| Dear Friends, This week's quote is from the spiritual awareness class CC 65, which was published in Volume 3 of The Living Light Dialogue. This quote begins with a question from a student. The words spoken by the students are italicized.
"One brief question. It's regarding a continuity of control. I think that all of us, perhaps, have moments of control and moments when we're a little out of control. And there seem to be like gaps, dark areas, that we pass through as we're going through a normal day of going from level to level And I would very much appreciate some method, exercise, or way that would help to fill these gaps, to carry control through those."
"Thank you very much. First, we want to consider the truth that we're always under control, because we always are. Even during the "gap" periods, there's another level of consciousness controlling our soul.
Now, what we're trying to do is to get self-control—what we mean is a conscious awareness and direction of the levels that are controlling our soul at any moment. This is self-control: that you consciously are dictating—you understand?—which tape, which level, is going to control you at any given moment. Because all of us at all times are being controlled. We're controlled by one of our levels of consciousness, one of the taped experiences that is playing. What we are trying to work towards, hopefully, the students, through their daily application and their daily effort, is to be able under all circumstances and conditions to say, "I choose to have this level express at this moment." So that people around and about us won't be pushing our buttons of our little tape machine up here in our head and have our soul expressing on the levels that it is experiencing around and about it. Do you understand that?
Now this is very important. This is what self-control really means: that you consciously make the choice and the decision of the experience that you wish to have at any given moment. Now, how many of us are doing that? This is what the classes are all about. This is what this church is all about. This is what this whole Association is all about."
The words used in the philosophy are common, everyday words, but their meaning in the context of the teachings is often very different from their ordinary definition. And so, in this example, the word self-control means something far different than control over one's emotions and desires by their own effort of will. As I understand this passage, it means the ability to consciously choose how we feel each and every moment, regardless of our experiences. It means, in part, to be able to feel good at any moment we choose to. And that, to me, is freedom. Of course, the philosophy also teaches that freedom is the effect of self-control, for to able to choose which tape or level of consciousness will express is to be free from the control of any level. And remember, when we are controlled by a level of consciousness that we do not appreciate, it only means that we are temporarily over-identified with that level as a consequence of our errors of ignorance.
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Sincerely yours, Russell Fitzgerald Vice President |
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