Susan Hawkins – Page 2 – David R. Hawkins

A Focus for Contemplation

It is rewarding to choose a spiritual lesson or concept for the day that serves as a focus for contemplation. This is a way of contextualizing the entire day and its experiences. For instance, one can select Unity’s Daily Prayer, a lesson from A Course of Miracles, a step from the twelve-step program, a Psalm, or a basic spiritual premise, such as surrender, humility, or the letting go of control or the desire for gain. When done repeatedly over a period of time, it becomes incorporated into one’s personality and attentional set by which one automatically becomes benevolent, loving towards all life in all of its expressions, and aware of the perfection and beauty of every moment.
With incorporation into daily life, a spiritual practice an take the form of the continuous surrendering of volition, which then emerges into autonomous witnessing and effortless observation. These capacities will then be discovered to be qualities of consciousness, and not personal.

Reality, Spirituality, and Modern Man, Ch. 19, pg. 354-355

We are only Subject to What We Hold in Mind

The basic dictum to comprehend is that the body obeys the mind; therefore, the body tends to manifest what the mind believes. The belief may be held consciously or unconsciously. This dictum follows from the law of consciousness that states: We are only subject to what we hold in mind. The only power or energy that anything has over us is the power of belief that we give it. By “power,” we mean energy and the will to believe.

From Letting Go, The Pathway of Surrender, Chapter 15, Relationship Between Mind and Body, The Influence of Mind, pg. 212

The Surrendered State

In the surrendered state, we are independent of the outer world as a source of satisfaction because the source of happiness has been found within us.

From Letting Go The Pathway of Surrender, pg. 253

Reality is the Ultimate in Simplicity

Revelation is a revealed knowingness.

… Ultimately, everything is only knowable by virtue of the identity of ‘being it’. The conundrums of epistemology can be solved only by the elimination of thought because all languaging is a paradox.

… The ego (as the illusory self) propagates itself so that it can continue to be the ‘me’. One of its techniques is to try to ‘learn about’ or ‘understand’ things. Realize that if you are something, there is nothing to understand about it. Reality is the ultimate in simplicity.

Man thinks but thinking is a two edged sword….Truth is the radical simplicity and obviousness of God. It is unity. The word ‘unity’ signifies the completeness of the Self-Identity of existence. All is complete by virtue of being itself. No descriptions or nominal designations are required, they are all distractions. Even to just witness requires no thought. There is no necessity to mentalize Reality, it does not enhance what is but instead detracts from it..

… Enlightenment is the ultimate aesthetic awareness for it allows the beauty of creation to shine forth with stunning clarity.”

From I: Reality and Subjectivity p. 462-464

The Strength of Courage

The critical key to moving into the strength of courage is the acceptance of personal responsibility and accountability. This major move requires relinquishment of a victim/perpetrator dualistic fallacy that socially undermines integrity via blame and excuses based on dualistic, moral, and social relativistic fallacies and theories by which an external ‘cause’ or social condition replaces integrous personal autonomy and self-honesty. Thus, courage also includes rising above identification with the rationalizations that characterize social belief systems… that calibrate based on presumptions of blame and excuses. Even if there is or has been an external ‘cause’, it still behooves the individual to rise above it. Society is rife with well-publicized examples of such invocation of courage, even in the face of severe calamities… Courage does not mean absence of fear but the willingness to surmount it, which, when accomplished, reveals hidden strength and the capacity for fortitude. Fear of failure is diminished by realizing that one is responsible for the intention and effort but not the result, which is dependent on many other conditions and factors that are nonpersonal.

Strong intention plus dedication assisted by inspiration surprisingly can bring success despite prior failures. This reveals the inner capacity for bravery and fortitude that greatly increases self-esteem and confidence. Many of life’s travails can only be traversed by ‘white-knuckling it’, which builds self-confidence.

From Transcending the Levels of Consciousness p.188-190