polar conflicts within leads to compromise, stagnation, and chronic discord in the body. 103 Infections reveal psychic discord

Pain occurs exclusively in the mind, not in the thumb hit with a hammer.

Resistance is to not let in what is perceived as not-I; the opposite of resistance is love. Love is opening up to whatever we have called “you” or “not I” Every resistance is the act of saying Not I, of setting up boundaries. Every “yes, but” is resistance to becoming one.

Allergies are our resistance and aggression toward our outward enemies such as flower pollen, cat fur, horsehair, dust, smoke, strawberries, dogs or tomatoes. All such aggression is based upon the fear of softness, love, sexuality, instinct. We fear to let in what is out there. Allergy is aggression made flesh.

Breathing problems signify relationship fears. Breathing means we breathe in and breathe out the same air our enemies do. Breath binds everything together. Like skin eruptions, asthma is a fear of contact, relationship, love, letting go. Asthmatics are trying to take too much and to hang on to everything, in fear that there is not enough. Asthmatics consider many things to be life-threatening and try to shut themselves off, in fear and resistance. Asthma is a lust for power and control of the outer world. Asthma is a longing for love, a constant breathing in.

Colds, flu, chills and headaches result from stress that we are prone to deny is overwhelming. We keep people away from us, we can’t swallow things any more.

Hunger is a desire to take in, a desire for love.

Bad or decaying teeth signifies a problem with our aggressiveness.

Bleeding gums indicate that we lack confidence due to demands upon us.

We drink liquor because there are too many things in life we can’t swallow.

Nausea and vomiting is our way of throwing up things we can’t integrate. Vomiting is a refusal to accept.

Stomach problems mean there is something we can’t stomach.

Ulcer patients eat themselves alive, need to admit the desire for love, security and dependence that is hiding behind an outward independence, competence and pride.

Diahrrea is learning to let go of things.

Constipation shows that we are hanging on to physical things too much.

Diabetics have an unsatisfied desire for love which is expressed in the desire for sweets.

Liver problems show that we cannot distinguish between what is poisonous and healthy in our excess consumption. We are out of balance and are more connected to our illusions than to our source.

Gallstones are fossilized bits of aggression.

Anorexics pretend not to eat and then gorge. Anorexics are greedy and guilty.

These authors emphasize how language betrays the meaning of symptoms: here is someone whose eyes are so bad that he can’t make it all out; someone else has a cold and it gets up her nose; another can’t bend over because he is so rigid; a fourth can’t swallow it any longer; a fifth with diahrea can’t hang in there any longer; a sixth keeps turning a deaf ear; a seventh itches because she is breaking out in a rash. Not much is left to interpret. Just listen, nod and admit that “illness makes us honest.”

Critique of The Healing Power of Illness

Dethlefsen and Dahlke have made an enormous contribution to our understanding of symptomatology. However, their approach tends to remain confined to the physical and psychological level, unless you read carefully between the lines.

The precise place that I wish to critique their very valuable synthesis of Freud, Jung and medical psychology is in their discussion of causality. They maintain that the greatest cul-de-sac facing psychology and medicine is the quest for causes. The belief in causality prevents those concerned from seeing that such causes are the product of their own expectations. The authors then go on to say that symptoms are rooted in the past and in intentionality (the future). They say that if you look for the cause of an infection in germs, then why doesn’t everyone who has germs get the same infection, and then the cause is assumed to be the weakness of the immune system, and then what caused the weakness of the immune system. Causality they say can be traced all the way back to the Big Bang, and then what caused the Big Bang. What they didn’t say was that if you trace the cause to goals and intentionality, that causality stretches into the indefinite future as well as to the total past. But this is precisely the point we are making in Infinity Theory. You cannot find true causality in time and space. The root cause of symptoms is the awareness of infinity, whether it seems to be arising from the past or the future. We cannot resolve symptoms or their cause without infinity awareness. Symptoms mean that we have boxed in our identity, and we are being pushed from within to expand our identity awareness beyond the ego box in which we live. This boxing ourselves into the finite is the “cause” of our symptoms.

To break this spell, this impasse, I sometimes assign clients to write two pages of a sentence completion homework assignment: If I had unlimited courage, I would_____________. (Or, if I had unlimited peace, unlimited love, unlimited power, unlimited freedom, etc).

Excaliber

How did the Wart become Arthur, Saul turn into Paul, the frog into the Prince, the chicken into the Swan, the caterpillar into the butterfly?

If I Had Unlimited Courage…

What would you do if you had unlimited courage? (or, unlimited peace, power, love, freedom, energy, money, time or knowledge) What if you had to pick one of these to be equally valid for all of humanity for all time? Which would you choose? Why? Why not?

My hunch is that we can choose to be unlimited in any area for which we are willing to be 100% responsible. And my second hunch is that we are chicken and so we resist and reject our god-like abilities and develop symptoms to remind us about our “chicken-shit” decision. Pardon my french. When Jesus said “You can do any of these things and greater” he threw down the gauntlet. He challenged us to get out of our Poor Me box and our Ain’t It Awful view of the world, and to live in the Kingdom of God as the human gods that we are. If we don’t, then how can we legitimately bitch about our “problems”?

Our problems are just symptoms of our fear-based lies and of our irresponsibilities toward our spirituality. When Arthur, nicknamed the Wart, pulled the sword out of the stone, he had to have the heart to use it wisely and responsibly.

Consider these online reports about Excaliber:

The Sword in the Stone, sometimes a sword in an anvil, is drawn by Arthur as proof of his birthright and of his nobility. It is both a test and a miraculous sign of his royalty. The sword drawn from the stone is different from the one given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The latter is always referred to as Excalibur; the former is called by that name only once, when Arthur draws the sword at a crucial moment in the first battle to test his sovereignty (Vinaver I, 19): “thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys.”

At a Disney display, a character named “Merlin” asked my boyfriend to step up to the stone and pull the sword out. My fiancé is about 6’1, 230 lbs. and of course Merlin played this up. My fiance could not pull the sword out after several attempts. So, Merlin picked a child out of the crowd and made my fiance the “Royal Bodyguard.” The child was able to pull the sword out! It was hilarious! After Merlin crowned the child and placed the king’s robe on the child, my fiance had to hold to robe off the ground so the “king” could walk around. There was not a dry eye around! How funny! Andree M. Braud

The Sword in the Stone

By T. H. White

(1938) The Sword in the Stone is the first and most familiar of T. H. White’s tetrology based on the life of King Arthur. It is also published collectively, along with its companion books, under the title of The Once and Future King.

Synopsis and notes: (written by Marie Macdonald,edited by Jason W. Moulder)

The Sword and the Stone is an example ofArthurian Legend. The Arthurian Legend was developed in the Middle Ages regarding Arthur, the semi-historical king of the Britons, and his order of knights. The legend is a complex weaving of ancient Celtic mythology with later traditions, around a core of possible authenticity. The Sword and the Stonedeals with Arthur’s childhood and his life shortly after becoming king. Throughout this childhood, he learns the theories of chivalry, which involve the graduations of page, squire, and finally knighthood. As an innovation to the Arthurian Legend, T. H. White incorporates fables throughout the story, which make it more humorous and enjoyable.

Setting
The Sword in the Stone takes place in Medieval England*, at the Forest Sauvage, and in the environment around it. A small part takes place in London. The setting is very important to the story because it provides a place of learning for Arthur. Instead of book learning, it provides worldly and fundamental knowledge that stays with Arthur for life and could not be traded for a lesson from the Summulae Logicales. The setting in this story contributes to Arthur’s maturation process.

Plot
The central conflict of The Sword in the Stone is an internal one which takes place in Arthur’s mind, who is commonly known as the “Wart.” This conflict involves the Wart’s struggle to become a man; to become knowledgeable, intellectual, and mature. A secondary conflict involves the Wart’s struggle to be equal in many aspects to his older brother, Kay. T. H. White’s depiction of this conflict is very thorough, making it very clear that the Wart has a strong desire to learn, especially through extraordinary means.

The climax of the story comes when Merlyn sends Arthur on his final lesson, which involves turning Arthur into a badger and sending him to talk to another badger who is very wise. Before Arthur goes, however, Merlyn asks him, “Do you think you have learned anything?” Arthur replies, “I have learned and have been happy.” In becoming worldly-wise and maturing in intellect, Arthur is ripe for the advance of his destiny: to become king.

The story begins with Sir Ector, determined to find a tutor for his “proper” son, Kay, and his adopted son, the Wart (Arthur). One day, while chasing after Cully (one of his father’s hunting falcons), Arthur becomes lost and stumbles upon the cottage of Merlyn, a magician, in the middle of the forest. Merlyn shows Arthur around the cottage, which is, to say the least, in wild disarray. Merlyn lives his life from the future to past, going backwards in real-time, so he is expecting Arthur. He shows Arthur the way back to the castle, and from there on, with a little skepticism on the part of all concerned, becomes tutor to Arthur and Kay.

Merlyn puts much of his energy into teaching Arthur by through experiences; by magically transforming him into an ant, a fish, a bird, and a badger. He also sends Arthur and Kay on a dangerous and exciting adventure, in which they meet Robin Wood (sic), Marian, and Little John, to name a few. Merlyn takes Arthur to a real jousting tournament, where King Pellinore fights Sir Grummore Grummursum. Finally, while preparing for Kay’s knighthood, the news is spread that King Uther Pendragon, ruler of England, has died. There is word that there is a sword stuck fast through an anvil on a stone in London, which has the inscription, “Whoso Pulleth Out the Sword of the Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England.”

This news is especially important to the people because there is no heir to the throne. Kay desperately begs Sir Ector to go, reasoning that he also has a jousting tournament on New Years Day, the special day. Sir Ector agrees, but before they leave, Arthur becomes very upset because Merlyn and Archimedes(Merlyn’s pet owl) are leaving. When they arrive in London, at the jousting tournament, Kay realizes that he has left his sword back at the castle, so he sends Wart, his new squire, back to get it. Upon returning to the castle, Arthur realizes that Kay’s room is locked, so he sets upon the streets of London, determined to find Kay another sword.

Quite unintentionally, Arthur comes across the sword, stuck in a stone, and, not realizing it is the sword, tries desperately to pull it out. He is finally able to pull the sword out by mustering all of the strength, knowledge, and maturity which Merlyn has helped him to realize. He returns to the tournament and gives Kay the sword. Kay recognizes that it is not his sword, and after asking Arthur where he got it, realizes that it is the sword in the stone. Kay tells his father that he (Kay) pulled the sword out, and is therefore king. But when Sir Ector takes Kay and Arthur back to the stone, Kay confesses that he has lied and that Arthur is the rightful King of England. All bow in acknowledgement and submission to their new monarch.

Who can pull the sword out of the stone? Where is Arthur in you? Do you still have the Wart mentality? This symbolic story is indeed our challenge if we are to discover our royalty. The sword is stuck in the stone, and no one can seem to pull it out. Our courage, our power, our love, our freedom, our peace, are stuck in the stone of our mis-belief and mis-imagination. We try to get “stoned” to get the sword out, but we have stolen this power and it is not yet ours. The quest in this website is how can you find the rightful lost powers of your divinity? Can you find those powers if you are not responsible? Can you recover those powers if you are not able to imagine that all of humanity has them also? Are you just trying to be a big shot? Any such fear-based perception will divide you and weaken you, and Excaliber will resist you. When David slew Goliath, he had no fear and no desire to be a big shot.

Excaliber is yours. Do you have the consciousness and readiness to claim your divinity?

Spiritual Psychotherapy is Story Therapy

Stories are stepping stones on the path to spiritual enlightenment. -Ruth Stotter

Spiritual Psychotherapy is Story Therapy

Therapy means healing or making whole, bringing into balance. We are in conflict between the physical, the psychological and the social within our stories. In any area of conflict there is spiritual unawareness. The body or the world of form is where these conflicts show up. These painful conflicts and their symptoms appear in the body, in the mind and in the social fabric of our lives.

What we fail to realize is that thoughts are things and that when they are linked together they form a story that we tell ourselves about life and about ourselves. This story is made up of fact and fancy, but it is probably 95% fiction. Some philosophies, recently supported by science, suggest that the entire universe is a dream, a metaphor, an illusion, an information network, a shared belief system. “The universe is more like a thought than like a machine” a physicist said 100 years ago. Objects are made up of atoms, which are like beams of light, programmed as DNA instructions. The universe is an information system with which we imbue and attribute various meanings. This chain of meanings is our story.


And so let us view life as an explorer, a puzzle-maker, a dream interpreter, a story teller, a researcher. If we can find the missing parts and the mis-named parts, we can be healed and made whole again. To view people as patients, as sick, as trouble-makers, as victims, as political pawns, as employees in the work force, as numbers in a big brother world, as outsiders, as rejects, as handicapped, as offenders, as insiders, as addicts, as dysfunctional, as neurotics, as psychopaths, as co-dependents, as manic-depressives, as alcoholics, as sinners, as goody-two shoes, as jerks, as airheads, as preppies, as introverts as extraverts, as rednecks, as assholes, as gay or straight—is not only unfair but untrue. We develop labels for symptoms and such a shorthand is demeaning and constrictive.

Health is one of the major arenas in which we can learn about ourselves and about the world. Other arenas include relationships, work, and money.

Bob Trowbridge

Symptoms of dis-ease or trouble arise in several arenas: health, work, money, sex, relationships, career, and society. The world is a mirror of our story and of the symptoms we experience in these major arenas. Our life story is only a tiny snapshot of who we really are. Due to our fears and contracted stories, we have narrowed down our understanding to near ground zero. People were born princes and princesses, until society turned us into frogs.. We bought into a social belief system which was handed down from generation to generation through our families and society, and we seem to choose to stay stuck in our story.

Our symptoms are meaningful messengers about this constricted, constipated life story to which we are addicted. We may be twenty-four cylinder engines, but we hobble along on two cylinders sputtering, coughing and bellowing out toxic smoke behind us. The info-junk and info-meaning that we ingest daily prevents us from using about 90% of our fire-power.

Rather than be bored, we will do nearly anything for meaning and action. We turn our lives into soap operas rather than to do nothing. We have unsatisfied hungers for meaning, information, touch, love, creativity, freedom, and structure. Oftentimes we seek to feed this hunger with toxic and frustrating foods and other substances, information, activity, feelings and buzz words.

If we are to be healed, made whole, set free, inspired, and empowered, we must (1) name the story that we are the victim of, (2) expand and improve that story, and (3) transform that story. We need physical sight, psychological insight and spiritual vision in order to clear up and claim our true nature and inheritance as infinite, immortal, human beings.


Every word, thought and image in your mind was created by you. Every word is a name that you gave things. Every name is your own name, whether you heard it somewhere else or not. You created every concept in your story. These words and their meanings constitute your life. (your semantic brain dictionary is just as you wrote it). The information highway is your highway. You built it piece by piece. Your geography is just what you made it. Your history is just what you made it. Your math, your science, your English, is just what you made them. Your animal world is whatever you made it. Your car world is whatever you made it, no more no less. Your world is as big as your curiosity and your imagination.

You are a playwright, a story-teller, making it up as you go along. You are a creator, every minute of every day, 24/7. You create your story and all of the characters in it as you go along. Every prop, every plot, every scene and every character is whatever you named it, created by your own wonderful human imagination.

You have a health story, a work story, a play story, a story about time, a myth about men, a myth about women, a myth about children, a god story. You have a story about everything that has any meaning in your world. Your meaning is whatever you have made it. Meaning is a spiritual function. You have a story about yourself, about your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your boss, as well as about the cosmos and god. You made up those stories, consciously or unconsciously. You dream every night for two hours, creating little dramas or dreams, even while you are asleep. You travel in your sleep. You go to different worlds and study many different things.


You are part of the collective mind, the entire human mind and the entire mind of God. Your memory is hooked into the universal memory bank You are hooked up not only to the information highway on the internet, but to the universal data bank. All memories back to the beginning of time are in this data bank. In the near future we will have an international data bank which will cover almost all subjects,and which will be available on the internet. However, it will not be universal and it will not contain all of the records of time immemorial, which your mind already has.. Have you ever had strange dreams not from this historical period? We are just now mapping the entire system of genes in the body, but that knowledge has always existed in your infinite imagination.

Edgar Cayce had a severe throat problem that could not be cured that prevented him from speaking. A hypnotist put him into trance and asked him to find out what was wrong with his throat. Cayce told him. Then the hypnotist asked him to find out the cure was, and Cayce also told the hypnotist the cure. Cayce was cured of his throat problem by the time the trance was ended. After that Cayce went into trace over 16,000 times during the rest of his life to retrieve medical and healing information for many people.

Are all stories in the newspaper true? Are any of them true? Thousands of newspaper articles are written daily about the president, about the economy , about famous trials and famous people, but are any of them complete and totally true? We get weather reports daily, but are any of them totally true? Each story, each report, each history book, is perceived and written from a specific viewpoint.

Think about how people see you. How does your dentist see you? How does your child see you? How do your parents see you, even if your are 60? How does a bill collector see you? How does a police officer see you? How does your boss see you? How does your therapist see you? How do you see yourself? Is any viewpoint true? No one can see you as you are, but only as they imagine. Everyone has their own story about you, just as you have your own story about them. The world itself is our projection and therefore it offers us meaningful messages and feedback about our own story.

I have a client who is an environmentalist. She sees America as a spoiled selfish nation, she hates American consumerism, she hates our artificiality and our hypocrisy, even our air conditioners, the way we mis-treat animals, the way we pollute the water. She has a unique viewpoint. She is so sick of it that it is making her sick, and even suicidal.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul had different viewpoints about Jesus and about what the good news is. Each of us has his own version of god and of the Bible. There are no two dictionaries or bibles that are the same in our heads. We live by what we believe. We see what we believe. Each person lives in his own world, in the world he created in his own mind. He has his own vocabulary. Each word means something different to each person. Even though we all may speak English, we also speak man-ese and woman-ese. Communication is not easy to come by because it assumes that we all speak the same language when we use words. Just because everyone says the word “snake”, the word “snake” does not mean the same thing to any two story-tellers. To one of my employees “snake” means a terrible fearful and dangerous monster, and to the other it means a cute little animal from the forest and she collects snake skins. “Going shopping ” means one thing to one person and another thing to another.

Is even a road map true? How many map-makers have we had? Look at some of the old world maps. Even the most modern maps are someone’s guess and someone’s measurements. Your map of Virginia is entirely different from mine, according to our experiences. Some people hate the commonwealth and some people love it Your map of life is uniquely yours.

People don’t know. People assume and decide. We are the products of our choices.

Julia Roberts

So find out what your story is. Name it. Find out what your words and images mean. Define them consciously What is your health story, your money story, your sex story, your relationship story, your cop story, your lawyer story, your people story? Tell it outloud. What obstacles exist in your story? What beliefs and fears run your life? What kinds of love do you have in your story? People live and die for their stories and for what they love in their stories.

Think about all of the things that have been done for the love of money. People will cheat, lie, exaggerate, minimize, deny and cover up about money. Think about all of the crimes that have been committed about the love of women or the love of sex. Jealousy crimes, stalking crimes, harassment crimes, affairs, sexual addictions, cheating, manipulating. How many families are split up over the love of inheritances?

How many wars have been fought, and football fracases have been committed for the love of winning? I saw a movie this week about a chess player and how the love of playing the perfect chess game drove him into madness and suicide.

Our stories are a combination of fact and fiction. Go to any library and you will find a fiction section. All of our television dramas, and most of our news is fictional to a degree.

(1) Education expands our story through more sight. (2) Psychology helps to correct our story through insight. (3)Spirituality is the way we transform our stories from within imagination itself. “Making whole” or healing then is bringing together our three types of perception: physical sight, psychological or social insight, and spiritual vision.

We do not know ourselves by any stretch of the imagination. In the next thousand years you will never know the height and breadth and length of yourself. We know more about most other things than we do about ourselves as the great beings that we are.

When Plato said “Know thyself” he summed up all of philosophy. When Jesus said “Don’t you know that you are gods?” he summed up all of religion. When Norman Cousins said “All illness is created by fear” he summed up all of medical knowledge. When Edgar Cayce said “Thoughts are things” he summed up all of metaphysics. When William Blake said “You are imagination” he summed up all of art and poetry. When Albert Einstein said that the three dimensional mind can never reach infinity and that he wanted to know God’s thoughts, he summed up all of futuristic science. When Gregory Bateson said “The dualism of subject versus object is the false premise of civilization” he summed up the meaning of history.

Stories are stepping stones on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

Ruth Stotter

We have all sorts of stories and myths about ourselves. For instance, are you invisible? Do you weigh anything? Scientists have not been able to locate the operator of the body. They know where the brain is, and the hypothalmus, but not where the person is located. As far as they can tell, you are invisible, and weightless. They don’t know if you are in the body or out of it. As far as they know, you are invisible, and if you weigh anything it would be less than one ounce. They weighed the body just before and after death and found only one ounce or less in difference in weight. They didn’t see the soul leave the body. Yet they know that out of the body experiences and near death experiences occur. Many occurrences cannot be explained unless we assume that the spirit is the person, but not the body.

Almost all humans believe the story that “I am my body.” Yet most humans do not believe that the spirit dies when the body quits working. 2/3 of the human race believes that the spirit reincarnates and finds another body. No one has been able to prove reincarnation, but there is very little proof for anything. All that we have is social consensus or agreement, which is the whole basis of science. Even math is based upon axioms or postulates. There are a number of investigators pursing the idea that the body can live forever, or as an immortal. They have found records of several people who ascended or translated and were never found dead. Ancient Chinese Taoists records have been found that report over 5000 cases of people who never died. Melchizadek, Enoch, Moses, and Jesus, along with Saint Germaine and a few other saints have survived death. A book on the Incorruptibles reports on a number of bodies that did not decay after death, including Yogananda in this century.

Spiritual psychotherapy is about story sickness, story analysis, story renovation, story therapy. You are not the problem, the problem is the problem, the story is the problem. The belief system is the problem. The attitude is the problem. You created your story and all of its problems and symptoms. And that is good news. If you created your story and all of its symptoms, you can dis-create it, re-create it, transform it.

If you energize the problem, you keep it going. If you de-energize the problem, it disappears. If the problem is part of the story, and you energize the story, the problem remains. All problems are part of our story. We must learn to address our story. What is the theme, pattern, plot, soap opera, the self-talk that is playing in the background? What is that noise pollution in the background? What is the inner critic saying? The saboteur?

Spiritual Psychotherapy is the discovery of your Infinite Self which occurs when you see through your self-created story. Within your own being there exists infinite light, infinite bliss, and infinite energy. The only thing that separates you from that inner brightness and beauty is a veil, a wall, a belief fabric. There are little holes in that veil, and when the light shines outwardly onto the world, you will be fascinated by those objects upon which it rests. One person loves horses. Horses carry absolute meaning for her. They represent unconditional love, unconditional power and energy. She is obsessed with horses and has enormous energy when she is with them. Otherwise she is tired, depressed and irritable and calls people asses. Horses and asses make up the symptomatic world in which she lives. Schizophrenics in a mental hospital were hypnotized by a psychiatrist, Dr. Earl Biddle, and in this state he investigated what various things meant to the schizophrenic mind. He found that the word “dog” meant “god” spelled backwards.

The inner light shines through the holes in our story and we become obsessed with the outer enlightened objects upon which the light shines. And yet we are unaware of the inner light itself. The outer world keeps changing between light and shadow and so do our moods fluctuate up and down. Spiritual Psychotherapy is that process of discovering the inner light through awareness of the meaning of our symptoms, which include both light and shadow, horses and asses, dogs and gods. Spiritual Psychotherapy is that penetrating vision which cuts through the veil, through the story, through the symptom and discovers the real you.

Our illnesses, from colds and allergies to life-threatening diseases, are meaningful, and they occur within the context of a life that is meaningful. But our illnesses are not the real problem. They are only symptoms or symbols of the real problem. The real problem is spiritual, an imbalance or distortion in our thinking, attitudes and feelings.

Bob Trowbridge

One’s own thought is one’s world. What a person thinks is what he becomes

Maitri Upanishad

Thoughts are things…For mind is the builder and that which we think upon may become crimes or miracles, barriers or stepping-stones.

Edgar Cayce

Spirit can be seen as divine energy or divine ‘matter’. Just as energy and matter are interchangeable in quantum physics, so does divine energy pass through the mind where are thoughts turn it into matter.

Bob Trowbridge

We and all of physical matter are made out of God ‘stuff.’

Bob Trowbridge

And now for a closing quote with a little sarcasm in it:

You suffer from a single all-encompassing disease. You have a bad case of worldliness. You must admit to the disease because it actually is your total state of mind. All consciousness on earth is a continuing adjustment to the inevitability of termination. Your choice is finally only between various forms of disease and death! How painfully futile! As the absolute craziness of this situation becomes more and more obvious to you, you may well develop a case of Godliness. You usually treat it with nostrums of false reality. World consciousness must protect itself with someone with a bad case of the “Godlies” even to the drastic remedy of crucifixion.
Remember that the world’s only remedy for Godliness is finally death.
You persistently prescribe it for yourself and others when the threat of love becomes too pervasive. It’s okay to have a little Godliness as long as it remains treatable. Remember, though, that death is your natural state and that you must finally, at any cost, defend yourselves from love and eternal freedom

The Master Teacher

Medicine has concerned itself with the diagnosis and treatment of “illnesses” and thereby overlooks the real problem of “being ill”. Instead of saying that a person has an illness it would be more accurate to say that he is ill. Modern medicine, however, instead of treating the patient, merely treats his illness, his symptoms. And, however successful it may be on this level, it never touches the sick man himself

-Thorwald Dethlefsen

The Function of the Story

Our work is to become de-hypnotized in our lifetime

I tried to show Connie that if she could see that her husband cares, even when he yells loudly that he doesn’t, that she would wake up from her nightmare. Self-realization has to come first. If there is anything that we value more than self-realization, then all we have is another form of idolatry, another form of dependence, another form of the story. I can say that I believe in my client because I do not believe in her story. If I believed in her story as much as she does, I could not believe in her, and I would be suffering as much as she is.

Goody Two Shoes is as much a distortion of the truth as Bitch. All stories include an opposite, and each opposite is stuck with its pairing, but the truth is free of opposites. There are no opposites within the truth; there is no judgment in truth, nor any polarization. No good guys or bad guys, no just or unjust. The rain falls and the sun shines on both. Connie said she does not want to be a martyr, she does not want to sacrifice herself for her husband. I said that she has already sacrificed herself and become a martyr to her story, whether she stays with her husband or leaves him. You don’t need to be a martyr any more. We have sacrificed ourselves for our story. We are not even being asked to sacrifice our story for ourself. Our story will disappear of its own accord, when we see the truth, and then another layer of our story will appear. Confront it with reality and it will disappear also.

Sacrifice is a concept totally unknown to God. The Holy Spirit never asks for sacrifice, but the ego always does.

A Course in Miracles

How can you consider a limitation, when released, to be a sacrifice? When you release a burden or a pain, is that a sacrifice? When you are freed from prison, is that a sacrifice? When you wake up from your nightmares, is that a sacrifice? It is no sacrifice of self to let go of our story. Is it a sacrifice to let go of hatred? Fear? Guilt? Self-defense? Pain? Grief? Terror? Nightmares? Entrapment? Inadequacy? Loneliness thinking? You cannot be a martyr for the truth. Jesus only appeared to be a martyr to those who thought their story was reality.

What is the function of a story? To prepare the way for self-realization. Our stories do that admirably and effectively, because they entail symptoms and suffering, which are built into the very nature of the story. The shortcomings of the story whet our appetite for the truth. There has to be more than what is apparent. The belief that I am not enough is a painful belief and no one can stand it or accept it. That is why everyone is so angry. Poor Me can never be acceptable. Nor will any other judgment we make of ourselves or of one another. You cannot accept any judgment of anyone. You will argue with it, you will debate it, you will try to prove or disprove it, but you cannot be satisfied with any human judgment of anyone or of anything. There is a deep, deep disatisfaction with human opinion, human advice, human judgment. You will take the opposite and even the opposite will not satisfy you. No polarity will satisfy.

When I say I believe in you, I do not mean that I believe in your polar opposites, in your story. The only faith I have in your story is that it will prepare your appetite for the truth. Everyone is disgusted and bored with their story, whether we realize it or not. Neither Goody Two Shoes nor Bitch works. Neither Coward nor Bully works. Neither Dominator nor Pleaser works. Neither Conservative nor Liberal works. Neither hostile nor fearful. None of these opposites satisfy. And so any opposite is perfect preparation for self-realization. Any story you have about marriage, separation or or divorce is perfect preparation for self-realization. Whether you are the Sacrificer or the Taker, your story is a perfect trigger for the hunger for truth. Whether you think you are the selfish one or the unselfish one, the faithful one or the unfaithful one, these experiences are preparation for self-realization. Any story can be valuable for self-realization. The real issue is story-hypnosis or self-awareness. There are layers and layers of story-hypnosis and brain-washed programming.

Our work is to become de-hypnotized in our lifetime. We cling to our story and it clings to us. We cling to our identity and it clings to us. We play our role to the hilt. We are actors and actresses. We need to realize that this is a drama. We need to be able to join the audience, to go behind the scenery and meet the director and the playwright. We need to be able to shake ourselves awake from our part. In a well-developed drama, every player has to play his part well. We play victim and villan very well. In this particular drama, you may be a star or just a bit player. You may be the victim, the villan or the rescuer. Whichever you are, play your part with awareness. Judas forgot that it was a drama and hung himself. Some mini-series cover three generations, grandparents, parents and children. Some dramas go on longer, just witness the ongoing wars in some countries, old hatreds which never end. This current drama, the Piscaen Age, has been going on for 2000 years. At the end of two milleanea, we ought to raise the curtain and clap for the players.

Jerry described his major problem as demons. I asked him to visualize a door with a sign on it saying “Demons” on it. He said that the lettering of the word demon was weird and electrified. Scary. He had moved from 6 feet to 50 feet from the door when he saw the word “demon”. I asked him to say outloud: “This is my door” and he did. I asked him to say outloud “This is my sign on my door” and he did. I asked him to say “What is on the other side of the door is mine, ” and he said it. I asked him how he felt when he said these things. He said that he felt stronger each time he heard his voice. That gave me a clue that this was a power dilemma. I asked him if what was on the other side of the door was strong, and he said it was very powerful. I asked if it was more powerful than he is. He said he is feeling stronger. I asked if he had ever experienced power as harmful. He sees himself as weak, sensitive and caring, and he sees demons as powerful and mean abd uncaring. He said that the font size on the door had changed and was now less scary.

I asked him what this door experience means to him and he said that he has always been fascinated with but afraid of the unknown. Oftentimes he is walking down the street and feels that he may be attacked. That something is out of control. I was quiet for awhile. He began to slowly approach the door. He said that under the door, there was a shaft of light. Out here where I am, he said, it is dark. I asked him to turn this wooden door into a transparent glass door. He exclaimed that on the other side of the door there is only dazzling, bright light. He wasn’t so sure any more that he wanted to remain out here in the dark. I was quiet. He put one hand through the door into the light. He said that the light was warm, misty, comforting. He went into the light and exclaimed “It is infinite!” I interpreted that this is his infinite world, and that outside the door it is a world of black and white, shadows and murky light. That we come and go daily between these two worlds, but that we are not aware of it. We come and go between the known and unknown, between our story and reality, but we call the unknown our demons. Demons only exist in our story. We have to confront, examine, enter and experience what our projected story is really about. We do not know until we gather the courage to inquire. In the finite world of our story, there is black and white, but in the infinite world of light, there is no shadow. In this session we had not attempted to find out what his specific demons meant. We do not have to.

He did tell me that one of his idols, Bruce Lee, had experienced demons, and took medication for it, and died from the medication. I told him that he, Jerry, had confronted the meaning of his demons here and transformed their energy.

Debbie is married to Jay They have been married for one year. They both have grown children. He had an affair and it shattered her. She feels that she should forgive him but she can’t. She asked if trust can ever be rebuilt. I told that we will need to explore what trust and distrust mean. I also told her that an affair is a symptom, just like her anger about the affair is a symptom, and that we don’t know the cause of either. If we don’t find out the cause, we will be treating the symptom. We would be treating the symptom as though it was the cause, and then the therapy becomes as cyclical as their relationship.

Any story can be a valuable stimulant for self-realization.

Stories of Sickness; Infinity Medicine

Pathology is a case of mistaken identity. -Calvin Turley

Truthful mind, healthy body; deceitful mind, sick body

-Byron Katie


What kinds of deceitful thinking and feeling make us sick? What kinds of illusory stories produce our symptoms? What kinds of mis-imaginations control our feelings and behavior?

Poverty thinking, feeling and stories

Lack thinking, feeling and stories

Stuck thinking, feeling and stories

Separative thinking, feeling and stories

Inadequacy thinking, feeling and stories

Illness thinking, feeling and stories

Self-pressure thinking, feeling and stories

Stressful thinking, feeling and stories

Accident-prone thinking, feeling and stories

I-don’t-belong thinking, feeling and stories

I’m-not-good-enough thinking, feeling and stories

Angry thinking, feeling and stories

Power-trip thinking, feeling and stories

Fear thinking, feeling and stories

Addictive thinking, feeling and stories

Compulsive thinking , feeling and stories

Submissive thinking, feeling and stories

Shyness thinking, feeling and stories

Guilty thinking, feeling and stories

Shameful thinking, feeling and stories

Despairing thinking, feeling and stories

Terror thinking, feeling and stories

Control thinking, feeling and stories

Blame thinking, feeling and stories

Distrust thinking, feeling and stories

Greedy thinking, feeling and stories

So it is evident that most human thinking, feeling and behavior is at least partly motivated by stories and belief systems that produce symptoms and dysfunction in the body, in

relationships, and in the social and financial structures of the person’s life. These stories must be recognized and investigated as stories rather than as “realities”. All of our thinking is made up of judgments and interpretations of our experience. Our senses are like filters that report information to our perception processes, which we interpret to be reality. Our entire perceptual system is a feedback or mirror of our beliefs. Look at the world and you see yourself. To come into reality, we must examine each and every perception and own it. Every positive and negative judgment that I hold is about me. Everything that I condone or condemn is about me. If I admire a beautiful star or belittle a child, it is about me. Whatever words I may use about a political party, about a neighbor, about the weather, are about me. Insofar as any words or thoughts are self-or-other-disesteeming, they are sickening to my body. Whatever I love, loves me. Whatever I resist, persists. Whatever I judge, judges me. Finite judgments lead to finite symptoms. Infinite awareness leads to health and peace. Every experience arises in and returns to the Infinite.

Infinity Medicine

A man consulted me the other day and talked about self-medicating.

Every time he gets stressed, he self-medicates with various quick fixes, such as alcohol, drugs, stimulating foods, and all kinds of control activities. Like him, we go to the doctor with the results of stress on our immune system. We project our stressful thinking onto the body and tell ourselves that the body needs treatment. The poor body is not basically what needs treatment. It is our thinking that needs treatment, but since we are into self-medicating we think that a different substance will correct our thinking. If alcohlol and food do not correct our thinking, perhaps some other finite chemical will.

Infinity Medicine operates at the level of cause, at the level of thinking, at the level of perception. Finite Medicine starts way down the effect chain, hoping that it will back up and reverse the cause. We try to self-medicate the symptom and it cannot be successfully done. It is like the oil guage on the car telling you that you are out of oil and you go and buy a new oil guage. It is like when the messenger brings bad news and is beheaded, whereas if he king listened, he might be able to find a solution. Our thinking can be directly affected through Infinity Awareness. Infinity Medicine goes to the source of our problem, which is our story itself, and all of the associated identity assumptions. We do not need to treat the symptom as though it is the cause. We need to treat what produces the symptom, which is our state of mind. A Course in Miracles states that all illness is mental illness and all therapy is the healing of the mind. The body always follows the mind, without exception.

A man called me who has been on numerous anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications for 16 years. He wants to know if I can prescribe something stronger. He “needs” medications until he doesn’t, its that simple. We do til we don’t. If all things are god, then we can love all things, even self-medication and drugs of all kinds, legal and illegal. How can we love all things as god? Because they exist. Resisiting what exists only makes it persist. Even self-delusion has its purposes and is lovable. If you fight reality, you lose every time. Accept what is, and that includes change. We all self-medicate. Self-medication works and it doesn’t work. We believe in it until we don’t. We have symptoms until we realize that they mean. We war with our symptoms until peace comes. Peace is self-realization.

On Being Judged and Judging

A talk I gave at the Sex Offender Treatment Program that I conduct for the State of Virginia

We have all been judged and misjudged, not only by lawyers and judges on the bench, but also in the court of public opinion, as well as by family, peers and even strangers. We have experienced accusations and self-defense. We have been tried and sometimes acquitted and freed, and sometimes convicted and punished. Judgments and mis-judgments, and the punishments therefrom, have been painful and dreadful, and have become part of our way of living in the world. Not only have we beenjudged and mis-judged, but we have also judged and mis-judged others, as well as ourselves, which is actually the worst of all. We have sometimes blamed others and we have times excused others, and likewise ourselves. We have been concerned with being “right” about ourselves and others, and we have been defensive when someone said that we were “wrong.” Defensiveness and retaliation are usually involved with such accusations and judgments.

The whole experience of being here in this group is about judging. You have an opportunity in this 1 ½ to 2 year period to learn about judging. You can learn to recognize the fear element in judging and being judged. You can learn about the possibilities of a non-judgmental way of perceiving the world. Therefore in order to learn about judging, we have to at least entertain the notion that we are glad that we got caught, even if it was mis-accusation. In one sense all accusations are mis-accusatations. In society your are unlikely to learn consciously and directly about judging because in society judging is considered normal, necessary and inevitable.

The state’s purpose in sex offender group treatment is the prevention of relapsing into another sexual offense and perhaps even acting out in a more general sense. But we want you to consider that the more basic purpose here is the prevention of relapsing into judging. You mis-judge your needs when you act out, do you not? You mis-judge your victim when you act out, do you not? You mis-judge yourself when you act like a victim, do you not?

You will have insured yourself against acting out and relapsing, when you have gone to the root of it in your thinking. If your thinking is judgmental toward yourself or others, you will act it out. Therefore, the biggest step in this treatment program is to explore in depth the positive meaning of your offense. You have to move from shame, guilt, embarrassment, denial, repression, resentment and blame, to acceptance, understanding, forgiveness, and gratitude for this entire experience.

Try saying to yourself:

I am grateful that I offended or was accused of offending
I am grateful that I was, to some degree, mis-judged and mis-punished about my offending.
I am grateful that I experienced ego-humiliation about this offense among my family and peers
I am grateful that I spent some time incarcerated
I am grateful that I have to come to this group, although at times I hate it because I am reminded of this whole offense and judgment experience
I welcome being reminded of ego-humiliation at any time, and I welcome any future ego-humiliations that may give me the opportunity to inquire about who I really am when I am not being judged or judging

Sex offenders seem to be the most obvious victims of a judgmental society, but no one is immune to it Sex offenders carry the shadow of a judgmental society. Therefore, because you have suffered the most directly and openly, you have the greatest opportunity of anyone to be freed from the judging mentality, unless of course you don’t get the point and you sink deeper into resistance to the real meaning of acting out.

If eventually you cannot honestly say these six things, without pretense or outrage, then your therapy is not done and you will relapse into further lessons about judging and acting out at some time in the future. But at least you will be more aware that judging is the cause of all human suffering and acting out. If you do learn the futility of judging, you will truly be a free man and you will help to free many others from their felt necessity to act out.

Footnote:

Aberrant acting-out behavior needs to be prevented and contained so that its judgmental roots and causes can be brought to light and changed into more productive behavior for all concerned, including the offender and the victim.

What is a Sex Offense?

Legally its called a crime, of which you may be judged as”guilty” or “innocent”
Socially its called a violation of human rights
Emotionally its called poor judgment and impulse control
Sexually its called an immaturity
Psychologically its called irresponsible
Religiously its called sinful
Morally its called wrong
Relationship-wise it’s called an abuse of power
Family-wise it’s called a confusion of boundaries

10.Spiritually its called a symptom of Self-unawareness

11. Symbolically it is seen as a solution to something.

Why did you commit your offense?

What triggered this action?

What problem were you trying to solve by doing this?

How well did it work?

Why didn’t it work?

What does this offense represent symbolically?

What is the larger story about yourself and the world of which this act is a part?

What needs to be healed?

What opportunity does this painful experience offer you?

Judge not, that ye be not judged

-Jesus

“I Made a Mistake!”

How noble of you!

“I made a mistake” sounds so healthy and honest. Accidents, mistakes, crimes, sins, errors and problems are all symptoms, and from the perspective of Spiritual Psychotherapy, they are opportunities. It is interesting how we human beings so easily rationalize, deny, justify, cover-up, make excuses, and distort, in order to avoid responsibility, but then when we get caught, we are ready to turn right around, admit it, quickly bury it, “forgive it” and get on with our life. Spiritual Psychotherapy is interested in the opportunity of inquiring into this psychological maze which we have called accidents, mistakes, crimes, errors, sins, and problems. In Spiritual Psychotherapy it is understood that all of these items amount to one cogent factor, symptoms. I have been developing the theory that symptoms signify the opportunity for Infinity Awareness.When we say we have made a mistake, that is supposed to be the end of the investigation. We need to realize that every incident in our lives is being programmed and attracted by our infinite imagination. To break it down into more explicit categories, let us say that a mistake points to a problem or to a more general pattern, and a problem points to an opportunity, and the opportunity is self-realization. To just say that you made a mistake and to excuse it, is to lose the opportunity and by-pass self-realization. That is why mere catharsis or confession does not reach the depth of what we call Spiritual Psychotherapy. Both denial and confession are preparations for problem-awareness and problem-awareness is preparation for opportunity-awareness, and opportunity-awareness is preparation for self-realization. And so we need to (1) inquire into our mistakes, sins, crimes, faults, errors, problems and other symptoms until we locate the pattern to which they are attached, (2) look for the story to which they are an integral part, (3) confess that story to yourself as a story, and then (4) watch for the opportunity of self-realiztion.Ordinarily we expect that when we admit a wrong-doing that then we are ready for forgiveness. Admit, confess, forgive and it is erased. This is premature forgiveness. It is the kind of forgiveness that only restores a sense of commitment to the story. Radical forgiveness occurs when the opportunity for self-realization is seized. Ordinarily confession and forgiveness only restore our ego attachment to the story we are always telling ourselves. Radical forgiveness restores the Self to consciousness.In summary, every so-called mistake is part of a larger story about yourself and the world, and if you do not investigate this larger story, and reap the benefits of that investigation, you will just repeat the mistake again and the story will still unconsciously control and victimize you.Some psychologists theorize that psychotherapy must first build a strong ego and therefore all diagnoses are based upon how strong, how weak, or how dysfunctional the ego is. Strong ego or weak ego are both illusory terms. It is like saying a strong illusion is better than a weak one, or a normal illusion is better than an abnormal one, or an effective illusion is better than an ineffective one. We are theorizing here that illusions are illusions, whether strong or weak. The Real Self is not an illusion. The stronger and more normal the ego is, the more adequate it is, the more attached the person becomes to his story, and the less likely the person is to detach from his story and inquire into it. Success Spoiled Rock Hunter. The Rich man can hardly get into the kingdom of heaven. You rarelyt get your foot in the door with a strong, normal, successful ego. The strong ego has no need of a physician. Personally I believe that the theory of using psychotherapy to build a strong ego is fallacious, and that it is done to make the therapist more comfortable with his own story attachment. It is my impression that this theory of ego strengthening was developed in a mental hospital setting in which the goal was to help the patient move from psychosis to neurosis to normality, but is that a cure or just more of the story?Ego stories are very clever but not wise. Stupidity, insanity and paranoid symptomatology have no relationship to intelligence. Stupidity, insanity and paranoia have to do with our unawareness of our spirituality and with our commitment to our victim story. Two themes are very prominent in the our ego stories: Poor Me and Ain’t It Awful. Poor Me refers to the way we look at ourselves or others and Ain’t It Awful is the way we look at the world. Both of these victim perceptions are due to our stupidity, insanity and paranoia…to our habits of lazy, confused and programmed thinking. The victim story is the view of ourselves and the world in which we tell ourselves that circumstances create our experience, rather than seeing that we create our own experience of our circumstances.Spiritual Psychotherapy addresses the suffering seeker as an infinite spiritual being in a finite physical body and a social/psychological personality system. Spiritul Psychotherapy seeks to help the seeker identify the true meaning of their symptoms and suffering, and to erase the main cause thereof. The seeker, however, unconsciously addresses himself/herself and the world through the eyes of victimization. Jesus is perhaps the best model for spiritual psychotherapy since his entire ministry was devoted to the release of the human being through forgiveness from the experience of self-victimization. “Poor Me” and “Ain’t it Awful” are the two major games people play in relationships which set the stage for suffering and symptoms. The victim experience is held in place by three beliefs (judgments): separateness, lack and entrapment. These three assumptions form the seeker’s psychological story about the self and the world. This seemingly true story is illusory, dualistic, limiting, fear-driven and toxic. Any religion, philosophy, science, medical treatment, politic or psychotherapy which unwittingly supports the dualistic story about human identity is, to that degree, unhealthy and sick in its approach to diagnosis and treatment of the human condition.Victim symptoms arise because ultimately we ignore our spirituality and divinity. The anxiety which arises from this ignorance drives the compulsive search for comfort and control, but such solutions cannot be found within the story, but only as we awaken from such dramas. The techniques of Spiritual Psychotherapy are techniques of awakening through shock, disillusionment, letting go, and a radical penetrating awareness of the difference between our story and the truth. Spiritual Psychotherapy teaches and demonstrates the awareness that there are only two processes in life: fear and love, and that one of them is not real. It is the simplicity of this awareness which cuts through mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment and lays bare the purpose of all symptoms and suffering, which is Self-realization.Both perpetrators and rescuers believe in victimization. The essential question is: Are you a victim? If you are committed to your story, then you do believe in victimization, do you not? When you fight against victimization, you are still holding in your mind the belief in victimizatiion, are you not? As a potential victim, you have to be very careful guarded lest you become one. Competition and success are about not being a victim. Win/lose games aim at winning and not being a loser. Fear is equivalent to victimization. Depression is an emotional component of victimization. Victims believe they have to settle for less. All angry people believe in victimization. So do the guilt-ridden. The fear of failure is the fear of being a victim. Victims say Poor Me and Ain’t it awful. Victims believe they can lose, be hurt, be rejected, killed, stolen from, cheated and lied about. Fear of death is the ultimate experience of victimization this side of hell. All power struggles are about who is going to be the victim and who is not. Governments are set up to control, prevent and punish victimizers. Medicine, psychiatry and social work are set up to prevent and cure victims. The job of religion is to save victims from victimizers, the chief of whom is God, because he punishes all who victimize and take advantage of others. All of the solutions we have created in medicine, psychology and psychotherapy are directed toward the cure of the effects (grief, losses, injustices, and hurts) of our victimization stories.Spiritual Psychotherapy occurs when we begin to realize that there are no victims except in our stories. Victimization is a self-inflicted interpretation of what is happening. The realization that victimization is a judgment frees one from fear and awakens us to the infinite beings that we are.The first question is: are you a victim? Could you be? Are you a spiritual being? Are you an infinite being? How can you be a victim and an infinite spiritual being? We have found no edge to the universe, no boundary. We seem to live in an infinite universe. If the universe is God’s body, we can see how the universe is infinite. The universe is God’s infinite body in form and you are a child of the universe. You are a part of the universe and it is part of you.

A Little Talk for Men: The Mid-Life Window of Opportunity is Open

Is this what a mid-life crisis is?

The mid-life crisis is a window of opportunity. After many years this window opens, a window by which you may step out of your drama, your nightmare, out of your customary pattern, and look at the Bigger Picture. Do not downplay or ignore this window. It comes rarely. It comes at the point of defeat, helplessness, and depression.

This Window of Opportunity for healing makes conscious the three beliefs that trap us, separate us and deprive us. Jesus went into the desert to be tested and came out full of light, and announced his mission of good news to the blind, to the deaf, to the broken hearted, to the prisoner, and to the poor.

If you are not qualified by sufficient suffering and readiness, you will not see the Window of Opportunity or hear the good news. Jesus’ mission was to be fulfilled in the “acceptable year of the Lord,” which means now. The Window of Opportunity is open now, when you are suffering with your symptom. At some remote future time, you may be feeling better and you will just cling to the old self-concept and all of its baggage. Now is the time of transformation. Now is the time to recognize the unholy trinity of beliefs that binds you to your suffering and symptoms: (1) the belief that you are separated, alone and different; (2) the belief that you are lacking, inadequate, and deprived; (3) the belief that you are trapped, stuck and victimized.

Realize you are a spiritual being. Nothing limits you except your own story. Nothing can hurt you, deprive you, trap you, victimize you, or make you feel alone or powerless, except these three false beliefs. You are a human god in a body, in a personality. God lives in your body. You do not need to be anxious. You are love itself, you are light itself, you are peace and joy itself. Just relax and realize you are a spiritual being. You are full of wisdom; just ask for it and it will come to you. The God of Wisdom lives in you; you are full of knowledge. You are graceful and handsome; the God of free flowing Grace and beauty lives in you. You are full of peace and patience; the God of Peace and Patience lives in you. You are full of health and power; the God of Health and Power resides in you. You are full of creativity and abundance; the God of Plenty abides in you. You are alive and free; the God of Freedom lives in you.

What would you give for priceless knowledge? There is no price for the knowledge that Jesus gave us when he said :”Don’t you know that you are a human god?” You never heard that one, did you? You never will. But it is said clearly in John 10. The Window of Opportunity is now open for this priceless knowledge. Jesus discovered his own inner treasure of priceless knowledge where everyone else does: in the desert. The desert is when there is nothing is outside for your comfort and support. The desert is when you have lost everything and feel totally empty and alone. There is nowhere to look but within. After 40 days with no food, no friends, no sex, none of the outer comforts of home, no radio or magazines or television, no distractions, Jesus was tempted. The Evil One came and offered him the typical outer world solutions: food, magic and power. He said no. He was already full of the light of this priceless knowledge that God was at the center of his being. He knew that he was a human god, an infinite being. No outside thing could offer him anything he did not already haveinside.

As he turned to leave, one of the soldiers finally spoke, “Hey, old man, you’ve been hanging about here for a long time. Now you’re leaving? What am I missing?”

Rabbi Isaac sighed. “I had a silly dream. I thought God was talking to me in my sleep. He told me to come here. All the way from Krakow. I shouldn’t have listened.”

Our society does not supply us with the tools to dig within, but you already have them. Just ask and wait quietly and you will “know.” Guaranteed.

The Man Nobody Knows

In a little book entitled The Man Nobody Knows (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1925) a business executive, Bruce Barton wrote a thrilling little book by this title, giving a different look at Jesus.

Jesus is the man nobody knows. And so are you. You are a spiritual being, not just a body or personality. If everyone was blind and could not see the body, it would be interesting to see how the world would be different.

You are a victim of nothing or no one, unless you abdicate your responsibility. Today I am talking to you about The Man Nobody Knows, the hidden man of the heart. Some people may know his name, but that does not mean that they know him.

Although Jesus was a nobody in the eyes of the world, one man saw him differently:

One Solitary Life

James Allan Francis

The Guiness Book of World Records has collected world record holders in many fields of skill and ability. Jesus isn’t in the Guiness Book of World Records, but he should be considered for the Champion of Consciousness award. His world record was set 2000 years ago, and he claimed that other humans could break his record, but as far as I can judge, no one has broken his Consciousness Championship record in as many areas and with such historical impact. Maurice Bucke, M.D. catalogued 36 cases of persons who had achieved cosmic states of consciousness down through history, but none of them broke the existing record which Jesus had set.

To paraphrase some of Jesus’ record-breaking feats, consider that he:

Ran the entire long distance race that was set before him

Lifted the weight of the world from human shoulders

Vaulted over some of the highest obstacles imaginable

Walked on water

Levitated

Raised the dead

Healed the sick by command

Passed through walls

Materialized objects out of thin air

Proved that bi-location is possible

Exhibited his aura

Was the World’s Greatest Unconditional Lover

Qualifies for the Pulitzer Peace Prize

Ranks as the Most Influential Person in history

Calmed a storm

Fed 5000 men

Is the Most Quoted Non-author

Conquered death

Taught a new ethical code for humanity

Counseled the deranged

Befriended prostitutes, drunkards and party-goers

Healed a soldier’s child

Inspired many of the world’s greatest humans

Removed all limits for human potentiality

Used telepathy

Was one of the world’s greatest story tellers

A champion of the poor, minorities, children, women, outcasts

Demonstrated the power of mind over matter

Communicated with the dead

Predicted the future

Appeared in his resurrected spiritual body

Has visited many people even in the 20^th century

We all may not seem to be prisoners, but we have to learn what the real prison is, which is reputation, not just your reputation, but anyone’s. Reputation is an outer thing which imprisons everyone. Famous or not, rich or not, important or not, educated or not, reputation is our prison. If you don’t know you are a prisoner of your reputation, you will continue to think you are a victim of something else.

What are the qualifiers for the Priceless Knowledge of the Inner Man? You have to be sick, disturbed, rejected, flat broke, bankrupt, an outcast, blind, broken-hearted, or a prisoner. These are the qualifications for the Inner Man Project. If you are okay, successful, normal, healthy, average, reputable, and have an acceptable history, you are probably not qualified. If you are doing okay in the outer world of reputation, why would you attempt the difficult task of the inner work? Almost no one does. When the outer fails, the inner becomes a necessity. When the outer seems successful, who would bother?

Who listened to Jesus? (the poor) Who signed up as his students? (fisherman, tax collectors, marginal people) Who were his heroes? (The Samaritan, the prodigal son)

Today I want you to just humor an old man. Let me philosophize, let me tell you a story or two, play games with your head, sometimes serious, sometimes ridiculous. Let’s pretend that we are all on a stage, that we are actors, acting out a drama. Like Shakespeare said, life is a stage and we are the cast. So here we are, acting out numerous roles and parts. We have been here on this stage of life hundreds of times before. Some times we were good guys and sometimes bad guys, sometimes rich and sometimes poor, sometimes educated and sometimes uneducated; sometimes male and sometimes female.; sometimes priests and sometimes confessors. This time I’m the teacher and you are the student. Next time I may be sitting in your class.

So in this drama, we keep switching roles and parts, but we have to forget our former parts, or we couldn’t keep a straight face and the play would be dull. And so what is the point of it all? Well, that is what I want we are considering here. Why did I volunteer for my part for this go-round? Why didn’t I choose to play the judge or the prosecutor or the jury this time? Interesting questions. Well, Central Casting may have given you a little push into being the victimizer and the victim in this particular drama. As long as you were the victim in one round and the victimizer in another, you wouldn’t get it. But now you are both, and you’re in a better position to get it. Do you get it?

Who is Qualitifed to Benefit Most from this Window of Opportunity?

If you still think you can solve your own problems, you are not qualified
If you still think you are or can be in control of your symptoms, you are not qualified
If you still think a pill will solve your pain, you are not qualified
If you still think someone else is responsible for your dilemma, you are not qualified
If you still think everyone else but you needs therapy, you are not qualified
If you have no symptom, you don’t need a doctor
If you still think your pain is finite and your ego can fix it, go for it
If you are not disillusioned, you are not yet ripe for healing
If your defenses of denial, projection and rationalization are still working for you and you are not yet ready for honesty, don’t bother with Infinity Theory
If something isn’t broke, why fix it?
The Good News is only available to the imprisoned, the broken hearted, the blind, the bruised and the poverty stricken.
If the mediocrity of consumerism and co-dependency still satisfy you, then you are not ready
If you are not yet asking soul-searching questions, then forget it
If you still have human hopes and dreams, pursue them
If you think a better partner, a better job, the lottery, or a better drug will cure you, go for it.
Don’t bother with spiritual psychotherapy if you think there is a solution to be found in dualistic philosophy and dualistic religion. The path of understanding is only for those who truly hunger and thirst for it.
If you think you have something finite to lose, why go for infinity, where you risk losing and finding everything
If you think you have something to lose, you are going to be protecting that finite thing, whatever it is.
If you think your ego game and tactics can get you what you want, you are not going to be interested in the ego disillusionment process.
Infinity Therapy offers only one thing, total disillusionment and total fulfillment. The only thing which keeps us from our divinity is our pet illusions.
The only thing that constantly devalues and deteriorates our self-esteem is our belief system.
The only thing that keeps us from salvation is our self-rescue plan.
The only thing that keeps us from enlightenment is our dualistic sick religion.
In case you haven’t noticed, I have just planted a psychological bomb under your comfort zone.
If you are not on already on the edge, you are not going to be willing to see the danger in your comfort zone story.
If you haven’t filed moral, financial, emotional, and spiritul bankruptcy yet, just wait.
If you are not willing to give 9.6 minutes per day to the disillusionment process and to the discovery of your divinity, then you are not ready.
Jesus said that only one out of four would be qualified at any given time. Otherwise the seed of truth falls in shallow ground, rocky turf, bird-infested fields, and does not germinate, sprout, grow, flower and produce fruit. And so for some people, it may take four more lifetimes of soil preparation before readiness occurs.
Our story is a strange mixture of positive and negative illusions and it is very difficult to distinguish one from the other. Only the Spirit is qualified to teach us such distinctions.

What are the qualifications for this kind of Disillusionment Therapy then?

1. Symptoms of unexplainable pain or illness

2. Disappointment and dissatisfaction

3. Disenchantment with one’s chosen self-rescue plan

4. Unanswerable questions

5. Unrelenting guilt, embarassing shame, irrational anger or ungrounded fear

6. Failure of our ego tactics to work and to satisfy

7. A key figure in your drama fails, leaves or dies

8. Your dreams are broken

9. You take off your mask

10. You begin to see that the world is your mirror

11. You have not yet understood that the universe has only one all-inclusive purpose, your self-realization.

If this list of qualifications seem to exclude 99% of the human race, so be it. This net is cast only for the 1% on any given day, and 25% at best.

The 23 Most Common Myths in Psychotherapy

Believe it or not!

Guilt and shame are two of the most common myths/symptoms which arise due to the fact that we have rejected our true self. We have ignored our spirituality, our divinity, and pretended to be a mere shadow of the Great Light that we are.

Guilt and shame are usually attributed to all of the immoral remedies that we have committed in order to survive with our self-deception. (Perhaps we wouldn’t steal if we didn’t believe in lack). All of the God-awful things that we ever thought, said or did were merely our attempts to survive while still holding on to our victim story. A victim is someone who believes to any degree that he is separated, deficient and trapped. Even a 5% belief in any one of these three limitations will, in the end, extend our self-deception and its symptoms.

Can we afford to give any more energy and credence to the following 23 myths?

That there are accidents
That there are any victims, perpetrators, or rescuers
That you are ever alone
That you are, in any way that matters, deficient or defective
That you are trapped or limited by anyone or anything
That fear and violence have a reality basis
That anything essential is lacking
That anyone or anything could hurt you or anyone else
That you are not in any respect one with God
That the past or future exist
That problems exist
That Self-improvement is possible
That doing ever precedes or changes awareness
That you are not already all that you could have ever wanted to be
That death is real
That you have an enemy
That you need something you don’t have
That you could lose something you do have
That you are already awake to, and aware of, truth
That anything is more powerful than forgiveness, which is love
That we know what perfection is, and that it does not exist here
That we know what is wrong and why
That evil, sin, crime, pain, fear, hate, guilt, shame, suffering, unhappiness, death and hell are real

All of these myths and false beliefs must be confronted and investigated if you want to be the conscious spiritual being that you are. If God exists and is real and omnipresent, then how can such myths exist except in our stories, fantasies, minds?

We are sinful not merely because we have eaten of the tree of knowledge, but also because we have not eaten of the tree of life.
-Kafka

What is Insanity?

Are you nuts?

Our ego story, whether we appear to be normal or not, is the source of our insanity and unhappiness. Just because everyone says a thing is sane and normal does not make it so. Our insanity is our consensus view of reality.The teachings of A Course in Miracles address the question of insanity:The ego is very anxious to preserve its reasoning, not realizing that it is totally insane. And you must realize just what this means, if you would be restored to sanity. The insane protect their thought systems, but they do so insanely. And all their defenses are as insane as what they are supposed to protect. The belief in separation has nothing in it, no part, no “reason,” and no attribute that is not insane. And its self-protectiveness is as insane as the whole. The special relationship, which is its chief defense, must therefore be insane.The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but it stems from the very power of the mind the ego denies. This means that the ego attacks what is preserving it, which must result in extreme anxiety. That is why the ego never recognizes what it is doing. It is perfectly logical but clearly insane. The ego draws upon the one source that is totally inimical to its existence for its existence. Fearful of perceiving the power of this source, it is forced to depreciate it. This threatens its own existence, a state which it finds intolerable. Remaining logical but still insane, the ego resolves this completely insane dilemma in a completely insane way. It does not perceive its existence as threatened by projecting the threat onto you, and perceiving your being as nonexistent. This ensures its continuance if you side with it, by guaranteeing that you will not know your own safety.The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is its origin, and while the ego does not love you it is faithful to its own antecedents, begetting as it was begotten. Mind always reproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear.The relationship of anger to attack is obvious, but the relationship of anger to fear is not always so apparent. Anger always involves projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one’s own responsibility, rather than being blamed on others. Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you are in no way responsible for it. Given these three wholly irrational premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is worthy of attack rather than of love must follow. What can be expected from insane premises except an insane conclusion? The way to undo an insane conclusion is to consider the sanity of the premises on which it rests. You cannot be attacked if you have no idea what is happening, how appropriately can you expect to react? You might ask yourself, regardless of how you may account for the reaction, whether its unpredictability places the ego in a sound position as your guide. Let me repeat that the ego’s qualifications as a guide are singularly unfortunate, and that it is a remarkably poor choice as a teacher of salvation. Anyone who elects a totally insane guide must be totally insane himself. Nor is it true that you do not realize the guide is insane. You realize it because I realize it, and you have judged it by the same standard I have.God is as dependent on you as you are on Him, because His Autonomy encompasses yours, and is therefore incomplete without it. You can only establish your autonomy by identifying with Him, and fulfilling your function as it exists in truth. The ego believes that to accomplish its goal is happiness. But it is given you to know that God’s function is yours, and happiness cannot be found apart from Your joint Will. Recognize only that the ego’s goal, which you have pursued so diligently, has merely brought you fear, and it becomes difficult to maintain that fear is happiness. Upheld by fear, this is what the ego would have you believe. Yet God’s Son is not insane, and cannot believe it. Let him but recognize it and he will not accept it. For only the insane would choose fear in place of love, and only the insane could believe that love can be gained by attack. But the sane realize that only attack could produce fear, from which the Love of God completely protects them.It would be madness to entrust salvation to the insane. Because He is not mad has God appointed One as sane as He to raise a saner world to meet the sight of everyone who chose insanity as his salvation.What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing. I am upset because I see a meaningless world.Insane thoughts are upsetting. They produce a world in which there is no order anywhere. Only chaos rules a world that represents chaotic thinking, and chaos has no laws. I cannot live in peace in such a world. I am grateful that this world is not real, and that I need not see it at all unless I choose to value it. And I do not choose to value what is totally insane and has no meaning.You would not excuse insane behavior on your part by saying you could not help it. Why should you condone insane thinking? There is a confusion here that you would do well to look at clearly. You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation and abandonment. They believe in attack and rejection, so that is what they perceive and teach and learn. These insane ideas are clearly the result of dissociation and projection. What you teach you are, but it is quite apparent that you can teach wrongly, and can therefore teach yourself wrong. Many thought I was attacking them, even though it was apparent I was not. An insane learner learns strange lessons.You cannot evaluate an insane belief system from within it. Its range precludes this. u can only go beyond it, look back from a point where sanity exists and see the contrast. Only by this contrast can insanity be judged as insane. With the grandeur of God in you, you have chosen to be little and to lament your littleness. Within the system that dictated this choice the lament is inevitable. Your littleness is taken for granted there and you do not ask, “Who granted it?” The question is meaningless within the ego’s thought system, because it would open the whole thought system to question. I have said that the ego does not know what a real question is. You do not realize how much you have denied yourself, and how much God, in His Love, would not have it so. Yet He would not interfere with you, because He would not know His Son if he were not free. To interfere with you would be to attack Himself, and God is not insane. When you deny Him you are insane. Would you have Him share your insanity? God will never cease to love His Son, and His Son will never cease to love Him. That was the condition of His Son’s creation, fixed forever in the Mind of God. To know that is sanity. To deny it is insanity. God gave Himself to you in your creation, and His gifts are eternal. Would you deny yourself to Him?The ego, then, is nothing more than a delusional system in which you made your own father. Make no mistake about this. It sounds insane when it is stated with perfect honesty, but the ego never looks on what it does with perfect honesty. Yet that is its insane premise, which is carefully hidden in the dark cornerstone of its thought system. And either the ego, which you made, is your father, or its whole thought system will not stand.The idea that the guiltless Son of God can attack himself and make himself guilty is insane. In any form, in anyone, believe this not. For sin and condemnation are the same, and the belief in one is faith in the other, calling for punishment instead of love. Nothing can justify insanity, and to call for punishment upon yourself must be insane.Insane ideas have no real relationships, for that is why they are insane. No real relationship can rest on guilt, or even hold one spot of it to mar its purity. For all relationships that guilt has touched are used but to avoid the person and the guilt.Do not underestimate the intensity of the ego’s drive for vengeance on the past. It is completely savage and completely insane. For the ego remembers everything you have done that has offended it, and seeks retribution of you.Test everything that you believe against this one requirement, and understand that everything that meets this one demand is worthy of your faith. But nothing else. What is not love is sin, and either one perceives the other as insane and meaningless. Love is the basis for a world perceived as wholly mad to sinners, who believe theirs is the way to sanity. But sin is equally insane within the sight of love, whose gentle eyes would look beyond the madness and rest peacefully on truth. Each sees a world immutable, as each defines the changeless and eternal truth of what you are. And each reflects a view of what the Father and the Son must be, to make that viewpoint meaningful and sane.Your special function is the special form in which the fact that God is not insane appears most sensible and meaningful to you.The whole belief that someone loses but reflects the underlying tenet God must be insane. For in this world it seems that one must gain because another lost. If this were true, then God is mad indeed! But what is this belief except a form of the more basic tenet, “Sin is real, and rules the world”? For every little gain must someone lose, and pay exact amount in blood and suffering. For otherwise would evil triumph, and destruction be the total cost of any gain at all. You who believe that God is mad, look carefully at this, and understand that it must be either God or this must be insane, but hardly both.. Salvation is rebirth of the idea no one can lose for anyone to gain. And everyone must gain, if anyone would be a gainer. Here is sanity restored. Peace to such foolishness The time has come to laugh at such insane ideas. There is no need to think of insane ideas as savage crimes, or secret sins with weighty consequence. Who but a madman could conceive of them as the ause of anything? Their witness, pain, is mad as they, and no more to be feared than the insane illusions which it shields, and tries to demonstrate must still be true.It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. No one but yourself affects you. There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.Who but the insane would undertake to believe what is not true, and then protect this belief at the cost of truth? This is why the ego is insane; it teaches that you are not what you are.Perceive any part of the ego’s thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional and wholly undesirable, and you have correctly evaluated all of it. This correction enables you to perceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect and wholly desirable.

Disobeying God’s Will is meaningful only to the insane. In truth it is impossible. Your Self-fullness is as boundless as God’s.The ego will make every effort to recover and mobilize its energies against your release. It will tell you that you are insane, and argue that grandeur cannot be a real part of you because of the littleness in which it believes. Yet your grandeur is not delusional because you did not make it. You made grandiosity and are afraid of it because it is a form of attack, but your grandeur is of God, Who created it out of His Love. From your grandeur you can only bless, because your grandeur is your abundance. If only the loving thoughts of God’s Son are the world’s reality, the real world must be in his mind. His insane thoughts, too, must be in his mind, but an internal conflict of this magnitude he cannot tolerate. A split mind is endangered, and the recognition that it encompasses completely opposed thoughts within itself is intolerable. Therefore the mind projects the split, not the reality. Everything you perceive as the outside world is merely your attempt to maintain your ego identification, for everyone believes that identification is salvation. Yet consider what has happened, for thoughts do have consequences to the thinker. You have become at odds with the world as you perceive it, because you think it is antagonistic to you.For the memory of God can dawn only in a mind that chooses to remember, and that has relinquished the insane desire to control reality. You who cannot even control yourself should hardly aspire to control the universe. The ego is our control mechanism, as though the universe is separate from us and needs controlling.

We either depend on the peace, power and love of God or upon our insane story. Is our story crazy? Examine your story closely and you will find that it is fear-based and victim-oriented. Our ego story is illusory and unrealistic, producing the experience of pain, failure, suffering and disease. We cling to our story as much as we resist it. Our story seems inevitable and necessary.

The ego system is chaotic, unreasonable and insane, yet it claims sanity. We do not recognize that the ego is insane, or we would not cling to it so tenaciously. The belief in separation has nothing in it, no

part, no reason, and no attribute that is not insane. The special relationship (codependency) is its chief defense and is therefore insane also. You do not perceive the insanity and danger of the ego to you. You try to be safe from everything in the world except the real source of danger, which is your own ego. The ego cannot afford to know anything, because knowledge is total and the ego does not believe in totality.

Anger is a good example of ego insanity.

Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have been attacked, that your attack is justified in return, and that you are in no way responsible for it. Anger always involves the projection of separation, which must ultimately be accepted as one’s own responsibility, rather then being blamed on others. Given these three wholly irrational premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is worthy of attack rather than love must follow

Only the insane would choose fear in place of love, and only the insane could believe that love can be gained by attack. But the sane realize that only attack could produce fear, from which the love of God completely protects them.

The belief in sickness is another example of the ego’s insanity story.

Sickness is insanity because all sickness is mental illness, and in it there are no degrees. One of the illusions by which sickness is perceived as real is the belief that illness varies in intensity; that the degree of threat differs according to the form it takes. Herein lies the basis of all errors, for all of them are but attempts to compromise by seeing just a little bit of hell. This is a mockery so alien to God that it must be forever inconceivable. But the insane believe it because they are insane.

A madman will defend his own illusions because in them he sees his own salvation. Thus, he will attack the one who tries to save him from them, believing that he is attacking him. This curious circle of attack-and-defense is one of the most difficult problems with which the psychotherapist must deal. In fact, this is his central task; the core of psychotherapy. The therapist is seen as one who is attacking the patient’s most cherished possession; his picture of himself.

A Course in Miracles goes further:

When a brother behaves insanely, you can only heal him by perceiving the sanity in him.

You can accept insanity because you made it, but you cannot accept love because you did not

It is given to you to learn how to deny insanity, and come forth from your private world in peace.

The Holy spirit will restore insanity because insanity is not the will of God.

The Holy Spirit reverses the course of insanity and restores you to reason.

Inward is sanity; insanity is outside you.

There is no reason in insanity, for it depends entirely on reason’s absence. What makes no sense and has no meaning is insanity.

If our belief in separation is insane, you can only imagine how insane worry, fear, insecurity and anxiety are! You are one with it all. What is there to be anxious about? You are not separate from anything in the entire universe! There is nothing you could be a victim of! That is why “There are no victims!” All victimization is imaginary. All victimization is the result of what the Bible calls “evil imagination.” St. Paul put it this way : Romans 8: 35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

Nothing can separate us from love. The belief in such separateness is insanity. Worry and anxiety about such separateness is insanity. Love is the only reality; all else is illusion, fantasy, the erroneous use of imagination. Wake up to reason, to truth, to reality. Let go of your ego story. Stop empowering it. Surrender it. Your symptoms and suffering are your invitation to sanity, to truth, to self-realization.

We are infinite spiritual beings pretending to be victims

We are like the internet pretending to be just a computer

We are sons of the King who believe ourselves to be beggars or slaves

We are co-owners of the universe pretending to be near bankruptcy

We are the sun pretending to be merely a little flashlight

We are like a diamond pretending to be a pebble

We are like the ocean pretending to be a puddle

We are Eternal pretending to time-bound

We are brothers pretending to be enemies or strangers

We are geniuses pretending to be stupid

We are all one family, pretending to be orphans

We are fire, pretending to be afraid of a flame

We are Life Itself, pretending to be death bound

We are Health Itself, pretending to be sick

We are creativity itself, pretending to be bored and boring
We may be like the little fish that was swimming in the ocean with its mother. “Mama,” said the little fish, “my friend told me that there is an ocean which is thousands of miles wide and many miles deep. Have you ever seen the ocean, Mama?” We are unaware of “Him in whom we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) This unawareness is our insanity. This unawareness is the essence of our ego story. It is this unawareness to which our symptoms and suffering call our attention so that we may wake up. It is for this reason that we can “Rejoice always. In everything give thanks..Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thess. 5:16-19) Don’t pour water on the fire that you are. Hebrews 12: 29: Our God is a consuming fire. This fire consumes the falseness of our story. Then the light of the world within us can shine through the insanity of our ego story. Matthew 5:¹⁴ You are the light of the world.

Jesus Was a Heretic

Crucify him! Crucify him!

Jesus was a rebel, a daring unique person, a pioneer, an innovator, and in many ways a heretic in the eyes of the authorities and his peers. He broke all of the molds and expectations about what a hero should be.

Some of my brothers are afraid that Spiritual Psychotherapy is not the Good News of Jesus Christ, but some heretical anomalie. There isn’t but one timeless Good News that stretches from beyond time through creation into the Eternal Now. This Good News has left its timelss imprint stamped into everyone, everything, everywhere. The Christ is the hidden factor in everyone’s psyche. The Christ is what everyone is unconsciously seeking outwardly in each moment of each day. The failure to see and acknowledge the Hidden Christ is the direct cause of all of our suffering and symptoms, as a race and as individuals. Jesus is your best friend although he may appear to be the worst enemy to your identity story. The only way to deny this friendship is to continue to cling to your fear-driven story in such a way that you overlook and reject your True Self. Christ is your true self pattern. Jesus reveals that fact clearly to all who have suffered enough to let go of their false identity story. The Good News awareness awaits you, but it is not your usual social/psychological identity story.

The Good News is that your story is your frustrated symptomatic search for the Hidden Self within. Jesus is the outer historical person who announces the Good News by asking you to open your mind to the meaning of your symptoms and to your true inner self, just as he did. The ego wants to kill the messenger, which he allowed. He became the victim that victimization may end and Self-Realization may dawn upon us. Some of my brothers insist that only Jesus was both divine and human. In Thirty Pieces of Silver, I investigated this question in depth and concluded that it was his mission to reveal human divinity to everyone. I make no claim to have exhausted this subject which Berdyaev called the Christology of Man. I am sure that this issue will be explored and debated for the rest of this century as the chief issue for mankind in general and for Spiritual Psychotherapy in particular. My contention is that the discovery of the true meaning of the Christ in each person is the central issue in symptomatology and in Spiritual Psychotherapy. I look at my suffering client and say to myself “You, too, are the Christ, the son of the living God!”

Jesus, why do you come to disturb us?

The Grand Inquisitor

Jesus said “I am the light that shines over everything. I am the All. From me the All came forth, and to me the All has returned. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Pick up a stone, and you will find me there.” Gospel of St. Thomas

But for some deep reason, hidden in the secret of times and seasons, Christianity never revealed in its fullest what one might venture to call a Christology of man, that is the secret of man’s divine nature, a dogma of man, analogous to the dogma of Christ. Christianity has revealed the nature of the Holy Trinity, and the nature of Christ, but very little of the nature of man.

Berdyaev

In Christian revelation the truth about man’s divine nature is really only the reverse of the coin about Christ’s human nature. The Christology of man is inseparable from that of the Son of God. Christ’s self-consciousness is inseparable from that of man. The Christological revelation is also an anthropological revelation

Nicholas Berdyaev

Man has terribly distorted the image of God, and has attributed to Him his own perverse and sinful psychology

Nicholas Berdyaev

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

William Blake

Each successive epoch of theology found its own thoughts in Jesus…But it was not only each epoch that found its reflection in Jesus; each individual created Him in accordance with his own character.

Albert Schweitzer

More has been written about Jesus in the last twenty years than in the previous two thousand.

David Tracy

He is everywhere. He is the entire universe. The eternal body of man is the imagination, that is, God himself, the divine body, Jesus: we are his members.

William Blake

Through Him and Him only, you accomplish everything. Abandon the pride of doership. Don’t carry that weight on your head.

Muktananda

Do not be turned off by the word Christ. It is pre-Christian and came from Plato’s Christos, meaning the True Self of Everyone.

John Randolph Price

The authentic, historical Jesus never claimed divinity or unique status; on the contrary, it is clear that he wanted to empower all human beings, whatever their sex, race, or social status, with what he knew to be their essential divine identity so that, liberated from all the structures, shibboleths, and fantasies of the past, they could together create a new world, the world of the Kingdom. No other spiritual teacher had so comprehensive and radical a vision of the limitations of all forms of religious and political power; it is this vision that Jesus dedicated his life to promulgating, and it is for this vision, which threatened (and threatens) all elites, dogmas, and hierarchies of any kind, that he was killed.

Andrew Harvey

The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey but to walk with Him.

A Course in Miracles

It is up to each one of us to take up the terrifying and glorious challenge of Jesus to ‘Christ’ ourselves so as to be part of this great birth; it is the responsibility of each one of us to imagine, risk, and give everything to participate as fully and fecundly as possible in the evolutionary leap that this birth makes possible.

Andrew Harvey

There is nothing more necessary, or more potentially transformative, than to serve the Christ that is everywhere and in every being, struggling against terrible odds to be born at last.

Matthew Fox

What do you say of the I AM within you? Who do you believe yourself to be? Can you answer “I am Christ’?

Neville

The disciple is not above his master…and will have to take on the burden of realizing the truth of his divine identity, a far harder task than merely ‘adoring’ the master or following superficially some of his injunctions…he wanted to inspire everyone to become like him, their complete human divine self, and live consciously and actively in the holy fire and charity of the Kingdom

Andrew Harvey

Jesus sang

I am a lamp to you who see me

I am a mirror to you who know me

I am a door to you who knock on me

I am a Way to you who travel with me. Amen.

Acts of John

Jesus was the most dangerous kind of rebel—a rebel who had seen the Kingdom and knew it was the only reality. He was the most dangerous kind of rebel because he could not be swerved from his purpose by anything, and he could not be bought by any lure, not even that of being a ‘master’ or a ‘god’; his integrity was terrible and final. Jesus was the most dangerous kind of rebel, too, because the vision that guided and inspired him through everything flamed from a direct mystical knowledge of God and would give him the courage to die, if necessary…

Until we have begun to live directly and taste and inwardly experience our divine identity, the resurrected Cosmic Christ cannot be known; only by daring to try and ‘Christ’ ourselves can the Universal Christ be discovered inside and around us.

To follow the new vision of Christ…means to abandon all safeties and securities except those rooted in God, to subject not merely the self but also the world to ruthless analysis, to become clear about the deforming and betraying nature of power in all its forms, and to dedicate one’s life to standing for justice and compassion in an uncompassionate and unjust world.

Andrew Harvey

What Is Divinity? Socrates almost had his finger on it when he posed the question, “Can man be made self-determined and responsible for his own actions?”… Cause is not bound by any pre-determination or logic…Cause is totally free. And that would be divinity indeed. God is divine, and so is man. Man manifests that divinity to the degree that he exhibits self-determinism with full responsibility.

Vinaire

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, toremember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship,

C.S.Lewis

What has been passing for Christianity during these last nineteen centuries is merely a beginning, full of weakness and mistakes and not a full-grown Christianity springing from the spirit of Jesus.

Albert Schweitzer

But the question (who am I?) Jesus asked on the road to Caesarea Philippi has proved durable. Over the centuries various answers haveprovoked a considerable amount of violence; people have lost their lives. In modern times the answers have provoked a considerable amount of scholarly debate; people have lost their jobs.

Cullen Bryant

The reason the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated was to guarantee the total divinization of every single human being. If Jesus is not the Second Person of the Trinity, then you and I are not sharers in the divine nature.

Thomas Matus

For the One who has become many remains the One undivided, but each part is all of Christ

Joseph Campbell

There is an important difference between Jesus, the historical figure from Nazareth, and the archetypal Christ, the Redeemer. This distinction between the historical and the symbolical is essential if the Christian symbols are to retain their power to touch the inner depths of the modern person. As we know, Jung’s diagnosis of modern men and women was a spiritual malnutrition bought on by a starvation of symbols. He called for a recovery of the symbolic life which had been abandoned to a one-sided literal, rational approach to religious matters.

The Jewish rabbi and reformer, Jesus, lived a personal, concrete, historical life. However, it was the archetypal image of a Redeemer slumbering, so to speak, in the collective unconscious, which became attached to that unique life. This powerful collective image made itself visible, so to speak, in the man Jesus, so that seeing him people glimpsed the greater personality which seeks conscious realization in each person. Jung notes that it was not the man Jesus who created the myth of the “god-man.” Other Redeemer myths existed many centuries before his birth. Jesus himself was seized by this symbolic idea, which, as St. Mark tells us, lifted him out of the narrow life of the Nazarene carpenter. (See Jung, Man And His Symbols, p.89)

Briefly stated, at an early stage Jesus became the collective figure whom the unconscious of his contemporaries expected to appear and Jesus took on those projections. In this way, Jesus’ life exemplifies the archetype of the Christ, or in Jung’s psychological language, the Self, which is a more inclusive word for the inner image of god, the imago Dei, which resides in every person

Jerry Wright

The experience of the Self is always a defeat for the ego

Carl Jung

A Course in Miracles is a course in how to know yourself.

A Course in Miracles

I enclose here an exercpt from Thirty Pieces of Silver, in which I summarize the teachings of A Course in Miracles about the relationship of Jesus, the Christ, and us:

What does A Course in Miracles Teach About the Relationship of Jesus to the Christ?

First of all, A Course in Miracles was authored by Jesus himself over a period of seven years from 1969 to 1976. It is my understanding that Jesus “dictated” this information to Helen Schucman, a Jewish clinical psychologist in New York, because she was “willing to do the work.”

In this material Jesus states his purpose in giving us the Coursewas to finish and correct his previous teaching, in order to help us to undo the ego system.

A Course in Miracles is a course in how to know yourself. A Course in Miracles

Jesus goes on to say that A Course in Miracles will teach you how to remember what you are, restoring to you your identity, but that it requires you to question every value that you hold. By not learning this course,, you are protecting your present concept of yourself. This course is a course on love, because it is a course about you. He says that you do not need to be afraid of the Course because it teaches that only reality is true.

Jesus says that his name, the name of Jesus, is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. He says that he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man, Jesus, was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to separate his self from the Self, as all illusions do. Yet how can anyone be a part of the plan of salvation unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus said that he remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. And Christ needed the form of Jesus so that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.

In his complete identification with the Christ—the perfect Son of God, His one creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and one with Him—Jesus said that he became what all of you must be….He made a distinction, still obscure to you, between the false and true. He offered you a final demonstration that it is impossible to kill God’s Son; nor can his life in any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death.

He asks: Is Jesus the Christ? He answers himself: Oh yes, along with you. My little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that I learned for all of you. I will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. And when you join your will with mine, your sight will be my vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. Again, Jesus asks us: Is Jesus God’s only Helper? Then he answers again: No, indeed, for Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. But I, Jesus, am for you the bearer of Christ’s single message of the Love of God. You need no other. Jesus says in the Course that he is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He explains that the Holy Spirit established him (Jesus) as the leader in carrying out His plan since I was the first to complete my own part perfectly. The Holy Spirit is retaining communication between God and His separated Sons. He never forgets the Creator or His Creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets you. And He brings the love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.. The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents your Self and your Creator, who are One. He constantly speaks to you for God and also for you to God, being joined with both.

Speaking of the crucifixion, Jesus explains that you have nailed yourself to a cross, and placed a crown of thorns upon your own head. Yet you cannot crucify God’s Son, for the will of God cannot die. While you perceive the Son of God as crucified, you are asleep. If I live in you, you are awake. God’s son is saved. Bring only this awareness to the Sonship, and you will have a part in the redemption as valuable as mine.

Jesus challenges us to behold our Friend, the Christ, who stands beside you. (Jesus means that “your Friend, the Christ” is any and every person you meet). How holy and beautiful He is! You thought he sinned because you cast the veil of sin upon Him to hide His loveliness. Yet He still holds forgiveness out to you, to share His holiness. This “enemy”, this “stranger” still offers you salvation as His Friend.

He defines Christ as God’s Son as God created him. Christ is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. Christ is the link that keeps you one with God, and guarantees that separation is no more than an illusion of despair, for hope forever will abide in Him. Together you are the home of the Holy Spirit, and you cannot be at home except in God alone, for there does Christ remain at peace within the heaven of your holy mind. This is the only part of you that has reality in truth. The rest is dreams.

Jesus confesses: I have no self except the Christ in me. I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him. For who is Christ except God’s Son as God created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me?

And then Jesus says to the Father about each and every person : “Your Son is welcome, Father. He has come to save me from the evil self I made. He is the Self you have given me. He is but what I am in truth. He is the Son You love above all things. He is but what I really am in truth. He is my Self as You created me.”

Jesus explains his ego psychology: “You are not two selves in conflict….Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between his selves. God has given you everything. This one fact means the ego does not exist, and this makes it profoundly afraid….The Holy Spirit knows that you both have and are everything. Fear is a stranger to the ways of love. Identify with fear and you will be a stranger to yourself…What is your Self remains an alien to the part of you which thinks that it is real, but different from yourself.

What the Christ mind is revealing to us through Jesus in A Course In Miracles is that we only appear to have two selves in conflict. The ego self is an illusion driven by fear which we assume to be ourselves, and the Christ Self is the truth, inspired by love which we assume to be a stranger. When you get in touch with love, you are in touch with the Self. The Self which you are is and has everything. The Holy Spirit connects this Self to God and to the Sonship. If you see the Christ in your neighbor, you have awakened and re-joined this oneness with God.

Thus there appear to be two selves: the ego and the Self.. The ego is illusory and fear-driven; the Self is real and love-filled. Through the ego you see yourself as tiny, vulnerable and afraid. But there is another vision, another voice and another self in you, a self which recognizes miracles, a self in which true reason exists. Miracles and true reason exist only in the Self, and not in the illusory fearful ego.

Jesus explains so carefully in the Course that the power to heal the Son of God is given you because he must be one with you. He even goes so far as to say that you are responsible for how each person sees himself. You are your brother’s savior. He is yours. That you are joined is your salvation; you are joined in the gift of heaven, not in the divisiveness of fear. Your Father is as close to you as your brother. . Jesus wants us to understand that this power you have over the Son of God is not a threat to his reality.

Jesus clarifies that the separation of you and your ego must be made complete, that you must choose between yourself and an illusion of yourself. This means that we must forsake not your brother, for you who are the same will not decide alone nor differently. Either you will give each other life or death; either you are each other’s savior or each other’s judge; you offer each other sanctuary or condemnation. A savior cannot be a judge. And vision cannot damn, but only bless. The ego damns, and true reason saves. . The ego or the body’s eyes are unable to go beyond the form to meaning. All you have to say is “God is not fear but love” in any situation and you correct the original error of the ego.

Jesus, why do you come to disturb us?

-The Grand Inquisitor

The Cosmic Christ Archetype and Spiritual Psychotherapy

On Knowing Who We Are

The following quotes are exerpts from Spiritual Psychotherapy: The Infinite Meaning of Symptoms:Jesus through the Cosmic Christ role has taken the lead in this evolutionary step through A Course in Miracles and with the pioneering efforts of such people as David Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Albert Einstein, Alan Watts, Nicholas Berdyaev, Paul Tillich, William Glasser, Ken Wilber, David Bohm, Wayne Dyer and other explorers in consciousness research and transpersonal psychology. Infinity Theory is an attempt to pull together some of the contributions to this evolutionary step that we are witnessing at this time in history.I didn’t realize that Jesus was trying to tell me his part in the Great Cosmic Christ function of healing. In the 1970’s when I first began studying the Course in Miracles I recognized the powerful authenticity of that document, but I had no idea of its meaning for the unfolding revelation about spiritual psychotherapy. I didn’t know that the Cosmic Christ was leading psychotherapy, science and medicine through all of their apparently convoluted twists and turns in the last 100 to 200 years.The Cosmic Christ incarnated into our human story through various avatars, including Krishna, Buddha and Jesus, in order to try to solve the victim problem in the drama of life. They had some success but they also met with great resistance and relative “failure.” The belief systems in the human story were so embedded and powerful that it was almost impossible to break through them, even if a savior figure died to disprove themI would spend my whole life trying to make things fit, trying to put together existence and essence with the incredible experience of a small town lad with the Cosmic Christ. I guess it will never be explained to my satisfaction, but neither can I ever stop trying. Neither money, sex, visions, music, poetry, existential theology, nor quantum psychology could satisfy the existential angst which I had experienced.In our various awakening experiences, the world of our story explodes. The gap between existence and essence disappears. What is experienced can never be told because words and pictures can’t even begin to comprehend the magnificence, the beauty of “Infinity in a grain of sand.” Suddenly this seemingly godless world is nothing but God. The finite world is nothing but the clothing of Infinity. God is found under every rock. Peace is flowing forever like the river. Heavenly Fire is announced with each sunrise and sunset. Each breath is the breath of the Holy Spirit breathing me. Each word is about the Wordless. Each symbol of the moon points to the Moon. The Cosmic Christ is the truth behind each face. Each person is divine. Our suffering is just our ignorance and fear. Yes, Jesus said that the thief would be with him that very day in paradise, and as for the rest of us he said that we are forgiven, for we know not what we doInfinity Theory maintains that we only know our existence story and that it is a misnomer. We only know our names, our words, our symbols, our maps about existence. We do not know existence itself, do we? We have a pessimistic dysfunctional map of the territory, but not a true map. If our map were true, for God’s sake, Jesus and other teachers wouldn’t have had to die for our sick religion. Don’t kid yourself, Jesus was killed about our human map of the world. He discovered the reality hidden by the mirrors of the mind. He had re-discovered divinity everywhere. What he saw, he would not relinquish at any cost. We couldn’t stand the shock of his vision then, and we still can hardly bear it in the 21^stcentury. Pessimism still rules. The pain of the broken heart still rules. We don’t want to risk living and loving again. We are constantly struggling to find ways to rationalize being numb and dead in an “unjust, dangerous and sometimes boring world.” Are we ready to live at total risk, like Jesus did? Are we ready to be the Cosmic Christ in our dysfunctional family system? In our cultural milieu? Are we ready to believe that Essence, Love and Creativity are the Bottom Line? Are we ready to stare our existential angst in the face until we see God there? Are we ready to move on from our known existence into our Unknown Essence? Are we willing to give up our precious maps and live in God’s Country? Everyone is dreaming of living in Florida, California, Hawaii, Arizona or the Bahamas except the people who live there who are still trying to explain to themselves why paradise isn’t working.To put it more mystically, the Mind of the Cosmic Christ provides us with a View From the Edge, a perspective from the boundary between the Unlimited and the limited.In divorce cases each partner assumes that they “know” their partner but they do not. We only “know” what our anxious skewed perception allows us to know. We divorce our image of the partner to preserve our image of ourselves. Each spouse threatens the image of the other to preserve their own self-image. If each spouse saw the divine behind the pretense and the shadow, reconciliation might be possible. However, at least one of the spouses would have to be living on the Edge. Without the Cosmic Christ Mind, the marriage will usually break up or calcify.I have been pursuing the theme that Jesus embodied a universal “cosmic Christ” archetypal spirituality which embraces and transcends all religions, philosophies, and sciences.The return of the power of the Cosmic Christ archetype is showing up in many social changes and in consciousness-raising practices. Matthew Fox wrote a whole book on The Return of the Cosmic Christ.In spite of itself, Christianity has unwittingly played its part in the mission of the Cosmic Christ to develop a theory of everything. And so have the stumbling, faltering steps of science, philosophy and psychology. The Cosmic Christ has an inclusive plan for this planet, far beyond anything envisioned by most of the divisive, competitive, cynical players in this human drama. All finite belief systems are included in and transcended by the Infinite Vision. You cannot be excluded nor can you exclude yourself because Infinite Vision is all-inclusive and Infinity is what you are.We don’t even know that our life is mainly some cultural software playing and that this is a television soap opera that we are living. We are not just listening or watching. We have created and married the script. We consider the software to be reality. We pretend unawares that we are right in the middle of a virtual television soap opera. Of course, we tell ourselves that any idiot could tell the difference between software and hardware, or between the television set and a poor movie. Then why are we so addicted, why are we so clinically depressed, so suicidal and homicidal? Why are we so stressed if we are so aware? No, we are not aware of what we are hard-wired for. We are not aware that our life story is a soap opera and playing like a piece of software. Are we? Are we aware that we are all one, and that we are Infinite Imagination, that we living out our symptoms of awakening, that we are human gods in the making, that we are limited only by the abuse of our imagination? Are we aware that victims only exist in our story? Are we aware that the Cosmic Christ is asleep in us? Are we aware that we are miracle workers, that we are magicians, that our brains are capable of containing twelve university libraries of knowledge, that we only use five percent of our abilities, that human cells could probably live forever under the right conditions? Are we aware that we are sleeping giants, capable of unbelievable creativity, wisdom and love? Are we aware that our narcissism is programmed limitation? Are we aware that our self-concept and self-esteem is programmed foolishness? Are we aware as Kafka said that we are living in huts beside immense castles? Are we aware that our suffering is not due to our limitations but to the infinitude we have rejected as preposterous? Are we aware that we are human gods acting like puppets? Are we aware that we are designed and hard-wired for universality, but that we have settled for degraded and arrogant self-imagery? Are we aware that our shame, blame and fear have no further reason to exist? Are we aware that the Cosmic Christ “finished” all of those games?The truly new era of the Cosmic Christ requires an integration of our polarized, adversarial thinking. Jesus and Buddha continue to inspire and lead us deeper into the mystery of the Cosmic Christ pattern and into our godlike potential.The Paradoxical Shock Method:

There is no lack
There is no separation
I am love and I am free
There are no victims
The world is perfect
Nothing can harm me
My most essential self is the Cosmic Christ archetype
This entire illusion is forgiven
There are no mistakes or accidents
Every experience is a potential revelation and a hidden blessing
All is God

Symptoms is a would-be classic; provocative and paradoxical; disturbing but informative; written for the sophisticated, battle-weary veteran of human suffering; a unique concept of diagnosis and treatment; contributes to the dialog between science and religion; a daring attempt to integrate a metaphysical or transpersonal Christianity with the world religions and psychotherapy; a re-definition of spirituality as infinite imagination; argues that the re-diagnosis process is 90% of treatment; gives practical tools that the psychotherapist and client can use in the very first session; not for the timid, thin-skinned or weak-minded; discusses the relevance of Jesus and the Cosmic Christ archetype in man for psychotherapy.

The human search leads ultimately to a transcendent experience which I have previously labeled Radical Consciousness or the Cosmic Christ Consciousness, and which in this study is called Infinity Theory. The Infinity experience is actually not a state of mind; it is the fundamental reality which we are seeking in all of our altered states of mind. Altered States of Consciousness (ASC’s) refer to the fact that we get stuck in “normal” or “consensus” reality and we can’t stand it; so we pursue altered states of mind. We can’t wait for Friday, for our vacation, or for retirement because we tell ourselves that God (All) is not present here and now. Who Moved my Cheese? a bestseller asks. We avidly pursue altered states of mind, better illusions, because we have not yet seen what they point to. .

The Technique of Transmutation

The Great Fiery Altar

The Great Fiery Altar is an incredible transmutative meditation/visualization method.

This method of raising the energy vibration includes both forgiveness and praise. The conflict is first located through dualistic imagery and then it is presented as a gift (through praise) upon the altar, where it is transformed (forgiven) by the heavenly fire and then the new form is also praised. Whatever problems or images are uncovered by means of dream analysis, visualization or just ordinary therapeutic conversation, are decoded into imagery and taken up to the mountain top to the Great Fiery Altar for transmutation. Finite forms can be transmuted into their true meaning.

When the decoded energetic form of the problem is laid upon the altar, God is being praised for the problem. “Praise God for all things” is symbolically acted out.

Then the violet flames of heaven are called down to consume/transform the gift.After the smoke clears, the meditator is to be still and quiet, with an open mind and heart. He may (1) see, (2) hear or (3) feel a message as a return blessing, now or later. If there is nothing but a clear altar, praise God for that, relax and wait.

The Great Fiery Altar is a means by which (1) we release our fear-based judgments and stories, and (2) by which we praise God for our symptom, and (3) by which we discover the true meaning of the symptom, and (4) by which we discover the power of love.

It is important to understand the anatomy of the Great Fiery Altar Method. Every word in our semantic brain dictionary is connected to an image, picture or symbolic component just one step below it. Just one step below this imaginal component, there is an energy vibrational force. And so there are three levels: words, imagery, and vibrational energy patterns or attractor forces.

Human symptoms have an inward as well as an outward form. A symptom can appear outwardly as a cancer, as a fight, or a social problem but it has an inward form as well. A symptom can have a feeling form, a visual form, a vibrational form, an imagery form, a sound form, a smell form, a touch form, a somatic form, or a social form. These outward and inward forms of the symptom can be de-coded and made conscious. Once the form is de-coded into symbolic form, it can be trans-formed. It can be raised to higher vibrational level of consciousness, for example, raising from fear (100) to peace (600). The movement is from conflicted story to transmutation to serenity.

The altar method, then, of transmutation, is to listen to the words of complaint, and decode them into their underlying symbolic or energetic form, and expose them to the higher energies for transformation.

Spiritual Psychotherapy as Good News

The rest of the story

Patients comes to psychotherapy in dire need of Good News

Spiritual Psychotherapy is the midwifery process of realizing the Good News through the realization of the meaning of one’s symptoms

Patients have run out of steam in their bootstrapping methods of self-rescue within the limited resources of their self-created story. Spiritual Psychotherapy is the dawning awareness that our methods of self-rescue are part of the problem and not the solution..

Patients seeks deliverance from their assumed victimization by outside forces

Spiritual Psychotherapy assists patients in seeing through the myth of victimization by the realization that we are unconsciously creating our own suffering and symptoms for a good reason.

Patients resist the change required by the Good News of Spiritual Psychotherapy because of the belief that the truth is known about the self and the world. Spiritual Psychotherapy is the discovery of the truth about one’s self-deceptive story.

Patient feed themselves the bad news/good news story all day long every day, further entrapping themselves in their own self-fulfilling prophecies. Spiritual Psychotherapy is the realization that only Good News exists.

Patients seek for the good news and resist the bad news in their illusory view of self and the world, thus making it necessary for more and more serious symptoms to awaken them from their self-imposed nightmares. Spiritual Psychotherapy gently awakens the patient to the truth hidden within for which he or she has been searching so desperately and diligently without.

Patients try to manipulate their outer world of bad news/good news and feel inadequate to control their experiences. Spiritual Psychotherapy helps the student to see and to experience the inner reality which is being sought without.

Patients perceive that they are physical, mental, social victims of circumstances, and this view is so painful that it is denied and life is spent vacillating between defeat and victory, shame and pride, pain and pain-relief. Spiritual Psychotherapy offers the patient the Good News awareness that he is an infinite spiritual being that is unconsciously doing this to himself entirely and completely.

The patient assumes that responsibility for his painful symptomatic experiences means that he is to blame and he resists this self-blame by the attempt to reassure himself that outside forces are to blame and that his hurt, anger and self-pity are justified. Spiritual Psychotherapy is the Good News awareness that no victims exist and therefore no blame is necessary, because all pain is unconsciously self-inflicted by a false belief system.

Patients assume that God is an inconsistent entity out there somewhere who either gives or withholds the goodies of life, dependent upon the patients’ behavior. Spiritual Psychotherapy operates upon the Good News awareness that God is the Infinite Imagination of the self-deluded and self-defeating individual.

Patients feel isolated, deficient and trapped in their increasingly constricted world of perceived experience. Spiritual Psychotherapy is the increasingly profound awareness that such bad news is a gift for awakening to the true expansive world of self-realization.

Patients are under the illusion that fear is real and that they must try to control the sources of threat and insecurity. Spiritual Psychotherapy gives the patient the tools by which to examine the entire fear-driven story which seems to make control necessary.

Patients doubt that love is the complete basis of reality. Spiritual Psychotherapy is a demonstration that love is the perfect omnipresent force which is ignored and misconstrued due to our fear-driven story.

Patients do not believe in their own spirituality and do not recognize the unlimited power of their own imagination. Spiritual Psychotherapy restores the patient’s awareness and experience with their own imagination and spirituality.

Patients assume that Christ is merely an outer historical figure who is largely irrelevant to their identity struggles and symptoms. Spiritual Psychotherapy is an encounter with the infinite Christ Self within the therapist and the patient which has been forgotten due to our limiting ego self-concepts.

Lacking infinite awareness, the patient presumes separation, deficiency and entrapment, and approaches the world as a beggar, as a manipulator, and as a dictator. We believe we don’t have what we need, and so we have to get it somewhere outside. Like Waiting for Godot, we are always waiting for our ship to come in, for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, for that treasure within the other, to fill our empty cup.

Jack plays the beggar and Lisa the withholder and neither of them know of the inner treasure. If she knew, she would not withhold, and if he knew, he would not demand and beg, and they could have a peaceful relationship. For seven years he has begged and she has resisted. They are both fear-driven trusters in, and victims of, their own human stories. She fears she will lose what she has and he fears that he will not get what he wants. So she only sees him once or twice a week and he suffers constantly from his sense of aloneness and deprivation. She is self-protective and guilty and he feels deprived and angry. The symptom of their stalled relationship is an unrecognized gift, a Good News in disguise. Since Jack is my patient, he has to ask these questions: (1) what does he want to experience? (2) where is it located? (3) and, what is he telling himself that keeps him from experiencing it?

If the patient is to discover the Good News, the pain of their lack, separation and entrapment beliefs must be regarded as a friend and teacher. What is this friend and teacher going to show the sufferer? The vast difference in their story and reality. This pain can show the seeker that the story her or she is feeding on daily is fictional and that their spiritual reality is being ignored. We are attached to the story and resistant to reality. We perceive ourselves as separated, lacking and stuck and therefore we must have an exterior support system. Without special relationships to others, which are supposed to compensate for our own perceived inadequacies, we experience anxiety. We feel we have to manipulate and control that upon which we feel dependent for our sense of security and pleasure. The fear of losing that dependency and falling back into our assumed weakness, only increases our attempts to control. Then our attempts to control drive the relationship further into jeopardy. We have to see that our symptom and our pain are not the enemy, they are not incidental nor accidental. They are purposeful, meaningful and necessary for the Good News of self-realization.

Today humanity, as never before, is split into two apparently irreconcilable halves.

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposite halves.

– C.G. Jung

The Great Fiery Altar

The Technique of Transmutation

The Great Fiery Altar is an incredible transmutative meditation/visualization method.

When the decoded energetic form of the problem is laid upon the altar, God is being praised for the problem. “Praise God for all things” is symbolically acted out.

“I Am God” John Allen Muhammed

How brazen can you get?

I Am God?

“I Am God” announced the D.C. sniper, John Allen Muhammed, just shortly before he was captured and incarcerated in October, 2002.

“I am God” has often been the declaration of “psychopathic killers,” as well as “paranoid schizophrenics” and deluded dictators.

Such egotistic declarations of grandiosity, not to mention blasphemy, are found to be be an outtcry from severely damaged and impoverished self-esteem.

The “kill the infidels” slogan in zealous religious groups carries the same paranoid theme as “ethnic cleansing” in political wars.

“Playing god” by doctors, mad scientists, religious zealots, and politicians is not that different, however, except in degree, from the typical judgmental and arrogant behavior we see in the off-guard moments in the dysfunctional family game of “Who is right?”

When we strip the ego of its put-on front, we can easily find variations of “playing god” in every person’s story.If we penetrate behind that delusional defense, we find the raw inferiority comples, and if we go even deeper, through the veil of ignorance, we find divinity itself. Isn’t that an interesting paradox!

The difference between “I am god” (and you are a peon) and the awareness that everyone is sacred and divine is enormous. Again, it illustrates how trick language can be.

The D.C. sniper has often been profiled, but one of the most insightful profiles I read said that his outrageous behavior was “a bid for significance”. To make a bid for significance in such a self-destructive manner indicates to me that behind the facade of the “cool killer” there was, without a doubt, unimaginable pain and self-doubt.

If we do not realize and acknowledge that we are spiritual beings, we will err in the direction of false pride and false humility. And if we truly are infinite beings, neither credit nor blame is appropriate for such a realization.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Romans 12:3

The Inner Split

Ambivalence

The Inner Split developed aeons ago, and due to its stressfulness, was buried and kept hidden. This Inner Dividedness motivates all of our strategies and prompts our reactivity. We make a “deal” when we get married that our partner is to make us happy and we will make the partner happy; that the partner will take responsibility for our unhappiness and we will take responsibility for the partner’s unhappiness. When this “deal” fails, which it must, we feel betrayed and disappointed, hurt and angry. It must fail at some point, in spite of our will power and ingenuity, because this Inner Split must be recognized before Self-realization occurs. Interpersonal betrayal is just an outward expression and mirroring of inner betrayal, of the Inner Split. Divorce is just an out-picturing of the Inner Divorce. The most painful of all human experiences, betrayal, is thus the door to a deeper inner healing.



What is this Inner Split that creates so much stress and pain that we repress and deny it, but all the while we are working full-time to doctor its symptoms? This split is between your story about your finite self and the reality of your Infinite Self, between your human self-concept and your divinity. This awareness has been hidden behind a veil of ignorance and fear for millennia.


There is a world of phenomena, but we do not live directly in that outer objective world. We live in our inner story about that outer world. In that story we live according to a finite concept of ourselves, and overlook our invisible infinite nature. We do not notice that there is a split between our world and our story about our world; and we do not notice that there is a split between our Self and our story about ourself. Therefore we are always living with stress of the inattention to this split.

We concentrate instead on how to manage and manipulate the outer world so that we don’t have to feel the pain of this inner condition of splitness. When we fail to manipulate the outer world successfully, such as when there is the loss of a partner, the pain surfaces and we are upset by the betrayal of the “deal”. We didn’t “own” the partner in the first place, how could we “lose” them? But because of our inner split and its pain, we tried to control the partner, as well as the outer world in general, in order to feel secure, important, loved, powerful. This control strategy, however, did not work, and could not work, and only added further to our stress and to the sense of inadequacy.

So how were you managing your inner split before this current outer crisis produced this pain? What were you telling yourself? What were you thinking? Were you saying “I can’t live without you, baby?” Or “I can’t live with you, jerk!” Or was your partner saying such things to their self?


Psychotherapy begins with the admission of pain and all of the related attempts to avoid, deny and self-medicate this symptomatic pain. If psychotherapy is to work, it must then proceed to the taking of responsibility for this crisis instead of blaming some outer person or circumstance for it. The patient wants an immediate solution to his pain lest he experience further guilt, shame or weakness. If the therapist rushes into “solution focused” counseling for the sake of insurance coverage, the patient will be the loser. Simplistic solution focused counseling shows that the therapist has not dealt with his own Inner Split. The door of opportunity will again be missed. The patient will experience a brief recovery and then re-focus his Inner Split issue somewhere else. Do you want to be a blind participant in missing the opening of a door to the soul? How easy it is to fall into the Mr. Fix-It Rescuer illusion.


What is this Opening of the Door to the Soul? I have been arguing that symptoms are the Opening of the Door to the spirit. Quick-fixing the symptom is trying to “take the kingdom of heaven by force” (Mt 11:12). Every time a new symptom arises, it carries a more insistent message, and we attempt more drastic “treatments.” Both the patient and the therapist may be swept into the temptation to just comfort the pain and get rid of its “uselessness.” We sacrifice meaning for relief.

But upon careful analysis .it is discovered that the so-called “problem” was originally considered to be a “solution” to some other problem. When the symptom occurs, the Door is Open. The door to what? The symptom is a signal of the Real Self, and it is accompanied by the pain from the Inner Split.

The meaning of the symptom and its pain is an open door to Self-Realization. It is so easy to make rationalizations and excuses. It is so easy to tell ourselves that we don’t have the time or the money for self-awakening psychotherapy. Just give me a quick fix. I am too busy for such a nebulous luxury as self-realization, even if such a thing exists and were possible. I have other more important priorities such as survival, getting what I want, and avoiding what I don’t want. I, I. I. Which “I” are we talking about? Who has time for self-knowledge? I have to see who wins the football game. Which “I” is it that wants to win the game? Which “I” is so concerned about being a loser? Every step we take is hounded by the Inner Split and we don’t even see it. We only see what our programming and our scripts allow. The story controls our life. Our internal schizophrenia, our Inner Split, will not be ignored, however. There is no escape from its insistent message.


Look carefully and steadily at your pain and your symptoms. How did you create this for yourself? What does this creation mean? What were you wanting? Why did you want so much or so little? Why were you never satisfied or told yourself your satisfaction didn’t matter? Why did you make a fool out of yourself? Why were you so greedy, so selfish, so self-sacrificing, so impulsive, so withdrawn, so irrational, so intellectualized, so judgmental, so critical, so defensive, so hostile, so forceful, so self-punitive? Can you really look at that kind of behavior without self-condemnation and self-justification? Can you even consider that such things arise from your repressed spirituality and infinite nature? The Door to Awareness is Open now. Will you look or will you go on with “business as usual?”

The double-minded man

James 1: 8

Anxiety and Peace

What does anxiety have to do wit peace?

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is the cue that you are entertaining your story of insecurity, danger, rejection, failure, inadequacy, guilt, shame, loneliness, isolation, insufficiency, entrapment, and some form of mental or physical pain. . Anxiety is the signal that you are in the victim mentality.

Anxiety means that you are in a struggle between your ego story and your Infinite Selfhood.

Anxiety contains a valuable form of experience and knowledge. If you do not recognize, consider and contain your anxiety, you will react against it.

Reaction to anxiety is what I call our Rescue Plan. Anxiety automatically triggers any of several Rescue Plans that we may have in our repertoire. Get acquainted with your Rescue Plans. Every victim experience is accompanied by anxiety. Anxiety triggers Reactive Rescue Plans.

Rescue Plans are automatic, habitual, reactionary, compulsive, impulsive, and self-deceptive strategies.

Rescue Plans can be of many sorts and types. Eventually these automated rescue plans or self-medicating reactions crystalize into strategies, addictions, neuroses, and other personality patterns of avoidance and control. These crystalized rescue plans do not work, but we tell ourselves that they should allay our anxiety, no matter how ineffectively. There is a cost for these Rescue Plans.

Since these Rescue Plans are false solutions to a false problem, they only work to a limited and expensive degree. Anxiety, in other words, points to a false problem. Anxiety is a self-protective part of our story, which could point us to the existence of a false identity belief system, but which when misunderstood becomes a signal for self-protective cost-ineffective rescue reactions. Anxiety arises from our perception that we are in pain, that our ego is under threat, and that we are our ego. In other words, anxiety is a signal that I am a potential or actual victim of some threat.

Become a detective and find out what your rescue plans are.

Analyze the cost-ineffectiveness of your various rescue plans

The urge to self-rescue can take many fight-or-flight forms. You have many self-rescuing, self-medicating, self-protecting plans and strategies that your mind flips through with split second speed when anxiety arises. None of these work effectively. All of them have their price, their cost. I say without equivocation that they do not work to a satisfactory degree because the source of the anxiety is not consciously addressed. Anxiety cannot be avoided, manipulated, controlled, or self-medicated. Anxiety is a God-given gift, just like the symptoms and suffering that it produces, and it cannot be erased effectively until you address its purpose.

Therefore, bear your anxiety. Anxiety is not a problem to be solved. Anxiety attacks are just the increased victimization effects of ineffective rescue attempts.

Bear your anxiety. Sustain it. Hold it. Do not rush into reactions and self-rescue plans. Find out the source and purpose of your anxiety. Every answer your mind gives you on the first attempts to do this will be false. Your mind will tell you that your anxiety is due to this, that and the other. Your mind will mis-diagnose the cause of your anxiety. The cause of your anxiety will generally be attributed to what someone else has done, said or failed to do. Or the cause of your anxiety may be attributed to some memory, trauma, or problem in your past or future which you consider to be real and unbearable. In any case, the cause of anxiety is attributed to the belief that I am or could be a victim of some external thing or person.

Anxiety is a signal of spiritual unawareness. And once you launch into your Self-Rescue reactions, you have added another whole layer of consequences and costs. You have sacrificed your body, your relationships, your finances, and your self-awareness upon the altar of ego-protection.

Your efforts to self-medicate your painful carefully mis-diagnosed anxiety have not worked very well.

Your self-rescue plans bring a partial degree of relief or you would not use them, but this relief is mediocre and cost-ineffective, and creates more anxiety.

Anxiety, then, is the valuable signal that you are into a victim-perpetrator-and-rescue cycle, your ego story, your spiritual unawareness. Bear that anxiety. Use that anxiety for the transformation of your story into awareness. Use that anxiety to move from your ego to your Self, from your sense of limitation to your Infinite Potential. Get off the victim-perpetrator-rescue merry-go-round. Awake!

I am learning that when I feel the urge to avoid my anxiety and to self-rescue, I relax. I accept anxiety as valuable information. I relax into it. I do not resist it or fight it or try to escape from it. It is just a signal. I relax into the urge for fight or flight rescue plans. When I relax into my anxiety, and breathe easy, I begin the transition into peace. Peace is the lost reservoir of power which I have labeled with many other names such as the emptiness, the void, boredom, nothingness, the vacuum, loneliness, isolation. Beneath these labels is peace. This peace is the presence of Infinity. This peace is the goal of all of my externalized self-rescue plans. Peace is what I had hoped to achieve when all of my so-called needs and wants were fulfilled in the outside world. But there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. Peace does not come through the war-like methods of the ego’s self-rescue plans. The ego is a system of inner division and conflict and does not bring harmony and peace. Peace is your natural state which has been lost from awareness. Peace is God within. Anxiety is the unawareness of the Peace of God within. All of our failure-bound rescue plans and symptoms arise from this spiritual unawareness, this inner disconnect from the Source. Anxiety, therefore, is the entryway to peace. You do not need to run from anxiety, it will only increase in its effort to get your attention.

Find your peace and then address whatever is left of your problems with calmness and creativity. Peace does not depend on any outward thing. Relax into the infinite peace which is concealed by your victim mentality.

Escape from anxiety is impossible. What you are escaping from is the entryway to your Infinity. Go through your anxiety. The more you run from it, the bigger it gets. Relax into it. It is just God calling you. You cannot find satisfaction and peace by running from your self. Yourself is Infinite Peace. Come home to within. Awaken to your peace.

A Spiritual Psychotherapy Koan

No victims?

We can summarize the entire message of spiritual psychotherapy in a one sentence koan: How can the ego be hurt, when you are not? Spiritual Psychotherapy is the growing awareness of the meaning of the struggle between the belief that the ego may be hurt, stressed, slighted, angered, fearful, bereaved, aggressive, prideful, depressed, suicidal, homicidal, psychotic, neurotic, or normal, but that your Self is not subject to any of these experiences. All of these experiences are the result of various opinions and judgments that you are holding in your mind as objective facts in the human identity story, and have nothing to do with the Reality of the Self. All of these states of mind are just experiences within the story, and this story is held together by the staples, glue, duct tape, bailing wire and rubber bands of ordinary dualistic perception and reasoning. The ego can be hurt, but you cannot. And so the koan is: how can there be no victim in a world of obvious fear and victimization? I find that there are no perpetrators or victims except within my programming.

Bill was able when he got anxious this week to say to himself “I am not upset for the reason I think” because there was nothing real to fear and to be victimized by, and therefore he was able to relax his compulsive acting out fear cycle by remembering love. I asked Bill if could visualize his anxiety and give it some form or shape. I asked him if his anxiety had any color, shape, form, weight, sound, taste, or feeling. He saw his anxiety as about the size of a softball, and said that it was very heavy. It was blue in color and made a screaming or screeching sound. I asked him if he could change anything about this softball. He reduced it to about the size of a golfball and it was lighter. I asked him if he could take it up a mountain. This turned out to be quite a struggle, but he finally got it about halfway up. I suggested that he visualize a large altar ( See The Great Fiery Altarsection ) and place this ball of negative energy on the altar, and call down a purple flame from heaven upon it. When he did, he saw in the background of the flames a door. Eventually we got through the door and walked down a long hallway where he could see light at the end. Then he came out of the dark hallway into a garden, a very calm, peaceful and energized experience. He said that he felt like his real self.

I explained how this negative ball of energy had been transmuted into a higher energy form by exposing it to a more rapid vibrational energy field called the purple flame of heaven. We looked upon this experience as a modern form of alchemy in which he transformed something negative into its positive inner source. Also we noted that this was a shift from the outer to the inner. He was tempted to run back to the outer and to get involved with his behavior and it consequences and the tendency to believe that he could control it as an outside matter. He learned that you can go deeper into the inner core of a negative form and find what is really behind it. The original positive energy had, through mis-imagination, been turned into a negative energy, and through transmutation it was changed back into its original substance.

The Dangers of the Secret Knowledge

What dangers?

Is there a danger to the Secret Knowledge? Why did Jesus constantly warn his disciples to “tell no man”. Why did he say that there were many things that could not be told at that time in history, and why did he hide his teachings in parables and why did Paul speak so often of the mystery behind the gospel? The good news was to be broadcast everywhere and yet it was secretive and dangerous.All down through history there have been heresy trials and persecutions, not only by the secular authorities but also by religious authorities. Why?Even though this Secret Knowledge is more precious than silver or gold, it is a threat to our most highly guarded possession, our belief system. Although money and sex may have always seemed like our top priorities in life, it is our beliefs that have always been our top priority. Nothing incites more violence than an attack upon one’s belief system, for therein lies the ego’s shaky sense of security, control and power. I have seen too many people spend their entire bank accounts and ruin their children in divorce battles to prove that they are right. Their primary battle thus was not for the money or for custody control, but for the justification and survival of their beliefs about themselves.Another danger of the Secret Knowledge is that it will be perceived as a guilt trip. This Knowledge indicates that we are responsible for everything that happens to us, in fact that we created it and attracted it. All symptoms are self-created experiences designed for our awakening. A person is offended at the idea that he would depress, sicken or sabotage himself. He may insist that it is due to chemistry, germs, society, genetics, the spouse, the boss, an accident, etc. He may excuse himself as a good person, a devout person, an ill person, an innocent bystander, etc In any case he is presenting himself as an angry innocent entitled victim.This secret knowledge is a threat to the power structure, not only of society but of the individual also. Even though we may seem to despise our weaknesses, they are what we know and so we cling to them. Why? Because we believe we are our self-concept, our reputation, our socially conditioned identity.Infinity Vision seeks to undermine our present identification with our belief system, because identification is the source of all of our insecurities and stress. Gurdgieff went so far as to say that identification is the only sin. The only real danger to “me” is my own ignorance of my infinity and even that danger is illusory. In Reality I am in no danger at all because even the suffering that arises from my belief system is an invitation to my awakening.And so, the threat to our so-called power structure is a danger because our power structure is not a power structure at all. It is a belief structure.I am saying that as long as we are identified with our belief structure, we will feel in danger. Our self-image is a house of cards and unless we keep energizing it, it will keep falling down. Let it fall. Let us become the Observer; let us awaken our Infinite Vision; look and see what fell.One rescuer husband is proud of the good he does. His addicted wife, Anne, and her girlfriend, Jane, are pathetic to him. He has no use for Jane and pins all of his hopes on Anne. I ask him how he and Anne and Jamie are alike and he cannot answer. Finally I tell him that all three of them are alike and this insults him. I tell him that all three of them feel that their problems are external to them and that their solutions must come from the outside also. I tell him that isn’t working and can’t work. He believes that if he works at it hard enough, it will work in the future. I tell him that it won’t work in the future any better than it is working now, that he can’t change other people. The good guy/bad guy dichotomy in which he is enmeshed is merely a belief system. All three of them are out of control and irresponsible, and worst of all, are feeling like victims. How can he hope to get rid of victim number one, Jane, and rely on victim number two, Anne, and have her rescue him after he has rescued her? I ask him to consider that all three of you are infinite beings and do not need fixing or rescuing.He says that he was raised to do right and for the most part that is all that he has ever done. Then why isn’t it working? Because Jane draws Anne back into drugs. I tell him that the good guys are harder to awaken than the bad guys. He says that he wants a joint session with his wife. I ask him if he is willing to have his agenda (I’m strong and right) challenged in front of his wife and to see hers (I’m weak and wrong) challenged in front of him.The finite belief system is a stress-generating machine. You can’t find enough legal/legitimate ways to relieve stress if you do not shut off your chronic stress-generator. The chronic stress-generator is your self-image. My client tells me that it is impossible to live without stress. I tell him then he is stuck with that belief. He says stress is due to the fast pace of life in the world. I tell him that we have created this fast pace for some reason. I remind him that the infinite cannot be stressed. The self-image is a survival mechanism. Infinity has no concern about survival.Stress arises as the gap between what you think want and what you believe you have. That gap can never be decreased until the self-image gives way to the Infinite Vision. In Infinite Vision there is no gap between what you want and what you have. You have everything and you are everything and there is nothing to want. The chronic stress-generator is disabled and there is no stress, and no stress relief is necessary.Sin is considered to be improper stress relief, and that is why all men are called sinners. The source of sin is not really our inappropriate stress relief methods, but the real culprit is our stress-generating assumptions. Sin is therefore not an act but a belief which produces symptomatic misbehavior. To try to correct behavior without a change in awareness is an impotent effort. Metanoia is the call to a complete radical reversal in consciousness.What are some ways to circumvent or disable your belief system?

Temporary methods:

Consciously breathe, exercise, eat whole foods, access altered states of consciously, experience meditation and hypnotism, and any of the other survival strategies you have ever devised since you were born.

The Successful method:

The one successful method, under whatever names and semantics you can imagine: Infinite Vision in a finite world.

Infinite Vision, or IFV is a no-method method called awakening or awareness. IFV is not a belief system. IFV sees and is capable of understanding and transforming all belief systems. IFV occurs through un-learning, de-hypnosis, de-programming, and non-fantasying. All beliefs entrap the believer; all strategies disappoint the strategist. All dreams will break the dreamer. All re-programming will be have to be superceded.

I have assumed I am a limited being in a limited world. I consider now that I became aware of being an unlimited being trying to live like a limited being.

I now choose to consider myself an infinite being in a finite world.

With more awakening I expect to realize I am an unlimited being in an unlimited universe choosing to play limited games with other unlimited beings.

This book is about my search to find out the truth about man’s nature. It reports on a continuing search I am conducting from the “bottom up” and from “the top down”. I search from the bottom up by reporting on human experience as I have known in it 45 years of conducting psychotherapy and my own personal struggles. I search from the top down by examining the greatest psychological, mystical and spiritual teachings, and by being open to continuing revelation myself. This combination of bottom up research and top down revelation has resulted for me in a unique understanding of human evolution. I believe that this research and insearch represents the edge of the wave of the future. We are all riding on the crest of the wave of this Secret Knowledge whether we realize it or not. All of us are contributing to this Knowledge by our excesses and insanities and by the awakenings we are having about these excesses and insanities.

The exciting thing about this type of research and insearch is that human experience and divine revelations about that experience are meshing into a surprisingly grand understanding. It is time for this Secret Knowledge to be more openly explored and verbalized by everyone. By the cultivation and use of our Infinite Vision, all mistakes will be useful. All excesses will become roads to the palace of wisdom. All insanities will reveal a hidden theme of sanity. All addictions will provide a hidden path to the true God. All suffering will be redeemed by its real meaning. All of our foolishness will be relevant to our growth. The confining orthodoxies of both science and religion will burst open to reveal Life Itself. All of our finite beliefs will be shown to have the force of Infinity within them. All of our secularisms will be recognized as sacred. All electromagnetic and nuclear vibratory frequencies will reveal the heartbeat of God Himself in nature. All of our inhumanities and hypocrisies will be transformed into the realization of Infinity. What were our obstacles will become our stepping stones. What were walls will become doors. “All things are being made new.” The very things that were used to condemn and exclude, will now be used to accept and include.

Our hideous self-images will alchemically become beautifully divine. Cinderella will become a princess; the frog a prince; the ugly duckling a beautiful swan; our swords will be beaten into plowshares; a lamb will lay down with the lion. The dry looking seed will sprout into new life. The fierce dark rain clouds will water the dry desert. The dangers of knowing will become the excitement of discovery. The gods will die but God will be reborn. The agnostics and the heretics will become the new disciples. The mystics will become scientists and the scientists mystics.

This book is an exploration of the thesis that every symptom of our inhumanity is a symbol of our divinity. This thesis is incredibly challenging. It will take years of research and insearch by our most talented minds and devoted disciplines to test out this thesis. I have done no more than name this door and open it a little wider here. I have no doubt that some of my meanderings are off-target, but I have full confidence that after all of our vested interests are exposed, there will be incredible progress in understanding this Secret Knowledge. We humans have tremendous vested interests in maintaining the status quo, however much we may complain about it and hate it. The devil we know has always been preferred over the god we don’t know.

I have done little more than scratch the surface of this thesis. I will be very eager to see this hypothesis fiercely debated. I present this possibility to every client I counsel with. Nothing else is worth my time or theirs. All other psychotherapy and religion is just so much bogging around in the Slough of Despond, playing with one finite strategy or another. All other education and political reform is just exchanging one illusion for another. The whole world of opposites have been made into ultimates and absolutes, but they are merely interchangeable relativities. Our so-called morals and values are no more than symptoms of our ignorance or symbols of our Infinite Vision.

I critique these things with respect and appreciation because any of our finite human efforts used with Infinite Vision reveals their ultimate meaning.

Is a Rose a Rose?

Are you merely human?

IS A ROSE A ROSE?

To see the finite as merely finite is not only misleading but illusory. The finite is never merely finite. There is no such thing as finite-in-itself. We tell ourselves that a rose is a rose is a rose, or that a rose by any other name is still a rose. But with Infinite Vision we would say that God by any other name is still God.

A rose is part of a rose bush, and a rose bush is part of a family of rose bushes, and a family of rose bushes is part of an ecosystem, and an ecosystem is part of nature, and nature is a part of the universe, and the universe is a part of a hologram, and a hologram is a part of human experience, and human experience is a part of a larger system we call Consciousness. A rose is an event in consciousness. A rose is a name we have agreed by consensus to call this event in consciousness. A rose is a limited finite experience of the Infinite.

Therefore, we can say that there is no such thing as a rose per se. There is only the rose experience, the rose consciousness, the rose archetype, the rose God. A rose seen through finite sight is not the same as a rose seen through Infinite Vision. If the meaning of a rose were understood, the eyes would have to become Infinite.

Nothing finite has true meaning outside of the context of Infinity. Nothing in time has any true meaning outside of the context of Eternity. Perception has no healthy meaning outside of Consciousness. All finite meaning becomes meaningless or conflicted outside of Infinite Meaning.

Nothing then exists in and of itself. Every finite thing either conceals or reveals the Infinite. A rose is God in time and space. A dead rose is God in time and space also, either concealed or revealed A weed is also God in time and space. (Eccl. 11) Time itself either conceals or reveals Eternity. When time seems to conceal Eternity, it becomes stressful and symptomatic; when time reveals Eternity, it becomes healing and symbolic.

Everything to me is what I tell myself it is, depending on whether I am using my limited sight belief system or my Infinite Vision abilities. Even though a rose is a time-space hologram, I honor that rose experience as a god-experience, as a time-and-space limited snapshot of Infinity.

Another way of saying it is to say that a rose is a Rose, and a weed is a Weed. Jesus said that the day would come when all that is hidden will be revealed, and all that is secret will be shouted from the housetops. Perhaps that day has come.

A Symptom or a Symbol? Symptoms are degraded Symbols of Your Infinite Vision

Can we say for certain that any particular symptom has a specific cause? In some simple cases, we can find such a trail, but in most other more complex cases the causes are multi-faceted. Thus we cannot say that something as complex as cancer is directly traceable to psychological stress and psychological stress alone. Stress is more than psychological. Our bridges have metal fatigue, metal stress. Our air, water and food is chemically stressed and deficient. Nature has been modified, adapted, and abused. Our entire planet is under stresses that were induced by the cumulative causes of human thought, human technology, and human mistakes. When you walk into a harried shopping center prior to Christmas you sometimes experience an incredibly stressful atmosphere or negative vibratory energy. Nuclear waste irresponsibly dumped into rivers gives the fish cancer. Fast food diets of sugar and salt have raised diabetes into an epidemic. Cigarettes have made lung cancer a major cause of death. Drunk driving has increased our traffic toll unbelievably. Many of the finite “causes” of our medical, psychological and social symptoms do not seem to be due directly to the lack of Infinite Vision. However, all of the data is not in.

What if people were using their InfiniteVision capabilities instead of their stress-generative belief systems? Maharashi sent a team of meditators to various hot-spot cities during times of war-threatening crises who were able to calm the fevers of hostility without saying a word about it to anyone. He claims that 1000 dedicated meditators would significantly raise the entire consciousness of the planet in a year.

If people were using their Infinite Vision, they would individually be raising their level of vibratory energy from guilt, fear, hostility and resistance to inspiration, creativity and love. This would mean that we would have less need to drink and drug, smoke, cheat, lie, and abuse people and the environment in order to “survive.” We would only play win/win games any more. The “rat race” would become fun again. Stress would become playful energy and a creative challenge. Work and money would become means of joyful giving and receiving. Problems which divide could be converted into opportunities which unite. Fear and pain would be viewed as energy to be re-directed. We would not need to abuse the environment in order to try to feel better about ourselves. Greed would no longer be considered necessary. Every employee would be considered an important asset to create quality products and service, and would share equally in the wealth created by their creation of quality products and services. Self-hatred and self-punishment by illness, accidents, violence and war would gradually cease to be chosen as solutions.

The lack of Infinite Vision therefore does directly and indirectly cause all of the symptoms in our lives. Let us review why: Vision is all that exists; you see only that which you imagine yourself to be; all behavior is a reflection of your beliefs; finite beliefs produce off-target results; off-target results lead us to think that we are victims of something outside of ourselves; we resent experiencing victimization and we abuse ourselves, our environment and one another, using various strategies to solve our victim pain; these stressful strategies produce bothersome symptoms which when analyzed and traced, lead us back to where we started: the painful mis-use of our imagination and the ignorance of our Infinite Vision.

In a strange sense, the victim mentality is to “blame” for our symptoms, and yet, paradoxically, the victim mentality is illusory, and so are all of its mis-creations. If you get cancer, go to the doctor, but use the cancer experience as your challenge to change your victim mentality to Infinite Vision and you will be “cured” of your most basic “illness” whether your cancer goes into remission or not.

Neville speaks of the twain man: Adam and Christ. We are Adam and Christ. Adam functions in an asleep manner; Christ is our awakening. Adam is a state of mind; Christ is a state of being. Both Adam and Christ are of God, and each plays their part. Adam does not know who he is. He does not know that his name is “I Am”. Therefore all things are not possible unto him. When he discovers that his name is I Am, all things become possible to him. Just be aware that “I Am” , and that I Am is imagination. God, in Christ, is my own awakened wonderful human imagination. Then by faith I activate my imagination and the seemingly impossible is done. I assume the feeling of what I want, and ignore everything that denies it, and then I know that it is God’s pleasure to give me the kingdom of what I want. And what do I want? I want to exercise my wonderful human imagination and creativity and thus to bless the world with this knowledge. When you know that your own wonderful human imagination is the Infinite One, you do not accept any sense data as final. My body is the temple of the Living Infinite Imagination, and I am one with that One. If I think that God is outside me somewhere, then I have not awakened, and the world will be experienced as full of limitations and impossibilities. There is no external God. God became man that man may become God. Finding himself in man he took upon himself all of the weaknesses of man, but then he remembers who he is, he awakens to I Am. There is only One God and he is buried in this fragmented state called humanity.

INFINITE IMAGINATION

The world as we know it is the product of infinite imagination. Imagination is an unlimited dreaming activity, which when joined to visualization, speech and intent, materializes into form. We become so dazzled and bewitched by the created form that we ignore and forget the infinite power of the imagination itself.

Since society has downplayed this most powerful faculty as mere fancy and a youthful pipedream, we are often only conscious of imagination in daydreams and nightdreams.

When people seek me out as a psychotherapist or as a teacher to help them fix their nightmarish experiences, it is my conscious intent to awaken them from their nightmares.

I have discovered that we are stressed, diseased and troubled because of the nightmares of our daily life. These “nightmares” are negative fantasies, due to the misuse of our infinite imagination. We do not realize that all of our conflicts, crises and suffering arise from the misuse of imagination. We do not even realize that we are asleep, unaware, hypnotized and brainwashed into believing that imagination is a childish non-power. We lost this awareness when Adam was put to sleep by God (Gen 2:21)

We have believed, in our sleeping state, that we are merely human, merely a body, merely an intellect and emotions. We have forgotten who and what we are and now God is trying to awaken us.

The purpose of nightmares is to awaken us from our sleep, is it not? Our daytime nightmares have the same purpose, but it is more difficult because of our beliefs about imagination. With a shock you awaken yourself from a horrible nightmare at night, and you tell yourself it was only a dream. In the same manner in the daytime, we could give ourselves a shock and tell ourselves it is only a bad dream, but we do not. I want you to know that your dilemmas are just bad dreams that you unwittingly made up, and worst of all you told yourself that they just happened or that someone else caused them. When you tell yourself such things, you immediately lose awareness that you created these problems and that you are still in control of them.

Within this dream state that we call everyday reality, we experience nightmares of stress, dis-ease, accidents, illness, monsters, failure and even death scenes. But have you ever seriously considered that these nightmares are actually symptoms of your infinity? That human suffering is caused by the germ of divinity? If the promises of your daydreams do not awaken you, then perhaps the shock of the nightmares can.

What are we asleep to? We are unaware of the infinite power of our imagination. We are unaware that our imagination has created our daydreams and our nightmares, as well as the world of reality as we know it. We have imagined our whole world of experience unawares, and due to this unawareness we have led ourselves to believe that we are not in control. We have come to believe that we are victims of many “external forces.”

Great teachings come from time to time in history to remind us that we are dreaming and that the infinite power of imagination can be awakened. This infinite power has been called by many names down through history.

For the Hebrews, it was “I Am”

For the Egyptians, it was “Ishtar”

For the Mayans, it was “Quezelhotl”

For the Greeks, it was “Eros”

For the West, it was “Christ”

For the American Indians, it was “Great Spirit”

For India, it was “Krishna”

For much of the East, it was the “Buddha”

The human mind conceives these deities to be just historical terachers or teachings back there somewhere, but do they not represent awakening experiences of infinite imagination?

Within our daydreams and nightmares, humanity creates many false gods and imaginary finite symbols of the infinite, because we cannot live without the infinite. But to awaken to the infinite that we are, and to awaken from the finite self that we have imagined ourselves to be, we must realize that we are creating our own nightmarish suffering.

We must realize that our nightmares contain troublesome symptoms designed to shock us into awareness of our divinity and our infinity.

We are endowed with infinity. All symptoms are designed to be shockers. All problems are wake-up calls.

We have seen thus far that everything is caused by imagination. When imagination is mis-used, it results in human suffering. Human suffering is registered in our minds as symptoms. Symptoms are wake-up calls to the hidden power of the infinite imagination.

All finite things either conceal or reveal the infinite. The infinite appears in the finite world as either a symbol or a symptom. Properly understood all experiences in nature and human life are symbols of the infinite; misunderstood these experiences appear as symptoms.

We are so brain-washed by our beliefs about the visible world that we need symptoms to awaken us to the invisible meaning of the visible world. Yet, since we are so sure that we see things as they are, we view symptoms as a nuisance, a punishment, an embarrassment, an abnormality, a curse to be avoided, medicated, denied, and fixed. So we treat God’s messengers with a pill. We go to God’s assistants to get rid of God’s message. We spend years enduring these vital symptomatic experiences and do not hear or see their Life-Awakening messages. The Great Teachers keep telling us that we’re “blind” “deaf” and “dead” in order to shock us awake, but we only hear that we are stupid or bad, and we tell ourselves that such messengers are crazy and irrelevant to life in the “real world”.

The Joel Source

Does “all” mean “all”?

In the days of Joel, locusts were dreadful. They shredded your crops and ate your food. There were no canned goods to pick up at the local grocery. You went hungry. After a second year of locusts, Joel went to the temple to complain to God.

God told Joel “I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten…my great army that I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25) Can you believe that God promised to restore all that the locusts had eaten, and then He admitted He sent them in the first place. No wonder we feel God punishes! What a paradox! Shit happens? Not according to scripture. God sends problems to awaken us. There are no freaks of nature, no accidents. We are the co-producers of all of our “locust” problems.

All of the years that have been “wasted” by the locusts of our finite minds will be restored to us by the awakening of our Infinite Vision, by which we will be able to realize that our gifts and our losses came from the Same Source.

We have all played the part of hypocrite, false prophet, and heretic. We have all been victims, persecutors and rescuers. I will restore all of the locust-eaten years of your existence. I opened the door of revelation that cannot be shut. I renew all things. Every philosophy, every religion, and every belief system has been eaten by the locusts of the human mindset. I will restore them all. With your help I will gather up all of the wayward stories of mankind that the locusts have chewed up, and I will restore them to you whole and beautiful.

You thought that the Wall Street locusts ate up your savings when the stock market crashed? You thought your daddy was eaten up by the locusts of war, wild women, a divorce, hard work, death? You thought you lost your lover to the locusts of jealousy, adultery, cancer or mediocre communication? You thought you lost your health to the locusts of genetics, germs, diseases, accidents, or epidemics?

All of my products are “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and I put a guarantee on them all that doesn’t just last 90 days, but forever. There is no planned obsolescence with my creations, although there appears to be. When Infinite Vision is restored, you will see that not one “iota” was out of place. I restore all that the locusts have apparently eaten. By the way, I sent that army of locusts (Joel 2:25) You can blame me.

Long long ago before time even began, you were with me in the glory of Infinity, and you were so enraptured with Eternal Bliss that you bet that you could never forget this bliss. You swore that we were all lovers forever, just like in the poems you wrote more recently to your girlfriend I took you up on your wager and I threw everything at you, even the locusts. And you almost gave up and lost your bet. But you kept on trying to figure it all out. You came up with some of the weirdest ideas, heresies and philosophies imaginable for solutions to your “dilemma”, but even though you forgot your Infinite Vision, you did not give up, even when you said “uncle.” You were still determined to win your bet with me.

I told Joel that I’d restore all those losses recounted in the locust memory because you deserve to win your bet, and I’m here to guarantee it. No one loses who plays with me, and all of you are playing with me. When Paul was writing his letters to the early Christians, I kept whispering the word “all” into his ear and it didn’t make any sense to him but he wrote it down over a hundred times anyway. Now, think about it, what does “all” mean? Does “all” mean poetic license or not? I said “all” and I meant All. I meant Infinite.

“All” who play with me will win. And my playing field is vast, all-encompassing. It includes both teams in your Super Bowl, both armies on the battlefield, both defendants and plaintiffs in your courtrooms, both guards and prisoners in your jails, both orthodox and heretics in your churches, both republicans and democrats in your senate, both earthlings and aliens in your universe, both heavens and hells in your bibles. The playing field is vast and you are all my players and no one loses on my field. For, you see, my vision is infinite, and all of my products are quality products, and all of them have the guarantees of Infinite Vision stamped into their very being. I make nothing but designer jeans and designer people. I gave you my Infinite Vision and I know how much you misused it, and I will restore it to you, even while you are swearing that the locusts ate it all.

I told Joel I will restore all “losses” and I have. And if you think for one minute that any of the various scriptures of the world are against Infinite Vision, you will just have to re-write your own version for yourself. In fact, you have already done that, and that is what you live by, and whichever story you live by contains a hidden message about your Infinity. Jesus re-discovered this hidden message and he lived and died for it, and when you re-discover it, so will you. There is no other way to collect your bet and step out of the locust-eating cycle. I guarantee you that your finite story will self-correct when you get the point.

Mission Impossible

Your Mission Impossible always begins with an assignment that self-destructs. But then you live that assignment and you begin to re-member that you are Agent 007. And I have guaranteed that you are able to complete your impossible mission. All of your notions about goodies and locusts will be re-visioned and then you will no longer believe your pityful story about a pityful world, but you will see the Heavenly Jerusalem right here on terra firma. I will tell you just like I told ” Joe” , that “Parrot ice is back”, which being translated into Infinite English, means “Paradise is back” . You see, Infinite English is included in “all” English words, just as Infinite Japanese is embedded in all Japanese words. The Forgotten Language is “between the lines”.

Paradise is hidden in Parrot ice and when your Infinite Vision is activated, you will see it and you will know that Joel’s vision is 100% accurate. Not one promise that I made you is not coming true. I promised you my entire inheritance.

My sons get the whole inheritance, and each one of them gets it all, because it cannot be divided: it is infinite. Your inheritance will not be screwed up this time by greediness and crookedness, nor tied up with court proceedings. You thought you lost your inheritance, but you didn’t. I am your Father and I will deliver, not in some remote future world, but NOW. And as soon as you arrive at NOW, you will receive your infinite inheritance. You don’t have to wait for some parent to die and for some court to act.

The only problem is you haven’t been to NOW-land for a long time. You have been trying to live in the finite landscapes of yesterday and tomorrow. I can’t meet you in the past or future, because I only exist in NOW and only NOW really exists. Infinite Vision is about NOW and Infinite Vision is now. You call your generation the instant gratification generation, but you are never in the Holy Instant called Now. What you call instant gratification is not the Infinite Gratification I am promising you, because it is full of fear and it comes and goes. What you call instant gratification is also instant frustration and it is merely a perception in the finite world of opposites. Real Bliss is only in the NOW where I live, and where you came from. I sent locusts to eat up your very temporary gratifications so that you can awaken to your Eternal Bliss. Joseph Campbell was right when he counseled:

Follow your bliss

How can I meet you in some distant non-existent then and there? Time and space are just game conditions which either conceal or reveal the Infinite. Wake up again. Join me in the field beyond and within time and space. I told Rumi about this field and he listened and met me there. Wow, what a meeting! I gave him the whole inheritance because he was ready for it, and I told him to tell you that I still have it all for you too, and he did!

And I remind every living soul of this infinite inheritance, not to mention the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and everyone hears it to the best of their ability depending on their jumbled state of mind at the time. Even the drunk goes to his bottle and the druggie to his needle to find the Infinite. I will restore the years lost to the alcohol and drug locusts too. I know that everyone since the beginning of time has been looking desperately and in the strangest places for the lost treasure of their Infinity. I will restore all lost treasures. All of your lost treasures are insured. My insurance policy is the best on earth and in heaven. It covers loss of property, health, love and even life itself, and it pays you and not only your successors.

Do you know what “all” means? Do you know what “infinite” means? There wasn’t even a sign for infinity until I gave John Wallis in 1650 the idea for it when he was studying mathematics. That was all a part of my clever plan to give Joe the idea of Infinity Jewelry. “All” means all of the opposites, all of the cops and robbers, all of the evils and goods, all black and white thinking. Without such a vision, the people perish, as the Proverbs put it so well. (Proverbs 29:18)

Some of you seem rich and some of you seem poor

Some of you seem well and some of you seem sick

Some of you seem young and some of your seem old

Some of you seem beautiful and some of you seem ugly

Some of you seem skinny and some of you seem fat

Some of you seem smart and some of you seem dumb

Some of you seem selfish and some of you seem unselfish

Some of you seem strong and some of you seem weak

Some of you seem like perpetrators and some of you seem like victims

But these are “all” merely states of mind.

And you are none of these because you are “all” infinite

And yet “all” of you play these finite parts in my Infinite Drama

And one of my psychiatric messengers, John Dorsey, got it right when he said its either illness or allness. He probably hadn’t even noticed Saint Paul’s “alls” but John listened when I told him about “allness.” And it is either illness or allness.

There is nothing but Infinity anywhere. If you see finite locusts eating up your finite goodies, wake up. I sent the goodies and the locusts for one reason only, to remind you of your bet and of your mission impossible, and that you and I will succeed!

In the Bible you are asked to witness, to speak about what you see and hear. But you can only speak about what you think you are seeing and hearing, and so does everyone who ever spoke about anything. When you think you see locusts eating up your goodies, you are going to be “mad”, right? When you don’t see any locusts eating up your goodies, you are going to be “glad”, right? Lifetimes are spend on this Glad-and-Mad-Merry-Go-Round: when the stock market goes up and down, when lovers accept and reject you, when you feel young or old, when you feel well or sick, when you feel blessed or cursed.

And this merry-go-round is there to make you so dizzy you will get off and awaken to your Infinite Vision. If you don’t get off now, you will later. Some day you will get up and walk out of Plato’s cave of finite shadows, and come out into the Infinite Sunlight of Awareness. I guarantee that those shadows and your nightmares which tell stories of locusts eating up your goodies, are just that—stories. And if you can’t remember that you are on the merry-go-round of locust stories and mis-used imagination? Well, it is mis-used imagination and that is the meaning of the good news those New Testament guys were trying to tell you. The girations of the stock market are there just to tease and shock you into awakening. And even if I allow some crooked people on Wall Street to manipulate the markets for “their benefit”, please realize that what man might have intended for evil, I intend for Good.

A Message From the Joker

The joke’s on me

We have two states of minds: the Impossible State and the Possibility State, the mind which thinks a lot of things are impossible and the mind which knows that all things are possible. God told Abraham that he would have a son, and that son would become the leader of his nation. When Sarah his wife heard about this promise, she laughed so hard that she rolled on the floor because no 90 year old woman was going to get pregnant. But she became pregnant and Isaac her son became the leader of his people. God became known as the God of the impossible.

I met with Karl and we discussed three of his “impossible” problems at work, in court and with his teenaged daughter. We decided that we would access our Infinite Vision, our Possibility Mind.

I explained to Karl that in this poker game called life there is an Unseen Player who holds the wild card in every game. Even if three of the four players conspire to slant the game in such a way that the new player loses his shirt, the Unseen Player holds the wild card, and when He plays it, no one loses their shirt.

Although that is the way life is, what if no one recognizes the wild card when it is played? Then the game will go on repeating, only the next time it will be the role of one of the other three conspirators to play the victim role. In these new games, the victim of the first game will win and the conspirators will lose, unless someone is present to notice the wild card. Will you be the one who recognizes the Joker and enables everyone to win? You can be the Joker Recognizer in every “poker game” or “conspiracy theory” that is occurring around you.

“All things work together for good for any poker player who loves the Joker and is called according to His purpose: for everyone to win.” (Romans 8:28, Wright translation).

I re-discovered the Joker in my conspiracy outlook when I re-read the story of Joseph. He was the young naive dreamer who was favored by his father. His eleven brothers conspired in their jealousy to get rid of him, and they threw him in a pit to die. He was rescued by some passersby and sold as a slave in Egypt. Joseph fared well, even as slave, and became recognized as a dream interpreter. The king had a very strange dream and called in Joseph to interpret it. The dream was that there were seven fat cows and then there were seven lean cows who ate up the seven fat cows. Joseph told the king that there would be seven prosperous years and then there would be seven years of famine when there would be no grain. The king made Joseph the Minister of Finance and Joseph stored away half of the grain that grew in the prosperous years and used it in the seven years of drought to feed the people.

Joseph’s family in the adjoining country were starving from the drought and they came to Egypt to beg for some grain. Joseph recognized them but they did not recognize the now mature Minister of the King. After testing them, Joseph revealed to them who he was, and he finally said to his repentant brothers” “What you intended to me for evil, God intended to you for good!” What a Joker God is if only there is a Joseph around to recognize the wild card being played. And so, no matter if you are the victim, the persecutor, or the rescuer, you can rise to the occasion and help everyone win with the wild card. Otherwise, all we have is the repetition and revenge of the same old game over and over and over.

Today, wherever you are, you can play the wild card, you can be the Joker, in any conspiracy relationship that is going on. And believe me, every human relationship contains conspiracy elements. A psychoanalyst, Jan Pierce, also noticed this when he discovered that deep down in the bottom of the human psyche there is a streak of paranoia, and until that streak is smoked out, theConditions of Human Growth will not be able to be fulfilled. And Ward found that human pain has a brilliant teaching function in human life, as explained in his work, The Brilliant Function of Pain. When we put together these two pieces of the puzzle with the story of Joseph, we find that in our relationships, we all conspire to win by hook or by crook in order to relieve our past pain from losing, and yet without the Recognition of the Joker we just keep repeating the same old broken record.

Conspiracy theory is an inevitable component in the ordinary human mind. The Adam mind or the finite belief system is built upon the “unholy trinity” beliefs in separation, lack and entrapment. These three beliefs result in the conspiracy theory which has been named the Victim Triangle, by Stephen Karpman. This mentality goes in endless circles of repetition until some Joker wakes up. If you wake up from the dream of the finite belief system, you will be a Joker, and you will be playing the wild card.

I have named this Adam mentality the finite belief system, and I have argued that we have an Infinite Vision capability, which is our Christ function, or as in this analogy the Joker function. It is this Infinite Joker Function that all events in your life up to this moment are conspiring to activate .

Karl has been “falsely accused” of a crime by his ex-wife and by law enforcement officials. It is interesting, of course, to note that almost every one maintains their innocence and denies their guilt, whether they are in prison or not. I support him in his effort to clear his name, but I also use this occasion to inquire about the possible purpose of this conspiracy. I remind him that we have a lower mind and a higher mind. This legal event has cornered him, and he feels that it is almost impossible for him to win the case.

I tell Karl that we have an impossibility mind and a Possibility Mind. The finite belief system is trapped in the belief in impossibilities. However, he and I agree to look for the Possibility Mind. I remind him of the Abraham story of the Possibility God.

The human mind cannot conceive of such a Possibility God. We are committed to what we call “reality” in which we so often feel separated, lacking and trapped. But there is a higher reality which Jesus called the Kingdom of God, which exists right here and now in this “reality” of conspirators and jails. And Karl may be “sent to jail”. But I note that everyone is in the jail of our stereotyped mindset. I have worked in jails and in mental hospitals and I observed that the people in the jails and mental hospitals are just like us, only in exaggerated form. And so I remind Karl that everyone is in their own mental jail. This “prison” is held in place by our beliefs in our differences. Our differences seem so great and so obvious, that we do not see our common ground and our similarities. And when you see your significant others as your opposite, you attribute all sorts of evil things to them. You become paranoid and trapped and you go round and round in the prison of the Karpman triangle. We feel backed into a corner in which there is no way out.

Now it is time for the Joker. It is time to switch gears into your Infinite Mind. All of history has conspired to back you into this seemingly impossible corner. And you laugh and roll on the floor when you hear that all things are possible, when you hear that you can become free even in a prison.

On the way to my appointment with Karl today to talk about the discovery of his Infinite Possibility Mind, I glanced at the morning newspaper headlines and an article jumped out at me. It was a matter of fact announcement that the Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio has upheld the constitutional right of the state of Ohio to keep its motto “With God, all things are possible.” I was astounded! I asked Karl if it is conceivable that that whole court appeal process in Ohio was orchestrated for his benefit. It had to get in the paper on just the right morning, and I had to catch the story, because he had read the same newspaper and it didn’t jump out at him. Holy cow! Holy Court of Appeals! Everything becomes holy when we awaken to the Infinite Mind of Christ in us. The message was that we have an Infinite Possibility Mind and all our “impossibilities” are just wake-up calls. Symptoms of the Infinite are everywhere!

Had we rather be an imprisoned free man or a free man in prison? Most of us would choose to be imprisoned as we are now because we do not seem to be in prison now. We tell ourselves we are free, although we are not. If we were to be put in a physical prison cell, we would then feel imprisoned, although we were psychically “imprisoned” already in our human belief system before we went to the physical jail. There is no doubt that most prisoners are in the physical prison because they were psychically imprisoned already, whether they were “guilty” or “innocent”. And most people outside of physical prisons, mental hospitals, regular hospitals and nursing homes are caught up in the prison of the mind, the insanity of the mind, the sickness of the mind, and the aging mentality.

And we may want those kinds of uncomfortable people put away: Fight crime. Fight insanity. Lock em up and throw away the key. Fight cancer. Shoot them with radiation. Put ‘em in a nursing home, and avoid that ugliness. And again, I am not against prisons, mental hospitals, general hospitals, cancer treatment and nursing homes. These are all “dreadful” metaphors for our finite state of mind which again are gifts for our awakening to that which is infinite forever and is not susceptible to prison, insanity, cancer or aging.

God told Joel “I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten…my great army that I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25)

We have all played the part of hypocrite, false prophet, and heretic. We have all been victims, persecutors and rescuers.

But consider the message of the Joker: I will restore all of the locust-eaten years of your existence. I opened the door of revelation that cannot be shut. I renew all things. Every philosophy, every religion, and every belief system has been eaten by the locusts of the human mindset. I will restore them all. With your help I will gather up all of the wayward stories of mankind that the locusts have chewed up, and I will restore them to you whole and beautiful.

“All” who play with me will win. And my playing field is vast, all-encompassing. It includes both teams in your Super Bowl, both armies on the battlefield, both defendants and plaintiffs in your courtrooms, both guards and prisoners in your jails, both orthodox and heretics in your churches, both Republicans and Democrats in your senate, both earthlings and aliens in your universe, both heavens and hells in your bibles. The playing field is vast and you are all my players and no one loses on my field. For, you see, my vision is infinite, and all of my products are quality products, and all of them have the guarantees of Infinite Vision stamped into their very being. I make nothing but designer jeans and designer people. I gave you my Infinite Vision and I know how much you misused it, and I will restore it to you, even while you are swearing that the locusts ate it.

I told Joel I will restore all “losses” and I have. And if you think for one minute that any of the various scriptures of the world are against Infinite Vision, you will just have to re-write your own version for yourself. In fact, you have already done that, and that is what you live by, and whichever story you live by contains a hidden message about your Infinity. Jesus re-discovered this hidden message and he lived and died for it, and when you re-discover it, so will you. There is no other way to collect your bet and step out of the locust-eating cycle. I, the Joker, guarantee you that your finite story will self-correct when you get the point.

God told Joel “I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten…my great army that I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25)

Are You Visible or Invisible?

Are you blind!

He who sees with the visible eye is invisible, and the visible eye into which he looks either conceals or reveals the invisible. You are an invisible spiritual being and no matter how it seems, you are not limited by any visible body, but only by your beliefs about your limitations. All beliefs are invisible, although their effects appear in the visible spectrum. If you are an invisible being, then your symptoms have an invisible cause. Essentially your symptoms are due to the fact that you tell yourself that you are what is visible. All symptoms and suffering are due to mis-belief. If you ascribe the cause of any symptoms to anything visible, then you will experience victimization until you realize that you are creating the invisible beliefs that cause your symptoms and your suffering.

We are on an adventurous journey from the visible to the invisible, from beliefs in victimization to the realization of freedom.

You are a paradox because you are an Infinite being in a finite body, an Eternal being living in time, an Invisible being in a visible world, and you must learn to live on the edge of that awareness all of the time. That is your birthright and your inheritance. That is your capability and your destiny. Nothing else ultimately matters. All other perceptions will land you into that painted corner with an anger symptom, an illness symptom, a relationship symptom, an addiction symptom, a criminal symptom, etc. And I will not tell you to go get a pill or to ignore this or that, or that it is genetic. Such advice would not only belittle you, but re-enforce your belief that you are visible. When you seek to make excuses or to offer simplistic common-sense “solutions” to yourself, I keep on asking you “why”. I will not give up such asking due to some “I don’t know” answer. I will tell you that “I don’t know” is a great place to begin, and that “I don’t know” is the beginning of any honest revolutionary answer.

The Eternal can be aware of time, but time cannot comprehend the Eternal. The Invisible can be aware of the visible, but the visible cannot fathom the Invisible. The Immortal can be aware of the mortal, but the mortal cannot grasp immortality. The Infinite can be aware of the finite, but the finite cannot define the Infinite.

I am an Invisible being in a visible body. I am an Eternal being in a clock-and-calendar world; I am an Immortal having a mortal experience; I am an Infinite being having a finite experience.

We are so brain-washed by our beliefs about the visible world that we need symptoms to awaken us to the invisible meaning of the visible world. Yet, since we are so sure that we see things as they are, we view symptoms as a nuisance, a punishment, an embarrassment, an abnormality, or a curse to be avoided, medicated, denied, and fixed.

So we treat God’s messengers with a pill. We go to God’s assistants to get rid of God’s message. We spend years enduring these vital symptomatic experiences and do not hear or see their Life-Awakening messages. The Great Teachers keep telling us that we’re “blind” “deaf” and “dead” in order to shock us awake, but we only hear that we are stupid or bad or crazy, and we tell ourselves that such messengers are irrelevant to life in the “real world”.

Way back there before the play began, when you were one with All, you were so incredibly powerful, beautiful, intelligent, and blissful, that you felt like you could handle anything, anywhere, anytime. You took the dare to enter this imaginary state of life to prove that you could take your infinite power and love into time and space and put on a show here that no one would ever forget. And then when you got into the limitations of the body, you forgot that you were immortal, invincible, and invisible. You thought you were this child, this father, this thief, this slave, this factory worker, this student, this patient, this alcoholic, this doctor, this prisoner, this homeless bum, this violent person, this victim. You began to believe that you were separated, lacking and trapped. But remember, that is just the limited part you chose to play in this drama, and you can become conscious at any time. You can wake up and re-write the script.

It is not a crime to forget that you are invisible, but it is forgiveness to remember it. God never forgets who you are, and he never remembers all the havoc you created on that stage when you forgot that you are invisible. To forget who you are is human, to remember is divine. Even when you forget who you are, God remembers. And then when it comes to remembering some of the terrible things people have done to you, you believe you can’t forget those things. That is why if you do not forget, you have not forgiven. God forgives and forgets and so can you. If you say that you have forgiven but not forgotten, you still believe that visibility and victimization are ultimate. You still believe that you can be hurt by the visible. How can the invisible be hurt by the visible?

Our conventional perception is that the physical and psychological world is reality and that the spiritual invisible notion is tacked on at the end in a rather tentative and apologetic manner. Eastern thought considers the physical and psychological as illusory. Infinity Theory takes the position that the physical/psychological world either conceals or reveals the Infinite; if it conceals, it is illusory and symptomatic; if it reveals, it is realistic. If your do not honor and celebrate the freedom and power of your infinite “emptiness,” your invisibility, you will be stuck with the stress and limitations of your finite notions about your self. God is infinite, transcendent and invisible; the universe is god’s finite, immanent body. You are made in his infinite/finite image.

You stand on the edge of Eternity and Time, looking from Eternity toward time.. You are potential and actual. You are invisible and visible. You are spirit and matter. You are non-local and local at once. You are divine and human. As you stand on this edge you are totally safe and totally at risk. All paradoxes exist right here on this edge. All opposites meet here. From here you experience the Good beyond good and evil. You realize that the Real is a blend of the impossible and the possible, spirit and matter. Imagination and reason merge here.

Everything is moving under compulsion until we awaken and become conscious. No one sees the invisible causation of their symptoms. We are under the unconscious compulsion of our inner belief system. The thief and the cop are both under compulsion. The imagination is working automatically and compulsively, rather than freely and by choice. The spirit of God and the human imagination are one. “All things were made by him, and without him was anything made that was made.” Every natural event in this world has an unseen, invisible, imaginal, supernatural cause. Let us find the Actor, the Cause; let us find out who is behind the visible mask of cause.

Jesus’ entire life was energized by courage, placing him among history’s greatest hero archetypes. From twelve years of age, he began to search for the higher consciousness, or the Father Within. In the forty days of his desert temptations, he had the courage to say no to the temptations of his ego. He had the courage to surpass the glamour of his admirers and the harassments of his critics. He had the courage to endure the victim experience of feeling alone and forsaken for the Infinite Vision he had discovered. This courage could be defined as the indomitable faith he had in the invisible in the face of a finite world.

I am an unlimited spiritual being having limited human experiences. I am infinite imagination in a finite body. I am an invisible co-creator with God living in a visible created world. I am a timeless and eternal consciousness living in a clock-and-calendar mindset. I am an intuitive unconditional lover, living in an often conditional fearful state of unawareness. I have forgotten who I really am and act as though I know myself. Today I will relax deeply and allow myself to remember my inmost Infinite Self. I will dis-identify with who I think I am and recall who I really am.

a thought is a time-bound and place-bound way that we make the invisible visible, the spiritual into the material. Therefore, any thought and its consequences are okay and are to be loved as is.

The beliefs in separation, lack and entrapment are all body-beliefs. We believe that because the body seems to be separate, lacking and trapped, that we are in pain. We attribute this pain to other people and situations, not to our story. These body-beliefs are fear-ridden painful beliefs. You are not your body. You have a body, but you are not your body. Your body has limits, but your only limiting factor is your story that you are your body. All fear has its roots in the belief that you are your visible body and that you can be hurt, destroyed, and die. But in fact you are invisible and eternal, and you cannot be hurt, destroyed, or die. You do experience hurt and ideas of destruction and death, but such experiences are self-generated fictions. After taking responsibility for your fear-ridden beliefs, you will begin to realize that love is what you are, and then you can know that everyone else is love also.

If I am invisible and my thoughts are invisible, how can I see me? How can I see my thoughts? How can I see my story? Only in a mirror. The world is a mirror-like reflection of my thoughts and my story of who I am. When you look at the world, you are seeing a mirrored reflection of your thoughts and your story.

The negative energies of our story are stored and mirrored as stressful symptoms in and around the body and in the world at large. These negative energies are continually discharged in some manner, but they tend to be re-enforced in a circular manner and to return to their source. What goes around comes around. Our story magnetizes unto itself its own energy level. Fear draws more things to be fearful of. Anger draws more things to be angry about. Jealousy draws more things to be jealous about. Deprivation draws more things to feel deprived about. Depression draws more things to be depressed about.

Spirituality is invisible and it is easy to overlook it. The only way that you can see your spirituality is in the mirror of the landscape of your life. Your body, your relationships, and your world in general is that mirror which reflects to you the condition of your spirituality recognition.

According to sub-atomic physics, the physical universe is made of invisible building blocks called quarks and instructional codes called DNA. How could anything so infintesimally small, alive and omnipresent be anything but a form of God or consciousness, the original substance?



When you inquire and investigage the cause of any symptom far enough, deep enough and persistently enough, you will come to “I don’t know.” You will come to nothing, to ground zero, to the void, to the invisible, to the trans-mental, to the trans-personal, to the trans-visible, to the trans-knowable, to the trans-finite, to the infinite, to the spirit, to the formless, to the eternal. You will come to absolute potentiality. And when you get there, you can relax. You are at cause, you are at source. You are in silence, in peace, in truth, in freedom, in love, in consciousness. You are at the beginning. You have arrived at Sabbath, the day of rest. You have reached no-thing. You are in the presence of every-thing, of all, infinitude, God. You were in the presence of God in form before, but it is as difficult to recognize God in form as God in formlessness. When you only perceive God in form or only in formlessness, you are not seeing the whole truth, because God is both, just as you are.

The real Self is invisible and has no locality

-David Hawkins

Are You Visible or Invisible?

Are you blind!

He who sees with the visible eye is invisible, and the visible eye into which he looks either conceals or reveals the invisible. You are an invisible spiritual being and no matter how it seems, you are not limited by any visible body, but only by your beliefs about your limitations. All beliefs are invisible, although their effects appear in the visible spectrum. If you are an invisible being, then your symptoms have an invisible cause. Essentially your symptoms are due to the fact that you tell yourself that you are what is visible. All symptoms and suffering are due to mis-belief. If you ascribe the cause of any symptoms to anything visible, then you will experience victimization until you realize that you are creating the invisible beliefs that cause your symptoms and your suffering.

We are on an adventurous journey from the visible to the invisible, from beliefs in victimization to the realization of freedom.

I am an Invisible being in a visible body. I am an Eternal being in a clock-and-calendar world; I am an Immortal having a mortal experience; I am an Infinite being having a finite experience.

We are so brain-washed by our beliefs about the visible world that we need symptoms to awaken us to the invisible meaning of the visible world. Yet, since we are so sure that we see things as they are, we view symptoms as a nuisance, a punishment, an embarrassment, an abnormality, or a curse to be avoided, medicated, denied, and fixed.

So we treat God’s messengers with a pill. We go to God’s assistants to get rid of God’s message. We spend years enduring these vital symptomatic experiences and do not hear or see their Life-Awakening messages. The Great Teachers keep telling us that we’re “blind” “deaf” and “dead” in order to shock us awake, but we only hear that we are stupid or bad or crazy, and we tell ourselves that such messengers are irrelevant to life in the “real world”.

a thought is a time-bound and place-bound way that we make the invisible visible, the spiritual into the material. Therefore, any thought and its consequences are okay and are to be loved as is.

If I am invisible and my thoughts are invisible, how can I see me? How can I see my thoughts? How can I see my story? Only in a mirror. The world is a mirror-like reflection of my thoughts and my story of who I am. When you look at the world, you are seeing a mirrored reflection of your thoughts and your story.



When you inquire and investigage the cause of any symptom far enough, deep enough and persistently enough, you will come to “I don’t know.” You will come to nothing, to ground zero, to the void, to the invisible, to the trans-mental, to the trans-personal, to the trans-visible, to the trans-knowable, to the trans-finite, to the infinite, to the spirit, to the formless, to the eternal. You will come to absolute potentiality. And when you get there, you can relax. You are at cause, you are at source. You are in silence, in peace, in truth, in freedom, in love, in consciousness. You are at the beginning. You have arrived at Sabbath, the day of rest. You have reached no-thing. You are in the presence of every-thing, of all, infinitude, God. You were in the presence of God in form before, but it is as difficult to recognize God in form as God in formlessness. When you only perceive God in form or only in formlessness, you are not seeing the whole truth, because God is both, just as you are.

The real Self is invisible and has no locality

David Hawkins

No Victims?

You are not upset for the reason you think

A Spiritual Psychotherapy Koan

All of these states of mind are just experiences within the story, and this story is held together by the staples, glue, duct tape, bailing wire and rubber bands of ordinary dualistic perception and reasoning. The ego can be hurt, but you cannot. And so the koan is: how can there be no victim in a world of obvious fear and victimization? I find that there are no perpetrators or victims except within my programming.

John was able when he got anxious this week to say to himself “I am not upset for the reason I think” because there was nothing real to fear and to be victimized by, and therefore he was able to relax his compulsive acting out fear cycle by remembering love. I asked John if could visualize his anxiety and give it some form or shape. I asked him if his anxiety had any color, shape, form, weight, sound, taste, or feeling. He saw his anxiety as about the size of a softball, and said that it was very heavy. It was blue in color and made a screaming or screeching sound. I asked him if he could change anything about this softball. He reduced it to about the size of a golfball and it was lighter. I asked him if he could take it up a mountain. This turned out to be quite a struggle, but he finally got it about halfway up. I suggested that he visualize a large altar ( See The Great Fiery Altarsection ) and place this ball of negative energy on the altar, and call down a purple flame from heaven upon it. When he did, he saw in the background of the flames a door. Eventually we got through the door and walked down a long hallway where he could see light at the end. Then he came out of the dark hallway into a garden, a very calm, peaceful and energized experience.

He said that he felt like his real self. I explained how this negative ball of energy had been transmuted into a higher energy form by exposing it to a more rapid vibrational energy field called the purple flame of heaven. We looked upon this experience as a modern form of alchemy in which he transformed something negative into its positive inner source. Also we noted that this was a shift from the outer to the inner. He was tempted to run back to the outer and to get involved with his behavior and it consequences and the tendency to believe that he could control it as an outside matter. He learned that you can go deeper into the inner core of a negative form and find what is really behind it. The original positive energy had, through mis-imagination, been turned into a negative energy, and through transmutation it was changed back into its original substance.

A True Champion

Greater things than these will you do

A Record-Breaker for Human Potential

To paraphrase some of Jesus’ record-breaking feats, consider that he:

Ran the entire long distance race that was set before him

Lifted the weight of the world from human shoulders

Vaulted over some of the highest obstacles imaginable

Walked on water

Levitated

Raised the dead

Healed the sick by command

Passed through walls

Materialized objects out of thin air

Proved that bi-location is possible

Exhibited his aura

Was the World’s Greatest Unconditional Lover

Qualifies for the Pulitzer Peace Prize

Ranks as the Most Influential Person in history

Calmed a storm

Fed 5000 men

Is the Most Quoted Non-author

Conquered death

Taught a new ethical code for humanity

Counseled the deranged

Befriended prostitutes, drunkards and party-goers

Healed a soldier’s child

Inspired many of the world’s greatest humans

Removed all limits for human potentiality

Used telepathy

Was one of the world’s greatest story tellers

A champion of the poor, minorities, children, women, outcasts

Demonstrated the power of mind over matter

Communicated with the dead

Predicted the future

Appeared in his resurrected spiritual body

Has visited many people even in the 20^th century

One of the earliest and most effective spiritual psychotherapists

What is the nature of this cosmic consciousness of which Jesus was one of the champions? Kirillov puts it this way in Dostoyevsky’s Possessed : “ Man is unhappy because he doesn’t know he is happy. It’s only that. That’s all, that’s all! If anyone finds out, he’ll become happy at once, that minute..…it’s all good. I discovered it all of a sudden.”

“And if anyone dies of hunger (asks Stavrogin) and if anyone insults and outrages the little girl, is that good?”

“Yes, and if anyone blows his brains out for the baby, that’s good too. And if anyone doesn’t, that’s good too. It’s all good, all. It’s good for those who know that it’s all good. If they knew that it was good for them, it would be good for them, but as long as they don’t know its good for them, it will be bad for them. That’s the whole idea, the whole of it. …They’re bad because they don’t know they’re good. When they find out , they won’t outrage a little girl. They’ll find out that they’re good and they’ll all become good, everyone one of them.”

Alan Watts tells of an experience of cosmic consciousness in which the weight of his own body disappeared, and he felt that he owned nothing, not even a self, and that nothing owned him. He saw that everything, just as it is now, is IT—is the whole point of there being life and a universe. He saw that when the Upanishads said “That art Thou” or “All this world is Brahman”, they meant just exactly what they said. That was the way it was, whether he understood it or not, and if he did not understand, that was IT too. He now understood what Christianity might mean by the love of God, namely that despite the commonsense imperfection of things, they were nonetheless loved by God just as they are, and that this loving of them was at the same time the godding of them. A sensation of lightness and clarity lasted for a week. (This is It and other essays on Zen, 1960, Pantheon Books).

Maurice Bucke describes ten characteristics of the cosmic sense: The subjective light; the moral elevation; the intellectual illumination; the sense of immortality; the loss of the fear of death; the loss of the sense of sin; the instantaneousness of the awakening; the previous character of the man—intellectual, moral and physical; the age of illumination; the added charm which attracts others; the transfiguration of the subject of the change as seen by others when the Cosmic Sense is actually present.

In Christian mysticism, the Illumination of which Bucke wrote, is the third stage after Awakening and Purification. In 1872 at the age of 35 Bucke experienced an instantaneous illumination when “All at once, without warning of any kind, he found himself wrapped around , as it were, by a flame-colored cloud. For an instant he thought of fire—some sudden conflagration in the great city. The next (instant) he knew that the light was within himself. Directly after there came upon him a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness, accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Into his brain streamed one momentary lightning-flash of the Brahmic Splendor which ever since has lightened his life. Upon his heart fell one drop of Brahmic Bliss, leaving thenceforward for always an aftertaste of heaven.

After years of study, Bucke delineated four stages of consciousness: (1) the perceptual mind of the lower animals; (2) the receptual mind of the higher animals producing simple consciousness, and (3) the conceptual mind of human beings accompanied by self-consciousness, and (4) a fourth stage of consciousness, which he calls cosmic, which enables man:

to realize the oneness of the Universe,

to sense the presence in it and throughout it of the Creator,

to be free of all fears of evil, of disaster or death, and

to comprehend that Love is the rule and basis of the Cosmos.

Bucke found 36 cases of cosmic consciousness throughout history up until his own day. He predicted that in the future there would be an increasing number of cases until all of mankind would evolve into this state. The first clear instance of cosmic consciousness was Gautama Buddha in around 500 B.C. From Gautama to Dante, covering 1800 years, he found five cases: Gautama, Jesus, Paul, Plotinus, and Mohammed. For the next 600 years he found eight more cases: Dante, Las Casas, John Yepes, Frances Bacon, Jacob Behmen, William Blake, Balzac, and Walt Whitman. Bucke doesn’t know if Buddha, Jesus or Walt Whitman was the greatest of the Cosmic Consciousness persons.

Stanley Kripner has identified twenty states of consciousness: the dreaming state; the sleeping state; the hypnagogic state; the hypnopompic state; the hyperalert state; the lethargic state; states of rapture; states of hysteria; states of fragmentation; regressive states; meditative states; trance states; the state of reverie; the daydreaming state; internal scanning state; stupor; coma’ stored memory; expanded conscious states; and the twentieth century state of concensus consciousness. John White

E. Bourguignon (Ed 1973 Religion, Altered States and Socity Change, Col, Ohio: Ohio State Univ Press.) described ten characteristics of the altered state” : alterations in thinking, disturbed time-sense, loss of control, change in emotional expression, change in body-image, perceptual distortion, change in meaning, sense of the ineffable, feelings of rejuvenation, and hyper-suggestibility

Ken Wilber (in Healing the Split, John E. Nelson) presented a nice summary of the history of psychology. The supreme identity of the human soul and the transcendental Divine is the cornerstone of the perennial philosophy and the defining insight of the world’s greatest mystics and philosophers.

“Philosophia perennis—the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all beings—the thing is immemorial and universal.”

Aldous Huxley

Edwin Schrodinger, founder of modern quantum mechanics and himself a profound mystic, explained that if you carefully look through the world’s great spiritual and mystical literature, you will find “many beautiful utterances of a similar kind. You are struck by the miraculous agreement between humans of different races, different religions, knowing nothing about each other’s existence, separated by centuries and millennia, and by the greatest distances that there are on our globe.” This perennial philosophy, as Arthur Lovejoy pointed out, “has, in one form or another, been the dominant philosophy of the larger part of civilized mankind through most of its history” and has been embraced “by the greater number of speculative minds and religious teachers”. And so Alan Watts draws the obvious conclusion:

Thus we are hardly aware of the extreme peculiarity of our own position, and find it difficult to recognize the plain fact that there has otherwise been a single philosophical consensus of universal extent. It has been held by men who report the same insights and teach the same essential doctrine whether living today or six thousand years ago, whether from New Mexico in the Far West or from Japan in the Far East.

The only major culture to ignore or devalue the perennial philosophy has been, alas, our own modern culture of secular materialistic and brutish scientism, which has by and large, from the eighteenth century onward , been dominated by that which can be perceived by the senses and manipulated by measurement. The concept of the Great Chain of Being—according to which men and women have at least five major levels of being: matter, body, mind, soul and spirit—was reduced to mere matter and body. First spirit, then soul, and then mind were rejected by modern psychology and psychiatry, with the disastrous result that men and women were held to be nothing more than sophisticated bundles of material atoms in vaguely animate bodies. Thus our modern “science of the soul” almost from the start, has been a science merely of the physical and bodily components of the entire human being—a reductionistic cultural catastrophe of he first magnitude.

In recent times, however, the school of humanistic psychology has succeeded in reintroducing mind to psychology, thus supplementing and surpassing the empirical-physicalistic schools of behaviorism and the instinctual-bodily-emotional schools of psychoanalysis. And even more recently, transpersonal psychology has gone further still, and reintroduced the dimensions of soul and spirit. The result is a comprehensive or full-spectrum view of human psychology that includes matter, body, mind, soul and spirit, in both their normal and pathological manifestations.

Wilber concludes then that the aim of transpersonal psychology was to give a psychological presentation of the perennial philosophy, and the Great Chain of Being, fully updated and grounded in research and scientific developments. It fully acknowledges and incorporates the findings of modern psychiatry, behaviorism, and developmental psychology, and then adds, where necessary, the further insights and experiences of the existential and spiritual dimensions of the human being. We might say it starts with psychiatry and ends with mysticism.

With Infinity Theory we are in position to realize that all perceptions are grounded in imagination and spirit. There are no such things as matter and mind as separate objects and events, to which something called soul or spirit could be added later on. We can and do have beliefs about such a psychology or philosophy about man and the universe, but wherever such beliefs occur, they are accompanied by symptoms. These symptoms represent the mistakes and incompleteness of our belief system, and are wake-up calls.

Rumi likened his relationship to his teacher to that of a potter making a vase. He said that the outer hand of the potter is molding and kneading and working the clay, while inside the teacher provides the warm hand of support. The student is perhaps conscious only of the pain involved in the molding and kneading of the ego, but life has attained a greater meaning and thus even the pain has meaning as well (Ron Valle, p. 330)

In the crucifixion scenario, we are the crucified and the crucifier. Sin is self-hatred. Ego hates and crucifies the Self.

Heresy

Really?

Jesus Was a Heretic

Crucify Him! Crucify Him!

Jesus, why do you come to disturb us?

The Grand Inquisitor

Gospel of St. Thomas

Berdyaev

Nicholas Berdyaev

Man has terribly distorted the image of God, and has attributed to Him his own perverse and sinful psychology

Nicholas Berdyaev

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

William Blake

Albert Schweitzer

More has been written about Jesus in the last twenty years than in the previous two thousand.

David Tracy

He is everywhere. He is the entire universe. The eternal body of man is the imagination, that is, God himself, the divine body, Jesus: we are his members.

William Blake

Through Him and Him only, you accomplish everything. Abandon the pride of doership. Don’t carry that weight on your head.

Muktananda

Do not be turned off by the word Christ. It is pre-Christian and came from Plato’s Christos, meaning the True Self of Everyone.

John Randolph Price

Andrew Harvey

The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey but to walk with Him.

A Course in Miracles

Andrew Harvey

There is nothing more necessary, or more potentially transformative, than to serve the Christ that is everywhere and in every being, struggling against terrible odds to be born at last.

Matthew Fox

What do you say of the I AM within you? Who do you believe yourself to be? Can you answer “I am Christ’?

Neville

Andrew Harvey

Jesus sang

“I am a lamp to you who see me

I am a mirror to you who know me

I am a door to you who knock on me

I am a Way to you who travel with me. Amen.

Acts of John 94J

Andrew Harvey

Vinaire

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship

C.S.Lewis

What has been passing for Christianity during these last nineteen centuries is merely a beginning, full of weakness and mistakes and not a full-grown Christianity springing from the spirit of Jesus.

Albert Schweitzer

Cullen Bryant

Thomas Matus

For the One who has become many remains the One undivided, but each part is all of Christ

Joseph Campbell

Jerry Wright

The experience of the Self is always a defeat for the ego

Carl Jung

A Course in Miracles is a course in how to know yourself.

A Course in Miracles

I enclose here an exercpt from Thirty Pieces of Silver, in which I summarize the teachings of A Course in Miracles about the relationship of Jesus, the Christ, and us:

What does A Course in Miracles Teach About the Relationship of Jesus to the Christ?

First of all, A Course in Miracles was authored by Jesus himself over a period of seven years in the 60’s and 70’s. It is my understanding that Jesus “dictated” this information to Helen Schucman, a Jewish clinical psychologist in New York, because she was “willing to do the work.”

In this material Jesus states his purpose in giving us the Coursewas to finish and correct his previous teaching, in order to help us to undo the ego system.

A Course in Miracles is a course in how to know yourself.

A Course in Miracles

He asks: Is Jesus the Christ? He answers himself: Oh yes, along with you. My little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that I learned for all of you. I will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. And when you join your will with mine, your sight will be my vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. Again, Jesus asks us: Is Jesus God’s only Helper? Then he answers again: No, indeed, for Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. But I, Jesus, am for you the bearer of Christ’s single message of the Love of God. You need no other. Jesus says in the Course that he is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He explains that the Holy Spirit established him (Jesus) as the leader in carrying out His plan since I was the first to complete my own part perfectly. The Holy Spirit is remaining communication between God and His separated Sons. He never forgets the Creator or His Creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets you. And He brings the love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.. The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents your Self and your Creator, who are One. He constantly speaks to you for God and also for you to God, being joined with both.

Jesus challenges us to behold your Friend, the Christ, who stands beside you. (Jesus means that “your Friend, the Christ” is any and every person you meet). How holy and beautiful He is! You thought he sinned because you cast the veil of sin upon Him to hide His loveliness. Yet He still holds forgiveness out to you, to share His holiness. This “enemy”, this “stranger” still offers you salvation as His Friend.

Jesus confesses: I have no self except the Christ in me. I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one withYou as well as Him. For who is Christ except God’s Son as God created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me?

There is nothing more necessary, or more potentially transformative, than to serve the Christ that is everywhere and in every being, struggling against terrible odds to be born at last.

-Matthew Fox

Infinity Awareness is Our Destiny

The Non-dual Paradigm

Infinite Awareness is Our Destiny

Everyone is destined to move from duality to nondual awareness, from victim to freedom, from stress to peace, from judging to loving, from human limitation to infinite oneness.

In The Eye of the I, David Hawkins, M.D. addresses the question of how we get stuck in the victim box in dualistic consciousness, how we get stuck at a particular energy frequency or level of consciousness. It is simply because we hold on to some particular perception of what is reality. Religion and life in general addresses life as duality up to level 500; enlightenment addresses life as non-duality increasingly from 500 to 600, at which point all is one. Duality begins to break down with love at 500 and decreases up through unconditional love at 540 and finally completely disappears in bliss, peace, perfection and allness at 600. 78% of the population are still in the victim mentality below the integrity level of 200, which means that life is lived by fear and force and not by love and power. Below 200, the world is experienced as black and white, seemingly a world of opposites. Everything is separated, lacking and entrapping. In the victim mentality box (up to 200), the person is attached to beliefs about insecurity, loss, fear, pain, force, control, and death. In l986, for the first time in history, the world as a whole went from 198 to 207, thus passing from illusion and lying to honesty and integrity as an energy vibration. Once the person becomes willing to take responsibility for his own perceptions and experiences, he moves out of the box through honesty, integrity, and courage, into willingness, acceptance, understanding, love, joy, peace, illumination, and oneness.

Generally speaking, it is estimated that a person only moves five points up the scale in one lifetime. Only 4% of the population reaches the level of love at 500 and only 2% the level of unconditional love at 540. Only 1 in 10 million crosses over from duality to nonduality at the level of Enlightenment at 600. At 600 the great barrier of duality falls away and divinity is revealed everywhere. Only a few ever reach the 700-1000 mark, and these great sages and saviors of the world are so gently powerful that they lift the entire planet for thousands of years. Below 200, falsehood is considered to be truth and force rules. By level 300, politics and social reform are considered the means of salvation. By 400 science and reason are considered salvation. By 500, it is realized that only the power of love and peace will bring salvation and enlightenment.

No matter how long it takes, and how much suffering and symptomatology we think is necessary, we will move on up through all of the levels of consciousness to enlightenment because that is our nature and we can never accept or be satisfied with less. Infinite awareness is truly our destiny. Infinity awareness is our God-given ability to transcend the world of the opposites and its fear-based story.


The finite and the infinite are not opposites. The finite is an expression in form of the formless infinite. The infinite appears in the finite and the finite expresses the infinite. This is a constant flow in both directions. The idea that the finite is opposite to, or separate from, the infinite in any way is an ego viewpoint. Between finite words, sounds and objects, there are infinite intervals or spaces. You can’t have one without the other. You cannot have the finite without the infinite. All is infinite, including the finite. In other words, the finite is an expression of the infinite and the infinite is expressing as the finite. Some people say that the infinite never changes, but it does change into the finite. The finite is the infinite which has changed into form.

Question: is each vibratory level below 200 a twist on something good? And if so, what? For example, is grief a reaction to finite change? Is fear a reaction to finite change? Is anger a reaction to finite change? All of the positions in the box seem to be distorted reactions to change. All of the experiences and vibratory levels below 200 are symptomatic finite changes to which we have assigned a negative infinite meaning. We may experience these changes in a “negative” manner, or put a negative spin on them because of our attachment to them, or we may use them to rise in consciousness. When fear occurs, it can be transformed into courage. When anger occurs, it can be transmuted into understanding and forgiveness. When grief occurs, it can be changed into gratitude. When despair occurs, it can be re-framed as letting go of some expectation. When shame or guilt occurs, it can be transformed into making a better choice in the present.

There are three rules which make for a full life: 1. Be kind. 2. Be kind. 3. Be kind.

Henry James, in a letter to his son, William James

I am an infinite spiritual being (What is man that thou art mindful?)

An amateur god (God is perfecting me)

Hidden in a finite human body

And a human personality

Telling myself a story

Of separateness, lack, and entrapment,

Investigating

My suffering

And symptoms,

Welcoming with understanding and gratitude

Their true meaning

So that I may awaken

To the full enjoyment

Of the power of god’s love and peace

That is in us all

The Linear Dualistic Bible and the Nonlinear Non-dualistic Course in Miracles

The Bible is a description of man’s dilemma and its resolution, set within the pre-psychological context of a human story. This dilemma is presented as man violating the law of God and falling into a state of sin. In this state of sin, man is guilty of breaking the law and is punished for breaking the law. To prevent this guilt and punishment from being final, God intervenes and provides a way out through sacrifice, usually of animals, and in the New Testament, a human sacrifice is made. In this manner, man is restored to fellowship with God. This entire story takes place within a dualistic context, which occurs at 540 or below.

As man evolved through consciousness in the east and through science, psychology and medicine in the west, the possibility of a non-dualistic non-story context occurred. Jesus addressed this evolutionary contextual change in A Course in Miracles.He addressed the psychological age in metaphysical language rather than in conventional story language. Essentially this set the stage for us to withdraw all of our projections from the screen of the world, and to enter a nondual, non-story, consciousness, which is above 600.

In A Course in Miracles Jesus makes it clear that we break our own laws, and that we condemn and punish ourselves. The problem was not God’s wrath, but our own self-anger. The punishment was not God’s but our own self-punishment. The sacrifice notion was not God’s plan, but our own self-sacrifice or self-rescue attempts. God was not out of fellowship with us, but we were out of fellowship with God, with our self and with each other. The problem was not guilt, but a belief in separateness. The solution was not Jesus death on the cross, but “forgiveness” of a guilt which never happened. In the nondual consciousness, we were never separated, we never abused any one, and our at-one-ment is to awaken to the truth of who we are.

The Bible and the Course are in perfect accord once you understand the contexts in which they occur. The outer story and the inner reality are one and the same. The dualistic story is a perfect outward projection of the non-dual non-story, except that the dualistic approach is self-limited and is not serving well our maturation into the 21^st century non-dualistic context now beginning to be recognized by metaphysics, science, philosophy, medicine, psychology and psychotherapy.

A Course in Miracles was dictated to a female, non-believing, Jewish, professional psychologist working in a medical center in New York city. That seems appropriate for this new non-dual level of revelation. And, interestingly enough, the evolution of this non-dual model was picked up again by David R. Hawkins, MD, Ph.D., a disillusioned Episcopalian psychiatrist who had numerous mystical experiences and healings through A Course in Miracles and Alcoholics Anonymous. Hawkins wrote a book on biomolecular psychiatry with Linus Pauling, and had the largest psychiatric practice in New York City, paralleling the dictation of A Course in Miracles, although he knew nothing about it at the time. Hawkins has availed himself of the use of the modern science of kinesology as a spiritual research tool, through which he has been able to research the meaning of the dualistic and the non-dualistic models and extend the contextual understanding of spirituality which was presented by theCourse.

This book is an attempt to extend our non-dualistic understanding into symptomatology and psychotherapy. What I have said here is that in the dualistic story of the Bible God was addressing man’s dilemma and how to resolve that dilemma through man’s trust. In the nondualistic non-story of Infinity Theory, God’s dilemma is addressed and it is proposed that only man and God together can resolve their common dilemma. I have defined God’s dilemma as how one infinite consciousness can become two. If anything is to exist or happen, there must be at least two. Creation was God’s sleight-of-hand solution to his dilemma. In the Bible, the question was how man can have fellowship with God; in metaphysics, the question is how God can have fellowship with man. God’s problem was how to forget infinity, and man’s problem is how to remember infinity. God forgot through creation; man remembers through dis-creation. God lost himself to find man; man must find himself to know God. Neither God nor man can know themselves without knowing each other.

In the dualistic human story, perpetrators, victims and rescuers exist and constitute the basic players in the drama, and account for human suffering. In the nondualistic non-story, perpetrators, victims and rescuers do not actually exist, but since we experience them in our story, they do provide clues through our suffering and symptoms to our true spiritual nature. The finite provides a stage for the human drama, traps us into a finite victim identity, and becomes the channel for our symptoms, which are designed to awaken us from the merely finite dream into infinity awareness.

Symptoms appear because of the discrepancy between the linear and the non-linear, between the dualistic and the non-dualistic, between the story and the non-story. This discrepancy is a door to awakening to our finite/infinite nature.

The world of need and the world of non-need corresponds to the dualistic world of the limited self and the nondualistic world of the unlimited self. In between these two worlds is a doorway, and we have been given a key to this door. This key is the way we regard our symptoms. Jesus gave us the keys to the kingdom. If we are not able to grasp this key and open this door then we are doomed to live in the world of needs and need-frustration, struggle and blame. In this world there are the things we want and the things that we don’t want, there is good and evil.

There are two worlds, the world of the human story and the world of spiritual truth, with a door between them. We have to learn to consciously move back and forth between these two worlds. For the most part we have no idea that the spiritual world even exists, and so we are trapped within our dualistic story. We are constantly disappointed in the story world of separation and deprivation, because we do not even see the world of non-need, completeness, and totality. And so we are stuck in the story seeking to find the good and avoid the bad. We don’t see second, real world and we don’t have any idea what the key is. The key is that all things are good, all things are blessings, every crisis we have is an opportunity. There is no evil as such and no victims in the spiritual world. As you keep shuttling back and forth between the finite and the infinite,you eventually realize it is all one. At 500, you cross back and forth through the door of love, but by 600 you realize that there are not two worlds and there is no door, it is all one, it is all infinite.

My client said that her husband won’t meet her needs, so she will meet her own needs. That is a step for a self-sacrificer, but there is another step to the Self where there are no needs to be met or wants to be fulfilled. There is no selfish or unselfish. She is shifting from rescuing him to rescuing herself, but there is another step beyond this world of opposites. The finite and the infinite worlds are both God’s will, but they are not separate worlds when you reach 600, for perception has changed.

You want love? Unconditional love is your true nature

You want security? The Infinite Void is the source of all security

You want less stress? The peace of God passes all understanding

You want power? The Eternal within you is the source of all Power

You want freedom? Truth is freedom from your self-trapment

You want to know? The fountain of wisdom whispers to you from within

You want enjoyment and pleasure? Consciousness is bliss

You want to escape mediocrity? Getting to know yourself is the supreme adventure

You want togetherness and belonging? You are one with God and the universe

You want creativity? Divine Imagination is creativity

You want motivation? The Spirit is your Inspiration

Limitations fall away

Like flimsy veils

Out of the debris

There steps a god

-Joanna Cherry

Why I Wrote This Book

My Millenneum Experience

WAIT FOR TEN DAYS: The Birth of Infinity Theory

My own specific experiences with Infinity Consciousness began with a Milleneum request in November and December of 1999. I had been feeling a build-up of anticipation about the meaning of the year 2000 for me personally. I asked for empowerment to meet the challenges of the 21^st Century. I realized that in other cases there had been special revelations given by the Cosmic Teacher when the student was ready. Vision Quests occurred when the American Indians went out into the desert and asked great questions of the soul. Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree until he got his answer. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness until there was a breakthrough. Helen Schucman had six weeks of strange dreams, visions and inner revelations before the seven years of dictation of A Course in Miracles began. The apostles were told to wait ten days in Jerusalem for their empowerment. Greek seekers stated their deepest questions and waited for an oracle answer.

I asked for my own millenium Pentecost and waited ten days for empowerment. I remembered that on the day of the original Pentecost, everyone experienced a noise from heaven like a violent rushing wind and there appeared tongues as of fire resting upon each one of them.

It was difficult for me to even imagine what this experience was like for the early disciples. We have institutionalized this story and frozen it so that we can no longer hear it. The Breath of God blows and the Fire of God enlightens? The Infinite reveals itself in the finite wind and flame? (Acts 2:2-3) What could this mean for a 21^st century psychotherapist/researcher? Would it mean that at the center of every atom and person, we find Light? Would it mean that Infinity is at the center of everything finite? Would the Absolute explode into the relative like some modern Big Bang? Could a symptom be the outer shell of an inner treasure? Could a personal pentecostal revelation come to a modern researcher?

For ten days beginning on November 30, 1999, I awakened at 4:30 a.m. and “waited.” I wrote over 100 pages about everything that came to me into a “journal” which was my computer. I can summarize it like this:

Day One: The Promise of Discovery

Day Two: Let Go of the Familiar and Enter the Sacred Emptiness

Day Three: The Single Eye Sees Beyond the Polar Opposites

Day Four: The Work of Spotting and Releasing Limiting Beliefs

Day Five: Transcendent Love

Day Six: Transformation

Day Seven: Setbacks have Value

Day Eight: The Body Electric

Day Nine: Symptoms as Revelation

Day Ten: Self-Betrayal

After ten days, I was to wait three more, because of the “Betrayal” subject on Day Ten.

Day Eleven Through Thirteen: Nothing. Day Thirteen: Infinity!

Why I Wrote This Book

And so, I was taught that Spiritual Psychotherapy addresses the problem of self-betrayal, the story of which I will tell you now.

In the 1970’s, I was living in southern California, serving as a pastoral counseling specialist for 85 churches in metropolitan Los Angeles. I was invited to a workshop conducted by a psychologist from the Veteran’s Administration, Dr. Helen Womback. She had specialized in hypnosis in her psychotherapy work with military personnel. She was offering a workshop on hypnotic regression. I was interested in hypnosis and for my general counseling practice, but I also went to the workshop to learn more about hypnotic regression.

For two days she taught us experientially how to get into hypnosis and how to regress to an earlier age.. This process involved deep relaxation in a group format. There was not any individual guidance or suggestion given. That made my own experience seem even more authentic. During one of these deep regression experiences I found myself with Jesus and the disciples, when I realized that I was Judas. That shocked me so profoundly that I came out of the trance, but I could not escape the deep fear and recognition that it might be true, than to be the betrayer of a friend. I dropped that line of pursuit like a hotcake. I repressed it and rationalized it as just a fearful thought, a quirk of some ancient guilt.

Several years later I had taken up meditative practice. Every morning at 4 a.m. I roused myself out of bed and went outside of my home at dusk to meditate for two hours until sunrise under a tree facing east. I had many interesting and strange experiences during that particular time of spiritual practice. I saw archetypal symbols such as the sun, moon and stars inside of my body. One morning I was aware that I was given a spiritual name, Lou-Ash. I had no idea what those words meant. About two weeks later in a meditative state, Lou-Ash appeared within me, a gentle loving and powerful brown skinned being much more muscular and powerful than I. He said that he was my Eternal Self. He wore huge gemstone golden rings which appeared to be on my fingers. His eyes (mine) shone with a deep golden light. He said that Lou-Ash meant trustful or faithful one. He said that he represents the New Man on earth, a man who is one with the living Christ consciousness.

I looked up the words in various languages and found indeed that Lou-Ash meant faithful one. “Faithful one” was not a name that particularly fit me. In fact, it was rather distant and strange to me. I had never perceived myself as something like that. And it certainly didn’t fit with the Judas memory!

Now there was the ultimate paradox: Lou-Ash and Judas! Betrayal the Faithful One! I hadn’t been very faithful to my church, studying all of the world religions and visiting every kind of guru imaginable in the Los Angeles area. I hadn’t been particularly faithful to my marriage for that matter. I could see that I had been loyal to my therapeutic spiritual bent. But again, I tucked this meditative information away in the corner of my mind and went on with my life, regarding it as just another of the many contradictions and paradoxes in my metaphysical adventure.

Throughout my professional career, I have devoured all of the world philosophies and religions as well as the psychological and theological literature and movements. I studied philosophy, theology, psychology, metaphysics, new science, physics, and alternative medicine for over 40 years. Insofar as possible I was driven to integrate these fields of knowledge with my own experiences.

About twenty years later, I began to realize that a deeper transformation would take more radical measures. That was when I wrote Radical Consciousness: The Cure for Spiritual Amnesia. It was during this time that a strong archetypal presence and consciousness began to emerge into my daily life. It was like the dots on a puzzle drawing. Dots were scattered all over my lifetime and they began to connect into a picture which incorporated my betrayal experience. Thirty Pieces of Silver: Trust, Betrayal and Transformation was the result.

I am writing this book because I can. I am correcting some of my earlier mistakes. As Judas, I betrayed the vision of Jesus and my own vision because I was disillusioned and afraid. I sold out for love, for misguided love. I loved Jesus and his message, but I feared for his life and mine. I may still have some fear of what speaking the truth means, but I do not feel the same danger. I still value my life, but not enough to keep quiet. I am still disturbed but not depressed or suicidal. I may get fired but at least I won’t be crucified. I am publishing this book online so that I can freely say what I am called to say about Spiritual Psychotherapy. I am not employed by any agency, business or church, and I can speak freely without fear of some heresy trial. I belong to the Church of Infinite Imagination, and to the congregation of the New Humanity. My ministry does not depend on anyone’s approval or disapproval.


At 75, I am retired, although I still work 40+ hours a week in this church of humanity. I missed the first pentecost, but not the one in 2000. I misunderstood the message the first time around, and I do not want to miss it again. My goal is not to destroy any religion, but to fulfill its intent. I want to integrate the implications of the great teachings of the ages in a theory of everything. I have been privileged to sit at the feet of many masters, and for that I am grateful. If this adventure adds to yours, I shall be delighted. If it does nothing more than disturb you, I shall be delighted to have a friend disturbed with me.



All of my life I have both searched for and avoided the truth. I have probably read 5,000 books and interviewed over 20,000 people since I completed my doctorate 45 years ago. But I did not find the truth, the truth found me, in some very strange and interesting ways. I had my own special brands of symptomatic suffering, which I discovered in myself and others. I pursued the meaning of that suffering, to the limit of my ability, in the light of the wisdom that was unfolding in me. Separating my story from the truth has been a surprising and delightful process. Infinity Theory is a statement about that process and the outcome of that experience of truth-discovery.

My truth discovery was that the correct diagnosis of my symptoms revealed the story that hid my spiritual awareness, prevented my self-realization, made my relationships dysfunctional, impoverished me, and hurt my health.

And so, Spiritual Psychotherapy addresses the fundamental human problem of self-betrayal and the Hero’s Journey to Self-realization.

What is the root of pain? Ignorance of yourself. What is the root of desire? The urge to find yourself.

-Maharaj

108 PROOFS OF YOUR IMMORTALITY, INFINITY AND DIVINITY

Seeing is Believing

Let me begin with a disclaimer: evidence for or against Infinity Theory has no validity because evidence is a mind thing and Infinity Theory has its own validity in our experience. However, having said this, let us review 108 experiences which may be used to validate or invalidate your divinity, whichever you choose:Your interest in reading about thisYour ability to readYour belief/disbelief in a higher powerYour insatiable hungersYour addictions and your denials of addictivenessYour power to make yourself miserableYour freedom to chooseYour vacillations between the extremes of misery and pleasureYour power to pretend and denyYour tendency toward guilt and shameYour anger at being put downYour ability to create boredomThe miracle of being aliveYour ability to make anything seem bad or good

Your infinite imagination

Your relentless search for happiness

The fact that you can’t give up even when you give up

Your admiration of human achievements and heroes

Your desire for immortality

Your conscience and your struggle with your conscience

Your admiration of and hatred of robothood and mechanicalness

The notion that you could be a victim

The radical extremes of your thoughts, feelings and actions

Your radical tendency to conform and/or rebel

Your self-critical nature

Your constant effort to prove your innocence or guilt

Your self-punishment and self-reward

Your secretiveness about the absoluteness of your desires

Your hero worship

Your worship of sex and money

Your insistent belief that you are right

Your intent to change the world

Your anger that you can’t change the world

Your perfectionism

Your tendency to brag and cover it up with humility

Your secret selfishness

Your joy in serving others

Your appreciation of beauty

Your desperation for and denial of the importance of sex and intimacy

Your belief you can or can’t be cured

Your black-and-white thinking

Your fascination with the miraculous

Your fear of and denial of death

Your power to create and destroy

Your ability to bless or curse

Your hatred and love of the finite

Your obsession with right and wrong, good and bad

Your hypocrisies and pretenses

Your denial of inferiority feelings

Your shameful sense of low self-esteem

Your excessive pride

Your preoccupation with your innocence or sinfulness

Your constant fight with God

Your use of God’s name in swearing

Your attraction to, avoidance of, and competition with Jesus Christ

Your denials that you are a saint

Your constant desire to be high

Your belief and disbelief in hell and heaven

Your world of opposites

Your dissatisfaction with marriage and your desire to remarry

Your constant blame or idolization of your parents

Your tendencies to be a manic/depressive

Your Dr. Jekyl/ Mr. Hyde behavior

Your ability to forget and remember

Your multiple-personality disorder

Your efforts to hide your insanity

Your ability to smile

Your difficulty in forgiving and forgetting

Your insistence that you are less than you want to be

Your constant stress

Your fascination with science fiction

Your incessant desire for more

Your disappointments with mediocrity

Your belief that you have to be a victim, perpetrator or rescuer

Your belief in and hatred of loneliness

Your determination to overcome your sense of lack

Your hatred of stupidity

Your inescapable nature as a lover

Your search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Your hopes to live forever

Your scapegoating of others

Your thoughts of destroying whatever gets in your way

The desire to kill your body to get rid of your sense of pain and failure

Your constant desire to escape what you don’t like

Your refusal to accept responsibility for your entire creation

Your awesome ability to create and to do miracles

Your awesome ability to create misery and happiness

Your constant denial of these awesome abilities

Your desire and effort to improve the world

Your desire to discover the fountain of youth and paradise

Your fight against injustice

Your belief in your innocence and rightness

Your power struggles with your lovers

Your commitment to your rights

Your sense of entitlement

Your hatred of feeling like a slave

Your belief in the ultimacy of the good

Your ability to imagine and envision anything

Your ability to be the observer of anything

That you can deny but you not destroy your Consciousness

Your ability to learn anything ultimately new because you already know it all

That you have already forgotten more than you can remember

That the Secret Knowledge of Life is buried in your self-chosen ignorance

How can any of these things indicate your immortality, your divinity, your infinite nature? I have attempted to demonstrate why I believe that they all do, but the proving of them to yourself is up to you. Your interest in and doubt about proving and disproving is the final proof of your divinity, immortality and infinite nature.

Isn’t my list of “proofs” of divinity ridiculous and ludicrous? Of what possible value could such a list be in such a cruel meaningless world? Would it even matter if you could prove to yourself that you and everyone else and everything else is infinite? No one else would believe it and you wouldn’t want to be a fool, would you? I have already decided that I am a fool, and that I chose to belong to a tribe of fools, so why not be a Fool for Infinity? There was no one to fool but myself anyway, and I realized I had chosen to do that long enough.

This is all written for my own understanding. I wouldn’t dare to try to prove or disprove anything to an infinite being such as you. You could prove me right or wrong at any time according to your wishes. And no doubt you have already proven to yourself that you have the power to fool even yourself. The finite denial of or awareness of infinity is your choice. Fortunately, infinity is not a choice that we have, only awareness or unawareness of infinity is our choice. The adventure of the discovery of reality stretches out before us infinitely. To be a bit more ridiculous, let’s add a few more proofs

Your ingenius intelligence

Your miraculous existence

The infinity of your imagination

Your infinite desire and ability to know

Your ability to love unconditionally

Your entire list of disappointments, criticisms and complaints about life.

Your infinite ability to deny, doubt, and resist

Your symptoms

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that my list of “proofs” can just as easily be taken as proofs of your mortality, finitude and non-divinity as they can as proofs for your immortality, infinity and divinity. And what is more interesting, is that they always have been.

Who could infinity be proven to? To the finite? Can the infinite ever be proven to the finite? Why would the infinite need to be proven to itself? The finite is the only thing that even questions or could question the infinite.

How can the sun be proven to the sunbeam?

How can the ocean be proven to the wave?

How can the Internet be proven to the computer?

How can the watchmaker be proven to the watch?

How can the spirit be proven to the body?

How can the mind be proven to the thought?

How can the invisible be proven to the visible?

The Infinite can be aware of the finite, but the finite cannot grasp the Infinite.

All Things are Designed for your Self-realization

Even my symptoms?

Did St. Paul use poetic license when he spoke so often of “all things?” Or did he discover a radical consciousness which penetrated so deeply into the finite that he found the Infinite Source and Unity of all things? He called this consciousness “the mind of Christ in you.” How could such a legalistic, concrete, literal mind such as Paul’s, become mystically alive and spiritually aware? He had the mind of a lawyer, but when his heart and spirit opened up, he was able to take us to the depths and heights of consciousness. Consider some of the passionate and practical guidance he offered us about “all things”.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom 8:32Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Rom 11:36
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. I Cor 2: 10
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searchethall things, yea, the deep things of God.1 Cor 3:22
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your’s, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s I Cor 6:12
All things are lawful unto me, but I will not be mastered by anything. . I Cor 9:21I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some I Cor 13:6-8
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth allthings.^{I Cor 13:6-8}For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. II Cor 4:15Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new II Cor 5:17
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Eph 1:11
Giving thanks always for all things unto God. Eph 5:20
Do all things without complaining or arguing, Phil 2:14
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil 4:13 For by him were all things created. Col 1:16
Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things 2 Tim 2:7Rejoice always. In all things, give thanks; do not quench the spirit. I Thess 5: 18Let all things be constructive and strengthening for the good of all. I cor 14:26
To summarize Paul’s formulas for power and peace:Give thanks always for all things unto GodDo all things without complaining or arguingAll things work together for goodAll things are for your sakeAll things are becoming newI can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me

The Spirit reveals all things

The Lord will give you understanding in all things’

All things are of Him, through Him, and to Him.

In all things we are more than conquerors

He freely gives us all things

All things are yours

Let all things be constructive and strengthening for the good of all

If we forgive and forget all things, then we can praise God for all things, and love unconditionally.

All things are ours, all things are becoming new, all things work together for good, and all things will be revealed to you for your understanding. Exclude one thing and it becomes your trap.

Nothing is to be condemned, nothing is to be unforgiven, nothing is to be feared and resisted, nothing is to be regarded as old and set in concrete, nothing is withheld from you, nothing is to be complained about or argued about, and nothing is to be excluded from your praise, forgiveness and love. Focus God’s infinite intelligence, infinite power, infinite love, infinite freedom, and infinite peace upon any problem and it will release its meaning unto you. Infinite means “all things” and “all power.” The Infinite is the unconditional which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopethall things, and endureth all things.

What is Infinity Theory About?

Infinity Can’t Evolve, you nut!

The Evolution of Infinity Theory


1. Nicholas Berdyaev prophesied that we would come into an age of freedom andcreativity in the latter part of the 20^th century ; that time has arrived.

2. William blake recognized that the spiritual essence of man is imagination

3. Jung, Hilton and Assiagoli, along with Ken Wilber, laid the foundations for a transpersonal psychology focused upon imagination

4. Imagination is the missing piece in our understanding of the whole person

5. Psychology, theology, and psychotherapy as a whole have not adequately recognized the centrality of imagination in holistic treatment, and that is why we do not yet have a mature spiritual psychotherapy

6. What we have so far is a psychological,social and medical model of psychotherapy based upon various emotions, behaviors, and cognitive distortions

7. These various faculties of man are addressed through a diagnosis of somatic, emotional, and cognitive distortions called symptoms

8. We do not yet have a depth approach to symptom diagnosis and this limits our treatment potential

9.Without an understanding of how imagination is the key factor in diagnosis, we shall not enter the stage of freedom and creativity of which Berdyaev prophesied.

10. We need an infinity model of man, but so far we only have a finite psychological/social/medical model of man

11.Many great teachers and therapists have contributed pieces of this spiritual understanding about man

12. I believe it is possible to re-interpret the Bible in a way that guides us through the pitfalls of mis-imagination.

13. Spiritual Psychotherapy: The Infinite Meaning of Symptoms is an in-depth exploration of imagination and the Christ or Self archetype as a basis for an emerging spiritual psychotherapy.

14. Infinity Theory is an attempt to pull together the most relevant strands of psychology, theology, philosophy and science as they contribute to a spiritual understanding of the divinity of man in both diagnosis and treatment. Building on the work of Jung, Hilton, Assiagoli, and Wilber, this author extends the forefront of spiritual psychology well into the 21^st century.

Spiritual Psychotherapy is based upon the interface of two scriptures with psychotherapy. The Holy Bible and the Course in Miracles were both inspired by the same Spirit, which also guides the healing process in psychotherapy. Earlier scriptures were penned by prophets and sages on various continents and in scattered time periods. The Course in Miracles is a 20^th century scripture dictated by Jesus and penned by a female Jewish psychologist in New York City in the 1960’s. Although the truth behind all scriptures is one, our understanding of truth varies with our level of awareness and revelation. The Holy Bible and The Course in Miracles may seem contradictory to some who have not studied both in the light of psychotherapy issues. I grew up with the Christian scriptures and studied them in their original languages. I deepened my appreciation and understanding of the Christian scriptures when I studied the scriptures of other religions, and particularly the universal scripture, A Course in Miracles, along with trying to decipher the cause of human suffering with my patients and myself as human documents. I am and can be my only patient. Tara Singh emphasizes that the Course in Miracles is our own personal scripture, written just for the modern individual who is willing to question his own judgments and forgive. A 478 page Workbook for Students gently takes apart the human programming which keeps us locked into a self-defeating pattern of illusion. There is also a Text and a Manuel for Teachers, as well as a Psychotherapy Primer. Neither the Bible nor the Course have much to say directly about imagination or about symptoms, but implicitly and indirectly they have worlds to say.

What is Infinity Theory About?

Infinity Can’t Evolve, you nut!

The Evolution of Infinity Theory


1. Nicholas Berdyaev prophesied that we would come into an age of freedom andcreativity in the latter part of the 20^th century ; that time has arrived.