A Simple Practice To End Unseen Self-Sabotage GF Live 8-1-26

A Simple Two-Word Practice to End Unseen Self-Sabotage

Key Lesson #1: Whatever we may do in this life that is unnatural, if we do it long enough...becomes second nature.

Key Lesson #2: Never be in a hurry to swallow a big pill. You might choke on it.

Transcript

In lots of ways. What we're going to examine is incredibly simple. But sometimes the. . . Simplest of things are the most elusive and often for good reason, As we'll see as we go into the material together. I'll just wait another moment or two. Wait with me. Put down whatever it is that you are. If you are being distracted at the same time that we're sharing this time and space. We're going to look at that a little bit together as well. So I think. . . We'll get into it. By the way, You know, I often in fact for years and years and years and years and years now, I often say when I start to speak, I remind the students to take a nice deep breath. I'll do it in the middle of a talk sometimes as well. And the point is, And I'm afraid, That it becomes mechanical. For most. You hear the words, You think the words, But you don't understand what it means to take a nice deep breath. To take a nice deep breath is to bring yourself. Consciously back into your body. Aware of your Breathing. Aware of the sensations passing through you, Aware of the totality of what you are experiencing in the moment. That's what it means to take a nice deep breath. It is inseparable from the life that is breathing you. So you unite yourself with something that is active, That you are not aware of. And you participate in that activity when you Take a nice, Conscious, Deep breath. So let's do that together. We will need it as we go through the material today. So here we go. I have to kind of move through a couple things relatively quickly because I want to get to a list. That I've made for us to look at and study together. So I will leave time as possible at the end of this material so that we can have five, Six, Maybe seven minutes of interactive where you can ask questions or post your comments and we can look at them together as time allows. So setting the stage. A long time ago, A great man that I had the really the blessing of knowing as a friend and a tutor and a mentor. Vernon Howard, He told this story ever so briefly about a town that was quite well Everything was good in it. People were relatively happy. They helped each other. It was a good place. And in the center of the town, There was a statuary and was just really just a giant arrow pointing straight up in the air. And he went on to say how over time, Those who lived inside of that town that did not like the town the way it was and perhaps wanted to rule it. They gradually overnight would sneak into the town center and change little by little, Chip by chip, The direction of the arrow so that over a period of time that almost no one saw take place. Instead of the arrow pointing up, It was pointing down. And there's so many rich. Lessons inside that little story. But the point is that as the point of the arrow started pointing down so that people's attention went down instead of up, Everything started to go upside down inside of that town. And the ne'er-do-wells, The evil people that wanted to control others and so that they could feel in control of themselves, Gradually took over the town. Now, What's the point of that? Little story. I hope you can make the leap with me. The title of the talk, Kate, If you'll bring it up, Please. Is a simple two-word practice to end unseen self-sabotage. Now for most of us, We think of unseen self-sabotage. As something that we do against ourselves that we don't want to do and that we could be better people if we would just stop sabotaging ourselves. But in spite of the wish and the inclination to transcend this limited part of ourselves that sinks our own ship, It goes on and on. And that's what I want to look at with you closely so that we can get to the point of this talk which we will in that two word exercise, Kate. Bring up the key lesson, The first key lesson, Because it is the description of what self-sabotage is, The way we're going to look at it together. Here is the first key lesson. You might want to write it down. It is quite rich. In terms of what it is trying to convey or I hope is conveying. And I don't see it up there, But I will. There it is. Read along with me, Whatever we may do in this life that is unnatural, If we do it long enough, It becomes second nature. Whatever we may do in this life that is unnatural, If we do it long enough, It becomes second nature. I have to take a few moments to make sure we're on the same page. I want to talk about this idea of second nature? What is the second nature? Scripture, Truth teachings, True teachers, For all of time, Point to this. Christ talked about it. He said, The first shall be last, The last shall be first. The first now in this world is personality and what has developed and runs our life, Decides, Makes the choices for us, And it's first. It now is indeed what we look to to protect us. And what is last now is this soul, Is essence. So that there are two natures. There is this personality, This conditioned persona, This thought nature. That's our second nature, And it's presently in first place. And what is in last place is our soul. The essence of our life that can grow and develop. More examples of second nature. The little girl talking to her father, The medicine man, The Native American, She says, I'm afraid I've got two wolves. I see them struggling in me. There's a good wolf and a bad wolf. Which one is going to win? Well, What do you think the bad wolf is? It's the second nature, Isn't it? It's that which consumes, It's that which wants to be aggressive, That is wild, The second nature, The two wolves. I think it's Phaedrus, Plato writes about two horses. He says there's a dark one and a white one. There is this. . . Wild, Passionate horse on one side, And on the other side, There is this white horse that represents reason and the charioteer driving the horses, Just like the little girl that must decide which one to feed. Should I feed the second nature, The bad wolf, Or should I feed the good wolf? Which of these two horses are going to drive this chariot? Only the charioteer can make that determination. And the charioteer, The driver, Represents the capacity to be present enough to see when this wild, Dark horse is pulling left or right or running after what it wants at the cost of the white horse and the charioteer. Christ talked about this two natures again. He said, My yoke is easy, But my burden is light. People don't understand. A yoke bands stretches over two oxen. The opposites. So there is the left and the right, Again, In old teachings on the left side of the throne, The second nature, The warrior nature. On the right side of the throne, The priests and the ministers. Another example of second nature. In that old story, I won't go over it too deeply, A woman finds a snake frozen in the snow. She feels pity for it because the first part of her, Her essence, Wants things to live, Wants everything to thrive, And she brings it in her house, She defrosts it by the fire, Wraps it in a blanket, Gives it milk as the expression goes. And when the snake wakes up, I don't remember whether, You know, She says, I'm afraid you'll bite me if I know I won't. And then he bites her. And it kills her. So the essence, The first part of us is naive. And the second nature, It doesn't know its own nature. The scorpion promised the turtle it wouldn't sting it so they wouldn't drown. It does. So the second nature doesn't know its own nature, Nor that it can be anything other than it is. The second nature doesn't know it can be anything other than it is. And I will add, The second nature is always judging itself for the actions that it says it shouldn't be or do. So the second nature, In short, Is the effect of a cause. That the second nature isn't aware of that causes it to vibrate. That gives it the sensation of life, But it isn't alive. First nature, Second nature. When we live from what is unnatural, What is unnatural becomes second nature. Second nature, Unattended by first nature, Is unnatural. Now, How can we look at this? I hope I'm not going too fast, But I've got to get into some ideas with you. I have a little story to tell you to help you understand a little bit more about the nature of second nature. So a picture, Maybe what was that Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella, Where the animated creatures were alive, You know, So here we the the camera comes into a living room across from the kitchen. And there's this big grandfather clock, Tick tock, Back and forth, Tick tock, Tick tock. And as it's tick tock, Tick tock in its tick tock language, It says to the candle holder just to the right of it on a table. This is, What is that racket? Can you believe it? And the candle holder says, Well, That's the kitchen blender. The owner of the house, She just turned it on to make some kind of salad dressing. And the grandfather clock in its tic-tac-toe language says, Would you just look at how limited that thing is? I mean, Whatever that thing is, I don't know what you said. But all it can do when it turns on is make that terrible noise and make a lot of stuff together. I know you don't see the nuance, So I have to explain it. What are we looking at in a story like that? The wind-up clock. Judges the motorized blender. The wind-up grandfather clock judges the motorized blender. They do different things. But they do the different things with mechanical gears operating just in different ways to produce a different outcome. Can you see that the windup clock that judges the blender is no different than the blender it judges? Can you see that with me? But does the wind-up clock. . . Know that it is a wind-up clock and that it is a machine just like the blender that it finds fault with because of the noise it makes? Not to mention that the blender might be irritated with the grandfather clock for tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Talking all the time. It's important that you see this with me. That each of these machines believe that they are other than the machines they judge, And that that otherness makes them seem wise and alive. Now, If you can see this with me. And I trust you can. How is it that we can in a story like that? See, The truth of their mechanical nature. . . And how these machines cannot act otherwise. But we cannot see the truth of our own nature. And how tick-tock, Tick-tock, Whirl, Whirl, Whirl, We can't do other than the evil we would not do instead of the good we would. Do you understand the nature of the question I'm asking here? I don't think I'm a machine when I'm impatient. You don't think you're a machine when you're reliving some regret? Because you're looking at something that seems other than yourself, And you can see something's wrong with that, But you can't see within yourself that that relationship brings up the second nature in you. Not the first nature, Not the essence, Not the soul that seeks to understand, But another part of us that says it already understands. And it knows that that blender is wrong. It knows that that bitterness that person is living with, That they shouldn't be like that. But that second nature, The bitterness can't see how broken it is in its endless judgment of that other person. I'm trying to show you something that's a little bit subtle. I have to trust that you're getting it. Can you see it with me, What I'm saying, Please? I do what I don't want to do. And then after I've done what I don't want to do, Judge myself, Which makes me feel as if there is something living in me that is other than this snake that just bit the poor woman. Than this wolf when it is fed devours everything. So even so. Because we can look at this, We'll agree, Yeah, That's why we're working together at this. Repeatedly looking back as we do. With some regret or sense of hopelessness over whatever may be the weakness we judge in ourselves or others, Even so. And this is where I ask you to be fully present. In the aftermath of missing the mark time and time again of doing not the good I would, But the evil I would not. Why is it that I? I don't ask myself how in the name of God. Is it that I can keep being deceived? Into what is ultimately a self-sabotaging act. When I was. Formulating this material. I thought to myself, Isn't it an extraordinary thing? That most of my life is spent one way or another trying to gain control. Possess. That which I believe if I could gain control or possess it. Including in quotes myself. Then I would be free of this suffering. And yet. That nature that is always in pursuit of what it believes will bring peace to it. Believes it is other than the pain it is trying to avoid. And because it is. Blind to itself. It can't see that everything it is doing while it is trying to escape itself is part of the pain of its own nature and that second nature. Can't see that the resistance it has to life. Is in fact the pain it experiences because life doesn't match what that second nature, That old past part of ourselves says life should be like. Can you see this with me? How can I not see it? And you must live with this question. No talk is a one and done. Nothing you will ever read or come across in your search will be a one and done. That's the second nature. It wants the drive-through Happy Meal. And happiness is inseparable from the exploration of the second nature, Because the second nature is the essence of unhappiness itself. And it doesn't know itself as such. So I'm looking at with you, If you're looking at it with me, How does that keep going? And I hinted at it, But now I'm going to get into it with you. There's a passage I have been Drawn to. Fascinated by. Thirsty even as it satisfies whatever I have come to take from it. There's a passage. From Saint Paul. And he says. For now we see through a glass darkly. But then face to face. Now I know in part. But then shall I know, Even as also I am known. Tough language. For now, We see through a glass darkly. Now, First, You have to understand the language again. In those days, What they call the mirror was called the glass. So he says, For now we look into this mirror. Darkly. Meaning we look into a mirror. That is. By its nature made out of some shiny metal or silver, The mirror that I look into is distorted. That's what he means. I don't see clearly. I see a distortion. So I look through this glass darkly. But then he said face to face. So now he's saying, Well, This is one way I look in this mirror. In order to see myself, But the time will come when I won't have to look in this glass darkly. I won't have to look at whatever this reflection is coming back to me from this consciousness. Instead, I will look directly face-to-face upon this consciousness itself. Because when I look through a glass darkly, I only know in part. Meaning, I don't know the whole of it. I see what is reflected back to me by the nature of doing the reflecting. Gosh, Can you see this with me? He put into these very few words, Something so important to understand. I look into this mirror that I call life. And when I see in the mirror that is reflected back to me, It's distorted. It's distorted because the consciousness reflecting the moment back is adding to it, Whatever content it has to add in order to satisfy the nature, The second nature that's looking. So the second nature looks to confirm itself. It likes to prove itself and it will always find in the mirror of consciousness what it needs to, Which is means I only see in part. I don't see the whole of this. I see why you're wrong, I see where I'm right. I see how that shouldn't be this way because I know how it should. So I always see what this nature needs to see to validate ultimately the suffering it experiences, Because it's always separate from what it's looking at. For now we see through a glass darkly, But then face to face, When I no longer look at the reflection of life, I look directly at the consciousness itself. And then he says, But then shall I know, Even as also I am known. So now I know only in part, But the day will come by the light of this intelligence. That I shall know even as I am known. What does that mean? There'll be no more separation. The very fact of seeing the fact of myself is to know myself requiring no explanation, No justification, Requiring, Demanding no fear of consequence because the second nature sees what it doesn't want and fears that it will be, The bad wolf will take over. I'm running out of time. Are you able to go with me on this? So when it comes to looking at ourselves, We're looking at why this sabotage goes on and on. When it comes to looking at ourself, We see only in part. And the part we see is what our second nature gives us to see, Which means we are effectively blind in our relationship to that nature. But Paul says, When I stand in the light of truth and I see this second nature face to face. How much ever, Remember when you were told, You know, You got to face this moment, Remember being told stuff like that? You got to face this weakness, You know, Got to look at it eye to eye. You've heard the expressions. These idioms came from long, Long ago when men and women understood something about the nature of what real change is. When they were saying, Look at it face to face, They're saying, Look at what you are facing and you will see that what you are facing is a nature that can't stand to look at itself, Let alone reality, Because it denies the existence of that imagined self. So we look at what we call reality and see the reflection of what that nature makes of the moment. And then that nature fights to protect or preserve the very finding that it came up with so as to keep in place this idea that I know, I'm real, I get it, You don't. I need to make a transition if we're still working together. Are we still working on the same thing? Because we're getting ready to do something kind of tough. Gotta keep going. So. Big transition. Now a lot of, A lot of what this second nature is, And are you starting to understand this second nature is a, Is a, Uh, A creation. Of a certain kind of Relationship. That is created. We call personality. To interface with life because when we are babies, Young, Growing up. The essence, The true light that would come in. It doesn't know what to do with this. It's relatively new. One day it won't be so new when you come here, But. Now it's trying to make everything work. And that nature is an excuse-making machine. And one of the ways in which this second nature that we never suspect is not ourselves. Which we'll look at. That we mistake as ourselves. That's what identification is. Identification is taking what this second nature is attached to and depends upon. So that we call all of those relationships. Basically, We just call it a bad habit. How many of you have bad habits? And what is a bad habit when it gets to the extreme? We call it an addiction. So I excuse, This second nature excuses its own habits that eventually become addictions. It's just a bad habit I have to be impatient with you. That's all that nature needs? It's just a bad habit. But when we can start to recognize that there is something in us that discounts or otherwise disqualifies us from responsibility for what this second nature never stops doing, It just says it's a bad habit, Or it says, I'm sorry. So what we might call a bad habit. Big transition is actually. Our passive relationship to this second nature when it takes center stage, Whatever the situation is that triggers it into action. I'll say it again, What we call this bad habit. Is really a passive relationship to the second nature. When it takes center stage. Grabs the reins, Depending on the situation that brings that nature into play, Who I've been, What I want, Where I need to go, What I think has to happen. All of that lays dormant in this unconsciousness, Doesn't it? But we don't know that this unconscious nature, This second nature is already filled with everything it believes it has to have and do and be to be free. So that when anything strikes it, When some energy enters into that unconscious nature, What comes up as a result, This this. Habit. The second nature. And once we are remanded over to the second nature, We are as good as handed over to the captivity of reincarnating that nature and really essentially building a prison for ourselves with every iteration made by that nature. Long sentence, But do you follow me? Yes. So this is what I want to look at with you. Is it not? Our second nature. To judge. Is that not second nature? Yes or no? There's not even a you that does it. It's just judgment. And then there's the reason for the judgment, But first comes the judge. What? Because that's the second nature. And it waits there like a trap door spider. But we don't know it waits there because it's in the darkness. It's hiding in the reflection of that mirror into which we can't see. Is it not second nature for us to justify? Boom, Just like that. Excuse negative states. Don't you always have an excuse for your negativity? Blame is an excuse, By the way. Isn't that second nature to us? Blame. I hope this is coming together inside of you. That's second nature to me. It's second nature to seek a distraction. Some of you have no idea what's happening to you. And I can't fix that. Just distract me, Make a plan, Go somewhere, Do something. I don't care what you call it. The fact remains that you can't do anything other than stay with what your second nature says you need to do to escape the second nature. And that's the extraordinary thing. What do you think those distraction are? Second nature trying to escape the conflict of being second nature, Which is always in conflict with life. Is it not second nature to feel like a victim? Certain circumstances come up, You find out, How about, I just learned I may not live for another year. Oh my God, Why God, Why God? Second nature. How about second nature constantly with regrets? Isn't that second nature? Whether it's 10 seconds ago, When you said something you didn't want to say, And now your mind's replaying it. What does that mean? That's second nature. The mind replays the event that it didn't like, So that it can begin to feel the pain of its own resistance and the promise that next time it won't be like that. Isn't that second nature to say I learned from the event? How about this? It's second nature to be disengaged. Second gauge, Second gauge, Second nature. To only be as interested in others and in their life as is profitable to do so in that moment. See, We don't want to look at that. Why? Because the part of us that even considers it says, Well, What kind of person am I? And then you don't understand. Only second nature asks, What kind of person am I? Because second nature judges, That's its nature. And by the way, Second nature always judges the very nature that it acts out and uses you to do so. Isn't it second nature to live with resentments? You can lay in bed in the morning and wake up with someone you resent. Yes, John, Second nature to resist, Of course. Second nature to fight. Wonder why? Not find out what this reaction is, But wonder why that condition is the way it is. And then second nature to try to figure out what to do about that condition instead of real first nature. I'm going to explore this. I want to understand it. Yes, Debbie, Second nature to lie. Should you apologize to another human being for your second nature. Let me come back to that, But I'll answer right now. That may or may not be good. If you know that you have done something and you are sincerely. And this is the thing, You see, If I get into this, I won't have time. It is second nature for us to be insincere because we seek an outcome as second nature always will. I want to smooth things over. That's second nature. I have to go on. We'll get to this. So here we are, Can we see? That we live with an unquestioned second nature because we never see the second nature as it mechanically expresses itself. This is a transition. And if you are listening to this and you feel any form of, Oh my God, It seems so hopeless, It's true second nature, What am I going to do? Whenever you feel hopeless, It's second nature. Whenever you feel despair at second nature. But what happens is when you feel hopeless or despair or powerless, What happens is that that nature shows you all the reasons why you have to feel that way, Instead of you looking directly face to face. Short story to summarize all this. Two brothers. First and last, So to speak. And the first of them comes to the older brother. And he says, I've put this off, But I can't do it anymore. So I look at you and I. Even though you're quiet, You don't announce yourself, But I know that you have a life that if I would give anything just to know a little bit of what it's like to be able to sit quietly by myself. Not have to run and do and get and be and do all the things that I'm always doing to somehow or other hide from myself what I can't hide anymore. He said, I don't know what to do. He said, I've developed, I've developed this terrible habit. And I'll leave that to you, This terrible habit of thinking about myself, Of drinking, Of drugging, Of eating, Of planning, Of rushing. You, Phil, And I have developed this terrible habit, And I don't know how to break it. You know, When you understand before you engage in any relationship. That if you're not watchful, If you're not the charioteer, If you're not that yoke, If you're not that light that comes into that moment, Wanting to understand the moment that you are going to participate in. If you come into that moment without understanding prior to entering into it, That second nature is going to want to run it. Then you will have been asleep going into that moment because second nature was running your mind prior to going in. Second nature always plans the outcome. Your real nature doesn't need to plan outcome at all other than at a practical level. So the younger brothers, I don't know how to break the habit. Now take a deep breath. Because this is the. . . This is the exercise. And it's so simple that no one. No one thinks to do it. Because second nature, When it considers doing it, Can't stand the idea of what the experience will be if it actually does. The older brother says, There's a solution to this. The younger brother says, Whoa, Wow. What's the solution? The older brother says. Just look! Two words, Just look. The younger brother says, Just look, Look at what? Just look at yourself. Just look. Yourself. The Younger Brothers immediately, Second nature, Defensive. But I have! I do. You know this voice. Older Brothers says no. Just look at yourself. Patiently. There should be, And there cannot be, That I should not be what I'm looking at. I should not see these things. I ought not be this kind of person. What's wrong with me that this is inside of me? What happened that I'm filled with it? And that is not just looking. Just look, See yourself patiently. And Jill, You can add the words with curiosity, But if you understand this talk, You don't need to try to be curious. Because you've seen what happens to you leading up to that moment. Just look at yourself. See that any form of resistance to what you see in yourself Any form of resistance to what you see in yourself is second nature, Is the reaction of this second nature. Look! Into the mirror of yourself. Of the moment. Now, You will begin to understand if you even attempt this. That nothing in you wants to come to a stop. And just look. Because I'm already filled with this anxiety. I'm already, What do I do? How do I fix this? Where do I go? How do I get rid of this restlessness inside of myself? This disturbance. Just look. Because when you're rushing and feeling disturbed, You can't rush and feel disturbed without the mind having created an object from something that triggered the past, Brought that, Ah, There's the problem, Must get to the end of it. This nature, Second nature doesn't know it is the stone in the shoe. The soul takes the shoe off and recognizes it, Takes the stone out, Understands its nature. But here's the rub. And this is from an old Chinese. Like what first century, I don't know, Shims, I don't know, Here's this. Quotation. Good medicine tastes bitter to the mouth. But is beneficial for the illness. Honest advice grates on the ear, But is beneficial for conduct. Good medicine tastes bitter to the mouth, But it is beneficial for the illness. Honest advice grates on the ear, But is beneficial for conduct. So what is that saying? It's saying that what I need. I don't want the taste of it. When I need to hear, I'm not interested in. Why? Because second nature wants whatever the sweetness is it imagines it will make it satisfactory. And it only wants to hear what is flattering to the images it has of itself. Bring up the second key lesson, Kate, Please. Read along with me. Never be in a hurry to swallow a big pill. You might choke on it. Never be in a hurry to swallow a big pill. You might choke on it. Second nature is always in a hurry. When am I going to be free? How long do I have to face myself, Look at myself? How long do I have to go through this pain? I don't want any more pain. And that's how it prescribes for itself a place and time when it won't be troubled anymore. Never be in a hurry to swallow a big pill, That medicine that heals. Begins with seeing what it is that's creating the pain. And it's not the world out there that's creating the pain. The world out there is revealing the consciousness that has created the world that you see, And that that second nature resists its own manifestation and calls that intelligence. Never be in a hurry. Just look. And then bring yourself and just look again. And look face-to-face like St. Paul said. So that now I see directly. I don't look at what my thought is telling me I am. I don't look at what my reaction is saying may or may not be. I look at the thought. I look at the reaction. I see the nature that generates it. Just look in the moment. Into the mirror of this self. Face it. Face it, That's it. Everything else is falderoy. Every teaching that ever existed is all predicated on this one idea, That within you is a light that doesn't fear the shadow of the second nature. And understands all second nature can do is create shadows of itself that it calls real, And then spend its time using your life trying to bring about a kingdom of heaven as it imagines when everything that second nature does is hell. Just look. Got it? Because we'll open it up for a few minutes now for Q&A if you would like to bring up anything that's on your mind. Now's a good time. Let's see what we've got. A higher understanding exists in me now of the importance of the necessity of the marriage. Thank you for this talk. Yes, That's what we're talking about. That's what we're talking about. If I see clearly, Then I see face to face. I'm not looking at what is, What might be, What should be, What shouldn't have been. I'm seeing the fact of what is, Which means I'm seeing the fact of the nature. And that's the task. It always has been the task. Anne wrote, Yes, But once I see the games and stop playing out my patterns, Things get so boring, Even though it hurts, I still feel pain is giving me meaning. And I know there's other ways of being that void yet. You know, Anne, I'm going to talk about that in depth tomorrow. And the week following, I'm going to go into great depth. Because what she's saying and anybody that's worked on themselves know, You know what, I look at the games, I can see second nature. And then I, Like the charioteer, Like the yoke. Like the girl, The consciousness that has to choose and feed the good wolf, Not the bad one. So I'm left there. And it seems like there's no food. It seems like there's no nourishment. All there is, Is this great big, Vast void in which I don't know what to do with myself. That's because second nature is addicted to stimulation. That's what second nature is, Is a sense of self derived from endless stimulation. That's what second nature is. It is what Christ called mammon. It is an insatiable appetite. That's what second nature is. It doesn't exist without an object that it creates, Desires, And then tries to consume. That's what second nature is. So second nature, When you begin to become, Want to see it face to face, When I'm going to look directly at this nature, That's so agitated. When I look directly into the face of agitation, It can't carry on because the game is up. The jig is up, So to speak. I see it. And if you stay with it, You will see, You'll understand because now I know that that's not the nature that's agitated, Isn't agitated because something out there has agitated it. It's agitated because it's not getting what it needs to satisfy itself the way it imagines it must be satisfied. So I have to learn to sit there. I have to pull back on the reins of the dark horse. I have to pull the bulb of whatever that bitterness is that I feed the wolf. I have to take it away. So that when I stop feeding this second nature, Then something begins to happen. And I know, Ann, That is exactly what it feels like, Cold turkey. That's why I said don't be in a herd. Don't try to swallow a big pill. Because all you'll do is disappoint yourself. I can't swallow the pill. Of course you can't swallow the pill. It's not meant to be swallowed at once. You couldn't do it anyway. But Second Nation will judge you. So see, You can't do this. And loves that. Nothing can stop you from looking patiently into yourself, Into the totality of the moment. And David, Yes, When you just look, You don't have to try to forgive yourself or anyone else. Imagine for a moment, I hope you were with me when the story started, Imagine the TikTok grandfather clock. Blaming the blender for being a machine, One day, By the grace of God, Somehow or other, Suddenly wakes up. He realized, Oh my God. I hated that machine. I blame that machine. I hated it for the noise it made. I can never forgive it for agitating me the way it did. And then, Oh my God, The grandfather clock realized, Oh, It was just a machine. It couldn't do anything other than that. And because it sees that in itself, It sees that in everything that it looks upon. Then it doesn't need forgiveness because it dies to the nature that feels like it was hurt or punished by someone else because of they were a machine. Machines blame machines. Machines hate machines. Love doesn't hate. Love doesn't have to forgive. Forgiveness is in place in love because it's already married to and understands face to face that which it is. Formerly felt separate from. I hope that helps answer that. Sophie, What Anne is saying is why so many What Anne is saying is why people watch so many violent and disturbing movies. In part, Absolutely. You've heard the expression, Any port in a storm? For this nature, Any distraction from the agitation of being forever dissatisfied is good enough. So I distract myself. It distracts itself, Taking me with it. By just from its own distraction. And then one day you'll start to see, Wait a minute. This dissatisfaction. That I keep distracting myself from. Can't be escaped. It's the nature, It's the snake that bites the woman that saves it. And as you see that with greater and greater clarity, You don't do anything. You just stop believing in the snake, In the divided nature. You just begin to understand. Really, There's really nothing left for me to do but just look. The mind grows quiet on its own because it's not allowing second nature to tell it where to go and what to look for to bring an end to its dissatisfaction. So second nature creates apologies. Yes. I've just run out of time, Guys. I gotta go. Do your work. Just look.

Reviews

Thank you so much for this delightful opportunity to loosen some of those tight, crystallised patterns a bit. The way you weave strands of physical objects into the tapestry of spiritual revelation is phenomenal.

Thank you for providing clarity of this 2nd nature.

Thank you 🙏🏻