THOU ART THAT - Keys to the Ultimate Freedom

星空

At some level, everyone is aware of the infinite being that he is. Are you aware of the "I" that you are? The word "I, "-that's it, -the beingness part of you, but it's only the beingness part. If you experience "I am, "-that's it. That part of you is infinite. And you are experiencing it all the time. There's no time when you are not experiencing it, -otherwise you'd go out of existence.

However, you override it and hide it from yourself by saying "I am a body." And what you're doing is that you are saying "I, the infinite being, am this body." So, if you use the word "I" you're talking of the infinite being that you are. Every time you say "I am something," you're saying "I, the infinite being, am a limited something." And being Infinite, It allows you to assume limitation, as much as you want. That's why you can do such a good job of limiting yourself. Does that make sense?

Q: Yes.

Lester: We can drive ourselves into such extreme limitation that we think were a victim of our environment and subject to it. And it is an infinite being doing that!

Q: Why do we not realize our unlimited being?

Lester: We have the conviction that we can't do it. If we were not convinced that we couldn't do it, we could do it quickly, even in a moment. How long should it take one with all knowledge, all power to recognize that he is all knowledge, all power? No time! And each one of us is that all powerful, all knowing individual. It seems so hard, almost impossible, only because we won't do it. That's why it I s so difficult, - we won't do it!

You hold the concept that you are a body, rather than that you are an infinite, unlimited being. As long as you hold to that concept, you're stuck with it. You don't look at the other, the opposite side of you, which is unlimited.

Q: Well then, could you say that the only thing between us and realization is a thought, really?

Lester: Yes, that's it. It is a thought that is the culmination of much thought.

If you would just examine how your thoughts flow after I tell you that you are unlimited, you would discover that immediately you dive right into the thoughts of being a limited body. When I say that each one of you is infinite, unlimited, right now, - at that moment you get a feel of it. Are you aware of the feel that you get as I say it? Right now, everyone here is infinite, unlimited, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. When I say that to you, for that instant you feel it, but the next moment you think you are the body, and immediately take your full attention off what you really are and put it on the concept of being only the body with all its affiliations.

All right, now that you have heard this why dont you stop doing this to yourselves.

(Interruption: Two people arrive and enter the room, causing much conversation.)

You have an example right now of what I've been talking about. Can you see what just happened? If what I said had been held on to, you would not have been distracted by the newcomers; the people would have come in and quietly sat down and nothing would have been said. But we're so interested in bodies that we immediately gravitate toward them. This is the problem, - our persistence in being bodies. Every moment we hold that we are limited bodies. What you need to do is stop doing just that. Will you do it? If you do, you will see the infinite being that you are.

It's really simple, but seems extremely difficult. Not only difficult but impossible, doesn't it? It is, only because we just don't do it, and that makes it impossible. Weve heard these things again and again and again. But what use is it listening to this, - if we don't do it? And, as I said, being infinite, there isn't anyone here who couldn't be the infinite being he is right here and now, -if only he would do it. So, what you need to do is to get with yourself, look at yourself, and do it. And it's that simple.

How many of you women go about every day trying to discover that you're a female? None. Who of you men go about every day trying to discover that you are a male? Why don't you? Why dont you people want to be told that? Because you accept it without any doubt whatsoever. But you do not accept that you are infinite. Why not? Why play the game of limitation and be miserable? Why? I'm asking you' the questions now instead of you asking me.

You believe you're infinite. Why dont you be what you are, instead of this constant trying to be the limited body? The body is a very cramped thing to be and it hurts. Lifetime in and lifetime out. Why do you insist on being so cramped and incapacitated, as everyone is, if one is a physical body? Compared to what one really is, - infinite, unlimited and totally free, it is ridiculous, isn't it?

Maybe someone might want to answer the question, "Why dont you be what you are, - infinite?"

Q: What does it feel like to be infinite?

Lester: Absolutely no limitation in any direction whatsoever. No limitations, total freedom from everything, - needing no food, no oxygen, no job. Instantly materializing anything you want. Being anywhere in the universe. Being as tall as you want, or the size of an atom. Being at perfect peace and contentment, Being in the most delightful state possible.

Q: What happens to this body when that happens?

Lester: To really know that you should experience what you are. Otherwise the reality on the body can It be understood.

When you see what you are, only then do you know what the body is. It turns out to be a thought. A thought just like in a night dream, when you dreamed about being a body in a situation. And when you awoke you said. "Oh my gosh, that was all in my mind." The same thing happens to this body when you wake up from this dream, called the waking state. You see the body, but you know it to be the dream, nature that it is.

Do you see how much you're concerned about the body? And this point I make: Be as concerned about your infinite being as you are about your body and, if you are, you will discover that you are infinite.

Q: What I really meant was, when you are away doing these things, how does this body function?

Lester: Automatically. However, you can't be away from the "I" that you are. You're right where your "I" is. When you say "I," that's where you are. You can't get away from it, ever. The individuality never leaves you, you never leave it. The "I" that you are always is, -it's eternal. That's the real Being that you are.

All right now, if you will be that "I," and only that "I, then everything will turn out to be like a dream. And when you see it full, a dream that never really was. It's the same as when you wake up from a nightmare. A good allusion to what we are going through now is the nightmare. As long as you remain in it, it's a horrible thing and it's very real. It only becomes unreal to you after you awaken, Right? The exact same thing happens to this waking state dream when we wake up from it. We first say, "Oh my gosh, it was all a dream," and then we add, that never really was." And that's what happens to your body. You then see it as a dream body.

Your body will change but you never will change. You don't disappear; you don't lose anything; you just take on more and more until you see yourself first, as every being, as every body, then as every atom in the universe. There's no reason to fear losing your body, or losing anything. You gain more and more until you become infinite. Yet, most of us are fearful lest we're going to lose our body and be nothing. That's a serious error. You could be a hundred bodies!

Q: If you think of the body in terms of beingness

Lester: If 'you do, you're committing a gross crime against the word "beingness." Beingness is the infinity that you are. Your beingness is infinite. Your being a body is an extreme limitation in your beingness.

Q: We think of body in terms of limitation; that's the ordinary concept of body.

Lester: Right, which means we have to let go of the concept: The body is I. As long as we hold that, we are holding the concept: I am an extreme limitation, -a physical body.

Any slight maladjustment in it and it dies. And every one knows that it does, sooner or later. What's this great thing called a body? It's a very disposable thing and everyone knows that sooner or later he will dispose of it, right? But gosh, how we hold on to this limitation! And keep ourselves in extreme confinement!

We are like a bird in a cage, with the door open, refusing to fly out, - free!

Q: Well, this sense of beingness, infinite beingness, is far more concrete than our present sense of body, is it not?

Lester: It should be. This is what, in effect, I'm saying. If you just hold on to your sense of beingness, and just hold that, and not add "this body is I,"- just hold on to your beingness only, and hold it, and hold it, -you'll be letting go of the feeling that the body is I. And you'll get an insight into this beingness, as to what it is, and then you will remain in it. Then your beingness is very concrete to you and your body is like a dream body.

When you are only beingness you recognize that your beingness is all beingness. I say that everyone here is, right now, that infinite beingness. And the infinite part of you is the "I," the beingness of the "I," the "I am." And that if you would hold that, that would become real and concrete to you, and all the limitation, misery, and trouble of the body would automatically be gone.

Q: I've had a few glimpses of that but holding it is a different thing.

Lester: The reason why you don't hold it is because you are holding on to the body being you.

Q: The thing is that this beingness cannot be conceived of with the mind, can it?

Lester: Right. However, you don't have to conceive of it if you are it. Do you have to conceive of being a male? Just only be it.

Q: But this metamorphosis, this change that must take place within the individual, requires some intellectualization at first?

Lester: The intellect directs you toward looking away from what you are not and looking at what you are. In that sense, you're right. We ask "What am I?" and that's intellectual. However, the answer is an experience.

Q: Now this is what I was getting at. When does this intellectualization of the infinite stop and you realize it as it is?

Lester: When your thinking quiets enough, you then see what you are and it becomes real to you.

Q: But you're not conscious of that transition?

Lester: You're conscious of letting go of the concepts of limitation. Discovering the infinite Being that you are is no transition, because you are that now; you always have been and always will be That. So there can't be any transition there. It's the letting go of the thoughts of limitation that is a transition.

Q: Isn't it difficult for one to think of his inner being as infinite?

Lester: In your thinking, it's impossible, only experience it. You can.

Q: And yet it's real; you do come into it; there's no doubt about it.

Lester: Yes, sooner or later. When you get so fed up with torturing yourself, you then let go of all the nonsense, and you'll be what you really are,- infinite. Now, most people on earth will take millions of years to do this, and you can see why. When we take into account all people, you're very advanced; and look how much you are holding on to being only that body! Your questions and talk relate mostly to the body, its transition, and what happens to the body.

I'm hoping to provoke you into letting go of identifying with the body, by telling you it's impossible to be infinite because you insist upon being the body. And so long as you persist in being the body, it is impossible. You're stuck. And you could remain this way for millions of years.

Have you ever accepted the concept that you have no limitations?

Q: I've accepted the idea intellectually, but obviously not in practice.

Lester: Yes, and because you believe you are a body, it is impossible to be infinite. These bodies are very frail things, and they don't last very long, either. And we insist and persist in being the body. Now any time anyone decides, really decides, not to be it, -then he will allow himself to see his infinite beingness.

What do we do twenty-four hours a day? We cater to the body; we think we are it! We wake it up in the morning, we wash it, we dress it, we beautify it; we send it off to work so it can earn some money, so that we can put some other life (food) into it so it can rot (digest) that life inside so that it can persist. And then we go home and we park it for the evening. It is such a wonderful life that we have to escape from it; every night we have to go unconscious, that is, sleep. And this we repeat day in and day out, life in and life out, - until we decide that we are not the body, that we are more than the body, that we are infinite beingness.

It is really simple. The difficulty of it is the holding on to wanting to be the body. We are constantly saying. "I am the body; I am not infinite." And, of course, we can't feel the unlimited joy or happiness that we're seeking by cramping ourselves into a little body that's frail and perishable.

Q: What do you mean when you say we have such a wonderful life that we have to go unconscious?

Lester: This life, that we think is so great, we cannot take twenty-four hours a day; for about eight hours every day we have to escape it through the unconscious state of being asleep.

Q: While asleep, where am I? Why can't I remember?

Lester: Because you believe you can't. The reason is that you dont want to, because, unless you relate to the physical body and world, you believe you are a void. However, notice the fact that, although you drop the physical body and world in sleep, you still exist, dont you?

Sleep is an escape from this wonderful world of ours. As we go up into higher states of beingness, we all reach a place where we don't sleep any more. When we do not dislike the world, there is no need to go to sleep.

I want to point out how wonderful this world is. How wonderful is it, if we have to escape from it every night? So let go of it and be what you are. Be infinite. Stop looking at the world and look at the "I that I am," and keep your attention on the "I that I am" until you see it fully, and you 'n drop being only a physical body with all the limitation associated with it.

Q: We keep imagining that this little limited life brings us happiness, and that helps keep us bound, doesn't it?

Lester: Yes, so why do it? Everyone is seeking the infinite being that he is. You call it happiness, happiness with no sorrow. It is your Self, your beingness. Why not just be it? Why don't you do it?

Q: Well. I guess we don't want it badly enough; were afraid to go all out.

Lester: That's it,-you don't want it enough. You want to be the limited body with all its adjuncts of limitation, sickness, trouble and finally death. Ridiculous, isn't it?

If it was the most important thing in your life, it wouldn't take long to become That. But we all have our side tracks that keep us going in all directions.

That's it. We really don't want this knowledge of our unlimited state, right? Therefore our attention is in the other directions.

Q: It's unlimited, we know this intellectually, but do you think we have a resistance, not knowing exactly what is there for us?

Lester: Yes, and no. You know you're infinite and you're seeking it. In your every act every day you're seeking this infinite being that you are. You call it happiness. If you would trace happiness down to its source, you would discover that there is no happiness in external things or people. Happiness is something you experience within. And it's there all the time if you just don't cut it off by making it dependent on someone liking you, or on your getting gold. Once I say, "In order for my inner happiness to be, I must have gold. I cut off that happiness unless I get gold. So we're cutting off that unlimited happiness and saying it's in the world, in tiny bits, while all the time it's unlimited right within us, not out there in the world. But, as you said, we're so convinced that it's in the world that our attention is in directions other than on the infinite Being that we are. If we really wanted to see this infinite Being that we are, our attention would be there all the time.

Q: And we could be That right at that moment!

Lester: Right. At that moment, or soon, or in a month or two. But I say you are condemned to millions of years of misery if you persist in being the body.

Q: If one experiences very intense misery where everything seems to be cut off. -an awakening can come out of this sometimes, can't it?

Lester: Oh yes. That's the way we usually do it. When we are in the direction of limitation we keep making ourselves more and more limited, until we go to extremes and think we are in danger of becoming incapacitated with something severe; with sickness or death. Then, with our determination, which everyone has, we say, "To hell with this!" and we go in the right direction. However, we could and should go in the right direction because of the wonderfulness of it.

Q: I think the tendency often is to try to contact the infinite and then use it to make this finite life comfortable, pleasant, prosperous and things like that.

Lester: Right. We try to contact our unlimited power and then use it to make a better body and world. We can make the body and world better, but we cannot achieve sustained happiness, because being subject to this body and world is being subject to limitation and non-freedom.

Q: But getting rid of your body isn't going to help much though, is it?

Lester: I'm not suggesting you do. Until you can consciously leave your body, if you forcibly got rid of your body, you would just come back again through the womb and wait twenty years while growing up, before starting again to learn that you Ire not the body. So forcibly dropping the body would be a very wrong thing to do. But to show you how much you think you are the body, just ask yourself how close could you come to throwing your body out on the highway and letting cars run over it. This will show you how convinced you are that your body is you.

Q: Is it our unconscious mind that prevents us from being our infinity?

Lester: It's you, making your thoughts unconscious. I say it's you; it's not your mind. Or, if you want to argue it, show me this mind you are talking about. Where is it? And how is it holding you back? Does it have a life other than you? Is it other than you? What is this thing?

You're preventing yourself, whether via the mind, via the body, or via anything. You are doing it. It's important that you take full responsibility because, if you don't, you will never get out of this trap.

Q: I understand that it is something that we have created ourselves, but it has reached such a proportion!

Lester: Not it, it is you who have reached such a proportion. So long as you blame something else, you'll never get out of it, You're doing it. Can't you see that you cannot undo your limitation as long as you'll not take responsibility for it? No matter what you call it, whether you call it mind, or body, you are doing it.

Q: I am taking responsibility for it, because I'm trying to do something about it.

Lester: O.K. As long as you say, "I'm taking responsibility," that's all right. But when you say, "It is the mind," you are not taking responsibility for it; then the mind is responsible, not you. Do you see that?

Q: Well, I'm responsible for it; it's my creation.

Lester: Right. Whose mind is it? It's yours.

Q: But still, it has become a sort of Frankenstein's monster that's gotten out of hand. And isn't that what stands in the way?

Lester: No, you do. As long as you think it's something other than you, you have no chance. As you speak now, you are convinced that the mind is doing it, and not you.

Q: So we make the mistake that the mind is going to see, and the mind will never see It.

Lester: Right!

Q: And we're so conditioned to function as mind, that that seems to be the only tool that we know we have, and so we're using the wrong tool.

Lester: Right.

Q: So, what we need to do is just throw the tool out.

Lester: Right. Then what's left over is the infinite you. Throw the tool out. It takes no tools to be what you are!

Q: That's the mistake; we keep trying to do it with the mind, because that's the only thing we're familiar with.

Lester: It's not the only thing you're familiar with; you are so familiar with the "I" that you are. Just the word "I," and that's you, that's not your mind. You have the mind. You are always experiencing this infinite being that you are, and it's the "I." You lose sight of this infinite "I" by identifying the mind and body, as you. Let go of identifying with your body and mind and what is right there in the pure "I," is an infinite being, -you. Simple enough?

Q: You say the "I" has been for billions of years. Is the "I" always the same?

Lester: The "I" that you really are is always the same,-changeless, eternal and perfect.

Q: It has always been the way it is and the way it will be?

Lester: It has always been that way: perfect; changeless; immortal. And that's why we have the tendency to think of the body that way. We try to make it perfect and immortal, even though we know we can't.

Q: Does the body serve a purpose?

Lester: Yes, it hurts; it confines. This serves to redirect you back to seeing that you are infinite. The purpose of having the body is to help you learn that you have no limitation. So you conjured up the extreme limitation called the physical body, in order to learn that you have no limitation. That body is going to hurt more and more as you more and more think that you are it, until someday you say, The heck with it! Then with full determination to see what you really are, you suddenly awaken to what has always been, that you are infinite.

Q: Has the "I" always used the body?

Lester: No, the "I" never used the body. The "I" is changeless and perfect. The "I" imagined, dreamed, it used the body. It's an illusion; it's a dream, but while you're in the dream it seems real. Wake up out of this dream. See what you are. That is the thing to do.

Notice how much you ask me questions about the body? Are you aware of that?

Q: In order, I guess, to define it.

Lester: No, you are trying to express your infinity in terms of this extreme limitation. And this is why you're stuck. Reverse it. Let go of the body. Put all your attention on the infinite "I" that you are, and only then do you have a possibility of seeing the infinite "I" that you are. You must let go of the concept of that body being you.

Q: Pain is a great awakener then, isn't it?

Lester: Yes. However, we're not aware of how much pain there is because we have accustomed ourselves to it and made ourselves immune to the real amount. Because we're infinite beings and we're trying to be this limited body, -it's very painful.

And when you awaken from this dream, you'll see how much pain there was. It's almost infinite pain compared to what you really are, - infinite joy.

I'm emphasizing that you should be not the body; be not the mind, -just be.

Q: In meditation, doesn't one use the mind to a certain extent?

Lester: Yes, however meditation is used for quieting the mind. You use the mind to quiet the mind. When the mind is quiet enough this infinite being that you are becomes obvious. That is the whole purpose of meditation. If anyone gets his mind quiet enough, he cannot help but see this infinite being that he is because it's only the thoughts that cover It. And the mind is nothing but thoughts. So, meditation is used to get the mind quieter, until you get it so quiet that you see your Self, youre real Self.

Q: Would directing the thought toward the infinite be a step to getting there?

Lester: Yes. However, it is another thought.

Q: It's another thought, but some thoughts are more God-revealing than others, are they not?

Lester: No thought can reveal God. Every thought hides or covers God, your Self. Every thought is a chain; nice thoughts are golden chains. A golden chain will keep you imprisoned just as much as an iron chain. You must undo all thinking. Get the mind quiet. And then quiet enough so the infinite being that you are is self-obvious. It's there all the time; the thoughts are the noise that's covering it. However, if you must have thoughts, a thought in the direction of God is much better than a thought in other directions, as it points you toward God.

Q: But if the infinite is non-mind, how can you speak of it as infinite, because infinite is a mental concept.

Lester: No. No mental thought can be infinite. Every thought is a limitation.

Q: Then how can you know that you are infinite? How can you vocalize it?

Lester: You cannot mentally conceive of infinity nor can you vocalize it. That is impossible. Try it when you're home. It's impossible to conceive of unlimitedness.

Q: Well, it's an experience.

Lester: Right, it's not a thought; it's an experience, an experience of being infinite. The mind can allude to it but cannot describe it. Any description is necessarily a limitation.

Q: Where does the mind begin and where does the mind end, and where does God begin and where does God end, and where does the infinite begin and where does the infinite end?

Lester: God, the Infinite, the Self, has no beginning and has no end. The mind has a beginning when you create it. It has an end when you let it go.

Q: It seems to be a painful struggle to let it go.

Lester: You're holding on to it while trying to let go of it. The holding on to it is the pain. Why don't you just be what you are? Why question me on the opposite side, -on the struggle? Why do you talk about it? Because you're interested in it and you would like me to relate the infinite to it.

Q: Well then, if, when you think, you just know who is thinking, that takes care of it?

Lester: Right! Discover who the thinker is and you'll have the answer. When you discover who the one is that has the mind and has the body and does the thinking, you discover the real you, -an infinite being. So look away from the body! look away from the mind! and look toward the beingness that you are and never stop until you fully discover that Thou Art That!

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This Session was recorded in Los Angeles, October 20, 1968.