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

So, one way of understanding our own ego is to see how it functions in society. Society is the big model out there. One reason people love movies is you can sit in the safety of your home, and without getting personally involved, watch the vagaries of the ego as it works itself—it’s easy to see “out there.” So, if we understand something about the functions of the ego, its mechanisms, and its structure, and we observe its functioning in the world, it’s an easy step then to see that it’s probably going on within myself. If it’s not going on within myself, I wouldn’t find the world interesting. If it’s not going on within myself, I wouldn’t recognize it in a movie. So we can say then that the world out there is a projection of what is within us; and studying the world then gives us an indirect; it’s easier to accept; it’s easier to see out there.

Then, the serious student says, “And how is that going on within myself?” “And how is that happening within myself?”

New! Beyond Illusion: Exploring Perception, Ego, and Meditation on the Path to Truth, Ch. 1, pg. 3

This book will be released on April 29th.

When our inner feelings are of peacefulness, serenity, tranquility, stillness, openness, and simplicity, the effect on other persons is to increase their awareness along with our own, and to give them a greater sense of freedom, perfection, unity, and at-oneness with ourselves. In their relationship with us, they will feel joined; they will identify with us; they will understand at a deep level; and they will feel in communion with us. As a consequence, they will seek our presence, because in it they feel complete, recognized, and contented. They will experience an increased awareness of their own real Self. They will feel higher in our presence or when they think of us. Their response back to us will be that of love and gratitude for the blessing of our presence. In such a relationship, goals are automatically and effortlessly accomplished. Because we are not holding negativity, there is nothing we wish to hide from the other person, and this openness allows the other person to drop all defenses. Nothing is hidden out of guilt or fear, and there is a very conscious psychic connectedness.

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Ch. 18, pg. 248

Spiritual commitment simply means to recontextualize  the goal and meaning of one’s life.  This needs to be done totally, all inclusively, so that life does not become segmented into spiritual work versus ordinary life.  All life now becomes spiritual practice because context becomes the priority that encompasses every act, thought, or moment.  This poised point of view already results in a degree of nonattachment.

From this viewpoint, the emphasis in practice is to observe all the content of evolving life without making  any comment, criticism, or judgment.  The prevailing attitude can be stated as “That is how it seems to be.” The observer/witness becomes detached from commentary about life and is then capable of transcending opinionation, likes, dislikes, aversions, attractions, arguments, or objections.

Life unfolds of its own and does not need commentary.  The habit of editorializing about what is witnessed needs to be voluntarily surrendered to God.

I: Reality and Subjectivity: Ch. 17, pgs. 299-300, 2003 Veritas Publishing

Surrender…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 expression 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. The experience of most people who use the mechanism of surrender is that it facilitates their spiritual and religious goals. Those who do not consciously have any religious or spiritual goals have remarked that it facilitates their capacity for lovingness, which substantially increases their happiness and well-being.

Letting G0: The Pathway of Surrender, Ch. 21, pg. 313

…The willingness to let go the payoffs of the ego, the gratifications, the feelings of justification, the willingness to feel victorious at another person’s expense. What you have to remind yourself is, although what you’re getting out of this ego position has a certain pleasure, it is not happiness. You get pleasure out of turning the knife in somebody’s back, but you don’t get happiness out of it. So, if you let go of the pleasure of
revenge, let’s say, what you get is the happiness of being a freer,
more loving, and therefore self-loving spirit. So, there is an enormous payoff. You get back far more than you let go of.

The Evolution of Consciousness: Ch. 5, pg. 152

Note: This book contains the transcriptions from the 2002 lectures, March and April.