Spiritual intention and commitment, especially when accompanied by prayer, declaration, invocation, and devotion, change the predominant influential consciousness energy field, which is coordinated by its powerful ‘attractor field’ of energy. Thus, spiritual declaration and intention, inadvertently and often beyond awareness, change the rules by which one lives, and seemingly disparate life situations, including emotions, are now orchestrated from a different level that is frequently disparate with customary expectations of the personal ego and society. These may result in transitory conflict in emotional or personal situations because the goals of the Spirit/Self are not those of the ego/self.
Forgiveness is an extremely important major tool, especially when it is combined with the willingness of humility and acceptance of human fallibility and susceptibility to error. From spiritual intention, the surrendering of egoistic options may seem like a sacrifice, but when recontextualized, they are revealed to be a hidden gift.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: Ch. 19, pg. 332
Devotion prioritizes one’s life and attracts that which is of assistance. To be a servant of God is a dedication whereby the goal takes precedence over all other positionalities, attractions, or distractions. By devotion and commitment, the pathway unfolds and revelation supplants presumptive cause-and-effect acquisition.
…All actions become recontexualized, and their spiritual essence begins to shine through appearances. Devotion also expresses as selfless service whereby peeling the potatoes is no longer a chore but an act of love because it has been sanctified by intention. Eventually all action is dedicated as an act of worship.
Devotion opens up vision, which replaces perception. Only by the surrender that accompanies devotion does intended action reveal itself to be a spontaneous unfolding of the evolution of Creation itself. Devotion to God replaces the ego’s devotion to its own self-interest, and one witnesses the effects or consequences of the overall field.
Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch. 1, pg. 35-35
What is it that observes and is aware of all of the subjective and objective phenomena of life?
It is consciousness itself that is both awareness and the source of experiencing. Both are purely subjective. Consciousness itself is not determined by content; thoughts flowing through consciousness are like fish swimming in the ocean. The ocean’s existence is independent of the fish; the content of the sea does not define the nature of the water. Like a colorless ray, consciousness illuminates the object witnessed – thus its traditional depiction throughout world literature is with “light.”
Identification solely with the content of consciousness accounts for the experience of self as limited. In contrast, to identify with consciousness itself is to know that one’s actual self is unlimited. When circumscribed self-identifications have been surmounted so that the sense of self is identified as consciousness itself, the condition is called, “enlightened.”
Power vs Force, Ch. 21, pg. 272-273
At this level of awareness, a major transformation takes place, with the understanding that one is oneself the source and creator of the experience of one’s life. Taking such responsibility is distinctive of this degree of evolution, characterized by the capacity to live harmoniously with the forces of life.
All people at levels below 200 tend to be powerless and see themselves as victims, at the mercy of life. This stems from the belief that the source of one’s happiness or the cause of one’s problems is “out there.” An enormous jump – taking back one’s own power — is completed at this level, with the realization that the source of happiness is within oneself. At this more evolved stage, nothing so-called “out there” has the capacity to make one happy, and love is not something that is given or taken away by another, but is created from within.
Acceptance is not to be confused with passivity, which is a symptom of apathy. This form of Acceptance allows engagement in life on life’s own terms, without trying to make it conform to an agenda. With Acceptance, there is emotional calm and perception is widened as denial is transcended. One now sees things without distortion or misinterpretation; the context of experience is expanded so that one is capable of “seeing the whole picture.” Acceptance has to do essentially with balance, proportion, and appropriateness.
Power vs Force, Ch. 4, pg. 109
The Grace of God is available to all. Historically, the ‘Grace of the Sage’ is available to the committed spiritual seeker. The strength of the ego can be formidable, and without the assistance of the power of higher spiritual beings, the ego cannot of itself transcend itself. Fortunately, the power of the consciousness of every great teacher or avatar who has ever lived still remains and is available. To focus on a teacher or their teachings by meditation makes the power of that teacher available to the seeker. It is the will of every truly enlightened sage that every spiritual seeker succeeds, and not just the members of some specific or exclusive group. Just as the individual seeker of spiritual advancement benefits all mankind, thus also does the enlightenment of the Teachers benefit the seeker. That power and energy is available to call upon. There are no requirements or obligations.
I: Reality and Subjectivity: Ch. 6, pg. 109-110
Isn’t success making a lot of money? Isn’t that the common presumption?
Success may or may not be accompanied by making a lot of money. To those who are successful, it doesn’t really matter that much. Have we ever realized that when we were completely and totally satisfied and happy with our successes, how much money we made was almost irrelevant? We need enough to pay our bills and provide for a reasonable standard of living for ourselves. But there isn’t that need to make a lot of money, which is actually compensation for lack of success.
If making a lot of money is what motivates us, then we don’t have the key to success. Money is really a substitute for the satisfaction that truly successful people get out of every job or operation that has gone well for them. Many of my greatest and happiest successes actually brought me no financial profit at all. When success is something within, it doesn’t require anything “out there.”
…In true success there is no time delay. The reward is instantaneous, so that the entire process is a rewarding one. Success is feeling good about what we do. We know those feelings of peace and contentment when we go to bed having completed a project where we know we did our best. Nothing has actually even happened “out there.” The boss hasn’t gotten the report yet. The family hasn’t seen what we’ve done. The neighbors haven’t found out. Yet, like having a garden well planted, when we go to bed at night, we know it’s just a matter of time before the flowers and vegetables emerge. The garden is automatic once it’s been suitably planted. Watching it grow is merely in addition to the satisfaction; it is not its source.
Success is for You: Ch. 6, pg. 73 and pg. 81
A higher vibration, such as love, has a healing effect on a lower vibration, such as that in … fear. This love is the mechanism of reassurance, and very often we can quiet another person’s fears by our mere physical presence, and by the loving energy that we project to them and with which we surround them. It is not what we say, but the very fact of our presence that has the healing effect.
We can learn another one of the laws of consciousness: Fear is healed by love.
…High levels of consciousness are in themselves capable of healing, transforming, and enlightening others. The value of the surrendering mechanism is that, by letting go of the blocks to love, our capacity to love increases progressively, and loving energy has the capacity to heal ourselves as well as others.
We might picture love to be like the sunlight and negative thoughts like the clouds. Whereas our higher, greater Self is like the sun, all the negative thoughts, doubts, fears, anger, and resentments that we hold dim the light of the sun and, finally, the light comes through only weakly. It was Jesus Christ who said that we all, with faith, potentially have the power to heal. The saint, or person of high consciousness, is by definition one who has removed the clouds of negativity and radiates the full healing power of the sun. …As we consistently let go of resisting our fears and allow them to be surrendered, the energy that was tied up in the fear is relinquished and now becomes available to shine forth as the energy of love.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 6, pg. 93-95
…Awareness reflects a different set of operating principles and tends to be more benign and global in its responses. It sees the whole picture and responds in accord. Aware mind is not prone to banal positionalities or judgments nor does it get entrapped in frenetic endeavors. It tends to be easy-going and mellow and prefers to observe rather than to become involved in worldly definitions of gain or loss. We speak of that type of relating to the world as ‘laid back’ or ‘philosophical’. While the thinking mind of the ego says “Isn’t that awful,” awareness knows that it is merely the ebb and flow of life and that, in the end, is all the same.
That sounds like a passive attitude.
To the ego, peace sounds inactive and passive because the ego thinks in terms of ‘doing’ something, such as seeking control, gain, or avoidance. The ego darts through traffic, pushes the speed limit, and watches for police cars. It fumes at delays and stupid drivers; it tailgates and curses under its breath at slow traffic. It blows its horn and passes on curves. it is driven by the hope of beating time and jumping the line. It shakes its fist at the driver who moves ahead in line and it vows terrible vengeance. While all this is going on, simultaneously, the ego is planning work strategies, talking on the cell phone, and listening to the radio.
In contrast, aware mind flows with the traffic and enjoys being courteous and letting some poor soul into the traffic line in front of it. “Give the guy a break” is okay to the easy-going perspective of awareness.
I:Reality and Subjectivity, Ch. 18, pgs. 316-317
You recommend that we shift attention away from the negative feeling. How is this different from repressing the feeling?
Repression is an unconscious process by which unaccepted feelings are put out of awareness and not dealt with. In shifting attention, you make a choice not to indulge the negative emotion. You have already acknowledged and accepted the feeling within yourself as part of being human, but you are choosing to let it go because you want something higher, like peacefulness, harmony, and getting the job done. People will sometimes shift their attention by way of actions such as rearranging the furniture a little bit, opening and closing the window shades, making a quick trip to the bathroom, or going for a short coffee break.
These actions allow for a moment to shift from the negative to the positive.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 313
…it does seem to the ego to sacrifice all of that glory and fame and justification and revenge and all, is a big sacrifice. Don’t kid yourself. To the ego, it is a big sacrifice. It is a big sacrifice to let go “being right,” to let go . . not nurturing that wrong, to let go of that hatred. It is a big sacrifice—don’t pretend it’s a small sacrifice. There’s a lot of pseudo, nongenuine spiritual work that people attempt, and it doesn’t work. Why? Because they are unwilling to face the nitty-gritty, the nitty-gritty facts.
Radical truth means you’ve got to take the mask off everything and be willing to see it for what it is, and now handle it from the viewpoint of emotional honesty. There is a big, massive payoff in ego positions, or you wouldn’t be sitting here in a body today. You would have karmically gone off into the mists of the higher realms. And therefore, the fact that one is back here in a body again means that one has sold out spiritual truth for the gratifications of the ego over and over again. But in this lifetime, it’s coming up to be questioned. In this lifetime, you say, “Was it worth it?
Is the experience of the Presence of God worth sacrificing all that I get out of my ego?” The answer can only be gotten by faith, actually. Experientially, no. Experientially, you’ve got nothing upon which to say that giving it up would be a better deal. Anything in your experience telling you that giving up the pleasure, resentments, and hatreds and satisfactions of winning is worth it? Not experientially, no. Faith, yes. Based on the faith.
the experience of God, is so incredible, beyond all description—so beyond the totality of all the values of all of mankind throughout all of history. All the pleasures and all the values and all the acquisitions, emotionally and materially of all of mankind throughout all of history, are like a speck compared to the Presence of God. Nothing is even in the same domain.
The Path to Spiritual Advancement, Ch. 8, pgs. 171-172 (new book)
If consciousness is not personal, what does it mean we earn the chance for better opportunities or for better choices? It’s like consciousness is the field, the field; karma is still content. One has not escaped content yet. To go beyond karma means to have escaped the limitation of content. Consciousness is infinite context. It has no form, like the sky. Karma would be like a cloud. It still has form; it hangs loose within the sky; it’s within the sky. So, karma then would be the consequence of one’s spiritual decisions have an influence on the shape of the cloud, but consciousness is like the sky. The field of consciousness which is impersonal is unaffected by the cloud. Where the cloud goes in the sky will depend on its shape, size, consistency, humidity, barometric pressure, and many things, yes? You see, in the meditative technique to realize the Presence of God, one
goes back from identifying with the content of consciousness to the field itself to realize that I am not the content of the mind; I am that upon which the mind is playing, see? It’s like I am the receiver and not the notes of the music. The receiver remains the same no matter what music is
playing on it. You all of a sudden jump from identifying with the content—I am those thoughts, words, images and memories—to I am That which empowers them to become known. So, you become the knower of the field. You become the witness. You become, at a certain level, the experiencer.
The Path to Spiritual Advancement: Ch. 9, pg. 199-200 – this is a newly released book available through Amazon and Hay House, Inc.
If you’re caught in an emotional emergency, the best way to do is to breathe the energy up from – usually, it’s your solar plexus that’s in a panic. Breathe the energy of your solar plexus up to the crown chakra, and while you do that, go, “hahaha, hahaha,” while thumping the thymus, and the sound of “mm.” As you breathe the energy up, you’re out of the panic right away; you’re out of the upset. …You thump over the thymus gland. The thymus gland is the controller of the acupuncture system and the immune system. It’s right behind the breastbone. The sound “ah” makes you go strong with kinesiology, as does Love. So if you want to come out of a bad energy state, you think of somebody you love and you go, “hahaha, hahaha, hahaha,” as you thump the chest. Now, if I test you with kinesiology, you’ll go strong.
New!
The Path to Spiritual Advancement: How to Transcend the Ego and Experience the Presence of God, Ch. 4, pg. 83
What I usually emphasize is both meditation and aligning your life so that you make your life the prayer. You try to live and become that which you are studying and learning. You become forgiving. In the beginning, forgivingness seems like an artificial practice. Jesus Christ said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That’s a mentalization, and when you’re angry at somebody, it may cross your mind, and you think, Well, I should probably be seeing it differently, but I don’t. But as you get deeper in it, then you think, Well, how can I see this through different eyes? How can I alter my experience of this? Then that requires a deeper study. You’re trying to go from the familiarity of the intellectual to the experiential. You’re trying to become that which was formerly mental and is now incorporated into your personality and your way of actually being in the world.
…You meditate on some specific truth that you’ve picked up until you really become the awareness of the truth and the reality of that. Then you don’t need to tell yourself, “Well, I should be forgiving that person.” You start to see, eventually, that everybody is only being what they are, what they can be at the moment. Everybody is just being what they could be at the moment, and if not, it’s because they can’t be. If they were able to be different, they would be. You have a certain sympathy for everyone, that everyone is pretty much stuck with the human condition. And the human condition is, frankly, extremely difficult, for the individual as well as for whole societies and civilizations.
…A contemplative lifestyle is more effective. It’s a way of being in the world, because now you’re trying to become that which you have studied. You can do it continuously. A person can be contemplative no matter what they’re doing. My own lifestyle was contemplative for many years, and I was aware of exactly how I was being with each specific incident. That way, you become more aware of the reality of other people, as well. You become aware of their reality, and get out of the solipsistic view that reality is how you see it. You become aware that there’s a reality, and this is just the way you are seeing it. This is not the way the world is—it’s the way you’re seeing the world.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins: Classic Teachings on Spiritual Truth and Enlightenment, Ch. 8, pg. 133-135
What anything ‘means’ is identical with what it is, for what it is, is its meaning. With this realization, the essence of the world shines forth with the Radiance of Divinity as revelation, and all is seen to be equally loveable, perfect, magnificent, and beautiful. To restate: The world as it is, is perfect for the advancement of human consciousness as it provides maximum opportunity for gaining positive merit and the undoing of the negative via the spiritual options of the will. To see it as such results in gratitude as well as forbearance with seemingly negative experiences that involve suffering.
To be ‘spiritual’ means that intention is focused on spiritual goals, meaning and spiritual recontextualization of life’s events and experiences. It also means to value the gift of life itself as well as that of other sentient beings. Spiritual intention itself recontextualizes all of life in all its expressions, and thereby meaning and significance become apparent.
Reality, Spirituality, and Modern Man, Ch. 16, pg. 309-310
Despite dedication to the goal of Enlightenment, the mind seems reluctant, resistant, or even too lazy to go through the necessary process. How can that be overcome?
Resistance is to be expected and accepted as an innate quality of the ego. Part of its function is stabilization in order to facilitate performance and reliability. It does not like to feel out of control or off balance and is thus resistant to being questioned or examined, which is perceived as a potential threat to its sovereignty.
The ego has a vested interest in its positionalities, presumptions, and assumptions. There is therefore an ambivalence regarding change–on the one hand, it is exciting and interesting, but on the other hand, it can be viewed as an unwelcome challenge and resented. Thus, it tends to maintain the status quo, even if doing so continues to be unsatisfactory; for example, repeating the same resistances over and over, hoping for a difference outcome.
The Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch 13, pg. 220-221
The state reached by the great sages of history is available; the solutions are within us and easy to find. The mechanism of surrender is simple and the truth is self-evident. It works during daily life. There is no dogma or belief system. You verify everything for yourself, so you cannot be misled. There is no dependence on any teachings. It follows the dicta of “Know thyself”; “The truth shall set you free”; and “The kingdom of God is within you.” It works for the cynic, the pragmatist, the religionist, and the atheist. It works for any age or cultural background. It works for the spiritual person and the nonspiritual person alike.
Because the mechanism is your own, nobody can take it away from you. You are safe from disillusionment. You will find out for yourself what is real and what are just the mind’s programs and belief systems. While all of this is going on, you will become healthier, more successful with less effort, happier, and more capable of real love. Your friends will notice a difference; the changes are permanent. You aren’t going to go for a “high” and crash later. You will discover there is an automatic teacher within yourself.
Eventually you will discover your inner Self. You always unconsciously knew it was there. When you come upon it, you will understand what the great sages of history were trying to convey. You will understand it because Truth is self-evident and within your own Self.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 1, Introduction, Pg 5-6
Our experience of the world and of life is totally the result of inner beliefs and positionalities. Out of love and respect for God arises the willingness to surrender all these prejudgments, and the humility that ensues opens the doors to the splendor of reality, which is the revelation of the Self. Love is the magic catalyst that brings about the awareness. In the end, faith is replaced by certainty, and therefore it is said that God is found by those who seek Him. Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 72
“The universe responds to love by revealing its prevalence. It is hidden to ordinary perception but the awareness is finessed by lovingness itself. Awareness is a capacity that is beyond the senses or emotions. If one ceases anthropomorphic projections and limitations, it is revealed that all which exists is innately conscious and emanates love as a consequence of the divinity of Creation.” The Eye of the “I”, ch. 15, pg. 228, Veritas Publishing 2001
…The basis of all mourning and loss is attachment, plus the denial of the transitory nature of all relationships.
We can begin by looking at our lives, identifying those areas of attachment, and asking ourselves: “What internal needs are they satisfying? What feeling would come up if I were to lose them? How can my inner emotional life be balanced so as to decrease the extent, degree, and number of attachments on external objects and people?” The greater our attachment to that which is outside of ourselves, the greater is our overall level of fear and vulnerability to loss. We can ask ourselves why we feel so incomplete. “Why am I so empty within myself that I have to search for solutions in the form of attachment and dependency on others?”
We can begin to look at our own inner areas of immaturity. Specifically, we need to examine: “Where am I looking to get love rather than to give it?” The more loving we are, the less vulnerable we are to grief and loss, and the less we need to seek attachments. When we have acknowledged and let go of all negative feelings, and we have graduated from smallness to the recognition of our greatness so that our internal joy comes from the pleasure of giving and loving, then we are really invulnerable to loss. When the source of happiness is found within, we are immune to the losses of the world.
…By constantly letting go of our negative feelings, we thus cure present pain and prophylactically prevent the occurrence of future pain. Fear is replaced by trust and with it comes a profound sense of wellbeing. Immunity to grief of loss occurs when we replace dependence on the small self (the personality) with dependence on the Self (the Divinity within). We look for security to the Self, which is eternal, instead of to the small self, which is transitory.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 5, pg. 83-84
Awareness of the overall silent contextual field is facilitated by a contemplative lifestyle that could be likened to shifting interest from details to “the big picture.” It “gets” overall qualities of atmosphere without going into specifics, and therefore intuits generalities rather than thinking or analyzing.
The resistance of the ego/mind is that it is afraid it might “miss” something, as it is addicted to processing the details of the content of form, which is the attraction and lure of the world. To “renounce the world” means to withdraw energy from it and decline activities that require attention to specifics, thereby abiding in the Self rather than in the amusements of the self.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins – pg. 69
If you let go of trying to control your experience of the moment, and if you constantly surrender it like a tone of music, then you live on the crest of this exact always–ness. Experience arises like a note of music. The minute you hear a note, it’s already passing away. The instant you’ve heard it, it’s already dissolving. So every single moment is dissolving as it arises. Let go of anticipating the next moment, trying to control it, trying to hang on to the moment that has just passed. Let go clinging to what has just occurred. Let go trying to control what you think is about to occur. Then you live in an infinite space of non–time and non–event. There is an infinite peace beyond description. And you are home.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 64
When we are surrendered, there is no longer the pressure of time.
Frustration comes from wanting a thing now instead of letting it happen naturally in its own time. Patience is an automatic side effect of letting go, and we know how easy it is to get along with patient people. Notice that patient people usually get what they want in the end.
Added text from Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender book: Ch, 18, pg 276:
One resistance to letting go is the illusion that, if we let go of our wantingness and our expectations, we won’t get what we want. We fear that we will lose it if we don’t keep pressuring for it. The mind has the idea that the way to get a thing is to want it. Actually, if we examine the issue, we will see that events are due to decisions, and choices are based on our intentions. What we get is the result of these choices, even though they are unconscious, rather than what we think we want. When we surrender the pressure of wantingness, we are clear to make wiser choices and decisions.
So, what is love, actually?
Well, those of you who’ve gone into really high spaces know that love- the love we’re talking about is really about up here [high on MoC]. Love is a way of being. It’s a way of being with the world. The condition of lovingness prevails as a permanency because it’s what you are. It’s what you’ve become. The willingness to be friendly in Walmart is because you’re a loving being- it’s coming from your lovingness. It doesn’t depend whether this lady with her basket smiles at you or appreciates it; it’s just who you are. And it’s who you are in all times, places and conditions. It doesn’t change. It’s not given, and it’s not lost. It’s not taken away. It’s not something you earn- it’s what you’ve become, similar to generosity.
Generosity is a way of being in the world. It doesn’t have to do with money. Generosity has to do with the willingness to be open and share what you are with life, for… what? For the good of life itself. Only because of that’s what you are. It’s because that’s the way you’ve become. You automatically appreciate life in all its expressions.
Excerpt from the May 2002 Lecture, Disk 3, video point 004935
Spiritual practice in ordinary life in many ways is actually the most favorable and beneficial approach. (This statement calibrates as true.) It is a common observation that it is one thing to be pure and holy in an isolated, safe place, but another to remain committed in the world of endless temptations and confrontations.
Spiritual progress occurs in stages. In the beginning, one learns of spiritual realitites and studies them. Then come practice and application of the teachings in every aspect life, and eventually one becomes the teachings. By dedication, one’s life becomes the prayer. By devotion, commitment, and practice, spiritual concepts become experiential realities. (As one advanced student said, “How can I forgive my enemies when I no longer have any?”)
Reality, Spirituality, & Modern Man, 2008, Ch. 19, pg. 353-354
Importantly, level 500 indicates that the subjective condition called Love has now become not only significant but also dominant, not just as a feeling and emotion, but as the guiding principle. While the energy of Love may be focused as a consequence of interest or motive, it represents a breaking away from restriction and limitation of self-interest. Love serves, whereas ego seeks to be served in its pursuit of gain. To Love, the long-term satisfaction and pleasure of givingness replace the evanescent, short-term ego satisfaction of gain.
The energy of Love has a unique, timeless quality that gratifies potentialities that are subtle and difficult to logically describe. As Love becomes progressively spiritualized, it emerges as an alignment with Divinity, which is the ultimate source and province of Love. It thereby becomes viewed as holy, sacred, and the substance of devotion, religious faith, and mystical awareness.
From consciousness level 500 and up, the attraction of beauty, peace, and inner quietude becomes increasingly important. The spiritual principles of the great teachers become incorporated into one’s lifestyle and eventually become dominant.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, Section Three Overview, pg. 242
The 500 Level is characterized by the development of an energy field that is progressively unconditional, unchanging, and permanent. It does not fluctuate because its source within the person who loves is not dependent on external factors. Lovingness is a way of being in and relating to the world and is forgiving, nurturing, and supportive. Love is not intellectual and does not proceed from the mind; love emanates from the heart. It has the capacity to lift others and accomplish great feats because of it purity of motive.
…Love takes no position and thus is global, rising above the separation of positionality. It is then possible to be ‘one with another’ as there are no longer any barriers. Love is therefore inclusive and progressively expands the sense of self. Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its expressions and augments that which is positive. It dissolves negativity by recontextualzing it rather than by attacking it. As such, it is benign, supportive, and nurtures life; consequently, it is the level of true happiness.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, Ch. 14, pg. 247-248
The effectiveness of the letting go mechanism in problem solving is quite astonishing. Understanding the process involved here is very important, because it is quite different than the world’s usual methods. The approach that brings fast and easy results is the following: Don’t look for answers; instead, let go of the feelings behind the question. When we are surrendered on the feeling behind the question, we can let go of any other feelings that we might also have about what seems to be the problem. When we are finally and fully surrendered on all components, the answer will be there waiting for us. We won’t have to look for it.
…Let’s see how the system works with a common everyday example. Let’s say that we disagree with our mate on which movie to see. We look to see what the feeling is behind the problem. In this case, let’s say that we find the feeling of anger and resentment, specifically that we feel resentful about the lack of romantic time spent together. What we really want tonight is affectionate time spent together. As we let it be okay inside ourselves that what we really want is affectionate togetherness, it suddenly dawns on us that we don’t want to go to a movie at all. We just want to be together.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Ch. 16, pg.227-228
The level of acceptance is characterized by the attitude of selflessness and service. This results from the surrendering of the negative feelings that create the small self, which removes our identification with it. Instead, inner harmony and peace are experienced as the nature of our greater Self. Because the negative programs have been relinquished, there is the emergence of greater creativity, inspiration, and intuition.
There is certainty that our own personal needs will be met; therefore, there is a shift in relationship so that the focus is on the welfare and happiness of others. This is facilitated by the fact that, at this level, there is no longer neediness in the form of dependency on other people, because there is nothing we feel we need to “get” from them. In a relationship of loving acceptance, minor imperfections are no longer given serious importance and are overlooked.
Letting Go: Ch. 11, pg.168-169
Meaning is defined by context, which determines motive, and it is the motive that establishes spiritual value. To dedicate one’s actions as a service of love to life is to sanctify them and transform them from self-seeking motives to unselfish gifts. We define excellence as dedication to the highest standards. Every act can then be held as an opportunity to glorify God by sheer purity of endeavor. All physical tasks and labor can be ingredients in one’s contribution to the world. Even the smallest task can be seen as serving the common good and, if viewed in that light, work becomes ennobled.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 44
Now, how do you know what thoughts you’re experiencing?
Because you’re witnessing them. You’re registering them. So, you can move out of identification with the content of consciousness, the thinkingness, to be the watcher, the witness, the experiencer, and that already takes you one step out of it. So, you’re no longer the victim of it. You’re the witness of it. You’re not in the accident. You’re a bystander. So you move from being in the accident to being the bystander of the accident. You’re the witness of the tragedy. You’re the witness of the thinkingness. You’re the witness of the self-blame. So with a little meditation, and a little contemplation it’s easy to realize that that which you really are is the experiencer witness. You’re the experiencer witness. You’re not what is being witnessed. You’re not the picture on the wall, obviously. And you can’t be the memory because what you’re thinking about was yesterday and today is today, unless you can also be in yesterday and today at the same time. Obviously, that which you are is the witness of the thoughts. What we complain about is the experience.
The Highest Level of Enlightment: Pg. 107-108
Devotional nonduality means the love for God is enough that you’re willing to surrender everything that stands in the way of the realization of the presence of divinity, which turns out not to be an “other” but the Self. You thought it was going to be out there later. It’s the source of one’s existence, to come to the realization, the radical reality of subjectivity. We take subjectivity for granted. We take the field for granted. We take consciousness for granted. This (Silence) is what we take for granted. This (content) is what we think is important. This is what’s trivial and irrelevant, and this (Silence) is what you are. We ignore what we are and return to focusing on that which we are not.
At this very instant, 99 percent of your mind is silent. The reason you don’t notice it is because you’re focused on the 1 percent that’s noisy.
The Highest Level of Enlightenment: ch. 8, pg.77 (New!)
How doe one transcend this identification with the ego?
First of all, merely to hear the truth already has an impact, whether you know it or not. …The Buddha said to have even heard of enlightenment, you will never be satisfied with anything less, never; through all your lifetimes, you have heard it. Everyone in this room has heard it, or they wouldn’t be here. It’s the future that’s creating your present. You think it’s your past that is propelling yourself from the past, that you’re being pushed by your past. No, you’re being sucked into your future.
You’re being pulled by destiny, because by an act of the will you have already chosen your destiny, and now this is the unfolding of what is required to reach it. That’s all.
The Highest Level of Enlightenment: Ch. 8, pg. 75
How do we cultivate more love or get more love in our life? We can’t.
What you do is remove the obstacles to love, because love is the essence of that which you are. …War is not the opposite of peace. Peace is the natural condition when falsehood is removed. So lovingness is the automatic condition when the obstructions to it, which are false and fallacious, are removed. So lovingness becomes a way of being; love is not an emotion – It goes from here to there. You can’t lose love. Somebody can’t run off with love.
New! The Highest Level of Enlightenment, Ch. 12, pg. 120
…Why does the ego hangout with shame and guilt, fear, all that stuff – with greed, with desire, with lust, with hatred? Why? Because it gets a payoff. The ego mulches negativity, and it gets juice out of it. The ego survives by virtue of the juice it gets.
…The willingness to surrender to let go of the payoff of the ego allows you to let go experientially as it arises. The willingness to let go of the payoff of grief, anger, resentment, hatred. So, what do you surrender to God in the way of surrender? What does devotion mean? “I love thee, oh Lord, greater than I love the glee I get out of my hatreds, my wickedness, my shame, my guilt, my revenge.” Either you love God or you love your revenge.You can’t have them both….so it’s always really a choice.
Am I willing to surrender this for the love of God or not?
New! The Highest Level of Enlightenment, Ch. 10, pg. 92-93
The willingness to surrender life to God, of course, is one of the most profound spiritual tools. So people ask which spiritual tools are the most powerful. I always say humility, the willingness to surrender life, to let go wanting to control it, to let go wanting to change it, the willingness to surrender how you see things to God, then, or to some higher spiritual principle, because God is not a reality. It’s just a word to most people, a hoped-for reality but not an experiential reality to most people, until they become more spiritually advanced and begin to experience the presence of the field itself and intuit its enormous power.
And then they reverence God because they respect the infinite power that they begin to intuit. So what we can do on a practical level, then, is become the best person we can become. I’d say to become kind toward all of life in all of its expressions, no matter what. And that includes one’s self, to be willing to forgive one’s self, to see the limitation of human consciousness. I always feel that the more educated you are about the quality of consciousness, the nature of consciousness, the easier it is to follow spiritual principles. If you understand that human consciousness is intrinsically innocent and cannot control that which it’s programmed by because it can’t tell truth from falsehood, you begin to feel compassion automatically. …Once you understand the intrinsic innocence of human consciousness, you instantly are able to forgive people.
New! The Highest Level of Enlightenment, Ch. 9, pg. 88-89
” I go to bed at night and my mind just keeps on thinking.”
One can transcend the identification with the content of mind and it doesn’t take much effort. In fact, it’s quite easy, to really allow yourself to surrender and realize that one is the witness of the thinking, one is the field of awareness of the thinking, and identify with consciousness itself, with the realization that the higher truth is that one is consciousness itself and not the content of consciousness. Next comes the realization of what is the source of consciousness, and with the realization of the source of consciousness, one then enters into a field of knowingness, in which the knower and the known are one and the same thing. And at that point one has transcended duality and one sees there is no difference between the knower and the known, that they are one and the same. And one realizes and becomes identified with the source of existence itself, the source of consciousness itself, and with that there arises a feeling of being at home.
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A mind that is concentrated on a positive thought has the power to increase the likelihood that the positive thought will materialize in the world of events.
The most successful people in the world are those who hold in mind the highest good of all concerned, including themselves. They know that there is a win-win solution to every problem. …A feeling of personal fulfillment comes naturally from their positive contribution to the lives of others.
For more information about this passage, go to the Letting Go book: Ch. 19, pg. 293
We are only subject to a negative thought or belief if we consciously say that it applies to us.
For negativity to apply to our life, we must first subscribe to it and, secondly, give it the energy of belief. If we have the power to make negativity manifest in our life, obviously our mind also has the power to make its converse come true.
For more details on this passage: Letting Go: the Pathway of Surrender book, pg. 62-63
The basic rule of the psychic universe is that “Like attracts like.”
Similarly, “love promotes love,” so that the person who has let go of a lot of inner negativity is surrounded by loving thoughts, loving events, loving people, and loving pets.
an inspiriational card from the New: Letting Go Card Deck
Added details: “Because emotions emit a vibrational energy field, they affect and determine the people who are in our lives. Life events become influenced by our repressed and suppressed emotions on the psychic level. Thus, anger attracts angry thoughts.” The basic rule… Letting Go book, pg. 19
Although letting go seems simple and easy, it’s ultimate effects are profoundly powerful.
We can picture it being similar to the wheel of a ship. If we make even a one-degree change in the compass, we will notice little difference, but that change will end up taking us to a very different place many miles from our original course.
To find out more about this quote, go to Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, pg. 237, ch. 37
Notice and accept what your feelings are about a situation, and then proceed to clear them as a priority rather than indulge them emotionality. Go within yourself and acknowledge negative feelings as they arise. Let them come up without suppressing them and without venting them. Then shift your attention from the feelings to something else. Let the feelings be there and let them go.
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For more details on this passage: Go to Letting Go Book, pg. 320-321
Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the beauty and harmony of the world by showing kindness to all living things.
That which we freely give to life flows back to us because we are equally part of that life. Like ripples on the water, every gift returns to the giver.
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For greater detail about this quote, go to Ch. 12, pg 173 in the Letting Go book
Love illuminates the essence of and, therefore, the lovability of others. This is because love opens the heart.
The mind thinks and argues, but the heart knows and continues…The mind can be critical and disagree, but the heart is loving no matter what. The heart does not put any conditions on what’s out there. Only the mind does that. Love makes no demands.
New! The Letting Go Deck: 44 Inspiritional Cards to Experience the Power of Letting Go
(a companion to Letting Go book and The Letting Go Guided Journal
more details about the passage: Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender pg. 180.
In acceptance, we enjoy the experience of harmony. We feel as though events are flowing. We feel secure. We can be of service to others without a feeling of self-sacrifice. There is the feeling: “I’m okay,” You’re okay,” and “It’s okay.” It’s a feeling of belonging, connectedness, fullness, loving, understanding, and the feeling of being understood. It is a feeling of caring, warmth, and self-worth. Because of the security of this state, we can allow ourselves to be soft, mellow and natural. There is a joy, and we feel “in tune” and relaxed. There is the feeling that it’s all right just to be ourselves.
…There are many pathways that carry us to the state of Acceptance, and this is the gateway which leads eventually to the next highest states, described as the consciousness levels of love and peace. To many people who have been surrendering for periods of time, this ultimate objective progressively supersedes all others. To dwell in states of unconditional love and imperturbable peace becomes the inner aim, more important than any other achievement.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, pg. 165-167
The perceptual world is formed out of familiar forms and images held together by belief systems and energized by emotions. Whether the object or situation is loved or hated, feared or admired, seen as ugly or beautiful, depends on the observer. Such qualities do not exist in the world. Adjectives have no actual existence or reality.
As consciousness evolves to higher levels, the world changes in appearance and behavior. As consciousness reaches the levels which calibrate in the high 500’s, the beauty and perfection of the world shine forth with divine Radiance as the core of its existence. All apparent form and separateness begin to disappear, and everything is seen to be connected and continuous with everything else. One is then the witness to the endless miracle of timeless creation. Everything is viewed whole, perfect and complete. With the realization of self-identity, everything is seen to be absolutely perfect in its expression of divine essence. Imperfection exists only in the mind’s thoughts. No imperfection exists in the world as it is.
The Eye of the “I”: From Which Nothing is Hidden, 2001, Ch. 12, pg. 191-192
In my view, the purpose of human life is to serve God, to serve humanity, and to serve yourself; to be a channel of God’s will for the good of all of mankind, as well as your own evolution. After all, you are part of mankind, so don’t leave yourself out.
It isn’t you versus mankind; you are part of mankind. So, in serving mankind, you serve yourself as well. The purpose of human life, then if that’s what it is, is then the fulfillment of one’s destiny – and you fulfill that by service to yourself, God, and fellow man. Love now becomes a quality instead of an emotion. You see people think of love: “Oh Babe, you can’t see how I love you.” Love is a way of defining one’s own reality. It’s equality. It’s because of lovingness that you step over the black beetle because you appreciate the gift of life – because love is valuable. Love of quality, the essence, and the good. And all of this, as we said earlier, affects how you see and experience the world.
from: In the World But Not of It, pg. 66
As you advance spiritually, it brings a value to everyone, to every human being. Because of the collective unconsciousness, every single person who improves helps to elevate the level of consciousness. And as that elevates, the incidence of war, suffering, ignorance, savaging, and disease diminish. When you advance yourself, you’re helping everybody appreciate that every step forward benefits everyone. One’s spiritual dedication and work is a gift to life and the love of mankind. It’s nice to know that what you think you’re doing only for yourself is actually benefiting everyone around you. To be kind to just one living being benefits everyone.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins: Classic Teachings on Spiritual Truth and Enlightenment, Pg. 198
Value, from the ego’s viewpoint, is an emotionalized mentalization, and Reality does not require mentalization. With humility, one can honestly state and witness that everything merely “is as it is,” independent of projected worth. Its intrinsic “value” is that it “is”; that is, existence is complete within itself and is not needful of projected nominalization as “special.” When the Divine Essence of All of Creation shines forth without obstruction, then the ego/mind goes silent in awe.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, Pg. 152
The value of knowing how to surrender is that any and all feelings can be let go of at any time and any place in an instant, and it can be done continuously and effortlessly.
What is the surrendered state? It means to be free of negative feelings in a given area so that creativity and spontaneity can manifest without opposition or the interference of inner conflicts. To be free of inner conflict and expectations is to give others in our life the greatest freedom. It allows us to experience the basic nature of the universe, which, it will be discovered, is to manifest the greatest good possible in a situation. This may sound philosophical, but, when done, it is experientially true.
We cannot become strong by catering to human weakness. We become strong by supporting strength. We become dynamic when we support the aliveness of others. We become beautiful when we support the beauty of life. If we are truly coming from the heart, we don’t have to worry about success. The world will love us, be loyal to us, support us, and forgive us all kinds of mistakes. If we treat all of our customers like royalty, surprisingly we will find ourselves living a rather royal life.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins: 365 Contemplations on Surrender, Healing, and Consciousness pg. 139
The intent of meditation is detachment, especially detachment from the notion that thoughts are “mine” or represent “me.” In Reality, they are merely “its,” as is the mind itself. The idea of ownership arises from the personalization of these thoughts due to familiarity because the mind (like a camera) was present to record these past thoughts, events, and memories. However, it recorded them only because they were imbued with importance. Note that little roadside detail is recalled from a boring cross-country drive. The mind’s inner camera records what is valued.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 67
Accept that one is attracted by the destination rather than propelled by the past. The evolution of consciousness is one’s karmic inheritance because it is a quality innate to human consciousness itself. Courage arises from commitment and integrity of alignment and dedication. A valuable characteristic of dedication is felicity, which eventually becomes empowered as a quiet but persistent inner fervor. The value of watchful witnessing is that even just awareness of an ego defect tends to undo it. By surrender and prayerful invocation, Divine Will facilitates transition from the lesser to the greater for the Self effortlessly supports and energizes intention. The Self is like a magnetic attraction by which the personal will is progressively surrendered and resistance is weakened. Thus the pathway itself is self-fulling, gratifying, and reveals progressive rewards. Each step, no matter how seemingly small, is equally valuable.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: 2006 edition, Ch. 22, pg. 364-365
Q: What true value can be derived from worldly life?
A: The world can be seen as an optimal stimulus of inner growth as it is merely a projection of the ego in overt dramatic expression. It is best to learn from it rather than to be seduced by its illusions or entrapped by them via identification or attachment. The worldly panorama reflects the entire scale of the levels of consciousness in their most overt display. The panorama is like a school of discernment where the extremes serve to reveal the essence that underlies appearance. All seeming events present learning opportunities.
Q: How then should one best relate to the world?
A: To be “in” it but not “of” it. The world is a means and not an end.
The Map of Consciousness Explained: pg. 130-131
Q: You have said that just the act of consciousness calibration changes the calibration of something by virtue of intention. How is that possible?
We have discovered that when people over 200 observe something from lovingness, they are already raising its calibrated level of consciousness measurably. For example, when we consider something or someone adorable, the calibration that was at 204 will jump to 310 or so. Do you see what this means? You don’t need to go out and do fancy things. Just witness the sacredness of all existence, approach all life with reverence and good will, and by doing so, you’re changing the world by virtue of the Heisenberg’s principle which states that the observation of something changes it….
The higher the level of consciousness of the observation, the greater the impact on the observed. We have literally been changing the calibrated levels of consciousness and much of society by sheer observation of the work that we’re doing collectively. Everything we look at lovingly raises its calibration, even the Komodo dragon. He’s just being what he is, a very good Komodo dragon, who can kill with precision and eat you up with a single bite! That’s impressive, and we see the lovability of the Komodo dragon as an expression of Divinity within the unfoldment of Creation in which everything serves the Ultimate.
The world is becoming that which we hold in mind, and if it’s lovingly intended, then it’s very powerful. Look at all the power you walk around with and didn’t know it! Everything we look at, if we love it and forgive it for being what is — if we witness the sacredness of it, if we see it as an expression of evolution, and that it serves some ultimate purpose – then our observation influences it.
The Map of Consciousness Explained, pg. 92-93
To evolve spiritually is actually the greatest gift one can give the world, and that is done by virtue of what one is and not just by what one does. A useful technique to bypass mentalization is that of creative visualization in which the desired goal is envisioned and held in mind periodically. Potentiality tends to manifest when conditions are favorable, and intention (plus karmic propensities) is a contextual influence. In ordinary mentation, logic and sequence are seen as causal and also needful of effort. Envisioning is influential on outcome by entirely different (and easier) mechanisms. What is held in mind tends to manifest and the technique is utilized in diverse areas, including sports and even business. The higher the level of consciousness, the greater the likelihood that what is held in mind will actualize. Thus, to see solutions that .serve the highest goal is more powerful than simply projecting fulfillment of merely personal selfish desires and gain.
Book of Slides, Slide 72, Spiritual Practices, pg. 155
Most people have jobs, families and many distractions.
A. The conscious pursuit of spiritual goals is the result of a choice and a decision. It actually requires only a willingness and the capacity to follow through . Even a simple spiritual concept is a deceptively powerful tool, the simple decision to be kind, forgiving, and compassionate to all life in all its expressions, including one’s own self, is a scalpel that is capable of removing the major impediments to spiritual progress.
Wit humility, one can see that the mind is limited and incapable of seeing all the circumstances surrounding any event. Out of this arises the willingness to let go of condemnation and judgment. This process results in a willingness to surrender one’s experience of the world to God. It becomes apparent that the world doesn’t really need one’s personal opinions about anything at all. If one decides to take a charitable view of life’s events, then alternate ways of interpreting circumstances appearances and other options opens up.
The Eye of the I, 2001 pub., Ch. 11, pg. 164-165
What is the process of Self-Healing? What are the consciousness techniques we can apply to bring about a reversal of dis-ease? We begin by letting go of resisting the sensations we are experiencing, and we stop labeling them…
Steps for Self-Healing
To put it simply, the consciousness technique of radical truth has these five steps in healing a particular illness:
- Letting Go of resisting the sensory experience of it.
- No longer putting names or labels on it.
- Using no words at all in the welcoming of the experience of the inner sensations.
- Canceling the mental label, thought form, and belief system, and replacing it with the truth: I no longer believe in that. I am an infinite being, and I am not subject to that. I am only subject to what I hold in mind.
- Choosing the energy field of Love, which heals.
The Map of Consciousness Explained: pg. 145-146
…whose nature is said to be Love, then why do bad things happen to good people?
A: “Good” or “bad” is your perception. Adversity can actually be seen as a gift. Many cancer survivors will tell you, “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” Divinity is omniscient and you are not. Your perception is not Reality. What you perceive as “unfair” might just be the means of liberation. What you’re wanting to know is whether there is intrinsic justice in the world and whether happenings in the world emerge justly and fairly. Yes, they do. Human life is karmically fair, completely and totally. Everyone is steering their own canoe.
As Love is the Ultimate Law of the Universe (statement calibrates at 750), each person is born into the circumstances of maximal spiritual benefit.
The Map of Consciousness Explained, Ch. 3, pg. 125-126
These are always felt as pleasant and include such feelings as joy, happiness and security. They instigate a process of thinking and ideation that is exemplified by the thoughts “I can” and “We can,” regardless of the event, situation, or problem in which the person is involved.
Positive feelings flow naturally when negative feelings are not in action. Nothing needs to be done to acquire positive feelings, as they are part and parcel of our natural state. This positive inner state is always there, and it is merely covered over by suppressed negative feelings.
When the clouds are removed, the sun shines forth. The freeing up of abilities, creative ideas, talents, and resourcefulness occurs automatically as a result of the positive state of mind that ensues when the negative aspects have been surrendered. Letting go of negativity frees up inspiration to create an endless flow of creative ideas.
...It is as if the energy field of creative genius is available and waiting for us as soon as we surrender the cloud of negativity that prevent its revelation to us.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: pg. 286-287
I’ve also touched on the importance of a sense of humor. I think this is extremely important, as important as any of the other things in life, like love and gratitude and solemnity. Humor has a healing effect among people. It points out the ambiguities in life, and it points out very often the ambiguity between the content and the context and how you sort of see the two end up really the opposite. Humor also has a way of connecting people and helping them put aside differences through a new perspective or mindset. People have written books on how they recovered from grave illnesses by just employing nothing but humor. Laughter releases endorphins in the brain and releases stress, among other major health benefits.
In the World but Not of It: pg. 48-49
and revere is protected by our own reverence. If we tell somebody that we do something because we get enjoyment out of it, there is nothing much they can say about it, is there? If we infer that we do it because we are right in doing it, we will instantly see their hackles go up because they, also, have an opinion on what is right.
Our values are our preferences. We hold them because we love them, enjoy them, and get pleasure from them. If we hold them in that context, we will be left in peace to enjoy them.
If we look at opinions, we will see that they are a dime a dozen. We become much less vulnerable if we put our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs, which are all opinions, into a different context. We can view them as ideas that we like or dislike. We can see that it is primarily our emotions that are giving them any value in the first place. If we don’t take a prideful stance about our opinions, then we’re at liberty to change them.
The Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love, and Success pg. 62
This book is available through Amazon and Hay House, Inc.
The universe responds to love by revealing its prevalence. It is hidden to ordinary perception, but the awareness is finessed by lovingness itself. Awareness is a capacity that is beyond the senses or emotions. If one ceases anthropomorphic projections and limitations, it is revealed that all that exists is innately conscious and emanates love as a consequence of the divinity of Creation.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 114
The letting go of resisting is so effective because resistance traps us into a certain state of consciousness; resistance is within. Fear is a negative energy that calibrates at 100 and traps us in the field. We cannot get beyond it so we become the victim of our own fears unless we own that we are the source of them. As long as we rationalize and say that the source of fear is ‘out there’, we cannot overcome it. Once we begin to own that we are the experiencer, that we are the one who sets up the way in which we experience things, then we become the one who is master of the situation. Our self-esteem becomes affected. We are no longer the one who is the victim or subject to fear. We are something other than the fear. Fear is nothing but an experience in consciousness, and we no longer have to give it reality by labeling it as a fear of something, which can be an endless process.
Healing and Recovery, ch. 9, pg. 277
Once thoughts, like objects, are depersonalized, they become devalued and lose their attraction. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.
To clear the mind, merely note that nothing at all is of special or unique “value” or “worth” except by invested, superimposed, and projected belief. Therefore, withdraw value, worth, importance, and interest.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 65
The spiritually evolved person who has few wants or attachments is relatively immune to grief, as the experience of the source of happiness originates from within and is not dependent on externals. If the source of happiness is acquired through ego mechanisms, it is based on imagery, belief systems, and projected values rather than on Absolute Reality itself, which is invulnerable to loss. Objects, qualities, or relationships become overvalued by virtue of the mechanism of attachment and the ensuing projection of value.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 21
Each of us has a limit to the number of negative feelings we have stored up. When the pressure behind an emotion has been let go, the emotion no longer occurs. For instance, if fear is constantly surrendered for a period of time, eventually it runs out. It then becomes difficult or almost impossible to feel further fear. It takes progressively more and more of a stimulus to elicit it, until the person who has surrendered so much fear actually has to search for it diligently. The energy of fear simply isn’t there anymore. Anger also progressively diminishes so that even a major provocation fails to elicit it. A person with little fear or anger feels primarily love all of the time and experiences a loving acceptance of events, people, and the vicissitudes of life.
The goal of surrender is transcendence.
The Letting Go Guided Journal: pg. 95
Unfortunately, the inner experience of most people is marked by constant turmoil, most of which is psychological in origin. In other words, the main stress the majority of us have is not due to external stimuli, but to the pressure of our own suppressed emotions. These emotions become the primary stressor so that, even in a calm external environment, we are still subject to chronic, internal strife. The more emotional pressure that is surrendered and let go, the less vulnerable we are to the stress response and stress-related diseases.
It is we ourselves who create stressful reactions as a consequence of what we are holding within us. The suppressed feelings determine our belief systems and literally create events and incidents in the world, events that we, then, turn around and blame for our reactions.
Without a change of consciousness, there is no real reduction of stress. Only the consequences are ameliorated. Thought is powerful because it has a high rate of vibration. A thought is actually a thing; it has an energy pattern. The more energy we give it, the more power it has to manifest itself physically. The conscious use of the mechanism of surrender is most effective in addressing chronic stress-related illnesses. The way to change our bodies is to change our thoughts and feelings.
Special quotes to remember: “The only power or energy that anything has over us is the power of belief that we give it.” and “Love stimulates endorphins and life energy, bringing a healing balm to stress-prone lives.”
The Letting Go Guided Journal: pg. 81,82,83
The presence of God as love is self-revealing, since the duality of perception ceases as a consequence of surrendering positionalities. Love is therefore the doorway between the linear and the nonlinear domains. It is the grand avenue to the discovery of God.
There is absolutely nothing in ordinary human experience to compare with the joy of the presence of the love of God. No sacrifice is too great nor effort too much in order to realize that presence.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 80 and pg. 83
By being loving toward others, we discover that we are surrounded by love and lovingness. When we unreservedly support life without gain, life supports us in return. Whenever we abandon gain as a motive, life responds with unexpected generosity. And when we perceive in this way, the miraculous begins to appear in the life of every dedicated spiritual aspirant.
Daily Reflections From Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 76
and eternal transcends both objectivity and subjectivity and is beyond awareness. It is referred to in the ancient spiritual literature as “the Supreme Spirit.” Out of the Supreme arises all that is manifest and unmanifest; all consciousness and awareness; all existence; All That Is; either form or non-form; all that is linear and all that is nonlinear; all that arises out of creation; all possibility and actuality. The Supreme is beyond existence or nonexistence; beyond beingness or is-ness; beyond all Gods, heavens, or spiritual forms; beyond all names or definitions; beyond all divinities and spiritual denotations. It is out of the Godhead that Divinity arises, and out of the Supreme arises the Godhead.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 80
Almost all meditative techniques have as their goal the quieting of the mind. This is the basis of the dictum from the Book of Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God.” As most meditators have discovered, achieving silence of the mind is the main problem of meditation itself. This is because suppressed feelings constantly produce thoughts, which are the main distractions in meditation. Acknowledging and letting go of the energy behind these suppressed feelings, therefore, facilitates the goal of meditation. When the feeling behind the train of thoughts is located and surrendered, then that entire train of thought instantly stops.
By constantly surrendering, it is possible to arrive at an extremely silent state of mind. This can be accomplished as one goes about one’s daily activities, thus greatly expanding the capacity to meditate. Most meditative techniques are limited to a specified number of minutes or hours during the day. It is possible by constant surrender to reach high states of consciousness.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 316-317
In the Nonduality of awareness, even sequence no longer occurs, and awareness, replaces experiencing. There is no longer the experience of “moments,” as there is only a continuous Now. Movement appears as slow motion, as though suspended outside of time. Nothing is imperfect. Nothing actually moves or changes; no events actually take place. Instead of sequence, there is the observation that everything is in a stage of unfoldment, and that all form is only a transitional epiphenomenon created by perception and the observational habits of mental activity.
In Reality all comes into being as an expression of the infinite potentiality of the universe. Evolving states are the consequences of conditions but are not caused by them. Conditions account for appearances, and the phenomenon as change is really the result of an arbitrary point of observation.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 109
When we let go of pride, help comes into our life to address the problems with which we are struggling. We can experiment and prove the truth of that principle by picking one area in which we are having difficulty and thoroughly surrendering all the pride involved. When we do that, some surprising things begin to happen. Letting go of pride unlocks the door to receiving that which is the most beneficial to us. Are you willing to let go of pride and feeling superior to others? Know that where pride is absent, attack from others is also absent. And when you are willing to let go of the pseudosecurity of pride, you experience the real security that comes with courage, self-acceptance, and joy.
The Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love, and Success, pg. 60
It means to surrender control and the secret satisfactions of the ego’s positionalities. Turn only to love and to God as the source of life and joy. This choice is available in every instant. When finally chosen, the reward is great. By invitation, spiritual awareness illuminates the way. The key is willingness.
How can God be recognized unless one is already well along the path?
A: The first evidence of the presence of God is an awakening curiosity or interest in spiritual matters. That is the crack in the ego’s dam. When the person begins to desire or practice spiritual goals or pursue spiritual information, the Presence is already taking hold of one’s life.
If the desire arises to surrender all obstacles to love and to God, then God is already present in the form of willingness. When one reaches devotion, there is already quite an advanced Presence that is dissolving the ego and illuminating the way. Spiritual progress and discovery and accompanied by joy, which is the radiance of the Self, and quickly replaces the surrendered ego’s positionalities. Spiritual inspiration increases in intensity each step along the way. When the self stops looking to the world or to the ego, it discovers that its source has been the Self all along.
“I”: Reality and Subjectivity, Ch. 18, pg. 313-314
Behind all the sound of the universe, the silence is forever there. Behind the sounds in the woods, the woods are silent. The sound of the bird doesn’t have anything to do with the silence. You see, the silence is maintained even though there’s sound above it. But the only reason you can hear the sound is because it’s against the background of silence. The silence is there right in the middle of sound.
Focus on the silence, which is ever present, in the middle of cacophony and catastrophe, as the bullets are flying around and the planes are crashing and all hell’s breaking loose, and there’s nothing but the infinite silence. Identify with that silence and just maintain the awareness. Go about your daily life and do everything that you need to do, and at all times still be aware of the presence of the silence.
That gives you a centering. A centering kind of prayerfulness is you’re always aware of the silence, which is the infinite context. The reality of the presence of God is an infinite silence. And then that which you hold in mind in that silence tends to manifest, not as a result of causation but potentiality manifesting.
“And we thank thee, oh Lord, for thy divine presence as the infinite silence out of which arises our existence. Amen.
And we finish with the same that we started, Gloria in Excelsis Deo. We thank thee, oh Lord, for thy divine presence.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 192-193
How Can One Prevent the Development of a Spiritual Ego? Each success seems like it would feed into it.
Realize that there is no such entity as the doer of deeds or actions. There is no doer/self to take blame or credit. Progress is the result of a quality of consciousness that has been activated by the assent of the spiritual will. Spiritual inspiration becomes the energy that is operating. It does not emanate from the ego/self.
The Self, like the divinity of God, does not ‘do’ anything, nor does it ‘act’ or ‘perform’ or ‘intend’ or ‘choose’, for it is beyond all volition. The manifestation of God as Existence is void of conditions or positionalities. The purity of Divinity is beyond comprehension by the ego because the ego is limited by form and always assumes a duality of subject and object.
That which is the Ultimate nonlinear Reality is not divisible and is beyond the subject/object duality of the ego’s conceptions based on positionality. All spiritual progress is a gift, and humble gratitude precludes pride.
“I” Reality and Subjectivity, 2003, Ch. 19, pg. 338-339
To look within for the actual source of love leads to the discovery of the Self. Like the sun, the Self is ever present, unconditional, and not subject to thought, opinion, or attitude. The Self can only love because that is its essence. The love of the Self is not earned, deserved or subject to limitation. The Self the source of life and the subjective awareness of existence…It is beyond all dualities; there is no duality between the Self and existence. The Unmanifest and Manifest are one and the same. Consciousness may include content, or it may not. By analogy, space is not dependent on the presence of planets or universes, yet it includes all of them.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 134
Desire, especially strong desire (e.g., cravingness), frequently blocks our getting what we want.
Why is this so? Actually, the way something comes into our life is because we have chosen it. It was the result of our intention, or we made a decision for it. It has come into our life in spite of desire. The desiring was actually the obstacle to its achievement or acquisition. This is because desire literally means, ” I do not have.” In other words, if we say that we desire something, we are saying that it isn’t ours. When we say that it isn’t ours, we put a psychic distance between ourselves and what we want. This distance becomes the obstacle that consumes energy.
The impossible becomes possible as soon as we are totally surrendered. This is because wanting blocks receiving it and results in a fear of not getting it. The energy of desire is in essence, a denial that what we want is ours for the asking.
Let’s compare the arduous lower consciousness way of achieving goals with a higher state of consciousness in which we have acknowledged and let go of the desire and are in a freer state. In a freer state, that which is chosen manifests in our life effortlessly. We surrender the emotion of desire and, instead, merely choose the goal, picture it lovingly, and allow it to happen because we see that it is already ours.
Why is it already ours? In a lower state of consciousness, the universe is seen as negative and denying, frustrating, and reluctant. It is like a bad, stingy parent. In a higher state of consciousness, our experience of the universe changes. It now becomes like a giving, loving unconditionally approving parent who wants us to have everything we want, and it is ours for the asking. This is creating a different context. It is giving the universe a different meaning.
Although the world may be stingy and hostile to other people, there is no reason why we should buy into this paradigm. When we buy into it, we make it that way in our own life. As we experience the letting go of desires, we begin to see that what we have chosen will come into our own life almost magically. “What we hold in mind tends to manifest.”
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 7, pg. 108-109
Everything is now, and everything is here. The reason is that within consciousness everything is recorded forever. Everything that ever happened is recorded forever, and it’s not filed according to past, present, or future — it’s all present right now. Everything that ever happened is equally present right now, right here.
In an infinite universe, where is the center? The center of an infinite universe is everywhere. In an infinite time, when is now? Now is all time. So, these are different levels of abstraction, and in the enlightened state, no such problem would be mentalized because it’s not seen as a problem. There’s only the awareness of awareness of awareness. I think of it more in terms of aesthetics and shifting your brain function from left-brain, linear, logical, sequential, volitional thinking to more right-brain appreciation. When you are walking through the beautiful woods and you can hear the birds singing and the beautiful flowers from the spring, you’re not thinking with your left brain. You’re just into appreciation, aesthetics.
The understanding of spiritual realities is increased by aesthetics.
Beautiful music, dance, paintings, cathedrals – beauty is intrinsic to celebrating divinity.
Over two thousand years ago, the Buddha made the observation that the basis of all human suffering was due to desire and attachment, and human history has merely proven the truth of his teaching. What is the solution to that dilemma? As we can see, it is only the small aspect of oneself that becomes attached. The smaller self buys into the frightened, inadequate set of programs that we have unwittingly allowed to run us. The purpose of letting go is to de-energize these programs so that they no longer run us; then, we are free to expand into the greater awareness of our Higher Self.
That part of us to which we refer as our “greater Self” loves rather than seeks love. Consequently, there comes the awareness that we are at all times surrounded by love, which is unlimited. Love is automatically attracted to the person who is loving.
By constantly letting go of our negative feelings, we thus cure present pain and prophylactically prevent the occurrence of future pain. Fear is replaced by trust and with it comes a profound sense of wellbeing. Immunity to grief of loss occurs when we replace dependence on the small self (the personality) with dependence on the Self (the Divinity within). We look for security to the Self, which is eternal, instead of to the small self, which is transitory.
Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender, Ch. 5, pg. 85
It used to be said, “Keep your mind where your body is,” meaning in the exact moment of now. The average person is worrying about the future or hanging on to the past. For the future, you’re going to anticipate positive responses, but also you anticipate fear.
Beginners in spiritual consciousness research tend to get confused because they mix consciousness levels. What’s meant in one context cannot be criticized from another context. You can’t contradict a statement from a different level of consciousness any more than you can criticize theology from the viewpoint of science. There are different paradigms. You can’t criticize mathematics from the viewpoint of spirituality. That’s mixing levels. For instance, a person might say, “Well, yes, I’m living in the now when I worry; I’m worrying right now. I’m living in the present when I regret the past; I’m regretting the past right now. So if I live in the right now, I’ve got regret over the past and anxiety about the future. Then that’s what I’m worried about right now. And that’s my now, my now is full of anxiety and regrets.”
Then they say, “Well to get rid of regret and anticipatory fear, I need to get out of the now. By tomorrow, I’ll have figured it all out.” This is also denoting time. Just because you’re paying attention to something doesn’t make it the now. A contemplative life style…can help take you out of the ambiguity about now and not now and the future and the past; because when seen from the viewpoint of the witness of consciousness itself, there isn’t any now, there isn’t any past, there isn’t any future.
Phenomena are unfolding, but they’re not unfolding within a linear track. There isn’t a time track within consciousness. In consciousness, all things are equally present all the time because it’s beyond time. There is no place within the infinite field of consciousness because it’s infinite.
New! In the World but Not of It: Transforming Everyday Experiences into a Spiritual Pathway, Pgs. 40-41
As you progress along the spiritual path, you begin to see that you are sufficient unto yourself and are answerable only to yourself. The question becomes simple: Am I fulfilling my greatest capacity to God, to myself, to my fellow man, and to those I love? Your obligation to divinity is to be all that you can be to yourself, to God and to everyone. In this way, you are fulfilling your promise. Therefore, what could approval do for you? Approval doesn’t do anything but build up your ego. If you’re lacking nothing, that approval is unnecessary. If you’ve done the best you can, you don’t need other people’s approval.
…What is the purpose of human life then? It facilitates the evolution of consciousness to the realization of our ultimate reality. It’s a part of the pathway to enlightenment.
New! – In the World but Not of It, ch. 2, pg. 24-25
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One benefit from a life crisis is greater self-awareness. The situation is overwhelming, and we are forced to stop all of our diversionary games, take a good look at our life situation, and re-evaluate our beliefs, goals, values, and life direction. It is an opportunity to re-evaluate and let go of guilt. It is also an opportunity for a total shift in attitude. Life crises, as we pass through them, confront us with polar opposites. Shall we hate or forgive that person? Shall we learn from this experience and grow, or resent it and become bitter? Do we choose to overlook the other person’s shortcomings and our own, or instead do we resent and mentally attack them? Shall we withdraw from a similar situation in the future with greater fear, or shall we transcend this crisis and master it once and for all? Do we choose hope or discouragement? Can we use the experience as an opportunity to learn how to share, or shall we withdraw into a shell of fear and bitterness? Every emotional experience is an opportunity to go up or down. Which do we choose? That is the confrontation.
We have the opportunity to choose whether we want to hang on or let go of emotional upsets. We can look at the cost of hanging on to them. Do we want to pay the price? Are we willing to accept the feelings? We can look at the benefits of letting go of them. The choice we make will determine our future. What kind of a future do we want? Will we choose to be healed, or will we become one of the walking wounded?
In making this choice, it is well to look at the payoff we get from hanging on to the residuals of a painful experience. What are the satisfactions we are getting? How little are we willing to settle for? Anger. Hatred. Self-pity. Resentments. They all have their cheap little payoff, that little inner satisfaction. Let’s not pretend that it’s not there. There is a weird, quirky pleasure when we hang on to pain. It certainly satisfies our unconscious need for the alleviation of guilt through punishment. We get to feel miserable and rotten. The question then arises, “But for how long?”
…The part of us that wants to cling to negative emotions is our smallness. It is the part of us that is mean, petty, selfish, competitive, cheap, conniving, mistrusting, vindictive, judgmental, diminished, weak, guilty, ashamed, and vain. It has little energy; it is depleting, demeaning, and leads to the lowering of self-respect. It is the small part of us that accounts for our own self-hatred, unending guilt, and seeking for punishment, sickness, and disease. Is that the part with which we want to identify? Is that the part we want to energize? Is that the way we want to see ourselves? Because if that’s the way we see ourselves, that’s the way others will see us.
The world can only see us as we see ourselves. Are we willing to pay those consequences? If we see ourselves as cheap and petty, it’s unlikely that we’ll be at the top of the company list for a raise.
The price of holding on to smallness can be demonstrated with muscle testing. The procedure is fairly simple (Hawkins, [1995], 2012). Hold in mind a mean, petty thought and have someone press down on your arm while you resist; notice the effect. Now choose the exact opposite view. Picture yourself as being generous, forgiving, loving, and experiencing your inner greatness. Instantly, there will be an enormous increase in muscle strength indicating a surge of positive bio-energy.
Smallness brings weakness, sickness, disease, and death. Do you really want that? Letting go of negative feelings can be accompanied by another very healthy maneuver which will greatly assist your inner transformation, and that is to stop resisting the positive emotions.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 3, pg. 44-47
When a person uses the mechanism of surrender and lets go of a negative feeling, the muscle testing (method) we have described will change from weak to strong. As negative thoughts or belief systems are surrendered, they no longer have the power to deplete our energy.
We are subject only to what we hold in mind. The body will respond to what we believe. If we believe that a certain substance is bad for us, then it will usually test weak with muscle testing. The same substance will make another person who believes that it is good for them strong. What is stressful to us, therefore, is primarily subjective. Muscle testing is responsible to unconscious belief systems as well as conscious ones. Testing often reveals that a person unconsciously feels or believes the opposite of what they think they consciously believe they want to heal but unconsciously be attached to the payoffs of illness. A simple muscle test reveals the truth of the matter.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 14, pg. 207-208
Because of that which you have become, the Kundalini energy flows automatically based on the level of consciousness, through the appropriate chakra system, the acupuncture system, and it alters the brain physiology as a consequence of that which it is. Remember that from 200 and up, brain physiology shifts the left brain to the right brain. And the whole sequence of processing is completely different. This is natural. It’s a consequence of that which you have become. If you turn your life into devotion to become that, and you be that, as a matter of being that, then when you can see the beauty and divinity of all that exists and the sacredness of all of life, et cetera, you see the divinity that shines forth through all of creation.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, Ch. 6, pg. 109
The basic dictum to comprehend is that the body obeys the mind; 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 that anything has over us is the power of belief that we give it. By “power,” we mean energy and the will to believe.
If we look at the Map of Consciousness, it’s easy to see why the mind is more powerful than the body. The energy field of reason (calibrates at 400), with its beliefs and concepts of the mind, is more powerful than the physical body (calibrates at 200). Thus, the body will express the beliefs held in mind, consciously or unconsciously.
Our proneness to accept negative beliefs depends on how much negativity we are holding in the first place. A positive mind, for example, will refuse to accept negative thoughts and simply reject them as untrue for oneself. There is a refusal to buy into commonly held negative ideas.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 15, pg. 212-213
The relinquishing of judgmentalism greatly increases the capacity of Love, as does surrendering the wanting of anything from others. Thus, people are not perceived according to what they have or do but by appreciation for what they are and have become.
Love is self-fulfilling and thus does not seek gain or to compensate for lack. Because it does not need to ‘get’, it is therefore free to peacefully ‘be with’ and appreciate. To Love, the world is more benign and its people appear more friendly and available. There is an increased feeling of safety and identification with mankind in general and concern for the welfare and happiness of others. The energy field is accompanied by a radiant aura that intrinsically has an effect on others who themselves then tend to become more benign as do their perceptions. This energy field has an influence on all life, which intuits the safety of Love through the field effect. Characteristic of this level are an unmistakable ‘sweetness’ of personality, speech, attitudes, and lifestyle that is inwardly nurturing.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, Ch. 14, pgs. 250-251
We start with the certainty, knowing. Just know that if you’re spiritually oriented, you will make progress. Start therefore, with a feeling of security. Instead of insecurity or self-doubt, know that anybody who wants to evolve spiritually will receive the necessary assistance. Success is guaranteed. Get rid of self-doubt, any idea that you’re not worth it, or that you’re not capable of it, or that it’s not the right time in your life. It’s always the right time in your life. Accept without reservation that you are worthy of the quest. Be resolved to totally surrender to the truth about God. Surrender to the truth about God, and trust that your spiritual evolution is aligned with God’s will for you. So, always start with a feeling of security instead of self-doubt. The living proof of God’s love and will for you is the gift of your own existence. The fact that you are, is the best evidence there is of God’s love and will for you.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, Bonus Material, pg. 195
Everything we do and say, every movement we make, is energized by the lovingness that we have owned within ourselves. Whether speaking to a large audience or petting the dog, the energy of love is felt to be pouring out. We want to share what we hold in the heart as an experiential knowingness, and we hold it in the heart for everyone and everything, that they would be feeling it, too. We pray for that inner experience of infinite love for everyone around us, including the animals. Our life is a blessing to everything around us. We acknowledge to others and to our animals the gift that they are to us.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 26
What do you recommend?
Divert your attention to that which is really essential, experientially. Some days it rains; some days it’s sunny; some days it’s cloudy. You can’t change the rain, but you can put on your raincoat. You can be realistic and take the necessary steps to remain dry. There are many aspects of life you can’t change, but you can let go of your expectation or need that they be different from what they are. With observation, for instance, you will notice that there is always a war going on somewhere in the world. So to be peaceful, it is necessary to accept that waging war is part of human nature and has been throughout all of recorded time. Mankind has been at war 97% of the time.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 330-331
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Devotion is like an inner valor or fortitude that incorporates courage, willingness, and conviction, together with the knowledge of essential information. It develops wisdom, patience, and forbearance with experience. Because of focus, it also develops skill and aptitude for processing the levels of consciousness as they are encountered. Devotion learns to expect periods of delay or discouragement as well as moments of doubt or fear. By virtue of devotion, there is alignment with inner integrity that results in the self-honesty and conviction necessary to transcend the seduction of transitory emotional payoffs of the intransigent ego.
The desire to reach Enlightenment is already a Divine gift to be treasured and revered. “Many are called but few are chosen” could be rephrased as “Many are called but few choose to follow.” Thus, the choice is by decision and assent of the inner will, and by this assent, the enormous power of Divine Will aligns with intention and empowers devotion to overcome all obstacles.
Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch. 1, pg. 45-46
On the level of acceptance, because of the major change in the way we perceive others, we now become aware of the inner innocence behind the frantic, fear-driven struggles that have obscured it in ourselves and in our neighbors, friends, and family. The great teachers have said that the negativity which we see in a person or in society is really due to blindness, ignorance, and unconsciousness. This inner innocence, once it is perceived in others, is also perceived in ourselves. All that we did was done because we just didn’t know better at the time. If we had known a better way at the time, we would have done it that way. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” we say. We see that same blindness operating in others, and we can look past their character defects and see the innocent child within.
Once we see our innocence, there is an identification with others and a loss of feeling alone and stressed. We are able to see innocence even behind the most rash and apparently horrible behaviors. We look inside a person and see the frightened animal that just doesn’t know any better. …
In the state of acceptance, it is possible to forgive our own past, as well as that of others, and to heal past resentments.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 11, pg.167-68
A paradigm is a whole worldview, and it is only limited by what we view as possible. As old ways of looking at things are challenged, our worldview begins to stretch and expand. That which was previously considered to be impossible becomes possible and eventually is experienced as a new dimension of reality. There is the capacity to look within ourselves to examine our belief systems, ask questions, and seek new solutions. On the level of courage, we are willing to take self-improvement courses, learn consciousness techniques, and risk the journey within to seek our own true Self, the inner reality. There is a willingness to experience uncertainty, periods of confusion, and temporary upset because underneath the temporary discomfort, we have a long-term transcendent goal. The mind that is operating on the level of courage makes such statements as “I can handle it”; “We’ll make it”; The job will get done”; We can see this through”; “All things shall pass.”
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 10, pg. 157-158
With observation, it is quite clear that negative feelings reverberate and boomerang back to us, and profoundly affect our relationships. The other person merely mirrors back what we are projecting onto them. When inner feelings are relinquished, the way in which we see the situation changes, and we are often surprised by the abruptness with which feelings of forgiveness suddenly arise and the relationship becomes transformed, even though on the external level we did or said nothing to express this inner change.
Try this exercise now, by bringing to mind a person in your life that you have an unkind attitude toward. Write down the negative feelings you have toward this person. Since this is your journal, honestly express everything you feel in this moment about this person and why.
When you feel that all the negative feelings have been written down and released, at least on paper, look within yourself and see if you sense any higher feelings, perhaps calm, peace, forgiveness, a sense of being okay, or acceptance.
…Note if anything changes in your relationship with this person, now that you have let go of your negative feelings toward them.
The Letting Go Guided Journal: Pgs. 108-109.
Q. If there is no reality such as time or here or now, nor a real ‘me’ to become enlightened, how can it be possible?
A: If it were a phenomenon that had to occur at a certain time or place, then indeed it would not be a possibility. The only explanation is that the state or condition termed enlightenment already is a reality and therefore needs only to be allowed to be a realized in order to prevail. What already “is” requires no future. Acceptance is an ever-present option. Complete surrender to God unveils the Truth. Nothing is hidden; only the ego is blind. Reality lies just beyond the mind. Out of the fear of becoming nothing, consciousness denies its only reality that it is everything — the infinite, everlasting Allness out of which existence itself arises.
Truth prevails when falsity is surrendered. To do this, however, requires great dedication, courage, and faith, which are supplied by divine inspiration in response to surrender. The trigger is the consent of the Will.
The Eye of the “I”: From Which Nothing Hidden: Ch. 19, pg. 289-290
Everyone is actually doing the best they can with what they have at the moment. All of life is evolving toward its perfection.
It is possible to forgive our own past, as well as that of others, and to heal past resentments. When we see the innocence in everyone, we can truly fulfill “loving our neighbor as ourselves.”
It is also possible to see the hidden gift in past events about which we have been resentful – including their possible karmic significance. From the level of acceptance, it is possible to create a different context from which to view the past and thereby heal it.
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- Write about a past event or behavior that you haven’t forgiven yourself for:
2. Can you see your innocence and that you were just doing the best you could with what your understanding was at the time? Can you apply this to others as well?
The Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love and Success, Pg. 74-75
The goal of letting go is the elimination of the very source of all suffering and pain.
The replacement of a negative feeling by a higher one accounts for the many miracles we can experience in the course of life. These become more frequent as we continue to let go. As we surrender, life becomes more and more effortless. There is a constant increase in happiness and pleasure, which requires less and less from the outer world to be experienced. There is a diminution of needs and expectations of others. We stop looking “out there” for what we now experience as coming from within ourselves. We let go of the illusion that others are the source of our happiness. Instead of looking to get from others, we now look to give…
Ultimately, all negative feelings stem from the same source. When enough negative feelings have been relinquished, that source reveals itself. When that source itself is let go of and disidentified with, the ego dissolves. The source of suffering, therefore, loses the very basis of its power.
The Letting Go Guided Journal pg. 94-95
One surprising observation about the mechanism of letting go is that major changes can take place very rapidly. Lifetime patterns can suddenly disappear, and long-standing inhibitions can be let go of in a matter of minutes, hours, or days. Rapid changes are accompanied by an increased aliveness. The life energy set free by the letting go of negativity now flows into positive attitudes, thoughts, and feelings, with a progressive increase of personal power.
When the negative blocks and “I can’ts” are removed, whole new areas of life open up to us. Success stems from doing what we like to do best, but most people are tied down to what they imagine they have to do. As limitations are relinquished, whole new avenues of creativity and expression become available. It is very common for people who use the letting go technique to suddenly come into abundance.
…As we let go of the negative, we come into our own power. It happens of its own. Happiness was in there all along and now it shines forth after the blocks to it have been surrendered. We are now influencing everyone with whom we come in contact in a favorable way.
…Name an area of expression, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, that has become a reality for you as result of the letting go method. Write down the positive feelings you have about this newfound expression. Then congratulate yourself on the work you have done!
The Letting Go Guided Journal: pg. 90-91
Love emanates from the heart. When we are in the presence of people who love each other, we pick up on that energy. The love of our loved ones, pets, and friends is the love of Divinity for us. Each moment is possible only because of love. Being surrounded by the energy field of love brings gratitude. We are thankful for our life and for all the miracles of life.
Think about your life now, and contemplate all that you’ve been given. Write down what you are grateful for, regardless of how small or insignificant it seems.
The Letting Go Guided Journal, pg. 73
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In the state of acceptance, there is the feeling that nothing needs to be changed. This is different from resignation, where there are still residuals of the previous emotion left. There is reluctance and a delaying of the true recognition of the facts. Resignation says, ” I don’t like it, but I have to put up with it.”
With acceptance, resistance to the true nature of the facts has been relinquished; thus, one of the signs of acceptance is serenity. With acceptance, the struggle is over and life begins anew. This consciousness level is one that we all long to achieve, for it enables us to find freedom from most of life’s problems and to experience fulfillment and happiness. Here, the source of love is seen to be within ourselves, emanating from our own nature and reaching out to include others. Our lovingness radiates out naturally from the essence of our being, because many of the blocks to its awareness have been surrendered.
We discover that this lovingness is our nature, and it is what the great teachers mean by our true essence, our true Self. It is the aim of our Self to transcend the ego, that composite of all our negative feelings, programs, and thoughts, so that we are able to experience the inner essential nature.
The Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love, and Success. pg. 76 – New!
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It is common for people to repress their anger, aggression, and hostility; they view anger as unpleasant, undignified, and even as a moral failure or spiritual setback. They do not realize that repressed anger is nonetheless the energy of anger and, if not acknowledged and worked through, it will have deleterious consequences to their health and overall progress.
A helpful approach is to view the energy of anger positively and to use it to fire up your ambitions and actions in a useful way. Think of a relationship or situation either past or present that is causing you to feel angry and resentful. Write down how this energy of anger can be focused in a positive way, toward achieving a goal or project. For example: The energy of anger spurred me to wash the kitchen floor, which I had been putting off.
Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love, and Success, pg. 56 – New!
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It is often beneficial to look at some commonly held beliefs and let go of them right in the beginning, such as (1) We only deserve things through hard work, struggle, sacrifice, and effort; (2) Suffering is beneficial and good for us; (3) We don’t get anything for nothing; (4) Things that are very simple aren’t worth much. We may also fear that if we let go of a desire for something, we won’t get it. Surrendering some of these psychological barriers to the technique itself will allow an enjoyment of its effortlessness and ease.
Make a list of some limiting beliefs you have about success, money, relationships, or health that you would like to use to practice the letting go technique. Journal about your insights, and practice letting go on each one of them.
From: The Letting Go Guided Journal: How to Remove Your Inner Blocks to Happiness, Love, and Success, pg. 14 – new!
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We cannot become strong by catering to human weakness. We become strong by supporting strength. We become dynamic when we support the aliveness of others. We become great when we support the greatness of others. We become beautiful when we support the beauty of life. If we are truly coming from the heart, we don’t have to worry about success. The world will love us, be loyal to us, support us and forgive us all kinds of mistakes. If we treat all of our customers like royalty, surprisingly we will find ourselves living a rather royal life.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 139
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Because emotions emit a vibrational energy field, they affect and determine the people who are in our lives. Life events become influenced by our repressed and suppressed emotions on the psychic level. Thus, anger attracts angry thoughts. The basic rule of the psychic universe is that “like attracts like.” Similarly, “love promotes love,” so that the person who has let go of a lot of inner negativity is surrounded by loving thoughts, loving events, loving people, and loving pets. This phenomenon explains many scriptural quotations and common sayings that have puzzled the intellect, such as, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” and “Those who have, get.” As a general rule, therefore, people who are carrying the consciousness of apathy bring poverty circumstances into their lives, and those with a prosperity consciousness bring abundance into their lives.
Because all living things are connected on vibrational energy levels, our basic emotional state is picked up and reacted to by all life forms around us.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 2, pg. 19
The source of pain is not the belief system itself but one’s attachment to it and the inflation of its imaginary value. The inner processing of attachments is dependent on the exercise of the will, which alone has the power to undo the mechanism of attachment by the process of surrender. This may be subjectively experienced or contextualized as sacrifice, although it is actually a liberation. The emotional pain of loss arises from the attachment itself and not from the “what” that has been lost.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 123
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Each of us has within us a certain reservoir of suppressed and repressed fear. This quantity of fear spills into all areas of our life, colors all of our experience, decreases our joy in life, and reflects itself in the musculature of the face so as to affect our physical appearance, our physical strength, and the condition of health in all of the organs in the body. Sustained and chronic fear gradually suppresses the body’s immune system. … Although we know that it is totally damaging to our relationships, health, and happiness, we still hang on to fear. Why is that?
We have the unconscious fantasy that fear is keeping us alive; this is because fear is associated with our whole set of survival mechanisms. We have the idea that if we were to let go of fear, our main defense mechanism, we would become vulnerable in some way. In Reality, the truth is just the opposite. Fear is what blinds us to the real dangers of life. In fact, fear itself is the greatest danger that the human body faces. It is fear and guilt that bring about disease and failure in every area of our lives.
We could take the same protective actions out of love rather than out of fear. Can we not care for our bodies because we appreciate and value them, rather than out of fear of disease and dying? Can we not be of service to others in our life out of love, rather than out of fear of losing them? Can we not be polite and courteous to strangers because we care for our fellow human beings, rather than because we fear of losing their good opinion of us? … Can we not perform our job well because we care about the recipients of our services, rather than just the fear of losing our jobs or pursuing our own ambition? Can we not accomplish more by cooperation, rather than fearful competition? …On a Spiritual level, isn’t it more effective if, out of compassion and identification with our fellow human beings, we care for them, rather than trying to love them out of fear of God’s punishment if we don’t?
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 6, pg. 99-100
Just on the physical level, we saw from the Heisenberg principle that the state of the universe, as it is now, which we can define by the Schrödinger equation, is changed by merely observing it. Because what happens is you collapse the wave function from potentiality to actuality. You now have a new reality. In fact, you have to use different mathematical formulas, like the Dirac equation. So, you’ve gone from potential into actuality. That transformation does not occur without interjection of consciousness. Consequently, a thing could stand as a potentiality for thousands of years. Along comes somebody who looks at it differently, and bang, it becomes an actuality. So the unmanifest then becomes the manifest as the consequence of creation. Therefore, predicting the future is impossible because you would have to know the mind of God, because creation is the unfolding of potentiality, depending on local conditions and intention. You have no idea what intention is. Intention can change one second from now. If the future was predictable, there would be no point to human existence because there would be no karmic benefit, no gain or capacity to undo that which is negative. It would be confined to what is called predestination. Predestination and predictions of the future miss the whole purpose of existence and jump the whole understanding of the evolution of consciousness. There would be no karmic merit nor demerit. There would be no salvation. There would be no heavens. There would be no stratifications of levels of consciousness. We would all just emerge perfectly in a perfect realm. And therefore, there would be no purpose to this life at all.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, Ch. 6, pg. 102
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Spiritual reality is a greater source of pleasure and satisfaction than the world can supply. It is endless and always available in the present instead of the future. It is actually more exciting because one learns to live on the crest of the current moment, instead of on the back of the wave (which is the past) or on the front of the wave (which is the future). There is greater freedom from living on the exciting knife-edge of the moment than being a prisoner of the past or having expectations of the future.
Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins: 365 Contemplations on Surrender, Healing, and Consciousness, pg. 84
All spiritual pathways and religions emphasize the need for expanding our capacity to love, and this is essentially what the process of surrender is all about. By removing the blocks to love, the capacity to love self, others, and God is expanded.
Surrender also facilitates the basic teachings of all the world’s great religions. The essential goal of these teachings is to surrender the “small self,” commonly called “ego.” The letting go technique facilitates the goal of dissolving the small self by using a simple inner process of surrender. When the small self is transcended, the true inner Self shines forth. Let us take, for instance, the most common short means of expressions of this surrendering phenomenon as given by most religions. Typically, they follow this pattern:
Let go and let God
Be still and know that I am God.
Turn your life and will over to the care of God as you understand Him.
Surrender to what is, for God is in all things.
It is obvious that letting go of negativity facilitates the very direction that all religions and spiritual pathways urge us to take. The process of letting go is concerned primarily with feelings, and we have seen that feelings have a profound effect on our thoughts and belief systems.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 312-313
People think it’s what you do or what you say or how you behave that matters. No, it’s the consequence of that which you are. So that which you are, if you sit alone in a cave, is influencing the consciousness level of mankind. Even if you sit alone in a cave, it radiates out as an energy. So, each one’s contribution raises the level of the sea. People will ask me, “What can I do to help the world?” The best thing you can do is become the fulfillment of your own potential, because each inch that the sea rises lifts all the ships afloat. Now, nobody has enough strength in and of himself to lift a ship, but everybody is contributing.
The Wisdom of Dr. David R. Hawkins, Ch. 3, pg. 44
…It is not something new or foreign. It is not an esoteric teaching or somebody else’s idea or a belief system. We are merely utilizing our own inner nature to get freer and happier. When letting go, it’s not helpful to “think” about the technique. It’s better, simply, just to do it. Eventually it will be seen that all thoughts are resistance. They are all images that the mind has made to prevent us from experiencing what actually is. When we have been letting go for a while and have begun experiencing what is really going on, we will laugh at our thoughts. Thought are fakes, absurd make-beliefs that obscure the truth. Pursuing thoughts can keep us occupied endlessly. We will discover one day that we are right where we started. Thoughts are like gold fish in a bowl; the real Self is like the water. The real Self is the space between the thoughts, or more exactly, the field of silent awareness underneath all thoughts.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 2, pg. 23-24
The 500 level is characterized by the development of a Love that is unconditional, unchanging, and permanent. It does not fluctuate because its source within the person who loves is not dependent on external conditions. Loving is a state of being. It is a way of relating to the world that is forgiving, nurturing, and supportive. Love is not intellectual and does not proceed from the mind. Love emanates from the heart. It has the capacity to lift others and accomplish great feats because of its purity of motive.
…Love takes no position and thus is global, rising above the separation of positionality. It is then possible t be “one with another,” as there are no longer any barriers. Love is therefore inclusive and expands the sense of self progressively. Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its expressions and augments that which is positive. It dissolves negativity by recontextualizing it rather than by attacking it.
Power vs. Force, “Author’s Official Revised Edition,”, Ch. 4, pg. 112-113
Sound is discernible only because it is superimposed against the background of silence, and thus form can only be recognized because it is superimposed within formless space. Likewise, the content of the mind is only identifiable because of its formless, silent background screen. The experiencer can thus be directed to focus on the silent, formless backdrop. The substrate, because of its silence, has an innate feeling of peace. Silence and peace can be chosen, appreciated, valued and welcomed as relief from the constant tension of the ever-watchful expectancy of the experiencer function. When peace is more valued than the entertainment of the insatiable ego, it will be discovered to be ever present and available. That one even has such an option is unknown to 99.7 percent of the population. Thus, there is an unknown freedom available; one can choose merely to refuse the ego investment in the world and one’s thoughts about it (i.e., surrender it to God).
Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch. 15, pg. 247-248
If an event occurs outside the domain of explanation or expected linear causality paradigm, and the Newtonian, it is termed a miracle. It is an eventuality that is brought into actuality by removal of the impediments of negativity. This may involve relinquishment of limiting belief systems, such as “It’s impossible,” or “It is not deserved” or other ego viewpoints. For those who have reached higher levels of consciousness, the miraculous is not only commonplace, it is the natural course of events and becomes continuous. The miraculous comes out of creation and not causality.
The Eye of the “I”, Ch. 9, pg. 139
When we are operating on the level of acceptance, enjoyment, warmth, gentleness, softness, trustingness, inner truth, and faith, the emotional purposes to which the other person responds are those of love, enjoyment, pleasure, harmony, peacefulness, understanding, and sharing. Their reaction to us will be one of acceptance, satisfaction, feeling “in tune,” feeling understood, and joy. They will automatically return our love. it is rather obvious that these reciprocal feelings bring about success in whatever the venture may be with the other person, whether it is vocational, personal or a simple everyday business interaction.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 18, pg. 269
Q. What is the most serviceable presumptive view of the world for a spiritual student/devotee/seeker?
A. Presume that the world’s actual purpose is perfect and fully known only by God. See it as neutral overall but with the benefit that it provides optimal opportunity for spiritual growth and the evolution of consciousness. It is a school for enlightenment and the revelation of Divinity whereby consciousness/awareness reawakes to its Source. Thus, to pursue enlightenment in and of itself serves the world and God.
Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch. 10, pg. 168
Looking at the feelings on the level of interpersonal relationships, we now discover another law of consciousness. Our feelings and thoughts always have an effect on other persons and affect our relationships whether these thoughts or feelings are verbalized, expressed, or not. …We can likely intuit the truth of this law of consciousness from our own experience. We generally know, for example, when someone is angry toward us, even if they say nothing about it. Sensing their repressed angry feeling, we might ask, “Is something wrong?” Even when they reply, “Oh nothing,” we are still aware of the energy of anger and upset.
It is somewhat dismaying to discover the truth of this interfacing at the energetic level, but anyone can discover it by inner investigation. The overall attitudes we hold about another person are influencing that other person’s feelings and attitudes about us whether we express them or not.
When first discovering the truth of this we might go through sort of a mild paranoia. Most everyone is brought up to believe that our thoughts and feelings are private affairs and nobody else’s business, that minds are separated and that emotions happen only within the confines of the body. As we begin to investigate this area, we find that often the set of feelings we hold about another person is mirrored back to us by their attitude and that, when we change our inner attitude about them, their attitude changes abruptly. We are unconsciously influencing others all the time because of the feeling we hold about them. As we become more intuitive, we will laugh at our former naiveté.
The only way to get over this initial paranoia is to clean up our own act. Finding out what needs to be cleaned up is simple and easy. Just look at what you would not want others to know about you and begin to surrender it!
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 18, pg. 258-259
The 500 level is characterized by the development of a Love that is unconditional, unchanging and permanent. It does not fluctuate because its source within the person who loves is not dependent on external conditions. Loving is a state of being. It is a way of relating to the world that is forgiving, nurturing, and supportive. Love is not intellectual and it does not proceed from the mind. Love emanates from the heart. It has the capacity to lift others and accomplish great feats because of its purity of motive.
At this level of development the capacity to discern essence becomes predominant; the core of an issue becomes the center of focus. As reason is bypassed, there arises the capacity for instantaneous recognition of the totality of a problem and a major expansion of context, especially regarding time and process. Reason deals only with particulars, whereas Love deals with wholes. This ability, often ascribed to intuition, is the capacity for instantaneous understanding without resorting to sequential symbol processing. This apparently abstract phenomenon is in fact, quite concrete; it is accompanied by a measurable release of endorphins in the brain.
Love takes no position and thus is global, rising above the separation of positionality. It is then possible to be “one with another,” as there are no longer any barriers. Love is therefore inclusive and expands the sense of self progressively. Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its expressions and augments that which is positive. It dissolves negativity by recontextualizing it rather than by attacking it.
Power vs Force, ch. 4, pg. 112-113
Through spiritual alignment, intention, and devotion – aided by meditation, contemplation, authenticated instruction, and Truth; and assisted by the energy field of an advanced teacher – great leaps of consciousness can occur unexpectedly. Thus, it is important to know of these leaps well in advance, as confirmed by consciousness research.
The chances of becoming enlightened are now more than one thousand times greater than at any time in the past, which means that reaching the level of Unconditional Love (calibration 540) is a very attainable and practical goal. From the level of Unconditional love, the pathway is increasingly joyful. At level 600, there occurs an infinite, silent stillness and peace – and progression from there is up to the Will of God, karma, and the potentialized Knowingness nascent within the spiritual aura.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 135
One of the great secrets of relationship is acknowledgment. The behavior of others toward us always includes a hidden gift. Even if that behavior appears negative, there is something in it for us. Very often that something appears in the form of a signal to us to become more aware. Let’s say, for example, that somebody call us “stupid.” Our natural response is one of anger. We can use the energy of that anger consciously: “What is that person asking me to become more aware of?” If we ask ourselves the question, we may come to the realization that we were being self-centered; we were being uncaring; we were failing to acknowledge them; and we were not being conscious and aware of what was going on in the relationship.
If we constantly follow this procedure, we will come to the awareness that everyone in our life is acting as a mirror. They are really reflecting back to us what we have failed to acknowledge within ourselves. They are forcing us to look at what needs to be addressed. What aspect of our smaller self needs to be relinquished? This means that we have to constantly let go of pride in order to undo anger, so that we can be grateful for the continual opportunities of growth with which we are presented in the course of every day experience.
Letting Go, Ch. 8, pg. 127-128
Divine Grace determines all Creation in all its expressions and aspects. We say that the unmanifest comes into expression as manifestation by ordinance of Divine will. This is made possible and activated by the Presence, whose quality is to potentiate the evolution of possibility into actuality. We could say, for instance, that a seed is dormant and inactive, but in the Divine Presence, it begins to grow. The potential patterns for the emergence of materiality reside within the invisible domain as energy patterns. The quality of ‘realness’ is only the radiance of the Self, which imbues the quality we call realness. The ordinary mind attributes this quality of realness to any material and imagines that the realness emanates from the material itself. The only thing that is real is the Self which, by nature of its divinity, radiates forth the qualities of life, reality, and existence. Life is either present or not.
By Dr. Hawkins, The Eye of the I, hardcover, ch.11, pg. 172
Humor is an expression of freedom and joyfulness, and laughter is biologically healing …. Faith, love, and joy are the high road; doom and gloom merely lead to sadness and despondency. Self-hatred blinds awareness of the Self as a reflection of Divine Creation.
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That which I am is Allness. To realize that one already is and always has been All That Is leaves nothing to be added.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 116 and pg. 177 top
When we put pressure on other people in order to get what we want, they automatically resist, because we are trying to pressure them. The harder we push, the harder they resist. Even though, out of fear, they may actually concede to our demands, there is not an inner acceptance and, later on, we will lose what we have gained. This resistance is in all of us. We can be aware of it as it operates unconsciously, and we evade that awareness by making excuses and plausible explanations.
…One way around it is to take the view that our responsibility is to make an effort, but not try to determine the result. Another way is to surrender the feelings we have about what we want from the other person, and let go of the pressures we are putting on them in the form of expectation and desire. They, then have the psychic space to become agreeable or even to initiate the desired result on their own, the result we had wished for in the first place.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 18, pg. 274
Realization is not a “gain” or an accomplishment, nor is it something that is “given” as a reward for being good – these are all notions from childhood. God is immutable and cannot be manipulated into granting favors, or seduced by bargaining or adulation. Worship benefits the worshipper by reinforcing commitment and inspiration. God is still, silent, and unmoving.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 90
Consciousness does so automatically when understanding occurs through reflection, familiarity, prayer, meditation, or inspiration. It is also facilitated by the words or level of consciousness of the teacher. What is impossible at one level of consciousness becomes obvious and simple at a higher one. A human being is both spirit and body; therefore, it is at all times actually existing in both the linear and the nonlinear domains. The body, unless imbued with consciousness and subjective awareness, is not aware of its own existence. It takes action only when it is motivated and presented with value, such as the desire for enjoyment in the experience of life.
The Eye of the I hardcover, ch. 20, pg. 299
It is both a large subject and yet a very simple one. The simplest practices are the best and can be continuous throughout the day’s activities. Formally, if we sit still, close our eyes and stay aware of the breathing, we can look at the patterns that appear to our vision behind closed eyelids. One simply observes the procession of the mind’s activities without interference or comment. From there, one then moves on and focuses attention to what it is that is watching this procession. Identifying the watcher then leads into the witness, which in turn leads to the awareness of the experiencer that these are qualities of consciousness. One is aware of the witnessing, experiencing, and watching and that these are happening by themselves. These are impersonal qualities of consciousness. They happen automatically. There is actually no personal entity that is ‘doing’ the watching, witnessing. or observing. It is also important to notice that this impersonal quality is unaffected by the content of that which is observed. The real, transcendent ‘I’ even witnesses sleep.
The Eye of the ‘I’ hardcover, ch. 17, pg.245-246
Every loving or compassionate thought outweighs many thousands of negative thoughts held by others. We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become. Thus, every spiritual aspirant serves the world.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 81
Being a social reformer is an entirely different career from that of seeking enlightenment. It is well to remember that spiritual advancement influences everyone else from within, whereas force tries to change the external only. Surrendering a personal grievance or grudge is more rewarding for all society than marching up and down with provocative signs and slogans. To the spiritually advanced persons, whether other people agree with them or not is immaterial as they no longer need to look outside themselves for validation or agreement.
The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden, hardcover, ch. 13, pg. 198
Forgiveness is an aspect of love that allows us to see life events from the viewpoint of grace. We forgive ourselves for the errors we made when we were less evolved. It is helpful to see the ego or small part of ourselves as a cute little teddy bear. The teddy bear is not “bad”; we don’t hate or scold the little bear. We love it and accept it for what it is: a cute little animal who doesn’t know any better. We transcend the smaller aspects of ourselves by accepting and loving them. We see the ego as “limited,” not “bad.”
In the energy field of love, we are surrounded with love, and that brings gratitude. We are thankful for our life and for all the miracles of life. We are thankful for the doggies and the kitties, because they represent love. We are grateful for every act of kindness from others, their affection, caringness, and thoughtfulness.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, ch. 12, pg.176
This is an attitude of withdrawal of emotional entanglement in worldly affairs. It leads to serenity and peace of mind. It is supported by refusing the emotional seduction of other people’s upsets and problems. It also involves a willingness to allow the world and its affairs to work out its own problems and destiny. Reactive involvement and intervention in the world can be better left to people who have a different calling. A ‘good person’ is one thing; enlightenment is another. One is responsible for the effort and not the result, which is up to God and the universe.
Nonattachment is not the same as indifference, withdrawal, or detachment. Misunderstanding that the development of detachment is required often ends up as flatness or apathy. In contrast, nonattachment allows full participation in life without trying to control outcomes.
The Eye of the I, Ch. 9, Advanced Awareness, pg. 195-196
One’s Commitment should be to God and Truth only. Teachers are to be respected, but devotion should be restricted to only the Truth. As Buddha said, “Put no head above your own” meaning that one’s only true guru is the Self (the Buddha nature). The Self of the teacher and one’s own Self are one and the same. The teacher becomes a source of inspiration and information. It is the inspiration that supports the quest.
Does spiritual commitment mean one has to give up the world? No, of course not. It means merely that worldly life needs to be recontextualized, restructured, and envisioned differently. It is not the world that is a trap, but one’s attachment to it, along with one’s observations that cloud the search for Truth. Some attractions themselves are merely time wasters, while others are serious traps with grim consequences in which the unaware become immersed. On the other hand, it is sometimes only as the result of the sheer agony of one’s having gone astray that hitting bottom, letting go, and accepting better choices occurs. Therefore, one can never say it is wrong for anyone to follow any particular pathway for it may be the very means of their ultimate salvation, as painful as it may be. We can say with certainty that anything that fails to make one go strong with the muscle-test method is not a direction that a committed spiritual seeker of enlightenment wants to follow.
The Eye of the “I”, ch. 8, pg.162
Q: What do you think is the most frequent cause for our resistance to surrender?
A: We think that somehow, if we hang on to that feeling, it is going to get us what we want. If we get stuck in a feeling, it is useful to look at the question of what we think we have accomplished by hanging on to it. We will almost always find that we have a fantasy that it will have some effect on some other person and change their behavior or attitudes toward us. If we let go of that, we become willing to let go of the feeling.
Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 328
In looking at this from the viewpoint of Truth, we can see there is no such thing as “just ego.” It would mean that there is some place where God is not. All positions represent ego, and the ego is then superimposed on that which is not ego. There has to be something larger, which is consciousness itself. To safely do spiritual work and avoid crises, it is necessary to reaffirm, look within, and discover one’s own innocence. It really is not safe to do spiritual work unless one has a glimpse of that innate naive innocence and keeps one eye on it at all times, because that innocence is the gateway back to the Truth so one does not get lost in the swamp.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 47
The Real truth is that, as we go within and discard one illusion after another, one falsehood after another, one negative program after another, it gets lighter and lighter. Life becomes progressively more effortless.
Every great teacher since the beginning of time has said to look within and find the truth, for the truth of what we really are will set us free. If what is to be found within ourselves were something to feel guilty about, something that is rotten, evil and negative, then all the world’s great teachers would not advise us to look there. On the contrary, they would tell us to avoid it at all costs.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, ch. 5, pg. 104
“Love is the Ultimate Law of the Universe.” This statement calibrates at 750. Love God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy mind. You become that love and then everything happens appropriately, automatically due to what you are. Love thy neighbor as thy self. It is like, “How may I be of help to you, how may I comfort you, may I loan you some money when you are broke, may I help you find a job, how may I console you when you have suffered a major loss in your family.” Lovingness is a way of being in the world, and that way you light up the world.
from Book of Slides, Clarification of Slide 282, pg. 575, (slightly edited from the original source, Sept 2011 lecture)
Q: Spiritual Work sometimes appears to involve anticipation of loss.
A: Loss is a presumption based on the eg0’s perceptions and projected values. In general, the ego’s loss is illusory and instead constitutes a gain to the Self. All ego positions represent vulnerability. Their surrender results in greater inner security and pleasure in life. Eventually, one analogously feels ‘bullet-proof’ and independent of external circumstances. Even the survival of the body itself eventually becomes irrelevant for its transitoriness is accepted.
Q: But is not survival itself due to the ego’s motives and mechanisms?
A: That is also an illusion. Survival is a consequence of the Self, not the self. It is only because of the Self that the ego is of service for a prescribed period of earthly time. When the ego/mind is silenced, life goes on autonomously, paradoxically even seeing effort as effortless. All comes about as a consequence of potentiality’s emerging as actuality when conditions permit. Intention is such a condition. Eventually, even intention subsides as the will is surrendered to God.
Discovery of the Presence of God, Ch. 13, pg. 223-224
All avenues of questioning lead to the same ultimate answer. The discovery that nothing is hidden and Truth stands everywhere revealed is the key to enlightenment about the simplest practical affairs and the destiny of mankind. In the process of examining our everyday lives, we can find that all our fears have been based on falsehood. The displacement of the false by the true is the essence of the healing of all things visible and invisible. And always, a final question will eventually arise for every questioner – the biggest question of all: “Who am I?”
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 136
Paradoxically, benefit is derived by the self-interest of the ego when it begins to realize that there is a great advantage to unselfishness. When it learns of the benefit of letting go of egocentric goals, the ego itself then becomes the springboard to spiritual inquiry and the means to its own transcendence, realizing that humility is strength and not weakness, and that it is wisdom and not ignorance. The willingness to “forgive and forget” calibrates at 450 (reason/logic). The willingness to “forgive and surrender to God” calibrates at 540 (unconditional love).
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 42
Because pride is sometimes seen as a motivator of achievement, what would be its higher level substitute? One answer would be joy. What is wrong with joy as the reward for successful achievement, rather than pride? Pride carries with it the desire for recognition from others and, consequently, there is a vulnerability to anger and disappointment if it is not forthcoming at some point. If we achieve a certain goal for the pleasure, enjoyment, love of accomplishment, and the inner joy that it brings to us, we are invulnerable to the reaction of others.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, pg. 144
The small self is dissolved by the Self. The healing attitude of the Self to the self is compassion; it is through forgiveness that one is forgiven. This willingness to surrender, arising out of the Grace of God, permits the power of God expressed as the Holy Spirit to recontextualize understanding–and, by this device, to undo the reign of perception and its attendant duality, which is the source of all suffering. The dissolution of duality is the ultimate gift of God, for it dissolves the very source and capacity for suffering. In nonduality, suffering is not possible.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 110
All thinking, from a spiritual viewpoint, is merely vanity, illusion, and pomposity. The less one thinks, the more delightful life becomes. Thinkingness eventually becomes replaced by knowingness. That one “is” does not really need any thought at all. It is helpful, therefore, to make a decision to stop mental conversation and useless babbling.
Once thoughts, like objects, are depersonalized, they become devalued and lose their attraction. Thoughts and feelings arise from desire, and the mind desires what it values.
To clear the mind, merely note that nothing at all is of special or unique “value” or “worth” except by invested, superimposed, and projected belief. Therefore, withdraw value, worth, importance, and interest.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 65
The love of God by worship, devotion, commitment, declaration, or selfless service is the catalyst and the formal invitation for the Intercession of Divinity via the power of the nonlinear field of consciousness itself, which is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. By surrender of all resistances, this powerful nonlinear field becomes progressively dominant and eventually an all-encompassing Presence.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 59
The Radiance of God is the light of awareness that reveals the Divinity of all that exists. In the stillness of the Infinite Presence, the mind is silent, as there is nothing that can be said; all speaks of itself with completeness and exactitude. With this realization, one transcends the final duality of existence versus nonexistence because only existence is possible. The opposite of Truth does not exist, since Reality excludes nonreality. In this realization resides the Peace of God.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 106
It is simple to observe that although there is a “talking mind” going on at the same time, there also a silent awareness that is more global and unfocused and operates automatically. Contemplation or meditation that focuses attention on context rather than content facilitates moving one’s identity from the transient and volitional (thereby becoming personal) to the unchanging quality of awareness itself. This leads to the discovery that one is the field and not the specifics of the content. This jump is a level of the Buddhist state of satori.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 71-72
To transcend the linear to the nonlinear is the way of the mystic – the pathway of nonduality –- to realize the inner light of consciousness itself, the True Immortal Self. Everyone trusts the inner sense of reality or capacity to “know” that underlies all experiencing and witnessing, no matter what the content. The content of mind thinks, but only the nonlinear field “knows,” or how else would it be possible to know what is being thought?
Because everyone actually lives in the experiential at every moment, the Source of the capacity to know or experience is close at hand and is itself pristine. All human beings experience that they are continuously “experiencing,” no matter what the ever-changing content might be.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 111
To look within for the actual source of love leads to the discovery of the Self. Like the sun, the Self is ever present, unconditional, and not subject to thought, opinion, or attitude. The Self can only love because that is its essence. The love of the Self is not earned, deserved, or subject to limitation. The Self is the source of life and the subjective awareness of existence…. It is beyond all dualities; there is no duality between the Self and existence. The Unmanifest and Manifest are one and the same. Consciousness may include content, or it may not. By analogy, space is not dependent on the presence of planets or universes, yet it includes all of them.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 134
Letting go greatly facilitates the power of affirmations. An affirmation is a positive statement. Its power is limited by the fact that, either consciously or unconsciously, we have multiple negative programs that are saying the very opposite thing to the affirmation. You can discover this for yourself by noticing that, as you write affirmations, your mind comes up with, “Yeah, but…” It is these “Yeah, buts…” that limit the power of the affirmation and reduce its effectiveness. If you surrender the obstacles to the affirmation, you will notice a rapid increase in their effectiveness.
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part II, pg. 51-52
All things are in a state of silent rejoicing that their consciousness is an experience of Divinity. Unique to all things is a still, ever-present gratitude that they have been granted the gift of experiencing the presence of God. This gratitude is the form in which worship is expressed. All that is created and has existence shares in reflecting the glory of God.
The Ego is Not the Real You, Pg 83
There is nothing more wonderful than arriving back home again at one’s Source. The illusion is that one struggles with spiritual growth by one’s own effort; in fact, we are pulled into greater awareness by the Will of God expressed as the Holy Spirit, and all that is necessary is to allow it to happen by surrendering completely. For truly, only God is God.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 106
The infinite presence of all things is beyond all time and space, forever complete, perfect, and whole. All points of observation disappear, and there is the omnipresence of that which Knows All by the fact that it is All. As Reality stands forth in its stunning self-evidence and infinite peace, it appears that the block to Realization was the mind itself, which is not different from the ego – they are one and the same.
The Ego is Not the Real You, part III, pg. 101
If the goal of life is to do the very best one can do at each unfolding moment of existence, then through spiritual work, one has already escaped the primary cause of suffering. In the stop-frame of the radical present, there is no life story to react to or edit. With this “one-pointedness” of mind, it soon becomes obvious that everything merely “is as it is,” without comment or adjectives.
The Ego is Not the Real You, pg. 66
Like the Sun, the inner Self is always shining but because of negative clouds, we do not experience it. It is not necessary to program oneself with the truth; it is only necessary to remove that which is false. The removal of the clouds from the sky to illuminate the negative allows one to experience the energy fields of that which is positive. It is only the removal of the negative that is necessary—the willingness to let go of the habits of negative thinking. The removal of the obstacles to the experiencing of this will result in an increasing sense of aliveness and a joy of one’s own existence.
The Ego is Not the Real You, part II, pg. 57
In the Presence of God, all suffering ceases. One has returned to one’s Source, which is not different from one’s own Self. It is as though one had forgotten, or is now awakened from, a dream. All fears are revealed to be groundless; all worries are foolish imaginings. There is no future to fear, nor past to regret. There is no errant ego/self to admonish or correct. There is nothing that needs changing or improving. There is nothing about which to feel ashamed or guilty. There is no “other” from which one can be separated. No loss is possible. Nothing needs to be done, no effort is required, and one is free from the endless tug of desire and want.
The Ego is Not the Real Self, Part III, Pg. 98
Even the simplest action, such as peeling a potato, can be accompanied by resentment or by devotion to life out of joy, knowing that one is supporting life through life. In gratitude for the gift of life, one dedicates that life back as a gift to God through selfless service to His creation as all of life. With this dedication, one validates the sacredness of all life and treats it with respect.
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part III, pg. 114
What does it mean, “to become more conscious”? To begin with, becoming more conscious means to start looking for the truth for ourselves, instead of blindly allowing ourselves to be programmed, whether from without or by an inner voice within the mind, which seeks to diminish and invalidate, focusing on all that is weak and helpless. To get out of it, we have to accept the responsibility that we bought into the negativity and have been willing to believe it. The way out of this, then, is to start questioning everything.
There are many models of the mind. One of the most recent has been that of the computer. We can look at the mind’s concepts, thoughts, and belief systems as programs. Because they are programs, they can be questioned, cancelled, and reversed; positive programs can replace negative ones if we so choose.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 4, pg. 55
The mind will get critical and try to save face by ridiculing a higher state. This is a golden opportunity because this is the very attitude that prevents a person from reaching that higher state of life. The very process of reading this material is invaluable, for it will reveal precisely what the blocks are and exactly why these goals are impossible at the present time. As resistances, criticisms, and disparagements come up, we can begin surrendering them and letting them go right now in the process of reading about them. It is a great opportunity to identify the inner blocks to fulfillment. As Pogo said, “we have identified the enemy, and it is us.”
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part II, page, 54
The spontaneity of life is an expression of essences interacting effortlessly. The miracle of Creation is continuous, and all life shares in the Divinity of its Source, for nothing comes into existence except by Divine ordinance. Once the sacredness of life is revealed, there follows the knowingness of what is meant by the phrase, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!”
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part III, pg. 92
Be resolute on the level of absolutely no reservation. Avoid the lure of the astral realms. Beware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing, for they are attracted to the devotee who is making significant progress. Do not accept anyone into your life who does not pass the calibratable level of Truth. Keep your spiritual goal ever in awareness, no matter what the activity. Dedicate all endeavors to God. Remember the true nature of God and avoid any teachings that state otherwise.
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part III, pg. 124
In Reality, everything is spontaneously manifesting the inherent destiny of its essence; it doesn’t need any external help to do this. With humility, one can relinquish the ego’s self-appointed role as savior of the world and surrender it straight to God. The world that the ego pictures is a projection of its own illusions and arbitrary positionalities. No such world exists.
The Ego is Not the Real You, Part II, Surrendering the Self, pg. 73-74
Simple kindness to one’s self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all. It produces no backlash, has no downside, and never leads to loss or despair. It increases one’s own true power without exacting any toll. But to reach maximum power such kindness can permit no exceptions, nor can it be practiced with the expectation of some selfish gain or reward. And its effect is as far-reaching as it is subtle.
Choices determine consequences, which is a mechanism that is really impersonal and operates automatically because energy fields are invited in as a consequence of choice. The individual, as a consequence of choices, is like an iron filing whose position in the field is the direct consequence of its own decisions. To accept this reality is simultaneously uplifting and freeing. At the same time, it is frightening and brings about some degree of consternation. Therefore, the only true freedom in the universe is the freedom of choice, which is the gift received by mankind. One then realizes that there is no hand on the tiller but one’s own and that “I myself am heaven and hell” (cal. 700+). The acceptance of this overall truth brings the strength of resolve instead of futile wishing.
What really frightens people about spiritual reality is that it confronts one with the reality that their destiny is solely within the power of their own hands. Heaven, like hell, is the result and consequence of one’s own choices; therefore, the key to freedom is by the grace of the given karmic inheritance of all mankind by Divine ordinance.
With the experience of inner peace comes great strength. An energy field of total peace is unassailable. The person who has found inner peace can no longer be intimidated, controlled, manipulated, or programmed. In this state, we are invulnerable to the threats of the world and have, therefore, mastered earthly life. When the state of peace has become established, ordinary human suffering is no longer possible because the very basis of that vulnerability has been totally relinquished.
It is obvious that higher states of consciousness have profound effect on our relationships, because one of the laws of consciousness is like goes to like. Our inner states are actually radiated to others. We can positively affect others even when we are not physically with them. Feelings are energy and all energy gives off a vibration. We are like sending and receiving stations. The less negativity we are holding, the more aware we can be of what others are really holding about us. The more we love, the more we find ourselves surrounded by love. The replacement of a negative feeling by a higher one accounts for the many miracles one can experience in the course of life. These become more frequent as one continues to surrender.
As we surrender, life becomes more and more effortless. There is a constant increase in happiness and pleasure, which requires less and less from the outer world to be experienced. There is a diminution of needs and expectations of others. We stop looking ‘out there” for what we now experience as coming from within ourselves. We let go of the illusion that others are the source of our happiness. Instead of looking to get from others, we now look to give.
In the state of acceptance, there is the feeling that nothing needs to be changed. Everything is perfect and beautiful the way it is. The world is to be enjoyed. There is compassion for others and for all living things. In this state we are automatically nurturing and supportive of others without any feeling of sacrifice. Because of the inner security and feeling of abundance, there is generosity and ease of giving, with no expectation of return or record keeping, such as, “Here’s what I am doing for you.” Whenever are in a state of acceptance, we love our friends instead of being critical, and we are willing to love them in spite of their limitations, which we willingly overlook.
Realization and Revelation
The relinquishment of the ego’s positionalities reduces its dominance and opens the door for comprehension and awareness that are nonlinear and nonconceptual. Thus emerges the ‘knowingness’ of the Self by which conflicts spontaneously dissolve. These inner transformations are accompanied by quiet joy, relief, and a greater sense of internal freedom, safety, and peace. The power of the Love of the Self progressively predominates and eventually eclipses all negative feelings, doubts, and obstacles.
Transformation is thus not experienced as the loss of the self but rather as the gain of the emergence and unfoldment of the Self, which is of a much greater dimension. What actually emerges is a change of state or condition that supersedes and replaces the old. Thus, the lesser is replaced by the greater, by which spiritual evolution reveals the Presence of God as Immanent. This discovery is the change in the state of consciousness historically referred to as ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘God-consciousness’.
from Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, ch. 14, pg. 284-285