SESSION 2 - PROBLEMS AND HOW THEY RESOLVE - 01 - By Lester Levenson
セッション2 - 問題、そして、それらはどのように解決するか..........5
SESSION 2
PROBLEMS AND HOW THEY RESOLVE
Do you want me to talk or do you want to ask questions?
I guess I could start with telling you my impressions of
you. It appears to me that since I was here last year, you
seem to have greater, more intense problems. This is for
all in general, not anyone in particular. This
intensification of problems makes it appear as though
we are going backwards, but it isn't true. We have risen
to the state where we can outwardly better express
ourselves, and problems now come out into the world
rather than remain held in the subconscious mind. When
we are apathetic it's difficult for us to express. It's difficult
for us to outwardly act, and so our problems remain
swirling around in our subconscious mind and most of
them don't come out and materialize in the world.
When one begins to move a step above the apathetic
state, one is still in the apathetic state but is beginning to
acquire some of the capability of doing. Then one's
problems increasingly materialize outwardly and it
seems as though the world is falling in on one. But it's
actually a state of growth to move up from the apathetic
state and come up into the beginnings of the doingness
state, and that's the state of apathetic-doingness. So
when we come into this apathetic-doingness state we
begin to do with apathetic, agitated tendencies and
therefore we're somewhat destructive, even to
ourselves. We become outwardly or expressively
destructive to the world and to ourselves, we have
problems and things seem worse. We think we're going
backwards but actually we're moving ahead, because
apathetic-doingness is higher than apathetic non-
doingness.
Now, the step above apathetic-doingness would be one
of doingness where we would be equally constructive
and destructive. Move up another step, and you move
into the doingness beingness state where you're a big
doer and only constructive. When you step up from
there, you go into the beingness state you don't have to
do, you just only be. So the overall state of the world
today is that it has moved up into this apatheticdoingness state and the world seems to have bigger and
better problems. This is progress, a step forward,
although it appears otherwise. To sum up the foregoing,
the stages of growth are set out on the next page.
Q: Is this the world in general, or is it just the people on
the path who are caught up in this?
Lester: It's both. We are all involved in this. You see it
expressed in the race issue, the revolt again the
establishment, juvenile delinquency, Viet Nam, Africa.
It's prevalent everywhere today. It is part of the world
growth (Stage 2).
Q: Is this because people are more developed to cope
with it?
STAGES OF GROWTH
INACTION Apathy: Inaction due to apathy, with resentments and hostilities, and fear to express for fear of retaliation. A subjectively
destructive state.
(Between 1.
and 3.)
Apathetic-doingness: Beginnings of action,
enough will to express things outwardly. A
beginning of an outwardly active but
destructive state.
ACTION Doingness: Action that moves us out of
Stage 1, toward the equilibrium of Stage 5.
Here one is equally constructive and
destructive to oneself and the world.
(Between 3.
and 5.)
Doingness-beingness: Energetic
doingness with calmness: much outward
action, all constructive to ourself, the world
and the universe.
INACTION Serenity: Inaction, the ability to just be, to
be the witness, watching and allowing the
universe to be perfect as it really is.
Lester: They're more developed, not to cope with it, but
more developed. The way they're coping with it is in a
destructive way. Problems don't have to be solved by
killing each other or by violence. Problems could be
solved by discussions and should be. However, it's a
step forward from a lower state (Stage 1).
The world today is in a low state of beingness (Stage 2).
It's called the materialistic age. We came out of the
lowest state, wherein we lived only to satiate our
appetites, about 1700 A.D. You know what the dark
ages were. We're now in the second stage and we're
having the growing pains of getting out of the first into
the second. But the second is not a highly spiritual state;
it’s the stage where technically we advance
tremendously. The third stage begins the state of
knowing that this is a mental world and that we are all
related. We stop fighting each other and we all love one
another. And the fourth state is the state in which man -
knows fully his beingness in God, that he is a totally free
being. These four are the Iron, bronze, silver and golden
ages the ancient Greeks spoke of. (The fifth stage is
really beyond this world, although accomplished in this
world.) However, at anytime, whenever anyone
chooses, he may move into the highest state. We don't
have to stay at the level that the world is in, and those of
us who are on the path are moving up out of this general
level. Aren't we lucky?
Q: Even with our problems?
Lester: Yes. To the world everything seems hopeless.
They feel helpless. We know the way out. No matter
how much the world hurts, we know there's a way out.
We have hope and a direction. And what is the way out?
Not looking to the world for happiness, but looking to the
place where happiness is, -and that place is right within
us, within our consciousness. Unlimited joy is our
natural, inherent state which we have, through
ignorance, undone by imposing concepts of limitations: I
need this, I need him, I need her, and if I don't get these
I am hurt, I have trouble. Growth is only letting go of
these concepts of lack and limitation or, on the positive
side, going within and seeing this unlimited Being that
we are and choosing to remain as such.
Anytime we have trouble, anytime we have a problem,
we're being the limited ego. We’re trying to express the
Self through the limited ego, and it's too small, we get
squeezed and it hurts. So, if there is a problem, the thing
to do is to ask yourself, “What am I doing? Wherein am I
demanding, seeking with ego motivation?” If the answer
comes, if you see how, egowise, you're causing this socalled problem, you'll automatically pull the cause up
from the subconscious into the conscious, and once it's
conscious you'll naturally let go of it. The reason why
one doesn't let go is because the cause, the thought that
initiated the difficulty is subconscious. So, either we
make the thought conscious and let go of it, or, and this
- 5 -
is the higher and better way, we know strongly enough
that we are the Self, that we are not this body, this mind,
this world. And when you feel the Self, the feel of the
Self is nothing but unlimited joy, and all problems
immediately resolve!
I sound quite indicting when I say any problem, any trouble, is ego motivated, but that you'll find is true. When
you will be your Self there is no problem, there is
nothing that will not fall into line perfectly, harmoniously,
with no effort. The more ego motivated we are, the more
difficult it is to accomplish something, the less harmony
there is and the greater the misery we have. And it is
really as simple as I'm putting it. What's not easy is to let
go of these wrong habits of insisting upon being an ego.
The habits are strong. They've been well ingrained over
thousands of years. But all of us on the path are now
letting go of these things and we don't let go easily
because of the habits that have been there such a long,
long time. However, the moment we choose to let go of
them, we can. If we say we can't let go it's because we
really don't want to. The desire to let go isn't strong
enough.
Do I make this too simple? You know why I'm addressing you, Jim, because I know you've had quite a lot of
this. You've probably heard it presented in beautifully
complicated ways, with a lot of things added to it that
complicate it, and make it more difficult to see. But once
we accept it and see the simplicity of it, all we need to
do is effect it. And no one can do it for us but we
ourselves.
Q: I have a friend who has problems. She's Catholic and
very pious. When things get blackest and she has no
more hope and is at the bottom I at that very moment
something happens so that everything turns out right.
Lester: Do you know why she must reach bottom?
Q: Well she has faith and she knows that---
Lester: No, she doesn't have faith and she is not pious I
this is her trouble. You see I faith would cause her to let
go and let God. Pious would cause a similar thing, ---
surrendering and being humble. Outwardly she's the
way you say I but inwardly she's the way I'm saying. You
see, she tries, herself, to control everything and that's
not letting God. She tries and she tries and she tries.
Q: She prays.
Lester: Yes I she prays, but she wants it the way she
wants it, not the way God would want it. She's found out
that her praying for it doesn't help her. You don't have to
pray, if you surrender. You've got to let go and let God.
When does she let go and let God? When she herself
can't do anything anymore, she lets go. In the extreme
she lets go, and the moment one lets go, everything
resolves itself. Can you see it? In the extreme, she feels,
“Oh, there's nothing I can do,” and that's when she lets
go and lets God. If you can show her this point she'll see
it, most likely, and then be more consciously able to use
it.
Q: I keep trying to tell her that she must be confident.
Lester: Conviction, stronger than faith, absolute conviction of God, that will do it! Let go and let God and
then everything straightens out, but when we try to do it,
we have trouble.
Q: When you say, “Let go and let God,” does that mean
that you should work strictly on inspiration, or just sit
back and let things happen?
Lester: Have the feeling of “letting things happen.” To
accomplish this we have to let the ego- sense go. The
ego is “I am an individual, Lester:, and 1 have a body
and I do things.” That's wrong. If I am the Self, there is
no Lester:, -1 have to get Lester: out of the way and let
Self or God operate. When achieved, you'll move in life,
you'll sort of fioat through things, but there will be no
effort. If there's effort, there's ego. Now, of course,
you're going to have to use some effort, because you're
not starting off as the realized Self. You see, when this
girl goes to the extreme, she lets go and things happen
effortlessly. That's letting go and letting God!
Professing faith, professing all these things doesn't do it.
Actually having them does it. The fact that she has
troubles is proof that she doesn't have the conviction of
God because God is All, God is Perfect, and if God is All
and God is Perfect, everything must be perfect, and that
leaves no place for imperfection or troubles. If you take
that attitude, so be it! So, it's the feeling that I am not the
doer and that I let go and let it happen.
Q: I can't tell when I'm ego.
Lester: When there's no effort, there's no ego. The
more the effort the more the ego.
Q: When the effort is extreme you have to more or less
go the other way anyway.
Lester: Yes. I'm trying to give you a method of knowing
whether it's ego or not. The more the effort the greater
the ego. However, you're going to use effort until you're
fully realized. Now, there will be times when you'll use
no effort and everything will fall perfectly into line for
you, so at times you'll be your Self.
Q: Out doesn't this type of thing make you indolent, that
you don't do any action? Is it that you shouldn't try to do
anything, that's what I don't understand?
Lester: Indolence is an action, a negative action. It is
the act of holding yourself from moving. Now it is
impossible for you to be actionless. To achieve the
actionless state you should try to let go of your ego more
and more, because now you can't do it totally. If you
could you'd be fully realized. But if you keep letting go of
the ego, you will eventually drop it and be the witness
and be not the doer. Does that make sense or have any
meaning? Be not the doer. Let it happen. Have the
feeling of it's God's world, whatever's happening, so let
Him!
Q: How do we get rid of problems?
Lester: The moment you say, “I have a problem,” you're
stuck, you are making it real! You can't get rid of a problem, because you are making it real. You've got it.
Q: So, if, when we have problems, we say, “There is no
problem at all, “-will they vanish then?
Lester: No. If you say, “There's no problem,” they won't
vanish because you're saying, “There's no problem.”
You're mentally holding the problem in mind and
therefore sustaining it. Erase the problem from your
mind.) Know that everything is perfect and then the
problem is necessarily non-existent.
Q: Well, I think that way, that everything is really perfect.
Lester: If you really do” then everything must be.
Q: How easy it would be if we understood this from the
beginning.
Lester: Yes. You see, life, naturally, is totally effortless
- 6 -
セッション2 - 問題、そして、それらはどのように解決するか..........5
SESSION 2
PROBLEMS AND HOW THEY RESOLVE
Do you want me to talk or do you want to ask questions?
I guess I could start with telling you my impressions of
you. It appears to me that since I was here last year, you
seem to have greater, more intense problems. This is for
all in general, not anyone in particular. This
intensification of problems makes it appear as though
we are going backwards, but it isn't true. We have risen
to the state where we can outwardly better express
ourselves, and problems now come out into the world
rather than remain held in the subconscious mind. When
we are apathetic it's difficult for us to express. It's difficult
for us to outwardly act, and so our problems remain
swirling around in our subconscious mind and most of
them don't come out and materialize in the world.
When one begins to move a step above the apathetic
state, one is still in the apathetic state but is beginning to
acquire some of the capability of doing. Then one's
problems increasingly materialize outwardly and it
seems as though the world is falling in on one. But it's
actually a state of growth to move up from the apathetic
state and come up into the beginnings of the doingness
state, and that's the state of apathetic-doingness. So
when we come into this apathetic-doingness state we
begin to do with apathetic, agitated tendencies and
therefore we're somewhat destructive, even to
ourselves. We become outwardly or expressively
destructive to the world and to ourselves, we have
problems and things seem worse. We think we're going
backwards but actually we're moving ahead, because
apathetic-doingness is higher than apathetic non-
doingness.
Now, the step above apathetic-doingness would be one
of doingness where we would be equally constructive
and destructive. Move up another step, and you move
into the doingness beingness state where you're a big
doer and only constructive. When you step up from
there, you go into the beingness state you don't have to
do, you just only be. So the overall state of the world
today is that it has moved up into this apatheticdoingness state and the world seems to have bigger and
better problems. This is progress, a step forward,
although it appears otherwise. To sum up the foregoing,
the stages of growth are set out on the next page.
Q: Is this the world in general, or is it just the people on
the path who are caught up in this?
Lester: It's both. We are all involved in this. You see it
expressed in the race issue, the revolt again the
establishment, juvenile delinquency, Viet Nam, Africa.
It's prevalent everywhere today. It is part of the world
growth (Stage 2).
Q: Is this because people are more developed to cope
with it?
STAGES OF GROWTH
INACTION Apathy: Inaction due to apathy, with resentments and hostilities, and fear to express for fear of retaliation. A subjectively
destructive state.
(Between 1.
and 3.)
Apathetic-doingness: Beginnings of action,
enough will to express things outwardly. A
beginning of an outwardly active but
destructive state.
ACTION Doingness: Action that moves us out of
Stage 1, toward the equilibrium of Stage 5.
Here one is equally constructive and
destructive to oneself and the world.
(Between 3.
and 5.)
Doingness-beingness: Energetic
doingness with calmness: much outward
action, all constructive to ourself, the world
and the universe.
INACTION Serenity: Inaction, the ability to just be, to
be the witness, watching and allowing the
universe to be perfect as it really is.
Lester: They're more developed, not to cope with it, but
more developed. The way they're coping with it is in a
destructive way. Problems don't have to be solved by
killing each other or by violence. Problems could be
solved by discussions and should be. However, it's a
step forward from a lower state (Stage 1).
The world today is in a low state of beingness (Stage 2).
It's called the materialistic age. We came out of the
lowest state, wherein we lived only to satiate our
appetites, about 1700 A.D. You know what the dark
ages were. We're now in the second stage and we're
having the growing pains of getting out of the first into
the second. But the second is not a highly spiritual state;
it’s the stage where technically we advance
tremendously. The third stage begins the state of
knowing that this is a mental world and that we are all
related. We stop fighting each other and we all love one
another. And the fourth state is the state in which man -
knows fully his beingness in God, that he is a totally free
being. These four are the Iron, bronze, silver and golden
ages the ancient Greeks spoke of. (The fifth stage is
really beyond this world, although accomplished in this
world.) However, at anytime, whenever anyone
chooses, he may move into the highest state. We don't
have to stay at the level that the world is in, and those of
us who are on the path are moving up out of this general
level. Aren't we lucky?
Q: Even with our problems?
Lester: Yes. To the world everything seems hopeless.
They feel helpless. We know the way out. No matter
how much the world hurts, we know there's a way out.
We have hope and a direction. And what is the way out?
Not looking to the world for happiness, but looking to the
place where happiness is, -and that place is right within
us, within our consciousness. Unlimited joy is our
natural, inherent state which we have, through
ignorance, undone by imposing concepts of limitations: I
need this, I need him, I need her, and if I don't get these
I am hurt, I have trouble. Growth is only letting go of
these concepts of lack and limitation or, on the positive
side, going within and seeing this unlimited Being that
we are and choosing to remain as such.
Anytime we have trouble, anytime we have a problem,
we're being the limited ego. We’re trying to express the
Self through the limited ego, and it's too small, we get
squeezed and it hurts. So, if there is a problem, the thing
to do is to ask yourself, “What am I doing? Wherein am I
demanding, seeking with ego motivation?” If the answer
comes, if you see how, egowise, you're causing this socalled problem, you'll automatically pull the cause up
from the subconscious into the conscious, and once it's
conscious you'll naturally let go of it. The reason why
one doesn't let go is because the cause, the thought that
initiated the difficulty is subconscious. So, either we
make the thought conscious and let go of it, or, and this
- 5 -
is the higher and better way, we know strongly enough
that we are the Self, that we are not this body, this mind,
this world. And when you feel the Self, the feel of the
Self is nothing but unlimited joy, and all problems
immediately resolve!
I sound quite indicting when I say any problem, any trouble, is ego motivated, but that you'll find is true. When
you will be your Self there is no problem, there is
nothing that will not fall into line perfectly, harmoniously,
with no effort. The more ego motivated we are, the more
difficult it is to accomplish something, the less harmony
there is and the greater the misery we have. And it is
really as simple as I'm putting it. What's not easy is to let
go of these wrong habits of insisting upon being an ego.
The habits are strong. They've been well ingrained over
thousands of years. But all of us on the path are now
letting go of these things and we don't let go easily
because of the habits that have been there such a long,
long time. However, the moment we choose to let go of
them, we can. If we say we can't let go it's because we
really don't want to. The desire to let go isn't strong
enough.
Do I make this too simple? You know why I'm addressing you, Jim, because I know you've had quite a lot of
this. You've probably heard it presented in beautifully
complicated ways, with a lot of things added to it that
complicate it, and make it more difficult to see. But once
we accept it and see the simplicity of it, all we need to
do is effect it. And no one can do it for us but we
ourselves.
Q: I have a friend who has problems. She's Catholic and
very pious. When things get blackest and she has no
more hope and is at the bottom I at that very moment
something happens so that everything turns out right.
Lester: Do you know why she must reach bottom?
Q: Well she has faith and she knows that---
Lester: No, she doesn't have faith and she is not pious I
this is her trouble. You see I faith would cause her to let
go and let God. Pious would cause a similar thing, ---
surrendering and being humble. Outwardly she's the
way you say I but inwardly she's the way I'm saying. You
see, she tries, herself, to control everything and that's
not letting God. She tries and she tries and she tries.
Q: She prays.
Lester: Yes I she prays, but she wants it the way she
wants it, not the way God would want it. She's found out
that her praying for it doesn't help her. You don't have to
pray, if you surrender. You've got to let go and let God.
When does she let go and let God? When she herself
can't do anything anymore, she lets go. In the extreme
she lets go, and the moment one lets go, everything
resolves itself. Can you see it? In the extreme, she feels,
“Oh, there's nothing I can do,” and that's when she lets
go and lets God. If you can show her this point she'll see
it, most likely, and then be more consciously able to use
it.
Q: I keep trying to tell her that she must be confident.
Lester: Conviction, stronger than faith, absolute conviction of God, that will do it! Let go and let God and
then everything straightens out, but when we try to do it,
we have trouble.
Q: When you say, “Let go and let God,” does that mean
that you should work strictly on inspiration, or just sit
back and let things happen?
Lester: Have the feeling of “letting things happen.” To
accomplish this we have to let the ego- sense go. The
ego is “I am an individual, Lester:, and 1 have a body
and I do things.” That's wrong. If I am the Self, there is
no Lester:, -1 have to get Lester: out of the way and let
Self or God operate. When achieved, you'll move in life,
you'll sort of fioat through things, but there will be no
effort. If there's effort, there's ego. Now, of course,
you're going to have to use some effort, because you're
not starting off as the realized Self. You see, when this
girl goes to the extreme, she lets go and things happen
effortlessly. That's letting go and letting God!
Professing faith, professing all these things doesn't do it.
Actually having them does it. The fact that she has
troubles is proof that she doesn't have the conviction of
God because God is All, God is Perfect, and if God is All
and God is Perfect, everything must be perfect, and that
leaves no place for imperfection or troubles. If you take
that attitude, so be it! So, it's the feeling that I am not the
doer and that I let go and let it happen.
Q: I can't tell when I'm ego.
Lester: When there's no effort, there's no ego. The
more the effort the more the ego.
Q: When the effort is extreme you have to more or less
go the other way anyway.
Lester: Yes. I'm trying to give you a method of knowing
whether it's ego or not. The more the effort the greater
the ego. However, you're going to use effort until you're
fully realized. Now, there will be times when you'll use
no effort and everything will fall perfectly into line for
you, so at times you'll be your Self.
Q: Out doesn't this type of thing make you indolent, that
you don't do any action? Is it that you shouldn't try to do
anything, that's what I don't understand?
Lester: Indolence is an action, a negative action. It is
the act of holding yourself from moving. Now it is
impossible for you to be actionless. To achieve the
actionless state you should try to let go of your ego more
and more, because now you can't do it totally. If you
could you'd be fully realized. But if you keep letting go of
the ego, you will eventually drop it and be the witness
and be not the doer. Does that make sense or have any
meaning? Be not the doer. Let it happen. Have the
feeling of it's God's world, whatever's happening, so let
Him!
Q: How do we get rid of problems?
Lester: The moment you say, “I have a problem,” you're
stuck, you are making it real! You can't get rid of a problem, because you are making it real. You've got it.
Q: So, if, when we have problems, we say, “There is no
problem at all, “-will they vanish then?
Lester: No. If you say, “There's no problem,” they won't
vanish because you're saying, “There's no problem.”
You're mentally holding the problem in mind and
therefore sustaining it. Erase the problem from your
mind.) Know that everything is perfect and then the
problem is necessarily non-existent.
Q: Well, I think that way, that everything is really perfect.
Lester: If you really do” then everything must be.
Q: How easy it would be if we understood this from the
beginning.
Lester: Yes. You see, life, naturally, is totally effortless
- 6 -
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