Dis-identifying

From "The Teachings"
Tape 5

For the past several weeks we have been studying man as he is in his "conditioned state;" that we may be aware of the actual situation as it is within each of us, not with the idea of condemning or justifying, but simply being aware of what is. The whole idea of schools is for man to be aware of "what is" as it is.

The whole idea of the world is to set up "ideals" and ignore "what is" and struggle to change it into the "ideal" of "what ought to be."

Man thinks that he knows better of "what ought to be" rather than finding out "what is," and possibly something else would appear, resulting in a new man not just a patched-up one.

Somewhere it said that one cannot patch an old garment with a piece of new cloth lest the new cloth will rend the old garment and it will be worse. One cannot put new wine in old bottles because the new wine would break the old bottles and all is lost. We have been studying the old garment and the old bottles so that we will know something about it.

As a preliminary to begin another level of work which we will take up next week, we will start this week with understanding and observing for ourselves the function of each aspect of man. In the picture of man we have the physical body, awareness, X andfunction. Now if we can, we will take these four aspects of man and begin to see their function in relationship. No one of these aspects ever seems to function alone, it is an interrelation of four aspects or factors of one man.

The first thing we will attempt to study is X. We will try to see how X works. Now here is a guide or roadmap for observing, and you must do the observing. First, let's see if we can observe and see how X works. X always does the proper thing for the information received from awareness. Now it doesn't say that it always does the proper thing, but the proper thing for the information received from awareness.

Piano story of gas delusion

One time in a mental institution a young lady was observed who had a delusion that the room frequently filled with poison gas. She would begin to have this delusion from some association. The first thing she did was climb up on the piano stool. That got her head above where she thought the poison gas was. When the gas filled the room up to the level to where she would have to breath again, in her delusion, she climbed up on the cover of the keyboard of the piano. That got her still higher and when she felt that the poison gas was to her nose again, she got up on top of the piano with her head almost to the ceiling. When she felt the gas reached there, she passed out. The room was continually filling up with gas, to her, but the rest of the people were sitting around in chairs. She didn't take that into consideration; she was in a mental hospital. After a while she revived and would go on about her usual affairs until that particular delusion set in again. What she did (what X did for the being) was climb upon the piano stool, keyboard cover and the top; the appropriate thing to do for the information X received from this "deluded awareness."

Now this was an extreme case, possibly, but each of us sees that the way to get along in the world is by complaining, sticking up for rights, pleasing people, quoting authorities, being different and blaming and we might even see that the whole purpose of living is to be "non-disturbed." As long as this information goes on, X does the appropriate thing for the information received.

As we continue to study we may find that different information would go to X than that which has always gone. Then, of course, there would be an entirely different state of being. Further, X receives as "truth" all information furnished from the "awareness of man." Whatever the awareness says is truth, X operates upon it as "Truth." When the poor girl reported (with feeling) that the room was filling up with gas and that she was going to be poisoned or suffocated, X accepted that as true and did the appropriate action for the information (as it "seemed") and accepted it as being true. So if we say that the whole purpose of living is to be non-disturbed, X operates upon it.

If we say the way to be non-disturbed is to kill someone, X kills them. If we were to say that the appropriate or the ultimate thing that the truth of the matter was that we should be dead in order to be better off, X pulls the trigger that blows the brains out.

The "AWARENESS FUNCTION" is a function not a thing. The "awareness" is simply a function of X, not a separate identity or thing. It has awareness and, therefore, can be deluded into believing "it is a thing." X generates the energy for any act that the "awareness function", I, says is valuable or good. If one sees something as being true but of no value to one, X does not operate on it. It is that we simply see it as no value or "awareness" sees it as being of no value, so no action is taken on it. The awareness function being 100% subject to suggestion 100% of the time accepts ideas that are false as being true, such as the ones we have been observing these past weeks. This establishes what we refer to as bits of conditioning or Not-I's--personalities that are really not true, but being conditioned to observe things in a false light.

All this conditioning has the effect of putting I into a hypnotic sleep in which it identifies with the Not-I's. To identify means "to treat the same as." In other words, these bits ofinformation (conditioning) that goes to X is treated as though it is really awareness, and the real awareness identifies with the bits of conditioning and feels it is all the same.

It is as though an intelligence corps in an army were to identify with some fifth agents saying, "Well, they are the same as I. They are in the intelligence corps and, of course, they could all report to the general, and the general would act upon everything he received from the intelligence corps as being true.

Another little parallel:

It is as though there were burglars invading your home and they all used the telephone in your name. They could call up the store and have things sent out and charged to your account. They could cause you considerable difficulty without you knowing it because they could use the phone in your name.

When this is the state of existence, the I being identified with the Not-I's, X provides energy to the conditioning as though it were I. All human energy comes from X. It is all spiritual energy. The Not-I's, the bits of conditioning, would, of course, wither away and not have any power nor any energy to express except that I identifies with them and they receive energy from X.

As a parallel, suppose you had a son or daughter and that child fell in with a hypnotist. The hypnotist would have your child call up and tell you what the hypnotist wanted while he kept the child in a state of hypnotic sleep and only told him by suggestion, "Tell your parents thus and so and to send you money." But it would come and the hypnotist would use it. This is much the case of the Not-I's.

Now this conditioning of the Not-I's receiving energy from X and this accounts for the misery and the disintegration of man. The struggle toward the illusion of the "ideal," to the struggle for self-improvement, to the struggle of sticking up for rights, to the struggle of pleasing, to the struggle of complaining to the struggle of blaming. All this struggle results in wars, fights, etc. This never ending struggle results in and accounts for the disintegration of man.

We have been studying it to be acquainted with it. The way out is for I, the real awareness, to dis-identify from all that one possesses; from all that which one calls "my." "My" opinion, "my" thoughts, "my" feelings, "my" attitude, "my" house, "my" everything; everything that one possesses because that which we possess we depend on and we depend on it to give us the "ideals" and we are very disappointed when it doesn't. When disappointed, we feel hurt, look for blame, and then we have anger, guilt, fear, insecurity and a host of the subdivisions of those very unpleasant damaging emotions.

So the way out is for the awareness, I, to dis-indentify from all that one claims to possess, everything that one says "my" to.

Now this results in a state of affairs wherein I observes the "self," as though you were a traveler on a spaceship from Mars and you had come in and were observing an "earthling named (whatever your name is). This observing is without condemning or justifying, but it is totally disidentifying from this "conditioned self." Now you may see why we have been studying the "self." It is not really something one wants to identify with. It is in a state of conflict; it is somewhat missing the mark as to the whole purpose of living. It is using very infantile methods to attempt to gain those. It is disappointed when this ideal of the purpose of living of being non-disturbed is not achieved. So maybe it makes it a little easier for us to dis-identify from the "self." The "self" is that picture of man we drew with the basic decision at the bottom with three on one side going one way and three on the other side going the other way.

Now I is going to wake up" and observe these Not-I's in their work as to how they report to X. But one intercepts here. One says, (using the name of John for all men, and Mary for all women):

"Mary" is doing so and so, but I then is reporting to X and does not operate on nor give the energy to the Not-I.

I observe that "Mary" is mad.
I observe that "Mary" is jealous."
I observe that "Mary" is trying to have "her" way by complaining; "she's" putting on the tears."
I observe that "Mary" is trying to have her way by sticking up for her rights; "she" is rather belligerent."
I see that "Mary" is blaming John because "she" feels rough."
I see that "Mary" is blaming John for not having gotten home at 4:05 and, therefore, "she" is disappointed and feels hurt."

One begins to observe from a separate position all the things that this "conditioning" is doing.

We have been observing it, making some notes, so now we will dis-identify. No longer is it I am doing this, but

I is observing "John" or "Mary" doing this.

We begin to sense an entirely different sense of I. It is the beginning, and only the beginning, of a permanent state called I. I has been jumping from one that wants to complain to the one that wants to please, to the improver, to the blamer, back to the believer in authorities. There was no permanent I, it jumped all over.

Now this little thing of dis-identifying and beginning to observe the "self" will not be possible 100% of the time, but it can be done considerably, and every moment that is spent on it is accumulative and it weakens all of the Not-I's.

So we will start now on the first of the way out of the state of being conditioned and controlled, being mechanical, of having burdens and being loaded down with all the things from the past by starting to dis-identify from the "self." Therefore, the "self" owns things, but I does not.

The "self" has a dress or suit, a house, opinions.

"John" has an opinion and "he" is defending that opinion.

"Mary" has feelings and "her" feelings are hurt. I is reporting to X. I has taken up its rightful position. The Prodigal Son has arisen from the hog pen in Egypt, which all the "conditioning" represents, and has started home. He is still a long way off, but he has started back to be a servant in the Father's House.

So this is the beginning of I being real and observing the Not-I's in all their carrying on. And we will call it "self" (or your name). I observe "self" doing so and so, or I observe "John" doing so and so.

Now this results in I being simply an observer and a reporter without any condemnation or justification. I has taken up its chore of observing and seeing "what is going on," seeing "what is." It is not ready yet to start applying values, that will come a little later. Further, what I observes is "self," "John" or "Mary," or the "conditioning," or the "Not-I's."

There is a legion of them. They are in two parties and they fight with each other also. So I is observing all the Not-I's and I is observing "John" or "self." These are interchangeable terms and may be used in various discussions as we go along interchangeably. As I observes the Not-I's without condemnation or justification, X renders them inoperative, one by one.

In other words, you may have wondered, "What can I do about it?"

Many have been asking this when they observe these conflicts and these various bits of conditioning. All one can do is observe it and report it. X does the work of rendering "them" inoperative. How does it do it? I do not know! What does it do with them after rendering them inoperative? I do not know! We just know that they cease to be conditioning and "they" cease to take on and operate the body and the BEING.

It is impossible for I that has been asleep, dead, or blind (as so many stories and parables use it) for so long, to suddenly be 100% capable, so I will frequently go to sleep. But when I wakes up again, I merely say, I am back on the job and reporting to X."

Now there will be a host of accusing Not-I's, the self-improving "I's" that say, "You ought to believe and do as you are told by your authorities" (a very large family of them because there have been many authorities).

One says you "ought to be different," and "they" will all accuse I for having gone to sleep from time to time but I does not identify with them, does not accept their accusations or "their" condemning, and does not talk back to them. It merely reports that there are accusing "Not-I's" saying that the observer never should have gone to sleep, and X renders them inoperative. One does not contend with these "Not-I's." I is an observer and a reporter to X, and nothing else. It does not argue nor play the lawsuit part with the Not-I's. It only observes and reports.

We will talk on these many times, but do observe that a Not-I will jump up and try to give I a hard way to go because suddenly I wakes up and realizes that it has not been observing "self " for several hours or maybe even days, who knows!

The tricks of the Not-I's are many and very cunning and even seeming to be helpingwith the work of trying to straighten I out. Merely observe the many many Not-I's and totally dis-identify from the self.

I am observing "John." "John" is doing so and so. "John" is getting angry. "John" is dreaming up a story "he" is going to tell to put "himself" in a good light. "John" is blaming "Mary" for making "him" mad. I observe all of this going on within "self" as something entirely separate, and it really is something separate. It has been something that has been added on, it is not the real person at all. It is "conditioning." It is a group of "Pinochios", and I is reporting them to X.

Now, what is the function of awareness? It is to be an observer first and report "what is." It reports what is true, without any condemning or justifying. It merely reports. The other thing the awareness function will do later is to begin to place relative values. It never judges. Only the "self" or "conditioning" judges.

Judging says that it is "good" or it is "bad" according to whether it made me comfortable or not or whether it produced pain. It says it is "true" or "false" according to how closely it agrees with a given opinion or a Not-I. The I, the real observer, the function of X, reports "what is" and later it will report its relative value. But right now it is merely reporting "what is."

The function of the physical body is an instrument of the expression of X. The body is a function of X as the awareness is a function of X. Its function is to express into physicalactivity that which awareness said was true and valuable. The body is the instrument of X as the awareness is. Its first function is to maintain the instrument in existence. X keeps itin a state of repair and prepares it for whatever. Awareness reports the actual circumstance.

If awareness reports there is great danger because someone disagrees with it, X prepares the body to fight or run and, as we have seen, it must adapt to that. If that adaptation is seen as a danger and not as the work of X, then again it is prepared to fight or run and gradually goes on into a deterioration and the body falls apart.

If I is awake and aware and reports that the body is functioning, the body is adaptingto your adaptation, it is burning up the mobilized and unreleased energy that one time when I was asleep, one of the Not-I's reported to X that it was in danger, then I sees and all the physical symptoms are over with very quickly and very shortly the body is being completely renewed.

If correct information goes to X from I, and the conditioning is dis-identified from, the body undergoes a rejuvenation, the same as the awareness; it is a new man because it is no longer being used for purposes that no longer exist but which was reported by a Not-I in the name of I to X. Now, as we observe this, we will see how the body completely changes as I observes "self" and does not identify with "self." "Self" owns houses, cars, opinions, bank accounts, viewpoints and rights. But I only observes. I is a function of X and observes the "self," and X renders inoperative those various bits of conditioning one by one. One does not have to judge, condemn, or justify the Not-I's.

X knows what to do, the same as it knows what to do if the house is afire. One reports it and X gets the being out. If one hears from the body that water is needed and it is reported to X, it doesn't say it's "good" or "bad." X gets up, walks to the tap, or the refrigerator,drinks it, swallows it; all of which are miraculous happenings if one ever observes. Do you know how to walk? Or are you only aware that you want to go to the door?

You experience the walking, you are aware of the walking.

If it was left up to us to figure which one of the muscles to move in sequence in order to carry out the act of walking, there would be no walking.

Function is to bring about the play of X in awareness; to bring about the ever changing series of events that continually give man all the values and joys of living when we can report accurately.

When he has been taken over by usurpers and they are talking in his name, that function demonstrates very clearly that error is being reported to X, but X only accepts as fact everything that the awareness reports to it whether from a Not-I or an I. So we see very excellent reasons for observing the Not-I's. "They" are speaking in your name to the SOURCE OF ALL ENERGY.

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