Personal Finance (21): Benchmarking Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-A) Returns Against the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) and SPY_ADJ (Adjusted for All Dividends) Over the Past Few Decades

 The attached table and charts are self-explanatory.

CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate (%)

Tickers:

BRK-A: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Data available from 17 Mar 1980 (Yahoo Data)

^GSPC: S&P500 Index

SPY_Adj: S&P500 ETF with all the Dividend Restored, Starting date 15 Jan 1993 (YFinance)

(Click to Zoom in the Charts)

Apparently, BRK-A has shown no clear advantage over the S&P 500 index since 2008 — especially in the past few years. Is this because quantitative finance has already triumphed over the traditional wisdom of trading? Or, as rumors and news floating around suggest, is it because the wise man is holding a great deal of cash, waiting to buy at the next bottom?  ONLY TIME will tell — perhaps a year from now...

Self-Development Idea (34): "You End Up Where You Belong"(对号入座)

 "对号入座"

可以说人们最终的处境都是"对号入座"。

对哪个号？入哪个座呢？

这个号就是潜意识的地图，而这个座就是现实生活的显化。

如果觉得现实生活实在不满，那就是该给潜意识换一张地图了。- KHTang

"You End Up Where You Belong"

You could say everyone's circumstances are ultimately a matter of finding the seat that matches their ticket.

But which ticket? And which seat?

The ticket is the map drawn in your subconscious. The seat is how that map manifests in real life.

So if you find yourself deeply dissatisfied with the life you're living, that's the sign it's time to hand your subconscious a different map. - (AI Translation)

We're only as good as the map in our mind.

A Fireside Chat With Lester Levenson - Part 2 (Your Infinite Nature) (Edited)

The following recordings were made by Lester Levenson in 1974. And the Original title of the tape was "Attachment and Aversion".

Continue from Part 1: -> Looking for Happiness

Re-titled as: 

Waking Up to Your Infinite Nature: Lester Levenson on Truth and Oneness

 

☞  The Single Goal of Life — Constant HAPPINESS with no sorrow

This subject is sometimes called truth, religion, or psychology. As I see it, these are all the same subject. I should say the same subject, but the approach to it is from different angles, and therefore it gets different names. But it is the thing that every one of us is looking for, either consciously or unconsciously. It's the actual goal in life for everyone, for every being.

And so few of us in the world today are in this right direction. Everyone is looking for happiness, but they're looking for it in the wrong places. They look for happiness where it isn't, and therefore we have this unnecessary and unusual condition today—where we have almost everything we want in a material sense, and yet we have less happiness now than we had 30 years ago, when we didn't have the things that we have today.

My object is to try to give to you what I have seen, to point out to you the direction which, if you will take it, you will find this happiness. The best way for me to get this across to you is to have you ask questions. In the process of your asking questions, I try to point out the way, or the direction, in which you should look for you to find the answer.

 

☞  The Do-It-Yourself Path

As I know it, this is a strictly do-it-yourself thing. I point out the way; you get the answer. Unfortunately, it cannot be taught as an intellectual subject as we learn things in school. If it could, everyone could be given this wonderful state of constant happiness with no sorrow just by being spoken to. 

So the method comes out to be one of evolvement where it evolves from within outward. The place where we find this happiness is within our very own self. So most of my answers, if not all, try to get you to go within to look there for the answers.

 

 

☞  Responsibility and Creation

We should take full responsibility for whatever happens to us because we are the cause for everything that happens to us in life. Everything that happens is initiated in a thought prior to the incident. But because we have put in a thing called 'time,' we forget that sometime, and sometimes long before the thing happened, we had that thought. Someone comes along with a thought of theirs, and when the two thoughts complement each other, two people meet.

But again, we have to go within to discover that our thinking determines everything that happens to us. That thinking is conscious and unconscious also, and it's the unconscious thinking that is the habitual way in which we do things. And that's why it appears as though we are victims, when all the time we are not—we are caused.

Mind is only creative. Mind creates the things that we hold in mind. The quickness of the thing materializing depends upon the conviction as to whether you will or not get it. The conviction is also a thought.

If my thought is "I will get this instantly" and there is no doubt whatsoever, whatever you had in mind would appear instantly. But that takes an absolute conviction with no doubt whatsoever. Now, if you can't get the absolute conviction, the thing to do is to hold in mind that which you want, then let it go with the feeling it is already accomplished. Because the attitude it is already accomplished is an acceptance of the fact that it is.

Now, the biggest mistake of all that is made by people who are consciously trying to create things is expecting it in the future. We must expect what we want now. We have to take the attitude that it's here right now and then dismiss it.

Because when we put things in the future mentally, it's always kept in the future. So to create something, to demonstrate, we should always demonstrate in the present. Anything you want, you must accept that it is already yours, otherwise it's just ahead of you all the time.

 

☞  Overcoming Unconscious Obstacles

Now, the things that prevent us from getting the things that we want are the unconscious thoughts to the contrary. Concepts we have had since childhood: I can't do it, I can't have it, it couldn't happen to me, you must work hard to get things. Of course, everyone must work for a living, and therefore everyone does.

So, the biggest obstacle is the accumulation of subconscious or unconscious thoughts to the contrary—that we can't have it, we can't get it. So if you consciously start demonstrating, if you succeed once, you become more convinced that you can. If you succeed twice, conviction gets stronger and stronger until someday you have the absolute conviction. Then you have to watch your thoughts—whatever you think will come to you right away. That can be a problem too.

 

☞ A Personal Demonstration

Let me tell you one that's hard to believe. When I started proving this law, it worked in small ways. One day I said, "My gosh, it's working. All I need to do is to dare to think big!" And so I said, "What's the biggest thing I can think of? A Cadillac car, special built body." I had a picture of it, I was driving it already, and I let go of it.

Well, in about two weeks, an acquaintance came to me. He said, "Oh that's right, I just bought you the most beautiful Cadillac, special built body. A friend of mine bought it, my friend doesn't want it, and I got it for only $4,000." He said, "Thanks, you owe me $50." He said "$4,000?" I looked at him. He said, "Don't worry about the money, I'll pay for it."

Honest, that was a conscious thought. I was proving the operation of the law. I said, "Gee, I can have a Cadillac." Just by thinking Cadillac. I pictured the Cadillac, I saw it, I was sitting in it. I could feel the pulse rate in the car when I was driving it. It was mine, and I let go of it as already accomplished. I was in that car, I was one with it. The feeling of 'already accomplished' is a big part of doing it. Does it help to identify yourself with that which you want!

Now, anyone can do this if he or she will, but it takes a thought uncluttered with other thoughts. Or to express it another way, it takes the conviction. If you're absolutely convinced, that'll do it. That's conviction.

You don't have to know metaphysics. You don't have to be good. You just have to have a conviction, that'll bring it about. Because the mind is an instrument of creation only.

By trying it first in small ways. It's not too hard to dare to demonstrate a very small thing. When that works, that gives you more confidence in it. Try it a second time, a third time, and it builds up. Eliminate the concept of limitation and you're back to your natural, unlimited state.

☞ You Are Already That

Someday you'll laugh at all these efforts you're going through now because that which you're going to find out you are in the future, you are right now, and always have been. You may be kicking up a big fuss trying to become that which you are.

Where can you see something that isn't in your mind? Can you? Everything you see, where do you see it? Look, everything that you perceive, where do you perceive it? What happens to this world when you tuck your mind away to sleep at night? What happens to this world? You put your mind to sleep, there's no more world. The morning you awaken, the mind comes out and there's a whole world.

You are a being with no limitations, identifying wrongly as being a limited being. But since you're unlimited, and that's an infinity, that's a perfection that never changes—you are that infinite perfect being, here and now. What changes is your letting go of concepts to the contrary. Like the unlimited being that we are, we are here and now. The object is to get to see it.

 

☞ Quieting the Mind to See Infinity

 

The way you can see it is by quieting the mind because just behind the mind is that infinity. By turning the mind inward, you quiet the mind. You let go of all the external distractions. The more you quiet the mind, the more you'll see this infinity that you are. The more you see the infinity that you are, the more you'll shed the limitations. The more you do away with the limitations, the more you'll see the infinite being you are. And you keep doing this until there's no more limitation left. But the method is—go within, turn your mind back upon the mind.

It seems that way otherwise because you're looking at it through ego eyes. But the more you see this infinite being that you are, the more humble you'll become. It's only the ego that's arrogant and proud, thinks it is, that's it. The higher an individual goes, the more humble he becomes. Someday you'll see that the word 'I' is used by apparently many people, later on turns out to be the exact same 'I'. This is seeing the truth, the reality behind the apparency.

☞ The Reality of Oneness

The world is an apparency right now; it's not real. When you see the reality, you'll see a singular ONENESS throughout everything. Which people call God, truth, self—it has several names. But that's the thing we have to strive for: to see this singular ONENESS everywhere. And it's changeless, it's perfect, it's infinite, and it's you. Is the way it turns out when you see it.

The false concept of being a limited being disappears, but the I, when you say I, never disappears. That's eternal. When you say "I am Harry, the body," that'll disappear, and you'll see that I am the infinite I am.

You don't give up anything, you don't lose, you just gain more and more and you expand into the infinity. You see, the mind cannot comprehend the ultimate because the mind is an instrument that's limited. Stop thinking and you'll see and be. It's infinity. This is the real way of doing it. Every thought is a thing of limitation.

 

☞ Waking Up from the Dream

Someday you'll see that thought is matter. It's very subtle; it's the subtlest of all matter. It's the matter that determines other matter. So what matters is to get rid of the thinking, and then you'll see. You see, as you let go of thoughts, the sentiment of being is there all the time. The thoughts are covering it over. So as you let go of thoughts, you're letting go of the cover that covers over this infinite being.

But when you have a thought, like in the demonstration, you have the thought and the demonstrating is not in the infinity—that's in the dream.

And someday you'll see that this waking state is just as real as the night dream state is. Like when you're in a dream at night. While you're in it, it's real. While you're dreaming, you're in trouble, you're suffering, or if it's a very pleasant dream, you're really enjoying it and it's real, right? It isn't until after you awaken that you say, "My gosh, it was a dream, it never was, right?" You'll do the exact same thing with this world when you wake up.

What we call a waking state is really a fast asleep state. When you wake up out of this thing, you say, "Oh my gosh, it never was, it was just a dream. I was always this infinite, unlimited being." But until you do it, don't buy it. But if you're interested in attaining it, it's something worthwhile striving for. Because, I'd say, if you accomplish it through the method, you gain an infinity.

You also gain a complete satisfaction of anything and everything which you will never have in the dream. Realizations of the satisfying of all desires, and no more are left. You attain the desirelessness state. But every pleasure you have is experiencing your real self a bit. The more the pleasure, the more you experience your real self. That's all that happiness is. And if you can get to see that your struggle with the world is at an end, then you go directly for your joy. You go right to where it is and you can maintain it all the time.

 

Continue from Part 1: -> Looking for Happiness

A Fireside Chat With Lester Levenson - Part 1 (Edited Transription)

 The following recordings were made by Lester Levenson in 1974. And the Original title of the tape was Looking for Happiness.

☞  Transcending the Bliss Sheath: A Critical Warning

There are seven sheaths, or rather five sheaths that they talk about in the Eastern teachings. The physical body sheaths—five sheaths that cover our infinite being. 

There's the physical sheath, there's the prana (energy) sheath, there's the mental (emotional) sheath, there's the discriminative aspect of mind (wisdom) sheath, and the last sheath is called the bliss sheath.

Now, in all my years,I've seen everyone fail to get through the bliss sheath. It's called the Ananda sheath.

They get to a place where life is nice and easy. Their relationships with their friends become nice, their businesses are all good, and then they say and they feel, "Well, I'm going to really keep it going this way."

And you can't. When you try to keep your joy coming from the world, you're going to reach a point where you feel as though the whole sky and world is falling on you.

There was a whole group in California that some of you know who reached this bliss state where everything was roses and honey, everything was going beautifully. And I warned them, "Move above this now!" and they wouldn't.

They tried to keep it coming, and the vast majority of them went through terrible catastrophes since. There is no such thing as an all-good world. If it's world, it cannot be good.

We have to transcend this world. And I'm giving you a warning now: when you get into this Ananda sheath, this bliss sheath where everything falls into line so beautifully for you in the world, do not stop there. Just go the next step beyond it, and then you're free.

And all your joy is only in your being. Your joy is not coming from the world anymore. The world is no more a beautiful, heavenly, harmonious place for you. You are the joy. You are the happiness. You're not taking it from the world anymore. You've got to break through that bliss sheath to the point where all your happiness is only you being you.

Now, if you don't break through that, you get trapped back into the world like everyone has so far in my experience.

Had any one of dozens and dozens and dozens of these people just taken one step more, they would have been free forever. Then it doesn't matter what you do in the world. You can do anything. You can be a king or you can be a beggar, and it's all the same to you. Because your joy is only you being you. Because your beingness is infinite. Your beingness is the ultimate. Your beingness is what you and everyone else is seeking—the ultimate state where you are, only pure beingness. It's the I of you. I AMness.

So, again, I warn you, be careful. When you hit that bliss state where the world is so beautiful and everything is nice, do not stop. One step beyond it. Get free of that. And then do anything you want in the world after that, and you'll never be bound again. Okay? 

 

☞  The Two-Part Course: Free Yourself, Then Free Others

 All right, let's get to the course. This course is basically designed in two directions:

1.To free you far more appreciably than you have gotten freedom so far.

2.To show you how you can specifically, and in a detailed way, help others go free.

 First, to free you. Second, to help you to free others, working directly with them.

Now,

By helping others go free, you'll discover that you are freeing you, far more so than you're helping them go free.

So there's two aspects to this course. First, it's designed to help you go free, and if you will get with it, you could go totally free. Second, it's designed to help you help others.

 

☞  The Simplest Path: Dropping Tendencies (Vasanas)

 Now, I believe it's the first time that anything like this has ever been tried, and what we're trying to do is give the highest teaching out at a level that's acceptable to people where they are today. 

 You've heard masters say, like Ramana Maharshi: "All you need to do is to drop your vasanas, drop your tendencies. That's all you need to do, and that's true, and you're free."

The reason behind that is simply this: The only thing standing between you and your infinity is your mind. The only thing between you and your being totally unlimited is your mind.

You have been operating this mind for billions of years—millions of years in the physical and billions of years before the physical state, before that. This is one reason why you find it so difficult, dropping it. But to tell you to dis-identify with the mind is to tell you something you're not doing, and you think you cannot do.

So the masters come out: "All right, drop your tendencies."

The tendencies are another way of dropping your mind. A tendency is a predisposition; it's a feeling. It's a feeling that has been built up from the beginning of time up until now.

So that every tendency you have started billions of years ago, and all your thoughts have culminated into your present feelings, tendencies. So that if you drop a tendency now, you're dropping an accumulation of thought that is billions of years old, Earth time.

You see, the effectiveness of dropping a tendency is the culmination of thinking on a particular thing that's been going on since the beginning of time for you.

If you drop a tendency totally, you drop billions of years of accumulated thought that went in to make up that tendency. That's the effectiveness of dropping tendencies.

If you want to go free this lifetime, that's the lowest level approach required to go free this lifetime. If you work on incidents, on thoughts, you've got billions of years of past history to undo. It'll take you billions of years to undo it. Every other therapy in the world is working on thoughts, incidents, etc. And that's why they're not getting very far. I know of no attempt to approach it from dropping the tendencies.

And I think the reason why they don't is they just don't understand it: "Mind is so complicated, nobody understands it." I say, "Mind is so simple, there's nothing to understand about it."

 

☞  What Is Mind? The Tool for Liberation

What is mind? It's the sum total of all your thoughts. Is that complicated? It's the sum total of all your thoughts.

There's a conscious part—the part of your thoughts that you look at is called the conscious mind. The thoughts you don't look at are called the unconscious mind. All these different kinds of minds you read about are fictions. Somatic mind, what are all those minds? Reactive mind, analytical mind…

Now there are two aspects to mind:

1.The sensing-recording aspect.

2.The discriminative aspect (the higher aspect).

So if you want to break it down, you can break it down into two parts: sensing-recording, and the discriminative aspect. And this is what makes man able to go free: the discriminative aspect of mind.

Animals have only the sensing-recording aspect of mind. Animals cannot go free until they become man. All spirit returns to spirit. All spirit returns totally to pure spirit. Animals come through what we're going through before they get totally free. But they have just the sensing-recording aspect of mind.

And we have, in addition to it, the discriminative aspect, which says, "We're men and they're animals. They're cats and dogs. We're intelligent humans."

A cat doesn't know it's a cat. A dog doesn't know it's a dog. But you know you're man. That's your discriminating ability—which allows you to discriminate between the right direction and the wrong direction. Animals would go on forever as they are, if they were to remain as they are, without the discriminating aspect of: Which direction will really get me free, and which direction will send me in the opposite way?

But because of our discriminative aspect of mind, we can choose the way to total freedom, like we in this group are doing.

So, mind is simply the sum total of all thoughts. And there's two aspects: the discriminative and the sensing-recording.

If there's anything about truth, it's the fact that it is simple. If it's given to you as a mysticism, and the cult is something you can't understand, reject it. Truth is simple.

But the world is so spun in the wrong direction right now; they can't see their nose right in front of them. They cannot see the simplicity of what you're being given now. You're being given a way of going free this lifetime, through dropping tendencies.

 

☞  You Are Already Infinite: Just Drop What You're Not

Now, because this is the way put out by Masters, you'll never hear it anywhere else: Drop your vasanas, drop your tendencies.

You've never heard it anywhere in the world, have you? Anybody study psychology, or metaphysics, or any field—you've never heard this put out: Drop your tendencies. And yet, that's what this whole thing is centering around.

So, I believe for the first time, you're being given something that has a very powerful impact, that is so tremendous, that it can free you, and help you to help others go free this lifetime. In one year, or in one month, or in one day, if you understand it, and use it.

Because you're infinite right now, acting like you're acting—almost on the opposite end of being infinite. And yet, you can drop that whole thing right now by identifying with what you really are. Which is simply dropping what you're not.

Now, you're being infinite; you can't do anything about that. You've got no choice on that. You are infinite right now. And when I look at you, I always see that infinity.

And you're always saying to me, "I, the infinite being, am extremely limited." And I say, "No, look…" And you say, "Yes, but I, the infinite being, have this problem." This goes on and on and on. Because you don't take one moment out to see this infinite being that you are. And yet, some of you do. And you feel so high and so good when you see it.

But then you fall right back into the tendency, the habit. Another word for tendency is habit. You fall right into the habit of saying, "No, I'm subject to this excrement-producing beautiful mechanism that throws garbage out of every single pore of it. And through other extremities, phlegm, feces, urine."

And there's nothing more disgusting to us than the insides of a human being. And we're glorifying this piece of crap. Someday you're going to see that the least of you is this piece of junk.

But you could see it right now if you would just look at what you are. And at that moment, dis-identify with the body. Or see that the body is just a creation of your mind. And that's where the body lies: in your mind. Get behind your mind and you'll see your infinity.

But you're so plagued with these tendencies it's almost like you're trying to look at the air from the bottom of the ocean. You've got that whole ocean between you of tendencies.

However, any time you choose you can drop the whole thing. But most of you just don't believe you can. Believing that you cannot makes it cannot. You've got to let go of "I can't." Because if you think you can't, you're making it that way.

  

☞  The Power Behind This Teaching

Now because this is coming out at this high level of dropping tendencies, there's a power behind this course. Which is the power of the high beings who want you to do just this. And you'll feel it if you just open yourself to it. Get with this course. Do the things that Bridie's putting out for you to do each lesson [Note: this is known as Sedona Method as of today.] And all the masters are behind it. Because it's being put out at a masterly level.

Instead of getting into these groups which are primarily sex things—counter groups, all these things. They're primarily sex. Which keeps you body-bound.

You're getting a course that is in a direction that the masters would give it to you at. And therefore they're supporting you. You don't have to believe me. Check it out.

Let the power come through on this course and you'll see yourself moving freer and freer in very big giant steps. I think Neal can back me up on this.

I guess I'm not telling any secrets and Kathy wouldn't mind. She made tremendous strides in the course. Tremendous. Strides that take the average person in this world millions of years to do. She did in that course. And every one of the girls gained tremendously from it.  But I do believe Kathy took more than anyone else. Took more, that's all.

Open yourself to it. The masters are there. The power is there. Go with it. It's a do-it-yourself thing.

See, no one can free you but you. No one has bound you up so tightly but you yourself. So you're the only one who can do it. You must do it. So if you get with it, you got the possibility of going free right on this course.

And if you don't go free, you got the map, the formula, the way to go free so that when you're finished with it, you continue right on until you are free.

I'm supporting this course with all the power that I have. And while I was doing that, I saw that I was not alone. I saw the masters right behind me pushing me. Until the time I said, "Don't you people feel the power in this room?" I had to say it because if I didn't talk about it, I would have lost consciousness. It was so powerful, the power coming through, that I spoke about it only to keep me here.

And I believe every one of them—I don't remember, did they all say they felt it? I know some of them mentioned it. Now that power is there for you fellows. That's the power from the masters.

Making a big push to free you because you're taking it at a level that they would give it at—a level in which you can go free shortly, very quickly.

Continue -> Part 2: Waking Up to Your Infinite Nature : Lester Levenson on Truth and Oneness

Self-Development Idea (33): How did China Catch Up with the United States with Chairman Mao’s “155 Strategic Plan” AND Questions

In the past couple of days, the term “155 Strategic Plan” keeps appearing in eastern media, official and public, yet without mentioning the details. That leads to rumors/fake news speculating around…

Basically the “155 Strategic Plan” was a speech given by China Chairman Mao’s speech in 29th Oct 1995, and the excerpt of the article is attached.

The Chinese one is the Original Text while the English one is directly cut and paste from DeepSeek.

And, today, it happens to be the 70th Anniversary of the speech and have 5 more years to go.

OK. Now, the Self-Development Idea Questions are:

1. Do you think the "155 Strategic Plan" works well?

2. Do you think an individual can be inspired by this fact and work out a 5x3 or "53 Strategic Family Plan" to escape from the track mouse race and retire early?

Bless You

KHTang

------------------------------------Added on 4 May 2026------------------------------------

Self Development Idea (20): Session 1: The Ultimate Goal - by Lester Levenson (28 September 1964)

Transcription of Lester Levenson Audio Tape

The Ultimate Goal Volume 1

Session 1: The Ultimate Goal (28 September 1964)

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.

How can we get back to our natural state of Being?

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. 

There is no growing into the natural Being that you are.  That Being is whole and perfect, here and now.  There is only letting go of concepts to the contrary, that “we have troubles, we have limitations.”  Anyone who says, “I have trouble,” has it in his mind.  That’s the only place where it is because you can’t see anything anywhere else but in your mind.  Whatever you look at, whatever you hear, whatever you sense, is through your mind.  That's where everything is. 

Lester, You mentioned that your way to the Unlimited Freedom is simple.  Now, how simple is that?

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. 

[Transcripted on 22 Sep 2018]

[Updated on 16 May 2024 - assisted with TurboScribe.ai (free version)]

[Updated on 26 Julu2024 - restored some missing parts]

Note:

1. You may find the MP3 source from the web simply by click on this link -> “Lester Levenson, The Ultimate Goal."

2. The reason for having a transcript in black and white is...

“Momentum is very important in getting realizations.  You stay with something, it becomes clearer and clearer as you stay with it.  But if it starts getting clear and you move off, when you come back on to it, it's more difficult to get into it again.

And so, I am anti-talks, tapes, because of that.  I can see it doing harm in that it doesn't let you stay with something, because the conversation goes on and on and you move off one thing onto another — to another without getting a realization of any one of them.  I believe you got much more good out of reading the book…” - Lester Levenson. 

Bless You
KH Tang

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