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

A useful decision or choice is to decide to stop mentally talking about everything and refrain from interjecting comments, opinions, preferences, and value statements. It is therefore a discipline to just watch without evaluating, investing worth in, or editorializing, commenting, and having preferences about what is witnessed. One then sees the rising and falling away of phenomena and the transitory nature of appearance, which, with ordinary mentation, is conceptualized as a sequence of cause and effect. It is an informative practice to ‘pretend’ to be stupid, and by the invocation of radical humility, Essence shines forth. 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.”

from Discovery of the Presence of God p. 88-90

The acute catastrophic experience is a key learning opportunity that teaches us to go to the very core, to the very essence of the experience, to see what it is and handle it at the level of experiencing within the energy field of consciousness itself. There is the willingness to surrender and to let go of wanting to change what happened ‘out there’. There is the letting go of wanting to control by thinking about it and trying to handle it with the intellect and the emotions. There is the willingness to surrender to the essence of the experience without calling it anything, or labeling it, or putting names on it. There is the willingness to handle the energy field of it and go directly to the inner experience. The surrender to the inner experience is the open doorway to the experience of something greater than the small personal self.

from Healing and Recovery, p. 259

Meaning is defined by context, which determines motive. 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.

How life is contextualized can bring either joy or resentment. Begrudging is replaced by generosity. If others benefit from one’s efforts, so much the better. Everyone has the opportunity to contribute to harmony and beauty by kindness to others and thereby support the human spirit. That which is freely given 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. What we affirm in others, we actually affirm in ourselves.

from The Eye of the I, pg. 106-107

The universe holds its breath as we choose, instant by instant, which pathway to follow; for the universe, the very essence of life itself, is highly conscious. Every act, thought and choice adds to a permanent mosaic; our decisions ripple through the universe of consciousness to affect the lives of all.

from Power vs. Force page 122

“Somebody asked that we finish it up with a prayer today, in line with Devotional Nonduality… That which is the Voice of God is Silence. That we sink into the Voice of God, we sink into the Silence, which is indicative of Divine Presence. Behind the thought, behind the thinkingness, is an Infinite Silence, and the Infinite Silence is the source of all existence. And between the thoughts, under the thoughts, is the profound Silence and all we have to do is to become aware of that Silence, all we have to do is become aware of that Silence, by realizing it’s there.

(Pause in Silence)

 Behind all the sounds 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 that it’s against a background of Silence. So the Silence is there, right in the middle of the sound. So, you 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 is breaking loose, there’s nothing but the Infinite Silence. So you identify with that Silence and just maintain awareness. You can 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. So that gives you a centering. So, 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, O Lord for Thy Divine Presence, as the Infinite Silence, out of which arises our existence. Amen!”

– Paraphrased from the end of the August 2006 lecture, “Reason vs. Truth,” DVD Disc 3, ~ 014400-014740