SESSION 4 - HAPPINESS .......... 12 - By Lester Levenson

SESSION 4 - HAPPINESS .......... 12 - By Lester Levenson

セッション4 - 幸福..........12 - 最終自由の鍵 (究極の自由への鍵)

SESSION 4

HAPPINESS

I'll start with that which we're all interested in, all right?
The word that I like best for our subject is Happiness.
When we analyze that which everyone is seeking or
looking for, it is happiness, right? And when you find
God, your Self, that turns out to be the ultimate
happiness. When we seek and find the full truth, the
absolute truth, again that turns out to be the Ultimate
happiness. We're all seeking the greatest good for
ourselves. The ultimate good turns out to be the ultimate
happiness. Every being is seeking freedom and the
complete freedom or liberation is nothing but the
ultimate happiness.
So in the end the words God, good, truth, liberation,
freedom, Self turn out to be the ultimate happiness. And
every one is seeking this Good, Happiness, Liberation.
Truth, God, Self. There isn't anyone who's not seeking
It. The only difference between us and others is that
we're consciously seeking It in the direction where It is.
The others are seeking It blindly through seeking
happiness in the world and never really getting the full
happiness that they're striving for. We go after it directly.
We seek for it where it is. We seek it within.
Everyone wants a continuous, constant, eternal happiness with no sorrow whatsoever, and no one is ever
satisfied until he or she finds that. Everyone is seeking
what we're all seeking, the major difference being that
they are seeking It in the world and are frustrated, while
we are seeking It within and are successfully becoming
happier.
When we go within we discover that all happiness is
there. The only place where we can feel happiness is
right within ourselves. That is exactly where it is. Every
time we attribute this happiness to something external,
to a person or a thing external, we get more pain with it
than we do pleasure. Anyone disagree with that? If you
have experienced enough, if you've lived long enough,
and if you've examined it, you've discovered this. The
happiness that we're seeking and thinking is out there
external to us, isn't there. The “happiness with no
sorrow” can only be found by going within. Point number
one.
Now point number two is that this great Happiness that
we're seeking is nothing but our very own Self I our very
own beingness. Our most basic inherent nature is this
thing that we are seeking and is ours, here and now. We
are that happiness that we are seeking, looking for it
externally and not finding it there. Looking within, we
discover it to be our very own Self unencumbered with
our self-imposed limitations.
There is not one of us who is not in direct touch with, in
possession of, an infinite Beingness that's all perfect, all
present, all joyous and eternal. There is not one of us
who is not in direct contact with That right now! But due
to wrong learning, by assuming, over the ages, concepts
of limitation, by looking outwardly, we have beclouded
the view. We have covered over this infinite Being that
we are with concepts of “I am this physical body,” “I am
this mind.” “With this physical body and mind I have
heaps and heaps of problems and troubles.” So, in order
to discover this truth, this unlimited Being that we are,
we must quiet the mind, and finally let go of the mind.
And only in this way may we achieve it.
The mind is nothing but the sum-total of all thoughts. All
thoughts are concepts of limitation. If anyone of us could
stop thinking right now and remain that way, he would
be an unlimited Being from this moment on. It is really
that simple, though not necessarily easy of
accomplishment.
The job is to first undo negative thinking in order to get
positive enough so that we may go in the right direction.
Then, to drop all thinking, drop all negative and all
positive thinking. When that happens we discover that
we are in the realm of knowingness, of omniscience, we
have no need to think as everything is known and we
are all joyous and totally free. Knowing everything,
there's nothing to think about!
Thinking is just relating things to other things,
connecting things together. Knowing everything, we
know the unity, the oneness and there's no necessity for
relating things by thought.
Thereby we are free, free of all concepts of separation
and limitation. This leaves us free to use a mind should
we want to communicate with the apparency of the
world.
The process of going within is a process of looking
within and discovering what the mind is, discovering that
the mind is nothing but thoughts and the thoughts are
nothing but numerous concepts of limitation. We quiet
the mind by letting go of these thoughts until the mind
gets quiet enough so that we see this infinite Being that
we are. This takes away the mist, the clouds covering
this infinite Being, and leaves us totally free.
When we first see this infinite Being that we are, the job
isn’t finished yet; we still have the remaining habits of
thought to do away with. Then, when there's no more
remaining thought, subconscious and conscious, (and
the subconscious thoughts are the difficult ones to let go
of,) when there are no more thoughts, that's the end of
the road of playing limited. Then 'we are totally free,
forever!
Actually we have no choice, we are infinite Beings. If
there is a choice, it can only be to choose to be limited!
We have chosen to be limited to such a degree that now
we are b1indly behaving as though we are extremely
limited beings, consequently, all the apparent troubles.
Troubles are only an apparency because they are assumed as real through our mind. Everything we see in
the world, we see only in our mind. There's nothing but
our consciousness; nothing can be seen except through
our consciousness. Whatever we see is in our
consciousness, in our mind. When one begins to realize
this, then one works to change one's consciousness and
by so doing, one changes his environment.
Changing one's environment is a step on the way. Doing
so you have the proof, you understand what I'm saying.
Nothing should ever be accepted on hearsay. Never
believe anything you hear. If you accept what I say to
you just by listening to it, it's only hearsay. You must
prove everything for yourself. Then, when you do, it's
your knowledge and it's useable. To progress in the
direction of wisdom and happiness, it's absolutely
necessary that everyone proves it out for himself.
As said above, Truth can never be found in the world.
The world as we see it now is multiplex, dual. When we
go just behind the world, we discover the absolute Truth,
that there's a singular Oneness throughout the world
and universe and it turns out to be our very own Self,
our very own Beingness, which some call God. The

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world is, but not as people see it. The world is truly only
our very own Self. The “I” that we use when we say “I
am” is the exact same “I” falsely appearing separate and
divided. When we see the Truth we see that you are me,
that there is only one Beingness, there is only one
Consciousness, and that we are the sum-total of all the
Beingness or Consciousness that formerly appeared
separate.
So, again, to find Truth or Happiness, you have to go
within, you have to see the Oneness, you have to see
the universe as it really is, as nothing but your
consciousness, which is nothing but your Self.. Now this
is difficult to describe, it's something that must be
experienced. Only when someone experiences it, does
one know. It cannot be picked up from listening to anyone. Books and teacher s can only point the direction,
we must take it. That's one of the nice things about the
path. There's nothing to be believed, everything must be
experienced and proved by each one to his own
satisfaction before it's accepted.
To sum it up, I can take two quotes from the Bible: “I am
that I am,” and, “Be still and know that I am God.” Or, in
other words, thou art That which thou art seeking, quiet
the mind until you see It. O.K.? Now we may go into
questions.
Q: I come upon a difference, -these people, all of us in
this room, each of us have a form and I see it.
Lester: You're seeing wrongly. You're seeing in error.
When you look at me, you should see the Truth, you
should see your Self. Strive until that day in which you
will see this Truth.
Q: After one has a certain amount of inner experience
and begins to believe, there still comes an important
decision as to what to do with yourself as you find
yourself at that point. And then you have to decide what
to do with the rest of your life.
Lester: Yes. You must decide whether to pursue your
welfare by seeking it in the world or by seeking it within
you.
Q: You've had a certain amount of experience but you
will always be called back to a certain contact with the
outer world unless…
Lester: Unless you make the outer world you. However,
be not attached to the world and it cannot disturb you.
Then you may carry on with equanimity.
Q: In order to make the outer world me, I would think I
have to self-purify myself.
Lester: Yes. Practicing serving the world will purify you.
Q: I would have to almost go out and sacrifice what
remains of myself in some kind of service.
Lester: The only thing you will ever sacrifice in this
direction is your misery. Rendering service would give
only happiness, to the degree your heart is in it. The
more you willingly serve the world, the more you
discover that you are related to everything and
everyone. There is no isolation. It is serving and
becoming the All that should be our direction. You don't
cut out and let others be separate from you. You
become them through the practice of serving them.
Q: The only reason I would make an effort in this
direction is so I could better help other people.
Lester: Good, but you can't help other people any more
than you can help yourself. So, the best way to help
others is to help yourself. It's automatically so, that you'll
help others to the degree that you'll help yourself. Do
both.
Q: So help yourself by helping others? Isn't it a two way
action?
Lester: Yes. However, it's the motive that counts. If I'm
helping you with selfish motives, it doesn't help me or
you. If I help only to help you, I grow. But there are many
people in the world who help for their own egoglorification and it doesn't help them any, nor does it
help you, because they then help you ego-wise, i.e.,
they help validate your ego.
Q: That's a very subtle thing, a very difficult thing to get
rid of, that ego.
Lester: Right. When there's no more ego, the only thing
left is the infinite Being that you are. Ego is the sense of
separation from the All. 1 am an individual, Lester:, and
I am separate from the All, and all you people are other
than I, that is the sense of ego, separateness. The
moment I'm not the All, I lack something and then I try to
get it back. I think I need the missing parts of the All and
I start trying to get them. Thus I assume I don't have the
All, I am limited, and this starts a downward spiral and
we continue until we get where we are. However, we're
all on the way up, now. And the big problem is to get rid
of our ego, the sense that I am an individual separate
from everything. We can do this by looking at our
motivations. When our motivation is selfish, we change
it, make it altruistic; we act for others rather than for
ourselves, and in this way we grow.
Q: Is growth a constant becoming aware?
Lester: Yes. You must first want to. When you want to,
then you do become aware of your thinking. Then you
become aware of your non-thinking which shows up as
periods of peace and well-being.
Q: Like trying to find out, for instance, why one feels
things or why one is sick like these past two years of
illness for me. It's tremendous, Lester:. Even this
morning when I was talking to my sister on the
telephone, after speaking to her I kept thinking, “Why?
Why? Why?” and I tried to be still, as still as I could
possibly be, and all of a sudden, a realization of the why
I had been so negative came to me with such
tremendous clarity. And I thought of you so intensely
and I thought, “Well, this is what Lester: possibly
means.” It's finding out the why, and when one sees it,
one immediately turns it into something positive and one
is released.
Lester: Right, very good. Keep that up until there is no
more.
Q: That's what you always meant about making the
subconscious thought conscious and then letting go of it.
Lester: Yes. Pulling the subconscious thought up into
consciousness and when it's there, you'll see it and
naturally let go of it because of its negativity. But as long
as it remains unconscious, you don't see it and can't do
anything about it, can you?
Q: No. And tremendous things come up when one begins. Wow! Alligators! It's not easy.
Lester: Ego-wise you don't like what comes up and you
tend to fight it.
Q: Many times I go along on an even keel and then

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something comes up in personal relationships or from
other directions, and all of a sudden you feel a severe
pain, and then you realize that anytime you feel pain,
you're showing your own limitation, and you step back,
look at it, and release yourself from the whole situation.
Lester: Yes, every situation can be used for growth by
observing what's going on, the way you do. Do this all
the time, until there is no more needed to be let go of,
until there is no more ego.
Q: Creative work, for instance, has the ego involved in
that, too. It's very subtle. And the more one sees
spiritually, the more one is able to paint a picture, or
make music, or whatever one does, -this is a point that
has always bothered me, the ego-involvement in this. It
has worried me, how can one channel it, commercialize
it, sell something?
Lester: The answer is simple: Commercialize it but be
not attached to this creativeness.
Q: Difficult, it's the ego saying, “I am the creator.”
Lester: It doesn't matter what you do, be not attached to
it. Let go of the sense of “I am the creator.” Let the creativeness flow through you.
Q: I would think that in almost any creative act there has
to be a spiritual part, the stem of it is basically some
pure motivation, but it's almost always mixed with ego.
Lester: Let me clear up one thing, everything you do is
creative, it's impossible to do anything that's not
creative. That's because the mind is only creative, but
when we create things we don't like, we call it noncreative and destructive. When we create things we like,
we call that creative and constructive. But the mind only
creates. Everyone is a creator. What we hold in mind,
we create.
Q: So all this ego of ours is our own creation?
Lester: Right. It's better to create constructive things
like beauty, health, affluence as they do not demand as
much attention from us as a sick body or a sick pocket-
book. Consequently we have more time and ease to
look in the direction of Truth and to discover our Self.
Q: Sometimes I think that one thinks too much of the
ego and then the ego grows, and you want to fight it
more and you give it more importance.
Lester: Yes. But it's too well grown right now, far more
than you can see, in the unconscious part of your mind.
Mind is nothing but the sum-total collection of all
thoughts. The unconscious part of the mind is holding all
the thoughts that we are not looking at this moment. But
those hundreds of thousands of thoughts are there, and
they're active. Unconsciously you're operating that body;
you're operating every cell. You're working a chemical
plant, a circulatory, a cooling and a heating system, all
these thoughts are active and are actively operating
your body. Also there are thousands of thoughts of
wanting things and not wanting things, likes and dislikes.
But even if they're unconscious, they're active; whether
we look at them or not, they are still active and they are
sustained and motivated by our ego. This is the difficult
part for us, to make these ego-motivated thoughts
conscious so that we may let go of them. However,
someday we reach a place where we will not be that
ego-mind. When we see that “1 am not that mind, I am
not that body, I am not that ego,” then we'll really see,
and when we really see we are not that, it's possible to
drop that ego-mind-body, once and for all.
Q: Because one has re-become what one is?
Lester: Not re-become, one has re-remembered, rediscovered, re-recognized what he always was.
Q: So the ego-thing falls off like a crust.
Lester: Right, gone forever. Now that's what we do
eventually. At first, we work at dropping the ego until we
get enough attention free so that we can seek who and
what we are. Then, when we see who and what we are,
we say, “This is ridiculous,” and we don't identify with
the ego-mind-body any more. Then we watch the body
go through life like we now watch every other body.
You watch it and you know that the body is not you.
You're really above that body, you're not limited nor
bound by it. You know you are eternal, whole, perfect
and free, and you let the body go its way, like a puppet.
Q: And then you use the body for whatever you like, if
you want to, or if not, the show just goes on.
Lester: Yes. You let the show go on. It's a show that
you wrote called “Bodies Playing Limited.” However, you
are free to choose to use the body to communicate with
others, to help them grow.
Q: Isn't everything we see, a piece of wood, a potato
chip, part of that eternal Truth?
Lester: Yes, but you have to see it as nothing but you,
then you see the truth of it. The world doesn't disappear,
our perception of it changes, completely. Instead of the
world being other than we, it becomes us, or we become
it. When you see the world as you, it will look entirely
different from what it looked like when it appeared
separate. You will love and identify with it and everyone
in it.
When you fully love someone, you identify with and you
become one with that one. When you become the
universe you love the universe, or, if you fully love the
universe, you become the universe. Love is absolutely
necessary. When we love totally, we totally identify with
the grand and glorious infinite Being that we are!

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