Category: Thoughts & quotes from Sir David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. & Susan Hawkins

 

Out of the recognition of who we really are comes the desire to seek that which is uplifting. Out of it arises a new meaning and context for life. When that inner emptiness, due to lack of self-worth, is replaced by true self-love, self-respect and esteem, we no longer have to seek it in the world, for that source of happiness is within ourselves. It dawns on us that it cannot be supplied by the world anyway. No amount of riches can compensate for an inner feeling of poverty. We all know of the many multimillionaires who try to compensate for their inner sense of hollowness and lack of inner worth. Once we have contacted this inner Self, this inner greatness, this inner completion, contentment, and true sense of happiness, we have transcended the world. The world is now a place to enjoy, and we are no longer run by it. We are no longer at the effect of it.

When we utilize these techniques of relinquishing the negative and surrendering resistance to the positive, sooner or later we come into a sudden, comprehensive awareness of our true dimension. Once this has been experienced, it will never be forgotten. The world will never intimidate us again as it once did. There may be continued compliance with the ways of the world out of sheer habit, but the inner drivenness, the inner vulnerability, and the inner doubt is now gone. Outwardly, the behavior may appear the same but, inwardly, the causes for it are now totally different. The end result of the conscious handling of emotions is invulnerability and imperturbability. Our inner nature is now bullet proof. We are able to go through life with balance and grace.

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 3, pgs. 48-49

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 of 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.

Power vs Force Card deck

Let’s take a typical human problem and trace how the mechanism of surrender works to free us from an inhibition. Public speaking is one of the most common inhibitions. On the level of apathy in this arena, we say: “Oh, I can’t possibly speak in public. It is way too overwhelming. Nobody will want to hear me anyway. I don’t have anything worth saying.” If we remind ourselves of our intention, we will see that the apathy is merely covering up fear. Now, the thought of speaking in public is frightening, not hopeless. This brings about a certain clarity. The facts are not that we “can’t,” but merely that we are “afraid.”

As this fear comes up and is let go, we become aware of the fact that we have a desire to do the very thing that we fear. Now when looking at the desire, which is blocked by fear and perhaps compounded by some grief over lost opportunities in the past, anger arises. At this point, we have already moved from apathy, to grief, to desire, and up to anger. In anger there is much more energy and capacity for action. Anger often takes the form of resentment, such as resentment that we agreed to the public speaking and now feel obligated to do it.

There is also anger about our fear, which has blocked accomplishment in the past, and the anger leads to a decision to do something about it. This decision might take the form of a public speaking course. When we sign up for a public speaking course, we have already moved up to the energy of pride in that we have finally taken the bull by the horns and are doing something about it. On the way to the speaking course, again more fear will arise. As this is constantly acknowledged and surrendered, we become aware that we have courage in our capacity at least to face our fears and take action to overcome them.

The level of courage has a lot of energy. That energy takes the form of letting go of residual fear, anger, and desire, so that in the middle of the speaking class, we suddenly experience acceptance. With acceptance there is the freedom from resistance, which had taken the form previously of fear, apathy, and anger. Now, we begin to experience pleasure. There is the self-confidence of acceptance, “I can do it.” On the level of acceptance, there is greater awareness of others, so that in the speaking class, we become aware of the pain, suffering, and embarrassment of others in the class and begin to be concerned about them.

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 4, pg.52-53

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’.

 

The majority of what happens in our lifetime is the result of some decision we have made somewhere in the past, either consciously or unconsciously. Because this is so, it is very simple, then, to see our past decisions by looking at our life and tracking backwards.

This principle is demonstrated by a woman who came for psychotherapy. She needed treatment because, in her words, “My relationships never work out.” She had one unsatisfactory love affair after another and was always left feeling used and abused. She was full of resentment, self-pity, and depression. The problem, of course, was given in her opening sentence, “My relationships never work out.”

Because we deny the power of our own mind, we don’t see the glaringly obvious. It is very curious how we have become so unaware. Here is a woman who has the answer sitting right there, but she does not see that it is the answer. She really doesn’t see the power of her own belief system. Our mind is so powerful that, if we hold in mind a single thought such as, “My relationships never work out,” then that is most likely going to happen in our life. Our unconscious genie, which can only take orders and not make decisions, sees to it that our relationships don’t work out.

…The corollary is obviously true. If our mind, by its decision, has the power to make negative things happen in our life, then it has equal power in the opposite, positive direction. We can choose all over again. This time we can choose the positive. We can cancel the old programs, and we can do that by beginning to relinquish the gratification we were getting out of the negative payoffs.

A Quote to Contemplate:  …”We can much more effortlessly bring into our life that which we want by envisioning what we wish to have happen. We do this by declaration of our intention, by acceptance, by decision, and by the act of consciously choosing.” (pg.122)

Letting Go: The Power of Surrender, Ch.7, pg. 119-120