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Summary by TK

Tape 207, May 8, 1986, runtime 1:45

  Displeasure/disapproval with "ideas": any doubt, uneasiness, disapproval or displeasure = lack of understanding. Mere acceptance of ideas does not engender Understanding. No idea is totally comfortable to anyone. No idea is "true" w/o your being comfortable with it--therefore nothing is true in the ordinary world. Those who profess: "the world is out of control" do not fully believe same because uneasy with same and therefore it is untrue for them in a real sense. When you see that "out of control" is the norm, then no fear arises over "out of control". 
Nobody truly believes/Understands what they profess; nobody is completely comfortable with their professed ideas/beliefs. To see this frees you from: "I'm surrounded by idiots" and substitutes the fascinating question: "why is life arranged at this binary level so that nobody fully believes or Understands anything?" Nobody believes what satisfies them; what anybody believes necessarily-mathematically cannot be true for them--even if it were true at a higher level. ]
  [Vices: the apparent attempt to expand the scope of the + in the equation “I + Not-I = Everything” —viz., I "+" Not-I = Everything. Alcohol, for example, is an attempt to distance I from Not-I; I from your understanding of your perception of Not-I. This attempt is condemned by all, including The Partner: not in Life's ultimate profit. ]

  [More on the 2 basic categories of people: approval seekers vs. disapproval avoiders. The power of tasks given in This Thing to mechanically stretch your limits--act in other group behavior: be outgoing if shy; retiring if outgoing etc. For The Few this gives the first taste of Freedom; the first space for breathing room; "a few 50-gallon drums of fresh air".]

  [The power of the appearance of a demonstrated common energy--e.g., people marching in unison; dancing etc. Ritual behavior is related to this but different facet. The energy in common is Red level. Example of use of advertising in TV for "a few good men" for Marine Corps. ]

  [Shyness: A biochemical condition. The attempt to act out of character will reveal a real, physical pull to return to form. Methods for the shy to act out of character: smile while meeting peoples' eyes; always speak first. ]

  [The validity of the passing phase of depression, discouragement with seeming revenge by Life for your first few steps of progress in This Thing. Must realize it, as always, is a biochemical condition; is necessarily transitory; must be ignored by the Serious Few. It comes as a manifestation of the realization of the impact of how little room people have to maneuver--how little chance for real change. To see this is the first stage of Freedom. 

  TASK: On your next day off, from the moment you wake up, for all waking hours, smile. Keep your eyes open and notice what happens.

Transcript

SMILE, ALWAYS SMILE

Document:  207,  May 8, 1986
Copyright (c) Jan M. Cox, 1986                                  

     It goes unnoticed, but any idea or proclaimed belief which causes the least uneasiness or doubt in its proponent is not understood.  The Yellow Circuit landscape has been littered for 5000 years with philosophical and religious theories:  karma, reincarnation, predestination, the existence of higher forces.  A person may profess belief in such a theory, but if they have just one molecule which dislikes it, then the idea is not understood, and therefore, is not true for that person.  There is no person to be found at Line level who is totally comfortable with any notion, theory, or fact.  To carry it a step further:  no one knows anything that's true.  No one, at the ordinary level, can simultaneously proclaim an idea and have no reservations about it.

     The curious question that arises is:  What is going on here?  Why are things arranged in such a way that what everyone says they believe, no one fully believes?  It is a mathematical certainty, once you see it; people who say:  "Life is a madhouse and it's out of control," do not fully believe that.  And so, for them it is not true.  (We could assume that there are some people wired to fully believe that, but if there are any, they are prime candidates for that very private hobby called suicide).  What is life up to?  If you can get the first glimpse of this, you will be greatly surprised at what that glimpse will take away.  It will take away your desire to criticize, among other things.  You will have delivered into your own personal little nervous system four or five fifty-gallon drums of fresh air.

     At the ordinary level, no one on the planet understands anything they are talking about.  No matter the authority with which they seem to speak, no matter their credentials or convictions, no one believes anything absolutely.  They may say they believe it, but they either do not fully approve of it or understand it -- which is the same thing as it not being true.  Even if it were true, it is not true for them.  For one wishing to expand their nervous system, the realization of this would remove any possible entanglement with other people's ideas.  You would cease criticizing others, not for moral or religious reasons, but because it is a waste of time.  It is more than a waste of time, it is a morbific hindrance.

     I am going to change the subject a bit.  All of Man's so-called vices can be seen as an attempt to expand the "+" in my equation, I + NOT I = Everything.  Life is arranged in such a way that many people seem to have a craving to pursue one vice or another, such as the use of caffeine, nicotine, recreational drugs, and alcohol.  Life is also arranged so that at any one time, there exists an equal number of people who unconditionally condemn both the vices and those who pursue them.  Vices can be seen as a means to distance one's self from the apparent NOT I; from the energy external to oneself.  Any so-called vice fits this description, no matter how small or personal.

     The world can be divided into two big groups of people.  One group seems to be driven by the desire to seek approval from others.  The other group seems to be driven by the desire to avoid disapproval from others.  Persons driven to seek approval can be identified by the way they dress, act, and speak, by the volume at which they talk, by the way they stand, by the way they check themselves in mirrors.  They'll do things that obviously indicate that they are seeking approval from the NOT-I's, so that the NOT-I's will pass them back the same kind of energy.  It can be seen just as clearly that the members of the other group seem to be almost immune to the possibility that other people might approve of them.  But all it takes to get the attention of someone in the latter category is for somebody to give them a gesture of disapproval -- suddenly they come alive.  They seem to be driven by some inexplicable need to avoid any disapproval.

     One of your first great brushes with freedom lies in attempting to act as though you belong in the category to which you are not genetically native.  For some people that's just astounding.  The condition of being driven by the desire to seek approval or to avoid disapproval is genetic and has its basis in your molecular structure -- your own biochemical reality.  In all of humanity, this produces a transfer of energy from apparently dominant personalities to apparently more submissive personalities; from people who seem to be hot to people who seem to be cold; from people who seem to be born leaders; to those who seem to be natural followers.

     The first breath of freedom comes when you realize, "I'm wired up to avoid disapproval".  You then take the matter in hand and begin to do The Act.  Now you're getting somewhere.  It is nothing like "you" because "you" normally stand around in your own internal voices criticizing the people whom you are now imitating.  And, by the way, there is no basis to the fears that you will be "found out".  People have so little room to maneuver, ordinarily, that even if your act were perceived, it would be perceived by someone only for a split second, and then forgotten.

     You simply put on an act and thereby reverse the flow of energy that seems to be your ordinary self. You do it and realize that no one even notices it!  You don't know whether to laugh or cry.  You fake it in the other camp and find out that no one can see what's going on; you find out that it does not matter.  You find out that neither group is an imposition to the other -- you discover the absolute, non-personal nature of everyone's attitude.

     You cannot go wrong by faking it.  By doing that which you are not prone to do, you discover that in every situation, at the ordinary level, there is a binary structure; "me" versus "them".  All you have to do is move from one binary position to the other and you will go into a precarious slide.  Except for this:  it's the only slide in the world which goes up, which is delightfully frightening.  To begin to realize that you can slide uphill -- we're talking about serious fright.  To be in either camp is neither better nor worse, but to be able to switch camps leads to a taste of freedom.

     New subject.  Power is manifested when a group of people unite in a common purpose, whether it be dancing or marching.  No matter their political, social, or economic differences, everyone recognizes this power.  They call it a good power if they're part of it; they call it an evil power if they're in opposition to it. But it is real power.  The priest who goes through prescribed rituals and motions seems to have a certain effect on the congregation, as does a fascist on a balcony with his speech, but when the time comes for the audience to join in and perform their part in unison, the effect is altogether different.  It is not "psychological" power or "fanaticism" -- those are just names.  When a group of people act in unison, energy is focused in a certain way.

     This is quite evident when the power is based on the Red Circuit level.  Seeing seriously-wired Red Circuit people acting in unison -- a marching army -- generates a real fear in the observer, because There's a power to it and everyone recognizes it.  Such that, if you see hundreds of marines come marching down the street on the fourth of July, you can say anything patriotic you want, but your actual physical impulse is to get the hell out of the way.  You feel something when you see them coming, and there is nothing to theorize about.  It is a focus of energy through more than one route, representing a certain common potential

     Connected with all of this is the matter of shyness.  Shyness is a biochemical condition -- you do not acquire shyness, you are born with it.  Shy people fall into the category of those desiring to seek to avoid disapproval, and all you have to do in order to gain freedom from that condition is to act non-shy.  And when you do, you find out that shyness has a physical basis, as opposed to it being a vague area open to psychological fixing.  Again, if you attempt the Act, you will immediately notice the fear of being exposed as a fake.  The reality behind this is an absolute, physical pull to bring you back to your ordinary state, and this pull is as strong as the moon's effect on the tides; suddenly you're back to being "you".  If you succeed in resisting that pull, you are then faced with the humor of recognition that your ordinary condition is entirely non-personal.

     If you are of the shy persuasion and what I am recommending seems to be too big a jump for you presently, there is a small time struggle that may be attempted in the meantime, and that is:  smile, always smile.  Smile while looking people in the eye, and always be the first to speak in any situation.  Do not ever let somebody speak to you first; look them in the eye and say "hi".  And do not listen to any internal voices talking about "your" limitations.

     I want to close by outlining a certain phenomenon.  Someone told me recently that it seems that Life presses harder on them the more they begin to See.  It is a fact.  It is not personal imagination or delusion to begin to feel quite distinctly as though things are arranged in such a way as to keep you from doing This.  There is validity to that experience (but then there is validity to all experience).  It is not that the gods let you make a little progress and then force you to pay for it by making things harder.  It is not that you undergo some kind of spiritual trial.  The validity of the experience is based on the real difficulty of change.  Remember my description of Life as the Vivus Machina -- a living machine which defies any ordinary definitions.  As in any machine, there must be tolerances built into it in order for its gears to be able to mesh and to move.  There cannot be a perfect fit; not in the sense that ordinary consciousness defines "perfect".  There has to be a certain amount of looseness.  The proper understanding of the sensation that Life has "singled you out for extra problems as you progress" is to See how little room there is to actually maneuver.  Life, for its own needs, has arranged things so that ordinary questions of personal change are, to be charitable, moot.

     Life makes everybody dissatisfied with their plight -- with the "I" of the equation.  Hence, nobody's satisfied with anything.  Life has made things that way on this level, and further made it such that there is no room to change what's going on.  So there you are.  Seeing that, believe it or not, can be one of the first stages of freedom.  Because remember that this is the way it appears for ordinary people, not the way it is.  For ordinary people, there is no room to maneuver.  (There is some there, but they do not use it.)  It is ordinary people, however, who believe that they are free.  If you pursue This properly, you will discover that you are not free, and hence, for the first time you begin to have a certain freedom.  Is that clear?

     It is a mistake for people involved with This to take personally the workings of this living machine called Life.  There is almost no room to maneuver, and you are attempting to maneuver.  Do not expect that you're going to become a martyr to This.  Martyrs are people who do not understand.  Martyrs are people who do not like what is going on Things are not changing, your perception is.  There is almost no room to maneuver.  When you begin to see that, it will not give you the blues. Quite the opposite.