Session 3: The Perfect Body (31 October 1965)
PERFECT UNDERSTANDING
Should we try to achieve a perfect body?
I would say, “Yes, definitely yes, if you can't do it.”
If you cannot do it?
Yes.
That's a contradiction!
No. Change your inability to being able. If you cannot perfect the body you should learn to do so. Although we should be able to perfect the body, once we are able to do that then it is better to let the body be the way it is, healthy or sick, and not be affected by it.
When one has enough understanding, no matter what happens to the body, it is all the same to him. I've given you an overall approach and now I'll go into it in more detail.
If we don't have a perfect body and we want a perfect body, that means we do not believe or have a conviction that we can make the body perfect.
It means we are subconsciously holding in mind a consciousness of an imperfect body, because the body is an exact copy of the mind. — The body is our consciousness projected outwardly.
We must change our subconscious thinking until we subconsciously have the conviction that our body is perfect. That will do it.
Now, is it necessary to have a perfect body?
No, it's not. However, it's necessary to have a perfect understanding. Everything else being equal, if you can't have a perfect body, make your body perfect.
To get this understanding, if you cannot have a perfect body, then learn to make your body perfect. When you can, then go beyond the necessity of a perfect body by getting the spiritual understanding of "I am not the body" and "The body does not affect me."
And, this is a much higher state. In fact this is one of the highest of states — to be able to maintain your equanimity regardless of what is happening to the body, because we are not this body!
FINITE FORM
This body is not infinite. It's an extremely limited vehicle and very, very delicate. Change the temperature 12 degrees and it dies. Put tiny amounts of chemical [poisons] in it and it dies. Cut out oxygen and it dies. So this body is an extremely limited vehicle.
And it is much better to not be the physical body, to be what you really are, and get out from under the fear of death, the basic fear behind all other fears!
The spiritual discipline of having an imperfect body and not allowing it bother you is a very high spiritual discipline. Many fully realized masters go through life with a sick body, setting an example of non-emphasis on the body, because the body is a cage of limitation.
We are not in the body, but the body is in us. Our greatest limitation is, “I am this body.” Not only is the body the limitation, but associated with it are thousands of other limitations.
We know that you corrected your body, do you still doing so constantly?
So, Bob, for myself, although at first I corrected body imperfections instantly, I now prefer not to correct the body, but to have it touch me not, not even in the slightest, regardless of what happens to it. This is something I started three or four years ago.
I can tell you what happens when you do not identify with the body. — I was just thinking of the time I was loading trees for firewood onto a truck and one tree wouldn't go. I said, “I'll make this go,” and I gave a tremendous push while I had my shoulder against a tree trunk. The tree went on and I slipped a disc at the bottom of my spine.
The reason why I mention this incident is that this was an excruciatingly painful one. Immediately I almost collapsed from the pain. Then I said, "Lester:, be not the body."
Now, what happens is that the body doesn't bother me if I'm not the body. I was aware that there was a pain, but it was like a weak distant pain and did not bother me. I could immediately load other trees. The body acted just as though it were not imperfect.
I've done that at other times. I once sprained an ankle and it swelled. That's painful too, and when I did not identify with the body, I walked off as though the foot were perfect and yet there was a sprained ankle there.
When I had that slipped disc, I'd awaken in the morning and, forgetting, I would not immediately not be the body and the pain would be severe. To get out of bed I'd actually have to fallout on hands and knees. I remember doing this the first day or two. Then I'd shake my head and say, “Wow, what is this!”
Recognizing the situation, I would say, “Oh, I am not the body,” then I'd stand up, move through the day as though the body were O.K. and the body could do any thing and every thing; and yet, there was a weak distant pain that I knew was there but it didn't bother me. Now, this type of disciplining is excellent if one can do it. Be not the body!
Wouldn't it be so much simpler to simply say, "The body's perfect," and then have a perfect body? After all, you control your body, — why even have the pain or feel uncomfortable when you get out of bed?
Well, when I got out of bed I was identifying with the body; that's why it pained so. But the moment I didn't, everything was all right. I'd stand up and the body would do anything. Now, this is a test of your spiritual knowingness. This is much higher. This is being not the body.
How can the body be imperfect when you said before your body is a reflection of your mentality, and if you know hat there's only perfection, how can you have an imperfect body?
At first I identified with the body and then, after minutes, I did not. You want me to come down a step? Or do you want me to stay where I am?
All right, go ahead and stay up where you are.
A perfect body is not the highest state. A body is a limitation even when it's perfect. It's a perfect body. It’s still a body, but perfect. A higher state is not being the body but being the All. Ah, you're shaking your head now. Have I answered it?
I’m beginning to follow what you’re getting at.
So, again, it's a matter of level. But because we're into a level that is high, I've got to stay up there. — Be not the body. Be what you really are. Be infinite.
Perfection is not a perfect body. Perfection is absolute perfection. You have a tendency to bring it down to perfect things. Perfection does not relate to things. No thing is perfect. Everything is a thing of limitation — confined to form and space.
So the top state, the absolute, is a state of no things. It's just beingness or pure consciousness, pure awareness, the top state. It's not being a thing, a body. It's just being.
So to sum it up, of course we should have perfect bodies! If we have bodies that pull on our attention all the time, it's difficult to meditate — to seek the Truth.
So rid yourself of body demands. Make the body as perfect as you can. However, it is a higher state when the body does not affect us, because of not identifying with the body.
Is it clear now, these two different aspects of body? It's great to make a perfect body. It is far better to be not the body.
TOP STATE
You see, it's very difficult for me to be beingness or awareness without being something or aware of something.
You and most of us. But the top state is just beingness, only beingness. Or consciousness, only consciousness. It's consciousness conscious of all consciousness. It's beingness being all beingness. And consciousness and beingness means the same thing at the top.
Well, can't we enjoy the limitation at the time?
You can. You can if you choose, but that's not the ultimate joy. If you want more joy, don't enjoy the thing, —be joy! Being anything is being a limitation. See, happiness is our natural inherent state. We are the all.
We artificially create a lack and then a desire to undo that lack, which, when that desire is fulfilled, that lack is undone, we feel better. It's like sticking a pin into you and it hurts and you take it out and say, “Gee, that feels good.”
This is exactly what enjoying things and people is. We hurt ourselves and then remove the lack, the pain, and say, “Gee that feels good. That makes me happy.”
Every time you feel happiness, you feel only your real Self, more or less. The happier, the more you feel your real Self. And you wrongly attribute it to things and people out there, outside of your Self.
The mechanism of it is this: When we create the ‘lack’, we start up thoughts, “I need this person, this thing to make me happy.” That causes a bit of pain, — that need, that lack, — which when we are relieved of that ‘thought of lack’, we return back to being our Self, which is what we call happiness.
This is something great to be achieved in life — when you see that your happiness is inherent. And that what you have been calling ‘Happiness’ is doing away with ‘Happiness’ and then restoring it and wrongly attributing it to people and things. So if you want to enjoy a body, that's your privilege.
If you want more joy, don't enjoy the body, just be joy, which you naturally are. That's the natural state. It's not necessary to need things! When you see that you are the All, There's nothing lacking. So take your joy directly, be your Self. That's being infinite joy.
Now step down and discuss your experiences of changing your body because really, many of us are in the area where we don't quite understand this. Or let's talk about myself, not "us."
O.K. What happened to me was that I saw that there's as much life in this body as there is in a piece of wood. It's composed of carbohydrates and minerals, the same chemicals as in a piece of wood; that the only life in this body is ‘I’. — ‘I’ put the life into the body.
This is My Concept of a body — I saw that the body is my consciousness, and my consciousness puts the life into the body. When you see that you make the body, then you can change it. You can mentally change it.
Now, this Your concept of your body — the body we have now is the ‘accumulated education’, body-wise, that we have gatheredup to date. — It's deeply subconscious right now. This is why it's difficult to change the body.
To perfect it requires seemingly impossible letting go of all these past concepts of imperfection of body. This, however, is the negative way of doing it, that is, of eliminating the negative concepts of imperfection. It's a difficult way.
Then there is the better way, the positive way of putting in what should be there, — “a picture of a perfect body in your mind.” Now, this picture of the perfect body must be put in with will power, more powerful than the sum total of all the pictures in the past of an imperfect body. You must image the picture of a perfect body with a thought that's stronger than all the past thoughts.
When you're able to do that, your body will immediately change to this new thought of perfect body, which is more powerful than all the past thoughts. Does that make sense? This is the mechanics of it.
All right, now what’s a powerful thought? A powerful thought is a concentrated thought. The more concentrated, the more powerful the thought. A concentrated thought is a thought without other extraneous thoughts present at the time.
The very best way to get a most powerful thought is to let go of your self, your little self; let go of your feeling, “I am Bob, I have this, I have that.” Then say, “Yes, there is only perfection, and that includes this body.” Let go of the world; let go of your thinking as your mind is your biggest obstacle.
Your mind is going on faster than the speed of light all the time, whether you're aware of it or not. When you're not conscious of it, it's going on subconsciously. You've trained yourself to think, think, think.
You've got the mind spinning with all these thoughts. You've given a lot of importance to this thinking in the past. The importance of it is also subconscious, so it's not easy to let go of the importance of thinking. And this is an obstacle to your letting go of thinking, your concentrating.
If you could let go of thinking, and in just one easy thought with no other thoughts around, think "I am perfect," you'd instantly have a perfect body.
So It'll take a continuous trying until you achieve it. And someday, through an almost effortless thought is the way it is effected because your mind is so quiet at the time, it’ll happen. And you might not even be aware of it when it happens. You might become aware of it later on.
I was just reminded of a case of a man, Brown Landone, who was in a wheel chair for many years, I believe ten. His house caught on fire and he packed two bags, ran out of the house and sat down on them. It was after he had sat down on the bags that he had realized what he had done. He had forgotten that he couldn't walk.
See, when it does happen, you're accepting the positive so much that the negative thing is forgotten for the time being. So, to sum it up, the thing that will affect a perfect body is a very strong conviction —"My body is perfect." Or a concentrated thought, which is saying it in another way, it is a concentrated thought, which is a thought undisturbed by other thoughts at the time. And the feeling is a feeling of Let go. You just let go and let the perfection be about the body.
Now the best way to see this, I believe, is through the night dream. This is like a dream, just like a night dream. While you're in the night dream, you are there, there are other characters, there's a world there and things are going on.
And while you're in it, it's real, right? While you're dreaming it. It's only when you awaken from the dream that you say it never was. That's what happens to this [waking day] dream. When you awaken from it, you'll see that it never was. That there never was anything but perfection all the time.
So it's a process of awakening from this dream. To see this, you're going to have to go through it. I couldn't give it to you. See?
But if you continue, you'll reach a point where you'll see that, “My gosh! it's just a dream.” And then you'll see that it's a dream that never was. That there had always been perfection.
But again, you can't comprehend that until you experience it. You might get it momentarily, many people do. — You get a momentary picture of the whole thing as being a dream. That there never was anything but perfection. And then the next moment, you trick yourself into the delusion again, of thinking that it is real.
You see, there's really only one thing I want to do in the world, — is to have everyone know what I know. At the same time, it's not for me to push this on anyone. But if they really want it, I really want them to have it. So the two get together. So I don't see the boldness. I see doing the right thing.
When you see the perfection, there's nothing to do. And I actually, I really feel that — I am not a teacher. I am never teaching. I still can't get used to the concept of being called a teacher.
Francis has got me to accept it more now than ever before. I can do it more readily, say, “Oh yeah, I'm teaching.” But in my consciousness, I'm not teaching. How can I teach a perfected being who is omniscient?
In this top state, you perceive this world as nothing but your very own Self, with a capital ‘S’. There is nothing but the Self. Or there's nothing but God. God is all. Everything you see is God. And you are it. That's the way you see the world [when you get there].
Others look at it and say, “Uh-uh, it's just the opposite.” You look at it, it's perfect. It's God. It's me. It's I. So there's no contradiction when you're in a top state. And you, to the eyes of others, float through life the way they do.
But in your perception, it's not the way they see it. And the very top state is being in that top state and in the world at the same time.
Oh, someday you'll laugh at all this tremendous effort to be exactly what you are. And have always been. It's such a joke. — To go through a tremendous struggle only to be what you are! — Always have been, always will be. Creating all these devious means of assuming you don't have infinite joy. Even giving up all joy and then going through a tremendous effort of trying to establish infinite joy again.
It's a joke. In truth, there is no such thing as time. Time is a variable. Truth is that which never changes. Perfection is always perfect. — It doesn't change. Anything that changes is imperfect, is unreal. Time is nothing but a mental concept. You have a dream at night, and you cover maybe 80 years.
And while you're in that dream, it was an 80-year period. How much time was it to you after you awakened? That 80 years becomes maybe minutes. I'm just trying to bring out how time is nothing but a dream, a mental concept.
In the dream it was 80 years. You awake and say, “Gee, it was just minutes.” You awaken out of this dream, you'll see it was no time. It was always there. Everything that was or will be is here now. Time is like taking a movie reel and looking at one frame at a time. And saying the frame before it is yesterday and the frame after it is tomorrow. It's all there. You can look at it all now.
But in time we choose to look at one frame and then say the one on this side is the past and the one on that side is the future. If you'd look at the whole reel, you could see your entire life from beginning to end. But mentally you choose to do it the way you're doing.
Time is only a mental concept. But in order to accept this, you've got to see it yourself. You've got to perceive it. You've got to realize it. Thinking on it deeply, you'll get the realization someday, “Wow, it's just a mental concept. Eternality is now.”
It's an ever-present now. There's no past, no future. It's all here now. There's only a nowness in truth. But, like I said, you will have to perceive this yourself.
More Question and Answer on Perfect Body
Well then, what you're really saying is that when you see all perfection, your thoughts are so based upon perfection your body automatically takes that perfection.
Yes, if you see the all-perfection, then everything is absolutely perfect, everything.
Then you cannot have an imperfect body.
Right.
And this being very, very peaceful, — if you go into psychosomatic medicine, they claim that the body difficulties are caused by turmoil in the mind. And if these are quieted, then the body may be corrected without any thought about it.
Yes, if you quiet the subconscious mind. You see, the body is working on an automatic pilot. Everything happening in the body, we are doing subconsciously, automatically. So, you have to straighten out the subconscious thinking.
When you were in New York and you accomplished much, did you do it systematically? Did you just see perfection so completely, or did you realize the power of your mind? Just exactly what method did you use?
Well, when I did it, it was almost like a by-product. I sat down with a determination to get the answers to “Who am I? What am I? What is this world? What is my relationship to it?”
In the process of which I saw the Perfection and that this universe, including this body, was a product of my consciousness, my thinking. I therefore imaged the body as perfect and instantly it was. Gone were the ulcers, the jaundice, the coronary trouble and other imperfections. It was very easy. It was like an almost effortless thought.
There are different levels of healing the body. Spiritually, it's instantaneous. There's only perfection and that's all there is and it is instantaneous. Mentally, it is done from instantaneously to very fast, in days or in weeks, depending upon your mental concept of how fast you can do it.
When you're using the word "body," it also would include all our environment, wouldn't it? There's really no difference between our body and our environment.
That's true in the sense that it is all our consciousness, but I’m speaking specifically of the body because we're talking on that. Actually, the whole material world and the body are very similar in creation. They are the physical out-projecting of our mind.
Have I answered all your questions on it? See, it does not help you much when I tell you what I did. You've got to do it your way. And as I see it, your way is overcoming the accumulated wrong body-thinking of the past.
Now this is a carry-over from a prior life. This is how deeply engrained it is in you. If you can perfect it, good. If you can't, don't make a big issue of it because it's better to live with it and not be it. Get your spiritual understanding. That's far more important.
What's so great about the best of bodies? They decay sooner or later. The very best of bodies becomes awfully stenchy sooner or later when it starts decaying. So, what's this big thing about bodies? Approach it from a higher point.
As I understand it, if I have a sense of perfection, which would include my body, the body could not be imperfect.
That's correct. Get it! And when you get it, not only the body but everything becomes perfect, which is far better than having just a perfect body. Then you have the whole universe perfect and that's a very, very high state. To see the perfection where the imperfection seems to be is the highest state.
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