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

Read how  Dr. Hawkins describes how he transcended his own severe fear of heights.

Another technique to eliminate negative emotions is to let go of their associated mental images that attract and amplify associated emotions.  Just refuse the image and cancel the temptation to indulge in it.

While doing research and experimenting with this technique, I had an experience that demonstrates one of the principles being described. I had a lifetime fear of heights which was so severe that when I went to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time, I literally could not walk within one hundred feet of the edge. It created that panicky feeling even when I saw somebody else get near the edge.  I was using this technique whenever I could and enjoying the progress I was making with it, but I had never gotten around to working on my  fear of heights.  The next time I went back to the Grand Canyon about two years later, much to my amazement, I could walk up to within about 20 feet of the edge before the tight feeling occurred in the stomach again. I continued to use the technique over the next year or two and again went back to revisit the Canyon.  Much to my surprise, I could walk right up to the very edge….What I had been releasing was the accumulated pressure and energy of all that fear from a lifetime.  Similar to a pressure tank, as it released itself, there was less and less to spill over into life experiences.

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 can not 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.

Healing and Recovery, Ch. 9, pgs. 275-276

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.

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.

Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, Ch. 14, pg. 252-253

Acceptance/Humor

To transcend the world requires compassion and acceptance. They are the result of inner humility by which the world is surrendered to God with increased peace of mind. One of the most valuable spiritual tools about which, historically, little has been said is the great value of humor. Comedy arises as a result of the comparison that is made between perception and essence, and the resolution is a consequence of the acceptance
of the ambiguity.
Humor is quite different from ridicule or malice as it is compassionate in that it accepts human limitations and foibles as being intrinsic. It therefore assists ‘wearing the world like a light garment’ and illustrates that in
being like the reed that bends in the wind, one survives
instead of being broken down by rigidity.

The relief of laughter via a joke expresses the pleasure at dissolution of conflict, and the capacity to laugh at oneself is essential to positive self-esteem. To respond to everything as though it were highly important is a result of the vanity of the narcissistic core of the ego (e.g., being ‘sensitive’ or ‘offended’). Humor recontextualizes experiences and events and thus facilitates enjoyment without moralistic judgmentalism. Humor evolves as philosophical acceptance and has a healing effect. It thereby decreases suffering, conflict, and negative emotions.

Life presents endless ambiguities that, without humor, are not resolvable. Judiciously used, humor via acceptance leads to peace and an increased capacity for adaptation rather than frustrated resentment or
defeatism. By humor, we ‘rise above’ circumstances and retain inner dignity instead of shame, anger, resentment, or lowered self-esteem. Humor also facilitates wisdom in that it recontextualizes human frailties as
being intrinsic to the human condition itself and therefore not primarily personal.

Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man, Ch. 16, pg. 312-313 Veritas Publishing edition

The process is one of discovery and is thus directed within. It is by influence of the Self that spiritual endeavor becomes chosen as a life goal. It is primarily a decision.

Daily Reflections from Dr. David R. Hawkins, pg. 124

In honor of our Teacher.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

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 life almost magically. “What we hold in mind tends to manifest.”

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 7, pgs. 108-109