Saturday, October 13, 2018
4:15 a.m. A question via email from Ernie Rockwell
“If you are still taking questions, do TGU have anything to say to those of us who took Gateway [The Monroe Institute’s initial program] but nothing special happened? No wow moments, no people we seemed destined to meet. Pleasant and informative and met interesting people however so was still worthwhile.”
So, guys, any response to that?
The way the question is stated, in itself, says that the questioner is at a certain level of development. Not every motor requires kick-starting; not every new process begins with a jolt.
Meaning, that isn’t what he needed? Helen Warring, TMI’s longtime registrar (or whatever her title was) used to say, “People get what they need from Gateway,” meaning much the same thing.
More or less. We would hesitate to suggest any place or thing or process as a panacea, being somewhat more cautious than you are. And we would remind you – and others – that the long-term effect of any experience is not necessarily obvious, not necessarily predictable. But the salient point in your lives is, as always, this: Things do not happen (nor, for that matter, fail to happen) without reason. Therefore, you may count upon the fact that any experience, pleasant or unpleasant, bears within it some service to you, which may or may not be evident or even discoverable.
In the sense of, all problems are by nature opportunities. So, to address Ernie’s question directly –?
We just did, only we addressed a much wider question as well.
Expectations? As in, be in a state of expectation but without expectations?
While that is a positive, productive attitude to take toward life, bear in mind that to suggest it in this specific context would be to imply that those who do not receive dramatic or even discernable results are somehow at fault. Instead, we offer reassurance to those who have done Gateway and those whose financial obligations assure that they will never be able to afford to do a Gateway or equivalent: The universe is not experiencing shortage of funds that requires it to provide only inadequate opportunity. “Ask, and it shall be given” is still the way it works. Only, it doesn’t work if you allow yourselves to be hypnotized into a sense of helplessness and lack.
All right, I’m going to segue that, possibly at your prompting. I do experience quite an active sense of lack of resources, helplessness, in one specific area of my life, and I know many others are experiencing it too, though it seems to configure differently. I refer to the loss of my country.
You might sketch out your premises, lest people jump to conclusions.
Yes, because as usual I am not with any herd or flock or whatever, but am at the edge.
The events of the past 24 years, in particular – ever since a cadre of hard-core government-hating Republicans took over the House of Representatives – have divided the country. The stolen election of 2000, the entire divisive presidencies since, the obviously rigged Democratic primary season of 2016 and the stolen general election, all of it. (My brother said, “The bad news is that Trump won. The good news is that Clinton lost.”)
You need to slow down and state your assessment clearly. Whose fault?
Okay, that’s right. The more closely I look at things, the more I see that the question of “whose fault” depends entirely on who you are, what you think, what values you uphold, what blindnesses you contain, what intolerances, superstitions, fears you embody. I don’t suppose there is much use in itemizing blame by ideology or party, but a couple of things have become blindingly clear.
First, the role of fear. People don’t do their best, or act their best, when they perceive an opposition in terms of fear.
That isn’t yet clear.
Politics may divide people, but when they fear, their ability to discern the common humanity of others diminishes. They forget the things that are held in common, and see (and magnify) only the things that fit their fear-driven definitions.
They can’t see straight.
Yes. They think – to the degree that they do think – in clichés; they perceive stereotypes; they confuse nightmares with reality.
Your point here is that both “sides” are caught in the same psychological trap.
Yes, and it is a vicious cycle. And neither side sees that its own view of reality is warped. It sees only the absurd distortions that blind the other side.
Which carries worrisome echoes, for you.
Yes. It is America in the 1850s all over again, only this time not divided neatly into contiguous geographical sections. But the inability to communicate is similar; the fear-blinded hatreds are there. the ascendency of men of ill-will is there.
Let us make your point for you, here.
I wish you would.
A process of hatred reciprocally added to is toxic, self-sustaining, and must be lethal.
I’m not sure I even comprehend that latter part.
Your underlying question was, can it be justified, your sense of on-rushing social doom?
Yes, I guess that is it exactly. In my personal life, I proceed day by day and trust what comes. In the larger scheme of things, well, I’m watching a slow-motion tidal wave that is going to sweep everything away. It has gotten bigger, more encompassing, all my life. Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, all the immediate after-effects of the 1963 coup – but they’re almost trivial in extent compared to the tsunami Bill Clinton triggered.
You are still not saying it. It will sound political.
I know! I can’t figure out how to say it.
That’s a bad affirmation.
Right. I haven’t yet figured out how to say it. What I’m seeing is far beyond political, but it expresses in political terms.
But if you accept that framing, you cannot get beneath it.
I know. It’s ideology, but really it is beneath ideology, too.
Yes it is. Keep digging, but slower, calmer, more casual, almost.
That’s asking a lot.
It is providing a reminder of the only condition that allows you to see beneath the superficial roiling of the water.
Recalibrate. I get it.
[Pause]
I believe I have been watching – all of my life, ever more clearly – the systematic disappearance of the America I knew, good and bad both, and the substitution of something very different.
And it is the uneasy awareness of that same process that is fueling hatred and desperation in the country, on a graduated accelerated basis.
Everybody perceives it, and everybody blames somebody else. Like the stuff I got with Hemingway a few years ago.
You might dig it out – you don’t have to do it today – and lay it out for people. It may give them a new perspective. But meanwhile your hour is about up and we have barely scratched the surface of this important topic. Fortunately there is always another day.
Until there isn’t.
Worried about an accidental termination, now?
No, I guess not. Just a bad habit.
Notice that that bad habit is not particularly connected to your personal life per se, only to your – what shall we call it? – your conceptual life as it interacts with the not-obviously-personal.
Isn’t that fundamental, though? We feel we have a certain control over our own lives, and next to none over our lives as citizens.
We will address that if you will continue to bring the issue to the table.
All right. I hope you can help me phrase what I see so strongly but cannot seem to express at all clearly.
Perhaps that is a sign that you aren’t seeing as clearly as you think; that unseen internal contradictions are interfering with your expression.
Well, any assistance will be gratefully received.
Even if you don’t like what we say? We smile. Till next time, as you say.
Please continue to bring the issue to the table, Frank. I’m interested in the answers as well, even if I don’t like them. I’d like to think that I have some input into the great scheme of things, and knowledge is power.
@Earnie’s answer: my Gateway was the big 2X4 against the side of the head, and it was tough to integrate that into my life, given my job at the time. I had to appear “normal,” when I had just gotten this incredible revelation on the true nature of my being. I had lived my whole life based upon a false image of myself. But it’s what I needed. I couldn’t continue living my life that way. It was self destructive, and my TGU knew that. So they dropped the bomb on me in Focus 21, and I’m grateful that they did. I heard TGU say to you that you’ve already done a lot of work, so Gateway continued your progress. There’s something to be said for that: good job.
“Is this the end of the world?” Is that your question? Sometimes it sure is mine.
For me, this is a great session. For example, that everything “bears within it some service to you.” I can hear “everything happens for a reason” ad nauseum but, because of your session, still have a new, deeper awareness of it. We’re the reason, and we’re in need of the service.
I loved the reference to finances. Things have been written about access to channeled materials, programs, workshops, etc., being focused on the people who can pay for them (typically white, middle-to-upper-middle class), but I hardly see it mentioned in the spiritual things I read. “The universe is not experiencing shortage of funds that requires it to provide only inadequate opportunity.” I had to laugh. And the reminder to “Ask and it shall be given.” I think you have to ask and ask and ask, to get past the habit of your own resistance. I certainly haven’t found anything else that works as well.
I am so glad for the questions–yours, Frank, and everyone else’s. And I’m always mining the comments, too, like Jane C’s this morning, because they’re so useful.
Jane C and Jane P: excellent comments! Thank you for sharing them. : )
Brace yourselves – it’s going to be another long LisaC comment! Can’t help it when one of these posts hits so many chords within!
The part about everything having a purpose, even things that DON’T happen – really made me smile. I was guided to this realization on Oct 7 (and I read this post today on Oct 17….I’m woefully behind on posts – but Wow, hey! There seems to be a very high frequency of posts here reinforcing or acting as a catalyst for what’s roiling around in my mind AT OR AROUND THAT TIME….must be “coincidence”…lol) while doing the “meditative journaling”, I realized suddenly exactly WHY the thing I kept failing at (mentioned in previous comments) in recent years, kept bombing. There was a huge component that I HAD TO HAVE WORKED THRU before the thing could succeed, otherwise, continued failure would always occur. It was an enormous light-bulb moment. On the plus side, I was so happy to see it, because it proved there weren’t forces out there that just wanted me to fail, nor was I a “failure”, not at all. On the not-so-fun side, was seeing how oblivious I had been about that component which I needed to work through, and how enormous a task it seemed. My “filters” kept it carefully out of my sight. Ha! I couldn’t have been more wrong: my TGU have been incredible with support, insights, and SIGNS OF ENCOURAGEMENT – loads and LOADS of them, so much so that I literally “feel” like they are right here with me every step of the way (and they are!). Each time a sign pops up now, it makes me grin, cuz it’s so frequent that it’s hilarious and it feels like THEY find it humorous to amaze me. Regardless, NOW I understand that, for me, my TGU will always default to the higher main goal, when 2 “asked for” goals are in conflict, and THEN, when success of other goal is made possible by clearance of obstacle of main goal being cleared, proceed with helping me with that goal. I have a MUCH better understanding of how to look at events. No reason for discouragement. If I keep failing at something, I will now dig deeper for the cause – cuz there MUST be a conflict within me, that’s causing it.
I love that concept of “a reason/purpose” to things – it just feels like a much better connection with upstairs – the opportunities for learning are literally being offered on a silver platter, and now I can SEE it. I don’t feel like a “victim of life” anymore….if that makes sense to anyone…
Now – the part about “ never being able to afford Gateway….the universe not experiencing shortage of funds….providing inadequate opportunity”
Another instance of feeling as if I am being personally addressed, but I know I’m not the only one. Think about it – have you EVER met anyone who was truly awakening/awakened/seeking, who was materially wealthy, or seeking material wealth? Maybe it’s possible, as in a case of a philanthropist, but thus far, I have not encountered it. In my opinion, the process we all seem to be in, has a side effect of understanding the emptiness/lack of purpose in that type of gain. For me, it is a major ill of our culture. Gain at any cost…At the expense of another. Makes me sick. I don’t ever want to be rich. My best moments in life have all occurred in moments of poverty. There seems to be something about living with straightened means, that allows me to experience simple pleasures with incomparable bliss: a roof over my head, a warm fire, warm clothes, food, clean water, clean air – man, am I LUCKY! However, I DO want to have those basic things, so that’s when I begin to worry about money enough to maintain them! But, you know….somehow, I always receive what I need. ALWAYS. WITHOUT FAIL. Things have consistently happened for me in life, that no one can explain, that ensure I have “what I need”. (Not to be confused with what I’d “like”…)
Sure, it’d be fun (for awhile) to have money for things like designer clothes, etc., but really, it’s more fun to make my own designs and sew up ideas using recycled, high quality garments found “mining” the thrift stores! I can express myself in what I wear, not express other’s expressions (the fashion industry). See? More opportunity. I am not a member of a “herd” – I am a unique beastie, and I should revel in it, not lament it. I would LOVE to attend a Gateway at TMI, but am in the group mentioned by TGU (“….never be able to afford Gateway..”). Despite that, I am offered guidance custom-tailored for me, right here at home, thanks to this blog and my own meditative journaling. (I’d still love to visit TMI one day – I feel a magnetic pull that way – who knows? But I am clear that I don’t have to have that experience to progress…I can “choose” otherwise! I loved “decide, decide, decide”!)
I have stamped a thought Frank had awhile ago, in my forehead, because it is so true for me: it was about how he felt that if he could just have had more faith and less worry that things would work out, life would have been a whole lot easier.
I’m taking that thought and applying it NOW, thinking of it as a gift from Frank – I can avoid those years he was referring to!
(Thanks, Frank.)
Hug for all…
Thank you Lisa, this resonates!
Sometimes the notion that we’re all one is easier to grasp–your post, LisaC, is one of those times for me. “… there must be a conflict within me that’s causing it”–this has been one of the themes of my week, and so incredibly freeing. And that thought about more faith and less worry is one I work on all the time. Thanks so much for your post. We are in this together!