The Inside Story About Negative Reactions GF Live 10-03-26

Any anxious reaction over what "might be" is the instantaneous manifestation of the painful experience we hope to avoid.
There is NO choice we can make to resolve the illusion of some negative reaction telling us we must choose, or lose! Hoping to change any experience after the fact of it…is like yelling at an echo, hoping you can stop it from repeating itself.
Summary Key Lesson #4: Negative reactions appear without asking for permission; but it is powerless to remain within us without our becoming identified with its story. When we remain aware of both reaction and rationalization for it, we enter the dragon where we discover it is as unreal as the fearful sense of self it lives to create.

Transcript

I have a. . . Kind of long story to tell you today. And I hope that you like. Stories that have happy endings and that are filled with important meaning as regards your wish to have a different kind of life because that's what our story is going to do for us. So I think we'll just kind of get into it now. Kate, If you will, Let's bring up the talk title and then we will. Get started. As you can see, And by the way, As I always prefer if possible when I ask that. Are you following me? The talk title is Get the Inside Story About Negative Reactions. And set yourself free. And just for one moment before we get into the. . . Real introduction. Just for a second. As best you can. Collect yourself. And you tell me. How different would your life be now? And how different do you think it? Can be. If you were. Capable in the moment. When along comes some negative reaction and it begins to tell you who you are and what you can do and why things are the way they are and how different your life would be if you were able to discern in that moment the fact of that reaction and instead of. . . Becoming a prisoner of what it tells you has happened. You can actually use its presence to release you. How different do you think your life would be? That's what we're going to look at today, And by the way, Tomorrow. Where we will examine this subject. A little more deeply. So here we go. I'm assuming most of you know who Mark Twain was. Was Brilliant author. And he said, I've lived through some terrible moments in my life. And some of them actually happened. I've always loved that. I've lived through some terrible moments in life and some of them actually happened. And I think most of us know. And have a laugh at that, Would you agree that that's kind of funny? Terrible moments and some of them actually happened? I mean, How many times have we suffered over something that never actually happened as we imagined it would? And then find out later that it didn't happen, But having paid the toll. The terrible toll of having surrendered our life over to that reaction. Realized, Boy, That didn't have to be like that. And there's another story like this, I'll just cover it ever quickly. I think it's a fable, One of Aesop's, But I don't know. Back in the day, They had these castles that were enclosed by great walls and inside those great walls, The people lived protected by the king. And one day at the gate, The great gate where two guards always stood. They, Lo and behold, They look up and they see death coming, You know, With the scepter and the hood and all that business. And the guard asks, What are you doing? Why have you come here? And death says to the guard, I've come to collect a soul. And the guards, You know, You're not going to interfere with the timing of one's story, Whoever it may be, No matter what, Even the king. And so death enters. That evening passes and the next morning. As death is leaving, The guard stops and says, You know, I thought you said you came to collect a single soul. And Des says, Well, That's what I came to do. And the guard says, Well, I heard that overnight about 22 people died. And death says, Well, That may be the case, But. Really, The truth is most of those people, All of those people, Save for the one that I came to collect, Died from their own anxious, Fearful reaction. I like that story, I hope that you do too, Because it indicates that Some things are going to happen and some things happen. Because whether we know it, We're involved in their creation and what happens to us as a result. Everybody got that much? If so, Kate, Let's bring up the first key lesson, Please. It helps us understand those two little introductory stories. First key lesson reads. Any anxious reaction over what might be is the instantaneous manifestation of the painful experience we hope to avoid. See it, Any anxious reaction we have over what might be is the instantaneous manifestation of the painful experience we hope to avoid. The people inside the castle walls died because they had this anxious reaction that was telling them that death had come for them when it hadn't. And so they actually made true the thing that wouldn't have been if they hadn't been captured by their own reactions. So I'm asking you. First, Can you see that that in fact happens? And if you can. . . Are we able to look at the difference between the simple appearance? Of a reaction and all reactions are simple in their appearance. And the creation of a self. A sense of self that becomes the captive of that simple reaction. Because if we can look at this deeply enough and just explore the fact of this, We'll see. That maybe it's possible for us to have this kind of fearful reaction without becoming the victim of it. Possibility of experiencing a fearful, Anxious, Angry reaction, Yet without becoming the victim of it. Wouldn't that be something? And I'm telling you that that is possible and we're going to study it now and then again tomorrow. So let's take a real time example. Someone speaks dismissively to you. You're watching the news and somebody says something and it just sets you off. You tell me what happens. In an instant, Literally, There is a flash of heat. There's a knee-jerk impulse to go on the defense. And on the heels of that knee jerk, Impulse, We start to hear familiar voices. The voices are doing what? They're explaining this disturbance. You've heard these voices, You know, He's so respectful. He's always like that. Why are they doing this? I should have said something in that moment. And next time by God, I will. Do you know those voices? That attend that reaction. So that in a heartbeat, Literally to what may be five, 10 words. That reaction becomes the center of our entire experience. That reaction becomes the center of our entire experience. And if you can see it, I hope you'll be honest. You can spend a day, A decade. Some people spend a whole lifetime blaming the world or the experience or the person who supposedly put you there in that terrible place, In that pain. And that becomes the center of a human being's existence. They don't think it's true, But we return to the center, The most common center, Every time we meet some conflict we don't know what to do with. It is a default. Center that we that we become immediately involved in in an unconscious fashion. So what's the point here? Yes, Words were spoken. Things happened. Terrible things happened. There's no question about it. And because the words were spoken and we see terrible things, The reaction is real. No one's questioning that. What we're looking at together is the fact. Of that reaction, The source of the suffering. Is the fact of that simple reaction, The fact of the long story, The long lived suffering involved in it. Do you follow the question? Here's the reaction. The reaction takes place. And then my life will be centered without knowing it over and over again on something that I'm drawn back to that that reaction created and now has become literally the map of my action. The reaction's real, Is the fact. Of that reaction. The real source of our suffering or has something unseen in us. Taken the disturbance of this temporary negative reaction. I know that's a mind blower for most people. All negative reactions are over the instant that they have taken place. For us, Negative reactions never come to an end because something in us reacts to that disturbance, Make something out of that disturbance known to the condition nature, And then continues on and on and on with that reaction, Believing that it's connected to what? Whatever it was that seemed to cause it. So this temporary negative reaction, Is furnished. A good word actually, Is furnished with a history. And when it's furnished with a history from our conditioned past. With that history comes a plan for retribution. And in that same moment is created a very stressed sense of self that must act now or otherwise face the consequences inherent in what that reaction is saying is going to happen if that nature, If we don't do something about it. Ready for a first transition if you are following me so far. So I want to say it again. Of course painful events happen. We're not asking whether or not painful events happen. We're asking whether or not. Our reaction that we are having to those moments. Is actually telling us the whole truth about that moment. That's all we're asking. We never question our reaction, The truthfulness of it. Because it instantaneously wraps us up in a kind of a cocoon that says, This is for sure, This is certain. Therefore, The conclusion we've reached is a fact. I'm saying maybe, And we're going to look at together, We might be able to see that our reaction is not the truth of the moment, But rather belongs to a level of self. That requires that truth in quotes so that it can act to save itself from the visitation of whatever that dragon or death it might be that has shown up. And if we can't make this distinction, And I'm asking whether we will or not. If we can't make this distinction, What hope is there other than we will start to realize the content of that reaction we're having tells us the meaning of the moment. So that there's no meaning for us. On the heels of this reaction, Other than what this conditioned nature is telling us is the reality of that moment and our life. This is a very important point to see. We wonder why we feel limited or boxed in. We're not boxed in by life. We're boxed in by a nature that sees life, Interprets it the way it does from its past, And then makes a prison from its own reactions without knowing it does so. If you're still with me, I'm going to go on. Another example. Have you ever been with your husband, Your wife, One of your children's, Maybe an office worker, And you're having this conversation, Things are kind of copacetic and all of a sudden, This person, For lack of a better word. Uses an unfamiliar tone. I think in the world they say they triggered us. They raised their voice. They got low, Whatever. And an unfamiliar tone. Now I want to ask a question. When someone uses an unfamiliar tone with you, What happens inside of you. And I leave it rhetorical, I start getting tense. I don't recognize that. That's not part of the script. That's not how it's supposed to go. And so before we know it's happening. This condition reaction starts racing through us. Carried as it is along by very familiar voices that are not just asking questions, Listen, Not just asking questions that we ourselves did not pose. But they're accusative questions like, Why did she say that? What's wrong with him? Try to see this. Here's the reaction. Do you not have a kind of spontaneous, Movement. Were there's a question being asked? And it seems to us because we identify so instantaneously with the question that we're asking the question and I'm asking you to see. If the question comes up and I didn't know I asked it, What's my responsibility to answer it? And we'll see none, But this is the main point right now. So here comes this question. And here comes this, This, Uh, Yeah, That, Yeah. Well, How, Why, And all that. And then comes the voices with that question that starts to give us the answers to our own question. Like, Why did he do that? Oh, I know why he did that. He's always been that way. Where is this leading? Well, We've been here before. It's probably going to go down the same road. Do you see this dynamic with me? And if you can see it, Each and every one of these answers. That is produced. From a question from the first reaction does what? Each answer produces another reaction. Like, What, Does this mean she doesn't like me? I wonder if other people noticed that my face dropped. I mean, What do I do now to make sure that I never have to go through this again? We know these questions. They're daily visitors. And we know the answers that come because they always validate the sense of self that felt threatened by that tone. So I'm trying to show you there is this circle that's going on where this initial disturbance, If you will, This initial reaction actually branches literally into a tree of troubles. And the more we struggle to resolve the conflict inherent in this tangle of reactions and their resolutions, The greater grows what? This sense of myself. That only came into existence because something one way or the other is so habitually, Uh, Quick to identify with the first reaction. It never sees how it's handed off. And how it's washed downstream. Trying to escape a suffering. That didn't exist until this nature told you why you're having this reaction and what to do about it. And listen to me, Cause this is, Even if I don't get to it. No reaction understands itself. Nothing, Any reaction will ever tell you about itself is about itself. It is from a self trying to explain to itself what that reaction was about. Are you following me? Crucial. So this brings us to a big. Transition. Take a nice deep breath. This is where this exploration has led us. And I want you, I do, I want you to think and experience along with me. Have you ever gone out in the sun? And suddenly. You hear a voice that says, God, I am hot. Ha ha ha. It doesn't say, This is hot. It says, I am hot. Have you heard that voice? Winter come, Man, I am cold. Is heat who you are? Is who you are, Is cold? Or is hot and cold the reaction of a body? That Jen talks to you. And as it feeds you with that thought, Man, Am I hot? Boy, Am I cold? As it gives you that connected to the very statement and the identification with it is this trail of conclusions and decisions that you have to make. I better buy a better air conditioner. I'm never going outside again, Whatever it might be. So I'm asking is, Is, Is that heat? You or is it just a sensation? Have you ever, Have you ever? Have you ever been someplace and bit, Bit, Bit, Taken a bite of something bitter? And suddenly you're filled with the taste of that bit. Does that, Does a bite of something bitter make you a bitter person? No, It doesn't. So if you can see this parallel with me, I'm asking, Is it possible that I could feel that you could feel the heat of some angry reaction, Feel the taste, The bitterness of some regret. The angry sensation of some reaction without saying I to it. Because it's the exact parallel. We say, Aye. To these reactions. Because there is something in us that instantaneously takes on the identity of whatever the voice is from that unconscious nature that recognizes what that condition is, And then goes on to continue its story, Its action through you and I, Without us ever understanding we have been quite literally taken over like the invasion of the body snatchers. Which is why that's an archetype that we fear so much. It happens every day a thousand times to us. So I'm asking if we can see this possibility, Can you see the possibility? Look, You say, God, I'm hot. You know, You are not heat. But we say, God, Am I angry? You don't know you're not anger itself. Meaning that who you are is not that anger, But you become that anger when you embrace it through identifying with that reaction and every place it goes from that point forward. If you see this with me, I'm going to get into a story. I have a long story to tell you. So once upon a time in a far away galaxy, Far, Far away, There was a young squire. Who aspired to become a knight. This is a. . . A real time. Phenomena back in the day. Where a young man aspires, A young woman aspires to become. Someone. Who they see. Has nobility. Courage. Honesty. Cleanliness. And this young squire wants to be like this particular knight and ask if he can work with him. And the knight says, Of course you can. He said, Your timing is good. I'm on my way to a small kingdom that is being terrorized by a huge dragon. I wish I had all the time in the world to just elaborate the story. Can you see the look on the face of the young squire who had visions of rescuing a maiden someplace and now he's told there's a dragon that he's going to go with the night to anyway. The knight goes on to say every attempt to drive this monster away has failed. And worse, Honestly, He says, Because the stories have it. That every time someone or something challenges this evil dragon, The thing just swells up. And the more it's challenged, The bigger it gets, The bigger it gets, The more fire it breathes. And in order to breathe more fire, Its dark maw has to open up wider and wider so that when it's not actually breathing fire, It's inhaling, It's swallowing livestock, People, Whole towns. It sounds like an exaggeration, But let's bring you in immediately. Every time you try to drive away the reaction or escape it, Doesn't it get bigger? Yes or no? Make the connection. So they travel together in the squire, Watches. And sure enough, Here comes this enormous dragon. Dripping evil. And a few people run out as their want to do and try to challenge it. And as they do, The dragon gets bigger. Swallows them up, The knight standing there. And then the squire sees something he can't quite understand. The knight drops his sword, Puts down his shield, And takes out of his leather vest a small candle and lights it. Squire, What are you doing? Knight says, Be still. Watch and learn. So the dragon sensing the night starts to come closer. The night starts to move closer to the dragon as it does, The dragon getting bigger and more flames, Smoke. And it opens its enormous mouth. And just as it opens its enormous mouth, The squire can't believe his eyes. And you wouldn't believe your eyes either if you could see it. The knight leaps inside the mouth. You getting the picture? Oh my god! Boy that was a quick job the squire sticky. I picked an idiot. But no more than does that thought pass through him. Then the dragon emits this terrible roar. And a moment or two later. The dragon begins to dissolve. Like it just starts to fall apart in pieces. And as it does, This. Billowy smoke comes out of it, And when the smoke passes, Who do you think is standing there holding that little candle? It's the night. I mean, Have you ever had the, What did I just see? How did you not die? Where did the dragon go? Just like that, All these thoughts and feelings running through the squire and he speaks them in some Imagine, No the dragon doesn't win. Knight's brushing himself off. And he explains to the squire what I'm explaining to you. No such evil dragon. Exists. That is not the manifested will of some dark wizard. And he continues. Telling the squire? The dragon is made to look exactly like. . . What we fear it can do. The dragon is made to look exactly like what we fear it can do. And our belief in its appearance and our belief in its appearance, Our reaction to its appearance is what empowers it to do the evil that it does. You should go back and listen to that a hundred times. It's made to look exactly like what we fear it can do. And our belief in that appearance, Which is a projection of our own consciousness, That reaction is what empowers it to do the evil that it does. The truth is, The night goes on, That dragon possesses no power of its own. None. The squire goes, But I saw its teeth. Thank you. Knight says slow your roll. They didn't have that language in those days. I've always wanted to say that. Slow your roll. What you saw the night goes on. What you saw as is true of everything involved when a dragon attacks. Is exactly what the dark wizard knew you would be looking for. What you saw is exactly what the dark wizard knew you would be looking for. And the night goes on. Its power is, And has never been anything more than the reaction you and the people who fear dragons live in the moment it appears. Because when it appears, The wizard knows that you are looking for certain things in, From your path, Knows that you are going to be, Um, Rolled over by a reaction. And that as that reaction takes place, That will make the dragon real. And you will run for your life like you always do, Or you will try to slay it using the very tools that strengthen the reaction and your fear of it. If you're still following me, I'll go on with the story. So the squire, You know, Look, The squire is like you and I. And with all due respect. He's not that sharp yet. The squire is kind of shaking his head. He gets the drift of this. And he says to the knight, Well. . . What does the wizard get out of this weird arrangement? And the knight looks at him, He says, I understand you don't understand yet that what the wizard gets is he feeds on the fearful reactions of the people. That he threatens with the drag. He feeds on the fearful reactions. You and I breaking into the story do not see. That when we have an angry, Frightened, Irritated, Worried, Anxious reaction, We think because we don't want it proves that something in us actually doesn't want that. What we can't see is that we wouldn't keep rolling through it unless something were being nourished by that resistance. So the wizard, This unconscious mind, Feeds on resistance. And the dragon grows accordingly. So the squares is. . . He feeds on the fear. Of the people. Oh, Why? I mean, I don't get it. Where's the reciprocity in that? Knight says to me, Try to see it. I'm trying to show you. He says he uses that energy to continue manifesting the dragon. How do you think he has the power to manifest that which as it appears produces in you the fear? Unless the fear that you are reacting with feeds that wizard, That unconscious nature, So that it can continue and create the next iteration of that evil dragon. I'm trying to show you a circle if you can see it with me. Now the squire is kind of getting it, And I can see by some of the notes here that you're following me, That the squire goes, Well, All right. What happens next? It's done. The wizard has been slain! You did it! Will he leave this area alone now? Will he leave us alone? With the dragon, The knight looks at the wizard at the choir, And he says, Slow your roll. It's not that easy. Not that easy, Why? He said, Because the dragon isn't the wizard. That comes later. All the wizard is going to do is conjure up another dragon. How many times have you thought you overcame the condition only to find out that the condition may be resolved, But the nature that reacts to similar circumstances is still there conjuring up reactions, Still bringing up dragons. Yes. Do you see it with me? So the squire says, Well, Why? Why is that what the wizard does? This is what you always wanted to know, Why? And here's the answer you don't want. The knight says to the, Why? He said, That's all the wizard can do. That's all the wizard knows how to do. It can't do anything else. Well, If you can see this with me, The squire says, Well, Then I'm going to lose my mind. What exactly did we win here today? The night. Maintaining his is proper. Interior stance. Not cruelly, Not judging, With a slight wry smile says to the squire, Well, I think you have the wrong question. You say, What did we win here? We didn't win anything. Aren't you always trying to win? Wh-wh-wh-wh-what happened then? Nothing if you haven't gained some new deeper understanding about the nature of dragons that you didn't have before. And the squire's having the same problem most aspirants do for years and years and years. I don't get it. How does understanding the nature of the dragon defeat the dragon? Which is what, Asks the squire, What deeper understanding? In the night. Slows down as best he can. And he says to the squire, Self-knowledge. Is the real sword, Shield, And armor of the knight that you hope to be. So that the next dragon you encounter, If you understand that, Will only be as frightening to you as you are forgetful of all that you were shown and went through today. And it continues each time we see. Even suspect that what makes the dragon, That negative reaction, Look and feel so real. Is no more or less than what your reaction made out of it. Let's do it again. Once you suspect that what makes that dragon look so dangerous is no more or less than what your own reaction made out of it, The more willing you will be to set down your sword and your shield and to take out the candle, This light of understanding. And when it opens its mouth, Instead of running from it, You'll jump into it. You will take that little light. And I didn't have time to look this up. Bruce Lee was a master in many, Many ways. And there was a most famous film, Enter the Dragon. I started thinking when I was working on this talk, I think that's what actually that title meant. Enter into the moment that seems greater than your capacity to deal with it, And you will be shown that the moment that you're afraid of is your reaction, Not the reality. But that if you make your reaction the reality, You will be overcome before you even engage in that moment itself. The more willing you are to leap into its mouth. That's just the antithesis of what we do, Isn't it? I'm going to be, I feel like I'm being swallowed up and that happens. We're not making light of this. I feel like I'm being swallowed up by this depression. I feel like I'm being swallowed up by what a hypocrite I am. So my own judgment is consuming me, But I don't see that there can't be a judgment without a wizard and that dragon that it produces that drags you into this unseen self love. So the squire's listening and he's. . . I mean, I saw you do it. I saw you. Jump into that mouth with just a candle. God, He said, That seems. . . Thank you. You have to understand, The squares is that seems so drastic. And the good knight says to the squire, There is only one way to slay. This order of dragon, And that is from within it. There is only one way to slay this order of dragon, This nature that reacts to what is a natural reaction. A natural reaction that is by and large incidentally a revelation. Of this engagement between the life divine and this self that needs to be harmonized. That's what you are leaping into is the revelation. Not into what you think has been revealed or how you can resolve it. But into the totality of that moment in time. So that the only way that happens is that you have to jump into the mouth that ordinarily you are miserable the moment appears and wants to run. Let's make a transition. I don't want to run out of time. The dragon here, If you haven't understood, Represents what we make out of any reaction that we don't want. Or any reaction we can't avoid. That's the dragon. It's not the initial reaction. And as we are now and the purpose of all truth schools, All wisdom teachings. Is that we, As we are, We know almost nothing about this second reaction. Save for what that negative experience tells us has happened. So that all we know about this reaction that we have that we don't want. What we think is the experience of the moment. It's not the experience of the moment you don't want. It's the experience of your own reaction that you're resisting. Imagine I'm resisting the experience of my own reaction. Where can that go? And the answer is nowhere. But so pervasive is that moment of that second reaction. And it's pervasive because it punishes. Something literally can be yelling at you, But you hear it as, I can't take this. I gotta get away. Or I've got to pick something up and fight back. I've got to attack back, Do something about this pain, About this heat before it swallows me up. Failing to see that everything you've ever done to escape that reaction to any unwanted moment ensures that not only will you meet that moment again, But you'll be less prepared than you were the first time, Unless you understand a talk like this. And work at what this talk is trying to convey. So that the next time this happens. Someone cuts you off on the street or in a conversation. And immediately comes up what? A reaction that's filled with irritation. Now listen. This is subtle. The reaction itself. Is not filled with irritation. The irritation is the second reaction. That is rejecting the revelation of this consciousness disturbed. So that something literally can reveal to you and I in the awareness of that nature. How that wizard and dragon are in a. . . Cooperative relationship creating over and over again this second reaction. That as it unfolds, Makes the reaction, Makes the moment bigger and bigger, Making a mountain out of a molehill, Making a dragon out of a mouse. That moment that you see that, That's the cue. And what's the cue? Enter the dragon. You can actually catch yourself. One day you will. You'll actually catch yourself looking around for a weapon, Looking around for a thought. To that nature, Its thoughts are weapons. And then those thoughts become actions. And then we find ourselves doing this and going there. But the fact is that it immediately looks for a weapon, A thought with which to slay the dragon when the dragon itself doesn't exist apart from the thinking that has created it. So instead of saying I to that reaction, Which we do instantaneously. We work. We enter the dragon. What does it mean? I enter into the revelation. Not into my consternation, Not into my dedication to not be like that. All that's crud. No, I enter directly as best I can. I give the fullness of my attention. To the totality of the moment. And the moment isn't divided up the way the mind makes it look. Where this causes that. Opposites appear at the same time and they create a new conception. But for us, Instead of something new being created, Born out of a new understanding, Instead, The continuation of that wizard and its dragon-like creations just rolls on down the hill until you see the world going to hell in a handbasket the way it does now. Everybody trying to defeat somebody else's dragon that they blame for the fire they feel. To enter the mouth of the dragon means to lay down the sword, Lay down the shield. And enter into the reaction and the sense of self that comes from it inside of that experience. I'm going to say it again, Enter the dragon means to go inside the experience, Not inside what you want or don't want, Not inside what you think is outside of you and needs to be put in its proper place, Inside the experience itself, Which takes no thought, Only within the awareness of that reaction as it unfolds, The heat of it, The violence in it. All of the explanations that come with it, That none of that is I. None of it. Kate, Bring up the second key lesson, Please. Read along with me. There is no choice we can make to resolve the illusion of some negative reaction telling us we must choose or lose. Hoping to change any experience after the fact of it? Is like yelling at an echo, Hoping you can stop it from repeating itself. Hoping to change any experience, The nature of any reaction after the fact of it, Is like yelling at an echo, Hoping you can stop it from repeating itself. Surely you can see the insanity of that, Right? Yet we don't see how crazy it is to try to bring a conclusion to a reaction by being picked up by a reaction itself that tells us what needs to be done. Listen as best you can. Become as attentive as you can when that negative reaction comes in. Notice. I can feel this tension. But now I'm going to attend to the nature that's intention. Intention. Instead of giving my attention to what my mind is saying, This is the cause of your anxiety. It doesn't know. Listen to those voices trying to rally you. Because that's what the voices do. They try to rally you, Tempting you to do what? To step into the position that it calls out as needed to win the battle at hand. This should not be happening to me. That's the overall feeling anytime there's an unwanted moment. And you believe when it says this shouldn't be happening to me, That it's describing the circumstance you're in. It's not describing the circumstance. You're listening to a level of consciousness hide itself. You're looking at the wizard busily conjuring up the dragon and believing that as the dragon grows, That some or other, You have to do something about how big it's getting. And the more you try to do, The bigger it gets. Bring up the next key lesson, Please, Kate, The third key lesson. No description of a moment constitutes I, Any more than reading a cookbook makes you a master chef. No description of a moment constitutes I any more than reading a cookbook makes you a master chef. This wizard constantly comes up with new descriptions that it knows as it brings that to bear will deliver you into some form of resistance to some past condition. Oh no, I don't want that. And there you have the wizard and dragon producing this fear, That follows us everywhere we go because we don't understand what's taking place. We don't understand the anatomy of that negative reaction. So when the next reaction comes, As it will and must. You must work to remember. As best you can to use the occasion. To use the occasion to take that little candle, That little bit of light that you've got that made you first aware of that reaction and use it to enter into the totality of that experience. This is called entering the dragon. And here's the summary key lesson that we will close the talk with. If you will, Please, Kate. Negative reactions appear without asking for permission. But it is powerless. They are powerless to remain within us without our becoming identified with their story. A negative reaction appears without asking for permission. But it's powerless to remain in us until and unless we become identified with its story, When we remain aware of both reaction and rationalization for it. When we remain aware of both reaction and the rationalization for it, We enter the dragon, Where we discover it is as unreal. As the fearful sense of self that it lives to create. In us. We must do more than. . . We must do more than find consolation in the words. Saying so. There are parts of us that live. Knowing. That the big bad wolf is right outside the door. And we only go out and enter into things that we think we can control or change. That's not freedom. And the sense of self derived out of that fear will never bring you to a solution. The solution is to enter the dragon. To put down the sword and shield and pick up the light that is within you. That you don't have to look for. And go into it. See the experience can't be separated from the nature of the reaction that describes it. And then change your relationship to that reaction and you change everything.