Greetings, my dearest friends. There is a great, warm current
of strength and love gathered here. This blessing is the result of your efforts,
your growth, your struggle in the right direction. Everyone of you here is
responsible for some of it. Everyone of you here has contributed to it --
as also have some of my friends who are not present tonight.
With this lecture I shall try to help you a step further toward
the goal. Now, what is the goal? Spiritual literature and religious teachings,
in all cultures and in all places, in one form or another, century after century,
always speak about "the Fall of the Angels," or "The Fall from Grace." What
is really meant by this? Mankind usually interprets "the Fall" in a literal
way, as an event in time and space. In other words, something that happened
once upon a time in a certain place. Through certain actions, the individuals
in question were displaced from one spot to another -- or sent down to another
geographical sphere. This, of course, is a gross misunderstanding, for what
is really meant by the story, and what seems so hard for man to understand,
is no more and no less than a change in a state of mind. To be separated from
God is a state of mind, or a state of consciousness. And to return to God,
to one's Creator, is, again, a state of consciousness.
After a certain stage has been reached on this path of development,
man discovers within himself a certain power and intelligence which feels
as though it were a separate being, other than the usual conscious mind, the
feeling that he has of himself. A vaster, different kind of being seems to
be dwelling within. It is as though two brains exist -- the second, recently
discovered, is much wiser and more satisfying in its guidance. It makes the
person experience himself in a much more satisfying way.
Of course, this is an illusion, for there are not two separate
entities. But at this point man has taken the first step toward his reunification
with the Divine. He is no longer completely separated from it; he is able
to be activated and moved by it. But it is an illusion that there are two
minds, or consciousnesses, or separate beings in existence. It is all one
consciousness, though still separated or divided. This "separation" constitutes
what in religion is referred to as "the Fall of the Angels". In psychology
a different terminology is used to describe the identical process; integration
means nothing other than reunification with the Divine. Psychology also acknowledges
the fact that the integrated, healthy individual functions from the center
of his being.
The separation from this center is a wall of not knowing that
this inner center of wisdom, love, and power exists. Not knowing this, contact
with it is not sought, hence more confusion, error, and ignorance arise. The
less the awareness of the existence of this inner center, the greater the
separation from it must be.
When, due to increased self-awareness, parts of this wall begin
to crumble, while other parts of the wall still persist, occasional contact
with the inner center gives the appearance that two minds, two beings, are
present. When parts of this inner self come forth, carrying literally infinite
possibilities for bliss, for good, and for limitless expansion, they seem
to be totally unconnected with the familiar personality.
This inner center is the Divine Consciousness. It permeates
the entire universe, it comprises all. Hence, the inner center of one human
being is one with the inner center of every other human being. All are filled
with this living unity that knows no conflict and no limitation. The creative
power at work in any life process is all one and the same. The separation
of matter and consciousness is illusion. This illusion is the real meaning
of what religion refers to as separation from God, or the "Fall of the Angels."
Working oneself back to the state of bliss which results from being integrated
and in contact with the inner center is the "goal." Not only the goal of such
a path as this, but the unconscious goal of every living being.
The power contained in the nucleus of your innermost being
is so vast that you cannot conceive of it, my friends. Only gradually can
you test it and see it at work -- and marvel at it. You will see it first
in smaller ways, which nevertheless appear almost miraculous. And, as you
perceive more and extend your concepts and your vision, you will see it work
in many wonderful ways. If you choose to call it into being, you will find
this tremendous power to be so vast that you cannot conceive of "having" it,
or "being" it, or being activated by it. It is as simple as that.
At the moment, most of you are still so separated from it,
for you do not really believe that you have all you need in order to expand,
in order to be in harmony, in the dynamic, creative life process, in which
you give and receive all that you can possibly dream of.
Not being aware of this life center is directly connected with
not being aware of the negative causes that you set in motion. This pathwork
must primarily be concerned with uncovering the images, the wrong concepts,
the destructive emotions, and behavior patterns. To the extent that these
are changed, awareness of the Divine in you must follow. The impression of
an apparently separate, foreign consciousness dwelling within also occurs
in respect to the negative part of the personality. When the first attempts
are being made to bring hitherto unconscious destructive material to the surface,
the individual often feels as though an indwelling destructive entity, over
which he has no control, were at work. He first ascribes negative events to
an outside fate and fears the world and life around him. As he uncovers his
own unconscious destructiveness, he begins to fear his own unconscious, over
which he as yet seems to have no control. Here, too, he feels as though two
separate entities were involved: his familiar conscious self, with its aims
and thoughts, and the newly discovered unconscious, with its entirely opposite
negative aims and thoughts. As he proceeds in this work, he gradually eliminates
the separating factors. He begins to own up to and feel responsible for this
indwelling "entity." He connects with it and can identify with it. Hence he
can take responsibility for it and become one with it. Its workings are no
longer separated from his conscious will. Thus man's ego integrates with a
part of himself that has led him into blind alleys. But now the wiser ego
can determine the way. The struggle between the educated ego and the indwelling
destructive element ceases as soon as the outer ego is able to recognize its
oneness with the destructive element.
The process is identical when man meets the divine center.
Man is at first as unaware of it as he is of the destructive processes. As
the mind questions its previous perception and begins to visualize new possibilities,
what was buried comes to the fore. This process applies to the destructive
as well as to the most constructive and creative elements in man. The manifestations
of both seem at first disconnected from the self; only as it is accepted that
they are part of the self can the self own up to them and integrate with them.
Then the negative dissolves in the integration process with the conscious
ego and the Divine activates and moves the conscious ego more and more, until
the ego becomes one with it.
Consider any momentary undesirable mood or situation you seem
unable to change. Somewhere in you there must be a point where you have deliberately
produced the undesirable element, for otherwise you would not be in this situation.
As long as you ignore the connection between your wanting the result you now
suffer from and your experiencing this result, you must be frantic and frightened.
However, you do your best not to admit this self-induced process, you prefer
to believe it to be unkind fate. You struggle against seeing your own involvement.
But once you want to see the connection, you will see it. Then you will be
free, even while you are still imperfect. Where you have made this recognition
you will no longer feel helpless and controlled by powers you cannot understand.
If you ignore the fact that your present predicament was created by you, and
may still continue to be activated by you, you truly defeat yourself. You
must recognize this fact and thus eliminate your ignorance.
The moment you consider that whatever you experience is a result
of some cause you have set in motion, the moment you can say, "I must
somehow have produced it, I want to see where and how," and then let
go and let your positive inner powers produce the answers, you must inevitably
come into possession of this knowledge. In that moment you will experience
the first inkling of peace and a state of fearlessness, because you are, within
yourself, contemplating your own cause and effect. I have discussed this in
different contexts before. I repeat it because it is badly needed by a number
of my friends; because the truth is so easily forgotten when it has not become
second nature in the process of growing. It must also be repeated to outline
the parallel between the negative and positive inner processes. The more aware
you are of both possibilities within, the more you can integrate and identify
with both, so that the negative dissolves and the positive takes over. But
you cannot gain awareness of either unless you contemplate it and cultivate
it with your conscious ego. As you own up to the negative aspects in you,
you will be capable of claiming for yourself the greatest power there is.
As you take ownership and responsibility for the destructive in you, you are
no longer ruled by it and you become capable of taking responsibility for
the best in creation -- the Divine in you. When you are no longer ruled by
the destructive because you accept it as part of you and thus establish self-determination,
you shall be empowered by the vastest force in the universe and you will be
activated by it to accomplish hitherto undreamed of results. As you see how
the destructive elements in you work, and what motivates them, they will cease
to frighten you, for you will be able to determine the course. At the same
time you will no longer be frightened by the greatest positive power dwelling
within you. You will be able to use it by building molds for it with your
conscious mind. As long as man fears the destructive in him, he must also
fear the Divine in him. He will cease to fear the destructive only if and
when he is willing to face it squarely.
Becoming integrated with your divine center does not happen
in one sweep. As you know, these processes are gradual. There are many areas
where you are already quite free and have established a direct contact with
the center of the inner self, which brings the most favorable consequences
in inner and outer life experience. Other areas may still be walled in by
lack of awareness. In those areas you may still not be cognizant of where
and how you activate the negative processes, and therefore you cannot bring
yourself to deliberately activate the positive ones. Your will is blocked
and paralyzed. You may be perfectly capable to communicate with your inner
nucleus and be guided and moved by it in most wonderful ways in all areas
where you have gained freedom through awareness, but in areas of unawareness
you are incapacitated from doing the same. Hence, in these areas you are separated
from knowing what destructive elements are at work, and disconnected from
the power that will help you grow out of it. For such situations, this lecture
will be helpful.
You will learn to understand how these laws work, and how you
can use the powers of your mind and your will. As you understand their potency,
you will no longer feel a separation between your conscious intelligence and
will, which form the active mind and personality, and the inner, vast divine
self, the center of your inner being, which is, at the same time, the center
of the universe.
As long as you are separated from the center, you must be weak
and lost. Your separated brain and personality cannot do by themselves what
can be accomplished solely in cooperation with the inner center. The outer
personality levels serve one purpose: to reach this inner being. They exist
in order to know this inner being; to conceive of the beauty and the possibilities
of this inner being; to establish a deliberate contact with this inner center.
The outer self has to allow itself to be guided, moved, and filled with what
comes forth from the inner self. When the outer personality deliberately makes
room for it, the inner self will spontaneously manifest. In this process the
outer personality will eventually integrate with the inner nucleus.
When your outer self tries to accomplish that which the inner
being alone is capable of doing, you cannot succeed. You must come into confusion
and difficulties, into fear and pain. You must struggle in a most frustrating
way. In its utter oblivion of the inner core, the outer self will try as hard
as it can to control what it cannot control. This struggle must cause more
tension, anxiety, sense of failure, and fear of defeat. But the exhaustion
of this futile struggle, with all its senseless and outer pressure, must also
induce the personality to give up in areas it is most necessary to persevere.
For purposeful activity the exact reversal is needed: where the personality
presses, forces, and pushes, letting go and giving up to a superior force
(within the self) is necessary. Where the personality gives up in a hopeless,
resigned way, without formulating the thoughts that can activate the inner
nucleus, effort and will are in order. Unfortunately, too often the line of
least resistance prevails in the thought processes which indulge in negativity,
while the outer will fights, struggles, and presses for a desired result that
cannot come as long as the inner faculties are left out of commission. This
tense and anxious pushing occurs in a very subtle, but nevertheless very real,
way. It is directed toward the behavior of others who, one feels, have to
behave in a certain way to enable the self to accomplish its goal. The pushing
is also directed toward the resisting self, which cannot be forced to feel
differently as long as the personality ignores that definite "reasons" exist
for its resistance.
This imbalance of control will be observed within the personality
when you progress on this path. As it is observed, it can be corrected. You
will be acutely conscious of how you give in to the most destructive thought
patterns and emotions; you will see how, in this respect, you choose the line
of least resistance. Now that they are no longer hazy, their effect can be
evaluated, and you will be able to halt them and choose a constructive pattern
of thinking, feeling, and willing. In the area of your momentary problem you
will formulate the one constructive wish to reach inside and deliberately
activate the vaster divine self that dwells deep within you.
This is not difficult. It is, in fact, a much easier action
than what you are doing, the struggle you go through. If only you would say,
"I, with my outer being, cannot solve this problem. But I know that
I must be in confusion and untruth because I am driven to think, feel, and
act in a way that produces hopelessness, fear, frustration, and feelings of
doubt. I will now deliberately contact and activate the most constructive
center of my innermost being and let it move me into the thoughts that I need
to have at this moment; into the realizations I must have at this moment;
into actions and feelings that are good and productive in this moment."
And then let go and let be -- and let it move you. Let it "think" through
you. Let it feel through you. This is all you have to do. In this way you
activate that most potent live center. It will guide you from step to step.
The process I just described is obviously not a one-time and
final action. At the beginning, you may feel that way, you may pull yourself
together and follow through on this advice and, indeed, experience the most
favorable result. But then you may assume that this is it and that no further
steps are needed. Of course it does not suffice. For you are still at the
beginning of this integration. It does not yet exist without conscious effort.
It must be worked for by the same process of activating and formulating, of
conceiving the proper thoughts and will, of calling forth this inner center.
And the process must be repeated. Each juncture presents different roadblocks,
which have to be recognized and eliminated. Each time difficulties and negativities
appear, you must halt the negativity that seems so easy to give in to; you
must fight to contact the inner being. This is not so hard; it really is rather
easy. Each time you do it, another aspect of that separating wall will be
removed. More understanding, more life must come, so that eventually you will
feel this power that moves you as your power. You will feel
a oneness between your outer self and this center you have to call into manifestation
by a deliberate thought process. It will no longer seem as though a second
consciousness existed in you. Nor will it be as though the results in your
life had nothing to do with you. You will be connected both with the negative
causes you had not seen before, and with the positive powers you never dreamed
possible. This will result in filling you with productive thoughts of truth,
expansion, and a wider vision of possibilities. Each situation will offer
many possibilities for desirable results, for solutions, and for creative
growth.
You cannot come out of any difficulty if you trust the
outer mind exclusively. Let the outer mind be filled with the inner being.
Then, and then only, can you find the way out of each specific problem.
The re-establishment of balance regarding mind control can
best be demonstrated with the following example. Each human being needs and
wants love. When you are separated from the center within, your approach to
obtaining love is a reversal of control. When a proper balance of control
exists in this respect, man gives of himself freely and fearlessly. At the
same time, he lets the loved one free. He does not force, he does not need
to possess, he does not need to own, he does not need to exert a tight control
and pressure. Therefore he cannot be owned or controlled. Hence, he need not
fear to love and be loved. He must realize, in this frame of mind, that love
is the greatest freedom. That it must come to him, if he lets it, and that
he does not have to fight or push for it. He can let others free because he
knows that he receives what is his. And love is his because he does not block
it, he does not fear or resist it. Love is a floating continuum that can never
be taken away from him as long as he does not take it away from himself. There
is no end to it as long as he does not end it. It is utterly safe, there is
no danger and no conflict attached to it. Therefore, to give of himself, to
love, and to contribute do not imply a loss of control. He is, in the true
sense of the word, self-determining. In the best sense, the control is his,
without tightness or fear.
But in distortion, in false control, man is again in an either/or
situation. He is not loving and letting free. He envisages either
the false version of love or the false version of letting free. To love in
a distorted way is martyrdom, self-effacing submission, and self-destruction
for the sake of the "loved one." To be loved, in the distorted version, is
to possess and control the loved one completely. Hence, the fear that to love
means possession, submission, and martyrdom. You yearn for love, yet you are
afraid of it, and you resist it. The individual rightly doubts his power to
own and control another person to the exclusive extent he believes it to be
necessary. Fear of being controlled (to love), and fear of not being able
to control (being loved) lead to the false version of letting free, which
is withdrawal, indifference, non-involvement, non-commitment, numbness of
feelings, separateness, and refusal to love.
When man is involved in this distortion, he cannot see that
love and freedom are one. He must associate love with lack of freedom. Even
if intellectually he knows better, emotionally he cannot experience the mutual
freedom of true love.
Such a struggle cannot be resolved with the outer mind, intellect
or will. Activate the inner center by expressing that you want to give of
yourself fearlessly, without fear of being controlled. Express your desire
to feel and experience the oneness of love and freedom, as you grant it to
the other and therefore experience it for yourself. Request guidance to get
you to this stage by establishing the necessary sense of integrity and self-acceptance.
You will discover that the more you love, the more freedom and selfhood you
have. If you express this possibility as a formulated thought, and then activate
the inner powers to help you experience it, you must come out of whatever
problem you may find yourself in at the moment.
Your loneliness, your fears, and your conflicts, in one way
or another, come down to this: you do not do the only purposeful thing to
do, activate the divine nucleus within you. It is the only real, relaxed,
and productive control, for it is this inner center which can indeed solve
all problems, if you only let it. And you let it only when you call upon it.
It is this inner being, right in you, that knows and understands the "process"
of love without danger; of giving love and freedom, and therefore of receiving
love and remaining free. Your outer self does not understand this. You cannot
produce a state of mind which you do not truly comprehend. Your inner self
can help you. Call upon it.
Your inner nucleus, with all its powers, can solve all your
problems, whatever they are. Whatever your misconceptions are, this indwelling
consciousness can change them into truthful states of mind. It is always ready
to respond, but it must be specifically contacted. It will fill you with new,
stimulating, and challenging thoughts, outlooks, and ideas. It will lead you
into feelings of truth and beauty. Its guidance is invaluable. If you call
upon it, it must respond, for that is the law. This is not magic, it is not
an inconceivably difficult feat you have to master. You can do it right now,
if you so choose.
All real and constructive actions and experiences in life come
forth from this inner center, from your innermost self, your nucleus, the
divine substance that is with you and in you at all times. It cannot respond
unless your outer mind, which is separated from this nucleus, deliberately
establishes contact with it.
The comprehension and the following through of this process
is the greatest need for all my friends now. No matter how much we have talked
about it in this or that fashion, it is still forgotten, overlooked, neglected,
not acted upon. You give in to the negative, the destructive so easily. You
entrust yourself so readily to the outer mechanics where the negative processes
sweep you into a vortex. The negative chain is started deliberately at one
point; you have to find this again and again. Then it gets out of hand, until
it seems that you can no longer control it. But you can. It is the simple
formulation of the right thought and desire. This is the only effort, my friends.
It is the effort you constantly need in order to go through life. When you
remain separated from the inner nucleus, you are needlessly exhausted. You
do not make that one effort to deliberately contact the inner power, to activate
you and to fill you with what you need most. When you do not make this effort,
you use a hundred times more energy than would be necessary if you chose to
make this specific effort. This wasted energy produces failure and disappointment.
You give in to the line of least resistance in the one area where you need
to persevere. You make a tremendous effort to escape the negativity you have
produced in the first place, the negativity you have chosen to give in to.
When this process is reversed and you use your energy to halt
destructive processes and deliberately contact the powers within, you will
be activated by the powers and wisdom within. This is a spontaneous process
that comes quite effortlessly. But first you must pull your thoughts together,
you must want to entrust yourself to the divine powers within. You must make
the effort. You must clearly formulate the desire to come out of any negative
inner or outer situation. As you do this, reach for the inner power to lead
the way, step by step.
Do not doubt the existence of your inner core, my friends.
But even if some of you have not as yet sufficiently experienced it, even
if you still doubt, you can follow through this process anyway. You can always
express a clearly formulated desire for a constructive result. And even while
you doubt the existence of greater wisdom and power within yourself, which
is immediately accessible, you can honestly test it and allow it to manifest
"if it exists." If you merely argue against it, instead of trying it, you
are not honest in your doubt. You have nothing to lose, for you have amply
experienced that relying solely on your outer faculties has gotten you into
the undesirable situation you find yourself in. Outer pressure, tension, and
forcing currents have not accomplished it. So try it this way now. Entrust
yourself to these inner powers, which you do not have to pressure or direct
after you formulate the thoughts of constructive will. You will see it work.
Now, my friends, here I have given you a key that could get
you across a major threshold, if you but use it, if you use control in the
way I describe, instead of in the way you have been doing. You may find areas
in which you already do what I have just described. And you will see that
in those areas your life is most successful. Things go smoothly and effortlessly.
And, in fact, you no longer even have to make an effort with your outer mind
to formulate constructive desire and to contact the inner being, for unity
has already been established. You already have come home. Your consciousness
is completely constructive in all of its expressions; the inner and the outer
facets of consciousness are united. There is no division. In these areas you
are in harmony, there is no trace of destructiveness in motivation in the
remotest recesses of your personality. What religion refers to as "salvation"
has taken place in these areas; psychology refers to the same as integration,
mental health, and emotional maturity.
At the same time, other areas of your personality are still
in the dark regions of conflict, error, doubt, ignorance, and destructiveness.
There, if you use the key I give you, you can accelerate the process of development.
False control strengthens the wall of separation. Eliminate
this wall by contacting deeper and vaster faculties to activate you, even
while the wall is still present. Make this, my friends, your main concern
at this time. Use this key in whatever area you see fit and wherever you feel
you have the greatest need at any given moment of each day. The more resourceful
you become in formulating your needs where you wish for the inner center to
guide and inspire you, to activate and fill you with truth, with constructive
outlook and energies, the more perfect the manifestations of the center will
become. In so many and such different ways will it manifest that it will truly
fill you with security and trust. Trust in yourself and in the life process.
Ask this constructive power, this nucleus of perfection and
beauty, of health and wisdom, to give you the right ideas for removing the
separating wall. Request it to inspire you with the most effective meditation
at any given moment, so that even your outer mind, which must make the first
step to establish the contact with the inner center, will be filled with the
power and wisdom of your core. Thus the interaction will work both ways. The
more you cultivate this process, the safer you must feel, and the more you
will realize that no problem is without a solution. Salvation, my friends,
lies exclusively in reuniting the outer mind with the inner nucleus. This
salvation is so near, with all its truth and light and relief and happiness;
but it never occurs to you. Go into this deep center of yourself and the answers
will come forth, enlightenment must follow and crises will inevitably disappear.
An even greater force of love and power is not activated. For
many of you here have not only understood, but have gained an insight, or
a glimpse, a hope and a light. This light shows that you are not dependent
on any outer power which has to be coerced, submitted to, or cajoled. It is
an immediately available power inside. It is so secure and so wonderful. Some
of you here have perceived it and are on the verge of using it where it is
most needed. In doing so, you will soon be out of your crisis or your painful
confusion.