Introduction:
In 1952, a physicist by the name of Lester Levinson discovered a way to free himself from all limitations. Prior to that time, he had been very successful, but he suffered from the physical and emotional ill that so often accompany worldly success. But since his discovery, he's enjoyed perfect health, peace, and happiness right up to this day.
His peace and joy are very evident to those who know him. His mastery of life has become legendary, and his compassion for others has led him to help many people toward achieving the same peace and happiness that he enjoys.
Between 1964 and 1972, Lester spoke to many groups, some of whom recorded his talks. This special cassette program includes 11 of those talks. The delivery style of the talks is deliberate. By the time these talks were recorded, Lester had learned to speak in a manner that would draw attention not to him, but to his message.
As you listen to his message and begin applying it in your everyday life, you will discover it to have a quality and power well beyond even your highest expectations.
What is everyone looking for in this world?
The thing that every one of us is looking for in this world is exactly the same thing. And what is it that we're all looking for? Happiness with no sorrow. — A continuous happiness with no taint whatsoever of sorrow.
All right, if this being the goal, why is this the goal?
The reason why this is the goal is because unlimited happiness is our very basic nature! This is the real natural state before we encumber it with limitations.
Now why is it that most of us don't have this continuous happiness with no sorrow?
There's only one reason — being this infinite Being with infinite happiness, we do away with this joy, this happiness by saying first, “I am an individual.” That is to separate from the All [Oneness].
Then “I have a mind.” Then with this mind, which is nothing but thoughts, we start accumulating thoughts of limitation, “I have a limited mind, body with all sorts of trouble.” In this manner we take our unlimited beingness and we limit it to the extreme.
What creates the feeling of Lack and Loneliness?
This original thought that “I am Separate from the All,” necessarily creates a ‘Feeling of Lack and Loneliness’, for I can only be satisfied when I am the All. Seeking fulfillment of desire in the world therefore cannot undo the lack since the lack is not in the world in the first place. So, that Feeling is created by the Mind.
And because of that, we go on and on trying to satisfy desire externally. But of course, we never, never succeed. For if we could succeed, we would be able to satisfy desire and therefore all desire would disappear!
What is the real purpose of being here on this earth?
The real purpose of being here on this earth then is to learn, or to remember our original natural state of beingness — a state which allows imperturbable happiness, complete with complete freedom and no limitation. Once we are led to seeing that this is our natural state, then we proceed to let go of all the limitations.
The prime number one limitation is, “I am an individual separate from the All.” Eliminate that and you eliminate all loneliness, all trouble, all limitation, all sickness, all poverty.
To say this in another way, “God is all! Let go and let God be. It is not I but the Father who worketh through me.” We must let go of the ego sense, which is the original sense of our separation from the All, and allow our natural Being to just be, and then everything will fall perfectly into line.
Saying that on the opposite side is saying, “Let Go and Let God. — It is not I but the father who worketh through me.” We must let go of the ego sense and just allow our natural being just to be and then everything falls perfectly into line. Now this is all very very simple. If you want complexity you'll never see simplicity. But this must first be accepted.
Even when this is accepted as the overall way, why is it that we still do not find it easy to accomplish it?
We don't find it easy because of past habits that have been established over thousands and thousands of years. And for some silly reason we like these past habits of trouble. And so we continue them. We do it in a manner that we refuse to look at. We call it unconscious behavior. Unconscious or subconscious. And we go on and on and on repeating all this behavior of limitation automatically, calling it unconscious.
How can we overcome the subconscious habits?
Now the subconscious mind is only that part of the mind that we refuse to look at! When our desire (for freedom) is strong enough we will dig up these subconscious habits and begin to let go of them.
Change your mind and everything out there changes. Change your thinkingness and you change the world for you. So the way, the path is simple.
However, the method of undoing it is not easy because of past habits. We need a very strong desire to begin to Let Go of these wrong habits from the past. Without the desire there is no growth. Therefore, this desire must be stronger than the desire to make this world real rather than it's a fiction of our imagination.
THE WORLD AS A DREAM
The World, physical world, as you now see it, it’s really a fiction when you see the truth. It turns out to be a dream that never was. But first you'll see it as a dream. Then you'll see that this dream never was. Exactly as happens in a night dream. While we're in the night dream we have a body. There are other bodies. There's action and interaction. There's good and there's bad.
And so long as we remain in that night dream everything there is real to us. When we awaken from the night dream we say, “My gosh! It was just a dream! It never happened!” Then we call ourselves fully realized.
And exactly the same way, when we awaken from this dream, [the daily life in this world,] called the waking state, we see that it was only a fiction of our imagination. It was only a dream, and we let go of it — lock, stock, and barrel, then we caught ourselves fully Realized. — Totally Free!
Actually we are fully realized all the time. We are fully realized beings saying that “We are not.” So all we do is Let Go of “we are not.” What's left over is the fully realized Being that we are.
Are there any questions on what I've said so far? No? Then everyone understands this, at least intellectually.
All right, if you understand it intellectually and you are not able to use it, it's because you're not looking at yourself honestly truthfully with deep desire to see your Self. In the process of which you have set up as the ‘Unconscious Mind’ all the things you don't want to look at.
However it's not necessary to dig into this unconscious mind. In fact it's much better to try to quiet the mind. When we're able to get the mind totally quiet what's left over is the infinite Self. Every thought is a thing of limitation. Therefore when we quiet the mind this infinite being that we are becomes self-obvious to us, we see it. We recognize that we never were that mind that body and from that moment on the mind and body has no influence upon us. It just goes its way. It just keeps floating through life in sort of a hazy dream that has no effect upon us.
What method can help us to realize our Beingness?
The very best method of all methods is to quiet the mind to see the Being that you are. Pose the question: “Who am I?” and if other thoughts come in, ask, “To whom are these thoughts?” The answer is “To me.” “Well, who am I?” and you're back on the track, seeking to see your Self.
“Who am I?” is the final question that everyone answers. So why not begin with the final question? All methods get to be the same as we move toward the top. We simply quiet the mind, eliminate thoughts, get the mind quieter until the mind gets totally quiet. What's left over is our glorious infinite self.
[Note: In the later stage of Lester change the question from “Who am I?” to “What am I?”]
If you could, it would be all good, all wonderful. But there are very few of us who are capable of just holding on to “What am I?” We have gotten ourselves so habituated with subconscious thoughts and feelings that we cannot let go of them, and therefore, we need other methods, other aids.
Other major methods from the East are called Jnana Yoga, Raja or Kriya Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga. The path that is best for you is the one that you like best.
By the way, the only reason I mention the Eastern Teachings is that they are a total and complete methodology and such a thing is non-existent in the Western world. The Western world methodology is only partial and is included in the Eastern.
I think we are all familiar with those various paths. So if we cannot use the Self-enquiry, “Who am I?” We use the one that suits us best. The path that we like now is the very path that we have been on formerly in prior lives. The path that is best for you is the one that you like best.
Now each path includes all the other paths. The only difference is the emphasis.
If we are intellectual we emphasize the Jnana Path, the path of intellect and wisdom.
If we are devotional, then we emphasize the Bhakti path of love and devotion to God.
If we like to be of service to mankind we use the Karma Yoga path.
Each path leads to the quieting enough of the mind so that we may see the infinite Being that we are.
Raja or Kriya Yoga is a complete and integral path that suits the greatest number of people today. It is a path of doingness in eight steps, with each step leading to the next step after it. I think you are all familiar with the eight steps. If you are not, you can get it from a book:
The first two steps are the moral and ethical ones, the do's, the don'ts.
The third is posture and body exercise.
The fourth step is learning to control the breath and life force.
The fifth is letting go of the external world, interiorizing by disconnecting the sense telephones and turning one’s attention within.
The sixth is concentrating the mind, getting it quiet, holding one thought to the exclusion of other thoughts.
The seventh step is meditation, one-pointed meditation, and one-pointed meditation leads into the eighth step, or the top state called samadhi.
So this Raja or Kriya Yoga path is one of step-by-step doingness that everyone can use. We happen to be in an era that is in relatively low vibration. That's the reason why we find the way difficult, and that's the reason why we need this Raja or Kriya Yoga, a gradient and a most integral path.
TWO WAYS OF GROWING
There are two ways of growing: one is what I call the negative way, eliminating the negative, going into the mind, seeing the cause of the problem that originated in a thought some time in the past. When we see this thought, when we bring it up into consciousness, we naturally let go of it. We see how silly it is to hold onto it and therefore correct that thought and behavior.
However, the other way is the better. It is the positive way. Quiet the mind and see who and what you really are, the infinite Self.
In the over all, there’s really only two ways: eliminating the negative and the better, putting in the positive, “I Am that I Am,” “I Am He.” The latter is by far the faster.
Since all of the above paths aim to achieve the ‘quieting of the mind’, however, why not go directly to the mind itself? It is more direct and practical, and the most efficient of all methods!
THE WORLD WE CREATE
Let's now take a look at this so-called apparency, the world. The world is only an illusion that we created mentally. It is not external but in reality within us, within our mind. Someday you'll discover that you created this entire universe that you see.
The method of creating is by first creating what we call a mind. We create our mind, which is nothing but a composite of all our thoughts, conscious and subconscious, and the thoughts create the material world. Every little thing that happens to each and everyone of us is created in our thinking. We mentally set up a thing called time which makes it even more difficult to see things because we think now and things happen years later.
But the only creator there is, is the mind, your mind. Is God a creator? Yes, because you are. Thou are That! You set up a mind and through the mind create.
What is the advantage to discovering the “World” is created by the mind?
It is necessary and good to discover that everything happening is caused by our thinking. Everything that happens to us is created in our thought. It's a stepping stone toward realizing and recognizing that we are the creators. First you discover that you created your trouble, then you discover that you can create anything you desire, and you will begin to create Only Good things.
When will you be completely satisfied with the finding?
After you discover that there is nothing that you cannot create, you’re still unhappy. The reason is that you have separated yourself from the Infinity. Only on recognizing and being your Infinite Beingness are you perfectly satisfied.
So if there are any problems that remain, they only remain because you are holding onto them in thought. The moment you let go of them, they are gone! If you tell me that isn't so for you, that isn't true. The truth is you're still holding onto them, telling me that it doesn't work.
What is the correct way to eradicate a problem?
Now trying to get rid of a problem is holding onto it. Anything we try to get rid of we are holding in mind and thereby sustaining that problem. So the only way to correct a problem is to let go of it. See not the problem. See only what you want. If you would only from this moment on see what you want, that is all that you would get, what you want.
But you hold in mind the things you do not want very strongly. You struggle to eliminate the things you don't want, thereby sustaining them.
THE RIDDLE
How to use the Mind correctly in the Spiritual Path?
This subject cannot be learned intellectually, it cannot be learned through the mind because it’s perceived just behind the mind. We can use the mind to gradually undo the limitations enough so that we can get behind the mind by getting it quieter. If it were possible to get this subject through the mind intellectually, all we would need to do is to read the books on it and we would have it. But it doesn't work that way.
We have to very concentratedly dwell upon our Self that is just behind the mind. Turn the mind back upon the mind to discover what the mind is, and then go be yond the mind to the Self.
To understand this, each of us must experience it, realize it, make it our own by going to the place just behind the mind and perceiving it there, and then we will know. Then we will know that we know. Then we operate intuitively, from the realm of all-knowingness.
What is the highest state one can attain in this spiritual path?
The very highest state is simply ‘Beingness’, and if we could only be, just be, we could see our Infinity. We would see that we are the All. We would be in a perfectly satiated, permanent, changeless state. And it is not a nothingness, it is not a boredom, it is an Allness, an Everythingness, a Total Satiation that is eternal.
You will never, never lose your individuality. The word “I” as you use it to mean your individuality will never ever leave you. It expands. What happens as you re-remember what you are is that you’ll begin to see that others are you, that you are me, that you are now and always have been gloriously Infinite.
What happens after you discover what you are?
After that, You begin to see that others are you, that you are them, that you and I are one, that there is only One, and that you are now and always have been that one and glorious Infinite Being.
ADVICE
Look at your mind. That in itself is a good practice. It puts you apart from it. You are looking at it. Watch your thoughts. It's a wonderful practice. If you examine thoroughly the mind, you will discover that it isn’t, it’s an illusion. Let it go it’s way, just watch the mind. The ultimate witness is the Self. It’s a tremendous thing to watch the mind. Not only does it quiet it, it makes the mind not you. If you trace the source of the mind, you find it is nothingness. This whole world is a dream illusion, which means that it isn’t.
Bless You
KH Tang
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