Susan Hawkins – Page 6 – David R. Hawkins

Curiosity with Discernment

Q: Is curiosity then an advantage to the spiritual seeker?

A: With humility, it is a useful servant. Without discernment, however, it can lead to serious pitfalls. Curiosity can lead the naïve seeker into blind alleys and useless distractions as well as snares and serious, painful traps. This is where a true teacher is necessary. Again, humility means acceptance of the indisputable fact that cannot be repeated too often: The human mind is incapable of discerning truth from falsehood. Were this not so, there would have been no wars in history, no social problems, and no ignorance or poverty. Everyone would be enlightened, and the consciousness level of mankind would not have remained at 190 century after century.

From I: Reality and Subjectivity, ch. 6, pg. 117

Resolutions

Everyone is familiar with resolutions that quickly fail, and changes of behavior turn out to be easier to formulate than to implement.

… Unaided, the mind is too weak and ineffective to bring about major change…

Hopelessness, suffering, and pain, however, may be the final straw that breaks the ego’s back, and in despair, the person invokes the only possible last source of power itself by turning to God, Divinity, and the spiritual domain by whatever name it may be addressed, a “power greater than myself,” and to which surrender accesses a whole new dimension…The key element to the empowerment of the Will is consent. … The intention then intensifies the emergence of potentiality into experiential existential reality. This is also the mechanism described at length in the famous A Course in Miracles (1975). It is also the critical first step in Alcoholics Anonymous and other faith-based groups that admit, “without God’s help, we were hopeless and helpless” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2000).

From Truth vs. Falsehood p. 357-358

Existence as Existence is Total and Complete

.. In Reality, there are no events; there are no beginnings or endings. The backdrop is silent, still, and undisturbed by the movie. One’s reality is the context and not the content. … The movie itself has no intrinsic reality as perceived. The actual locus of the sense of realness lies totally within consciousness as subjectivity. Even if there were such a thing as an independent, objective reality, it would only be knowable because of one’s internal subjectivity.

… God can only be known and not proven. Beyond subjectivity, no world exists. Without the presence of God, nothing could be known or experienced, including one’s own existence. Existence as subjectivity is complete, total, and whole, and it is the very basis of joy. The Self is the Presence of the Source of Existence as the Infinite ‘I’.

… The novelty of sequential experiencing disappears, as do expectation, regret, or the desire to anticipate or control. Existence as Existence is total and complete. All one’s needs are already fulfilled. There is nothing to gain or lose and everything is of equal value. It would be like all movies being equally enjoyable because the pleasure stems from ‘going to the movies’, and the movie that is playing is irrelevant.

From I: Reality and Subjectivity p. 178-180

There Are No Justified Resentments

In the spiritual world, the basic dictum is, “There are no justified resentments.” This statement is abhorred by the ego. “Oh yeah,” it says, but what about so-and-so?” It then goes through its laundry list and litany of horrors, violations of ‘rights’, injustices, presumptive arguments of ‘ethics’, ‘morality’, etc. Every counselor, sponsor, or professional is familiar with such recitations. To recover, the question one has to face is whether one wishes to cling to it (and thereby get the ‘juice’) or give it up. This is the point of decision, without which healing cannot occur.

…Reluctance to forgive is a consequence not only of unwillingness to let go of the ego juice of perceived injustice but also the illusion that others do not ‘deserve’ it. In reality, it is the forgiver and not the forgiven who benefits the most.

From Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, ch. 2, pg.56-57

Decline the Ego’s Programs

What really varies from individual to individual is the degree to which one is enslaved by its programs. The degree of dominance is therefore determined by the extent to which one identifies with it. Inherently, it has no power, and the power to decline the ego’s programs increases exponentially as one progresses spiritually.

… When we see how people are dominated by the ego’s programs, we realize that, without awareness or insight, they are relatively unable to help themselves. We say they are ‘driven’ by greed, hate, fear, addiction, or pride. … To be unconscious means just that; thus, ‘sin’ can be seen really as a limitation in the evolution of consciousness. This limitation was termed ‘ignorance’ by both the Buddha and Jesus Christ.

From I: Reality and Subjectivity, p. 112