KH Tang's Blog: Self Development Idea (30): Session 11: The key to individual freedom (8th July 1972) by Lester Levenson

Transcription of Lester Levenson Audio Tape

The Ultimate Goal Volume 1

Session 11: The key to individual freedom (8th July 1972)

What we're all looking for, and what we call Happiness, I think is much better stated as wanting freedom. Freedom from everything, and more so freedom in everything. It's not freedom from the world. It's freedom in the world. Freedom to do or not to do anything and everything.

But this freedom we're looking for is so much other than what we think it is that very few of us really go all out for it. This freedom, which is total, that we're looking for, is not in a confined state of being a physical body. It is the state of pure and only being.

It's the ‘I-ness’ of us, the ‘is-ness’ of us, the ‘am-ness’ of us, but it is not ‘I am something’, ‘I am a body’, but just the ‘am-ness’, and that alone.

When we see that, then we see and know that we are infinite beings, and that we superimpose upon this unlimited being that we are a mental concept, which we call thoughts, — that “I am this body, and my name is such and such, and this name and form is everywhere, and that is the real.”

We concocted this whole universe and have forgotten that we have done it, and we say “It is real, and it is separate from me.” and all it really is — is a picture in our mind.

The only place where you see this world is in your mind. Put your mind to sleep and there's no more world. Don't wake up from this sleep and there's never a world again. But you are.

So on this infinite being, or infinite being-ness that we are, we superimpose the thing called mind, which is nothing but the total collection of our thoughts, and every thought is a limitation.

Examine it, see it for yourself. — Every thought must be limited, and so by now we have millions, if not billions, of thoughts of limitation that we accept as being real. So what we have to do is undo the thoughts, undo the mind, go into that realm just behind the mind, which is being-ness, which is infinite.

Everyone, all life, is seeking to return to that state of just pure being-ness, and that is a state in which we have this ultimate state of deep, very profound peace. It's a delicious, imperturbable peace, which is nicer than anything else ever.

All right, so how do we get to this state, this ultimate state of freedom?

The most practical method that I can see that you people, everyone here, could use, that is very effective, and that will get you freedom this lifetime, and could do it in a matter of months, is not ridding yourself of thoughts, of which there are billions, but of ridding yourself of the things that the thoughts culminate in. These millions and billions of thoughts from the past culminate in tendencies, little tendencies, of which there's probably hundreds of them. And if you drop one tendency, you're dropping millions of thoughts.

Your tendencies you can see, they're always there. — Tendency to get angry, tendency to react, tendency to want this, tendency... You know, they're sitting on top all the time, you can see them. And the thing you need to do is to drop it as you see it.

Now, the dropping is easy when you do it. It takes less than one second to drop a tendency with millions of thoughts underneath it. Most of you here have done it, and you know when you do it, it's easy. And if you don't do it, it's impossible. You struggle with it year in and year out. You drop it, it takes less than a second.

So what's required is to develop this method of dropping these little tendencies that come up when they come up, not in the future, not to go home with it and work on it, but to drop it when it comes up. If you do this, you'll be doing it all the time.

It'll take you months, and you'll be totally free. It's got to be done wherever you are, whether you're working or not working. Every time you meet people, these tendencies come up.

You can react to them and get into that emotional play up and back, or you can look at it and drop it. You get into that emotional reactive play with people, and you get deeper and deeper into it. You drop it as it comes up, and you're free of it.

But the important thing is every day, no matter what we're in, we have this opportunity to drop these tendencies. Drop one tendency, and you're dropping millions of thoughts from the past. This is something everyone here can do.

All right, now I'll give you a faster way. You don't want to take months. You want to do it in weeks. These tendencies all culminate into what we call ‘emotion’.

There's only about eight basic emotions. When your emotions come up, if you'll will them out, drop them, with determination, say, “I am through with this, it's done.”

Under each emotion are these hundreds of tendencies.[ *See more detail notes on Emotions and Tendencies in the end of the session.] So if you drop the emotions, you drop the tendencies and all the millions and billions of thoughts underneath them. Okay? All right, now if weeks is too long, all the emotions come out of one thing only, and that is ‘desire’.

If you would drop desire, you'd be totally free. All the emotions would be gone, all the tendencies and all the thoughts underneath it. What remains over after the mind is let go of is the infinite being that you are here and now. You will have removed the total covering over this infinite being that you are.

A way to use desire that would be easier, I think, is to use attachments and aversion. When we desire something to hold on to, that's an attachment. When we desire something that we want to hold away from us, that's an aversion. So all attachments and all desires, all attachments and all aversions are desire. We desire it to us or away from us.

Now, it's really possible for anyone to drop desire lock, stock, and barrel as he or she so determines. The only thing that prevents us from doing that is first, not wanting to, and second, saying, “I can't.” Those two things will prevent us. — Not wanting to and believing that you can't.

And the reason why you can do it is because infinite power is available to every one of you if you'll use it. And it comes out in a form of determination. Full determination will do anything. I know you're not going to knock desire out in one day. Most of you won't knock out the emotions.

You'll try. But every one of you can knock out the tendencies, the little tendencies that come up. And if you'll do it and make a habit of it, it'll only take months, the most, a few years to become totally free.

But it must be a daily thing. It can't be, “Oh, I have this tendency. I'll work on it tomorrow or next week or next month.” No, you got to do it right there and then because it only takes less than a second. And then the next second you can take another one. And the next second another one.

So instead of doing it once every two or three months, you can get a whole year's work accomplished in four seconds instead of a year. So I'm emphasizing the value of getting into doing it every day. Then you do it as it happens.

And then you're doing in one month what the average person does in many lifetimes. And you're doing it in a way in which you can get your freedom very, very soon. It should be months, but you could do it in a few years if you're slow.

I mean this. I'm not kidding. You can do it in months. How do I know that? A guy like me who knew nothing about the past, I did it in three months is what I'm talking about. Had I known the direction, it would not have been more than one month because that's when it really happened was the last month. I know it can be done.

And all you need is you and the desire for it — the determination.

Now the path is easy, it's not difficult. If you think it's difficult, it's because you're looking in the opposite direction and saying it can't be done. And that's why I'm emphasizing — it's easy or impossible, and that's just the way it is. It's either easy or impossible. If you do it, it's easy. If you don't, it's impossible.

And I've been emphasizing working on tendencies of late, and I see everyone can do it, everyone. There isn't anyone who's been working with me who hasn't dropped a tendency. You can drop one, you can drop two.

You can drop two, you can drop four. You can drop four, you can drop eight, until they're all gone. Now the more you drop, the freer you become, which allows you more power to use on dropping bigger and more difficult tendencies.

So just drop something now, drop one thing, you'll succeed. When you drop one, you can drop two. You can drop two, you can drop four, ad infinitum, but the important thing is to do it every day.

We should be totally accepting of everything. If we're not, we are reacting. So as the day goes by, we have to accept everything, — bad bosses, bad people, hot weather, cold weather, good food, bad food. Total acceptance of this universe is total freedom. That means accepting it the way it is, letting it be the way it is, not wanting to change anything but yourself.

Total acceptance means you have no desires. You don't want it to be this way, you don't want it to be that way. I guess one of the biggest and easiest things to see is your reaction to people. That's going on all the time when you're with people. Drop all your reactive behavior and be free.

Drop one thing and you're totally free — Drop desire. Drop eight things and you're totally free — Drop your eight emotions. [Drop AGFLAPCA] Number one, accept that you can drop them. Number two, be determined that you will drop them. Then you'll find it's easy.

The real love is being the other one. You want to understand someone, be that person. Will you understand that one if you can experience what they're experiencing. Identity is the real divine love, being the other person, oneness with the other person.

So the real love is so far from what the world considers as love. Remember, if you are a whole, infinite being, you need no other. You're complete, total, infinite by yourself. So long as we think we need another, we are limited. So don't need the other one. Be the other one.

By recognizing what you are, you recognize that you are everyone. By turning your direction back on yourself and discovering what you really are, you discover that you are really every being. And that's the way to it.

I can only point the direction on how to get there. I can't do it for you. But you can experience it. And I'm sure you've experienced it to a degree in the past. I know you have. Then your whole picture of this world changes. Then you see the perfection.

When you see it right, you see nothing but beautiful perfection. And then this is the true, true picture. When we see imperfection, our sight is defective. In the reality, everything is absolutely perfect. That's why they say “God is perfect. God is all.” And if “God is all and God is perfect”, that includes us. If we see an imperfection, our sight is defective. The imperfection is in us if we see it.