You are on page 1of 76

11

Value
Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 1 Lesson 1 relates to the essence of value: what it means to value something and what creates a value. In the previous discussions associated with the Sea of Capricorn, mind was seen as the Builder, and this builder known as mind constructed various experiences and structures where entities could effectively express themselves. In this series of readings in the Sea of Aquarius, the concerns will be associated with that action known as society and social values. This to include also personal values, social values, cultural values, and those universal values. In looking at the concepts of values and meaning in ones life, the question must be asked: What is a meaningful value, and why do we value certain things over others? In order to better understand this phenomena known as values, which on your plane has given purpose and meaning to the lives of many, or which has brought death and destruction to the lives of many, this concept known as values which rules the societies and individuals and which motivates and moves energies in a society; this concept known as values which has its effect of creating physical manifestations according to its own nature and particular value quality; this concept of value as that which, associated with the quality of life, is in essence the heart of the life experience. In understanding ones values, one may enter the heart of ones life and follow and see where the life energy is being pumped. This Awareness wishes at this time to take entities on a journey: that this as entering into that which may he termed a space ship, where the entity moves very quickly and the ship leaves and accelerates through time and space to an unknown destiny. As you move through time and space to this far-off distant place, you find yourself experiencing great expectation and anxiety as to where you are going, what you will find and what the purpose of your journey might be. As you move in and approach a particular planet, you find the ship moving somewhat

613

Who, In Fact, You Really Are out of control, being controlled not by your guidance, but by some other force that propels you in spite of your own desire not to land on this planet at this time, at this speed. Suddenly there is a shock, and you find yourself in a kind of hospital with strangers around you. You have no memory of who you are, where you came from, what you are here for, or what your purpose is, or where you are located. In fact, you have no memory of your name, or your family, or your background whatsoever. You have only consciousness and life, and a physical body, and you have a surrounding of entities who are moving about, occasionally looking at you or attending to your needs. At this point, if you were to ask yourself, What do I value, you would have a very difficult time answering the question, for you do not know who you are, where you are from, where you are going, or what your purposes might be: therefore, you have very little sense of value or meaning, even to yourselfyet these entities are caring for you as though, for some reason, they valued your life. You ask yourself, Who am I? Where am I going? What am I here for? But no answer comes. You then must presume that you have amnesia or have lost your memory. Therefore, when the nurse appears close to you, you seek to ask this question of her, but find yourself unable to speak; you simply stare and receive the services that are given. This continues for many months until eventually you are able to move about, and you find yourself gradually learning to speak in a language, using words that you have heard them speak, words that you have heard in connection with certain actions of things. These words are spoken very carefully, after much observation on your part, where you have learned the word that calls your nurse to comfort you when necessary. That word which calls your nurse being that known as Mama. As you speak Mama, the nurse comes to you, and attends your needs. Gradually you begin to rely more and more on Mama, and in this manner you begin to create a value for Mama that is of great priority to your existence and your comfort. Gradually, other words are learned in association with other needs, and these also begin to have their particular value in your life. That which you value is that which satisfies your needs, which brings you comfort, which brings you self-satisfaction. There is also that which you fear, and that which you fear is that which brings you inconvenience and discomfort. These may be seen as negative values, values that you do not wish in your life. Gradually, over periods of time, you find yourself becoming more and more mobile, able to move your arms, legs, your tongue and your body from place to place. You move from room to room communicating as well as you can to those who are capable of understanding your speech. You begin to notice that some of these entities have particular ways or methods of treating you, of relating to you, while others relate to you in a much different way, and you find that there are those who you seek and desire to be near, and those who you seek and desire to avoid. Thus, you create values in terms of entities and the things they can give you for your convenience, and you create values

614

Value of avoidance toward those who are inconveniencing you and causing you disturbances. You may, (depending on how many entities you meet), you may create a large number of valuable associates, and you may also create a large number of enemies, depending on how they inconvenience you in terms of your expression. At this point, you may not examine your expression, or recognize it to be in violation of others; you merely look at those entities who give to you, and those entities who deny you your expression. In this manner, you are beginning to discover society. For society is that which is the social action and interaction of entities who come in contact with you, either directly or remotely. Gradually you find yourself expanding your interrelationship with these entities in this society and begin to reflect upon yourself, due to the necessity of wanting your way and finding it difficult to get your way in every case. Therefore, you look at those methods where you get your way in some cases, and you attempt to apply these in other instances for the same result. You may even make the comparison of being like a rat in a maze, an animal or lower sort of being, having no real rights other than that which is doled out to you by these members of this society Therefore, you begin to create a new set of values, where you value not only those who help you, and disavow those who operate against you, but you begin to create certain values in terms of the methods that you use to effect changes and reactions from others. You discover that a long, horrendous scream brings Mama quickly to your side. You discover that certain physical reactions, such as pushing this other entity against the stove is that which brings a strong reaction against you and causes much inconvenience on the backside. You begin to recognize which methods should be kept and valued, and which methods should be discarded; and you discover that the long, drawn-out horrendous scream is that which is most beneficial to you, and therefore you use it excessively in every situation. This becomes a major value to you until you discover that it is beginning to bring down problems upon your headand other partsbecause it is beginning to inconvenience others. Gradually you begin to understand the long, horrendous scream does not work anymore. For you find yourself being isolated in a room where all of the screaming, pounding and kicking at the greatest degree of force available to you, has no effect, and Mama does not come. Finally, you begin to surrender the efforts to use that method, (except in emergencies when you happen to forget that it does not work), and you begin to develop another system to get a response from Mama, or from others, creating new values as you discard the old value. Essentially, you recognize that value is that which brings convenience, and when it inconveniences, then it is to be discarded. This becomes a general rule for you, and you value this rule of pragmatism, where you create values according to their usefulness to your own personal needs and to your self-interest. This serves you well in learning to

615

Who, In Fact, You Really Are adjust to the reactions of others, according to the work-ability or utility of a method of relating: and as you develop certain patterns of behavior which are workable and beneficial to you, where others recognize these patterns of behavior as socially acceptable, you gradually begin to find a kind of respect from others for being who you are, for acting graciously or appropriately in various situations, even though occasionally you lose control of your own self-discipline and forget your workable methods and fall back into the long, horrendous scream, only to discover again that it does not work for any prolonged length of time. Throughout the coming years, you will find that in times of great stress and emergency, you may still fall back on the long, horrendous scream: yet you will also discover each time that it is not working as it used to work. Even though it is of little value to you, a portion of your consciousness does not wish to release this method, for you simply cannot fully believe that it has no value anymore. As time passes, you find the long, horrendous scream becoming less and less frequent. You manage to clamp your hand over your mouth before it begins. You walk off from the situation and avoid the scream, then discover that what you have done is create another valuethe value of escapism. Thus, each time you wish to scream, you instead find yourself walking away, running away, or driving away from that which you would not like to face. Thus, the escapism becomes a new value. In this manner, you are beginning to make values in your life associated with your own needs, with your own conveniences, and with a desire to find self-satisfaction. In this manner, most of your values brought on in this way are of a purely self-interested or selfish nature. At this time, the nurturing aspect of Mama begins to make a turnabout, begins to change, and Mama grabs you by the ear and hauls you down to church, enrolls you in Sunday School and leaves you with a teacher who begins to inform you as to the rules and meanings and values which are appropriate and workable in this society according to her understanding. In this manner, you begin to receive the indoctrination of social teachings, and these social teachings you are open to receiving, because you are still groping for answers yourself. The questions still haunt you: Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here and where am I going, and what is my purpose? The Sunday school teacher seeks to answer all of these questions for you; and because you are open, you presume this entity to be informing you of the facts, and you accept these facts so long as they do not create great conflict with other things which you have discovered from personal experience, or from those whom you trust even more. Up to this point, your entire life is based upon presumptions. You presume at the nurse who called herself Mama is your mother. You presume that these values that are given to you by this Sunday school teacher are valid. You presume that the entities who you have met in your experiences are what they say they are, and feel what they say they feel; and when these entities speak to you, describing you, you presume that they are telling the truth as they see it.

616

Value

One entity may tell you that you are a gift from God. Whatever this means to you, accept it on presumption that the entity is telling a truth. Another entity may tell you that you are nothing but a little demon in flesh form, and you presume this entity is telling you the truth, even though it is a frightening truth to you. Another entity may refer to you as dumb-dumb, and you wait with curiosity to discover what you are, for you do not yet know the meaning of dumb-dumb. Still another entity may refer to you as a sharp little boy with a nice personality. You do not know what this means, but you presume that it is true. As time continues, you find yourself being told conflicting stories about yourself, for someone answers strangely, This is not a boy, this is a girl!, and you begin to wonder what this means, and whether you are a girl or a boy. Gradually the conflicting images of yourself, all accepted by presumption of truth, begin to create conflict within yourself, where you ask the question again: Who am I? What am I? Where am I going? You wander out from home, looking for the answer, because your friends, relatives and family do not answer this question to your satisfaction. You wander out into this strange city, a city where there are unusual scenes, unusual faces, unusual types of people, unusual events occurring. You walk into areas where there are entities in strict little suits with ties and napkins hanging from below their noses, with various rings and ornaments decorating their appendages. These entities speaking with stiff lips and lowered eyelids, raised chins and words which are incomprehensible to you. These entities appearing to be like a starched shirt, unable to bend or move, robot-like in their appearance. You decide that you are out of place, for you are lying on the floor with your feet in the air, and everyone is looking at you with a kind of appalled expression. You find yourself being removed from the scene rather quickly, and without much tender loving care. You then move into another area, where there are people who are staggering here, staggering there, seem not to be stiff or stuffy, but rather looseso loose they can hardly remain erect. These entities being of such loose behavior that their mouths hang open and their tongues flop needlessly, and they too cannot be understood. In looking at these entities, you find yourself acceptable. They do not seek to remove you, but you find them wanting something from you. Because you are still capable of standing erect, with a sense of balance, these entities desire something from you. You find yourself being surrounded by entities who want your attention, want your money, want your affection, want your youth, want your energy, want your service. These entities you see as much like that which you yourself once wereseeking Mama, seeking to find that nurse which can help to bring convenience to them. You decide that these entities are not those who will bring you the answer to your question; therefore, you move, and you exit to other areas for your search. In the process of moving from the most conservative situation, where the values are stiff, where

617

Who, In Fact, You Really Are the experiences are stagnantto that where the values are falling out of the mouths of the entities in droll expressions, and the values are lying on the ground in puddles of mud, you find yourself recognizing that neither of these areas of society shall be able to answer your question; and therefore, though each has its own set of values, you cannot accept these for your own. Therefore, you begin to move again out into the streets of this city, and you ask the questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? What am I doing here? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is this place? You find yourself looking at the entity who says to you Hey, kid! This is the City of Life. Just dont ask questions. Just live it up! You look at this entity and you realize the entity has answered one of your questions: Where am I? You look about, and recognized and presume the entity to be telling you the truth, recognize that this is the City of Life, and that you are not to ask questions. Therefore, you indulge yourself in the City of Life, valuing the indulgence without questioning why you are doing so, or what it is about, how you came to be, where you are going, or where you came from. You begin to recognize that behavior of a social nature alters according to the place, according to the circumstances, according to the entities involved, and you recognize that even questions may or may not be allowed, may or may not be answered, and that entities who reflect their values to you may or may not know any more than you. While you continue with a presumption that everyone tells the truth, you are quickly becoming aware that not everyone knows the truth, and perhaps no one knows the truth. You may even begin to wonder if there is such a thing as a truth. You may begin to question whether the whole thing is not simply a dream, a great charade, a play, a facade for the entertainment of the mind. You find yourself sitting in a coffee house, looking across the table at a dark-eyed, bearded entity in shabby clothes, who looks at you with a kind of confident stare, as though appearing from another dimension. The entity looks at you and raises one hand in a light, careless greeting and says, Hey, man! Hows it going? Suddenly, you discover you feel sure you have met your guru, and the entity who can answer your questions: Who am I? Where am I going? How did I get here? What is my purpose? You move to the table, and commence conversation with the entity, and ask the entity who he is. The entity says, It matters not what ones name may be, for nothing matters anyway. It is all but a great play, with no meaning, full of sound and fury and no significance. You ask the entity, But who am I? The entity looks at you and says, You are the same as I. You are beat. You are beat and so am I. There is nothing here for either of us. At this point, presuming the entity to know the truth, you look at yourself and recognize that society has offered you nothing but lies: that you are beat; nothing is meaningful in your life; the entire City of Life is but a carnival.

618

Value

Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 2 Lesson 2 relates to the properties of value, properties that make up value. In our previous scenario we left you dangling before the eyes of a strange, dark bearded entity who referred to himself as being beat by the system, and informing you that you also were beat, for the whole system as being created to beat the individual down, and to deprive the individual of any sense or hope or individuality. The entity appears to have some inner wisdom which assesses the total scope of the City of Life in a way which you, yourself can accept; for the entity explains to you that the entire system is set up in a manner so as to work like a machine that uses the individuals, where they themselves can never benefit from the system, but where the system devours the individuals. The entity himself has claims and credentials of having been through the mill, having examined all the parts and having evaluatedas a kind engineer of lifehaving evaluated the circumstances and workings of the society to such a degree that you presume he is a truthful entity; and since you do not understand, you open yourself to hear what he has to give. You ask him the question that haunts you: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The entity looks at you pathetically, and with a kind of despair, answers you that, It doesnt matter who you are, how you got here, or where youre going. All that matters is what you have, and what you dont have. The entity explains to you that it is the possessions that determine what you are and who you are; and this entity recognizes that these possessions, which define the individual, are but a game, and are false and meaningless in the ultimate sense. The entity explains that: Throughout the machinery of the City of Life, there have been those various cultures set up here and there to run different aspects and different divisions of the City of Life. There is that one section which attempts to answer the questions which this entity has asked, answering these questions with answers that do not compute in terms of reality. There are other sections that give certain rewards for services given, while other sections extract those rewards for services to be given in a future time, or from another direction of the system. The system of society also presents to the entity in this City of Life, opportunities to explore areas of discovery called education and learning, and to put the tools of such education into use where the entity may receive rewards, (in the manner of jelly beans and other such)for services given, and in this manner the entity may feel a sense of purpose, even though in a more general sense, the entity does not even understand the purpose of the system. The entity further explains to you that within this system known as the City of Life, there is that section which makes demands on entities and draws them into the great cavern known as death and oblivion; and much of the advertisement of the City of Life is to recruit entities to move into that great chasm known as death and oblivion. This

619

Who, In Fact, You Really Are keeps the population moving, and keeps entities from becoming bored, and makes society appear to be meaningful, and keeps the philosophers busy thinking up answers for questions that are asked in regard to, Where did I come from, and where am I going? This allows a mystery in this City of Life to be sustained, where those who have the controls of the City of Life may maintain their power through giving answers and giving statements and programming that cannot be understood, questioned or made sensible. Because of this, (as the entity explains) there are many different schools of philosophy in the City of Life, and these different schools are in conflict with one another, and often lead to violence as they oppose one another on various issues and values and meaning. And when this violence erupts, it becomes imperative that entities participate, and help the philosophers sort out the truth through the use of might makes right principles, the winner takes all, and the loser is obviously in error. These principles of determining truth are part of the City of Life and its ways of handling such affairs and disputes. This entity further explains to you that there are many different schools of thought in regard to where you came from, where you are going, but all agree that it is what you have that matters most. There is that one school of thought which is explained by this entity where he informs you that the entire City of Life was created by this great big powerful Dude, who had all of the power he could muster, all of the power in the universemore than you could ever imagineand in one week, created the entire City of Life, and on the seventh day, laid back and rested, because it was somewhat tiring. The entity explains that this particular school of thought is that which carries forth its complexity even further, in stating that this particular Dude having so much power, insisted that everyone worship him to the ultimate, and if they did riot carry out every single wish and command he would send them to a place which he had created just for them, filled with raging fires and demons to torment them eternally, so that they would suffer deeply for not worshiping him and following his every single wish. This school of thought goes further yet, in stating that this particular Dude, not only created the City of Life, and the place of eternal punishment for those who do not worship him, but also created a place where all those who live in the City of Life and follow his rules and do all those things which he wishes, will live happily ever after in a future life. This as a kind at karmic insurance policy. The entity extorts the insurance policy by promising that it they do not accept the terms in moving toward the reward, they will be forced to accept the punishment, which is the only other alternative. The entity further explains to you that in order to make this effective, the Dude created a soul which was everlasting, and which would not wear out, in spite of eternal punishment, so that the eternal punishment can continue indefinitely. This soul is invisible, but is nevertheless present. This school of thought also indicates that the soul can have eternal pleasure and joy if following the Dudes particular wishes.

620

Value

This particular school of thought also carries the philosophy somewhat further, and explains that in order to make his creation complete, the Dude that brought it about decided that if you knew of his presence, you would be more likely to obey his commands and less likely to disobey. Therefore, to make the game more exciting, the entity disappeared, so that you did not know whether there was such a Dude or not; yet, the story goes that he always watches and knows which ones are following his commands and wishes, and which ones are not, and this entity is keeping track, and where he can assist in seeing that which is the error in your ways, the entity will try to direct you back to worshiping him. The story also goes that in order to make the game more interesting, he created a dark counterpart of himself on which to blame all the ills of the world, and which would be used to drive the entity back from any attempts to defect from the plan and game. In this manner, according to this field of thought, entities have no choice, were brought into being through error, through mistake on their part; the creator makes no mistakes because he has the Divine Right to create as he desires, and entities are doomed to the everlasting fires unless they confess that they were sinners and in error from the beginning, and ask for grace and deliverance. This school of thought indicates that this is the only way where entities can leave the City of Life to a more appetizing place of existence, and also that entities who are not taking this path, are doomed to the everlasting flames of the other alternative realm. There is, according to this entitystill another group of beings within the City of Life, where their school of thought is that the City of Life came into being as an accident and as a fluke in the laboratory of the universe, where through some error, some mistake, something happened by pure accident that caused a reaction, which led to a chain reaction, which in turn led to the creation of life, of matter, of the physical realm, and all that evolved from it. These entities refer to themselves as being more sensible and scientific than those who saw the creation as being the result of the Big Dude. Still there are others who see the City of Life as being created from a dream, and this school of thought indicates to its students that the entire reality known as the physical world of the City of Life is nothing more than a dream, just as the dream which occurs when one sleeps appears to have substance and reality while you are involved within the dream. This entity further explains to you that it appears that this school of thinking which recognizes the reality as part of relativity, that there are relative realities, or realities relative to certain levels of consciousnessthis entity explains to you that it appears this has some potential for exploration which might be of interest if entities could understand how to tap into the dream, how to see through those barriers of consciousness. The entity explains to you that there are certain ways where this has been done, may be done This entity explains to you that essentially, in looking at such methods of exploring areas of consciousness, that it becomes a hazardous action, for there are many

621

Who, In Fact, You Really Are different paths which may be taken, and some are dangerous, while others may benefit. The entity then indicates to you that there is still another school of thought which claims that the entire City of Life is but a meaningless illusion, and has no substance in reality at all, and that you yourself are nothing but a wispy energy without any basic purpose, meaning, or value, nor any particular origin of any significance. And this school of thought teaches that it doesnt matter what occurs to anyone, and that it is all simply an action of reflectionone part reflecting off of another in a relative scale of recognition because one is recognized, or recognizing because one recognizes. This entity, explaining to you the school of thought where one exists, one is because one thinks, one is because one is observed and there is no other reality or basis for assumption of ones existence. The entity further explains to you that such observations from this school of thought leaves the entities feeling somewhat empty and devoid of purpose other than that which they create for themselves at any moment during the illusion of their existence. The entity then begins to describe to you areas other than the schools of thought in the City of Life, explaining that the city runs on what energies entities can have, hold and dispense; and therefore, in order for an entity to discover who he is, or what ones value may be, the entity must have something needed by the society, and must have some value which can be bought, sold or shared. Therefore, you begin to take stock of your assets, and you recognize that you do not really have much to offer to the society. You look about and discover that this entity here has that, and that, and even much more; and you realize that you have very little. This lack of substance leaves you with a sense of inadequacy. How can you be if you have nothing? Therefore, you must get something in order to have something that you can point to and explain: This is who I am. I am a person who has this. I am the person who has this car. I am the person who has this wife. I am the person who has this husband. I am the person who has this child. I am the person who has this house, who has this occupation. I am the person who has these clothes. Now you know who you are, because of what you have. You look at this and realize that in order to discover who you are because of what you have, you must have something, and you recognize that others have something that you do not have, and others may not be watching what they have. Therefore, you enter into the shop and tuck that sweater under your coat, and exit quickly. Now you are the person who has this sweater. At last you have a sense of identity. You know who you are. But suddenly there is a shout, and someone runs up behind you and says, You are a thief! Now you have an identity. You are a thief who has a sweater that is being taken from you, and now you are simply a thief without a sweater. The New You as that which has a certain stigma, and others look at you in contempt, and you have a kind of audience. Therefore, you are the person who has the audience that looks at you in contempt. You are playing the role of the villain in society, and

622

Value you are identified with this role, and you know who you are. At this point, you also find yourself the person who is being sentenced or given a certain type of retribution and punishment that must be made for having taken something which belonged to someone else without creating an appropriate agreement with the entity. Therefore, you are now not only a thief, but also you are a condemned thief; you are one who has been convicted and labeled. You may also find that someone speaks for youa counselor who assists you for some time, and convinces you that you may be a repentant thiefone who is an ex-thief, no longer one who has the need to acquire from others without an agreement. Therefore, you begin to look about and establish certain values that relate to a sense of social agreement and relative interaction between yourself and society, where others and you must find some form of give-and-take, so that you can function in society without creating such disturbances and inconveniences for yourself or others. Again, your values are created by inconveniences and conveniences, and you begin to value that which favors you and allows you to benefit. This is not new, but it appears to be new to you. These new values are highly prized, for you have become socially acceptable and no longer are an anti-social person(at least in this respect.) Now you are moving down the street as a socially oriented entity, accepted by society as an ex-thief, and now you find yourself approaching your old friend who taught you all about the city, and you inform the entity that you are not beat. Although he is beat by the system, you yourself are not beat, and that even as the system itself is false and phony, so is his teaching, so is his own behavior. At this point, you see yourself as totally hip to a new reality. You move along with a joy that you have learned how to play the game; and even though you do not yet accept societys game for what it is, you are fully aware of how the game is played. At this time you meet another, who, like yourself, has caught on to the game, and begins to discuss with you the haves and have-nots of societywho has what, who has not, and what possessions are most valuable. You discover that the material possessions highly prized by society, are but one aspect of having. Personal having and impersonal having, and ideal or abstract having and material having are all essentially important to ones possession of things; and though one possesses material things and has not the understanding of abstract wisdom and realities, (or unrealities, depending on which side of the glass one looks,) and whether one has the material possessions, or whether the material possessions belong to others: none of this is of extreme importance to ones existence. For you realize that what you have may be given or shared, and what others have may be given or shared, and what is given or shared is not always measured by material means. Therefore, you begin take stock of other areas besides that which is highly prized in

623

Who, In Fact, You Really Are terms of material means. You look at your friends and your loved ones and value their affection and their acceptance of you. You look at those qualities within yourself, and value those qualities which you have that bring about such acceptance from others, You begin to see what values you have that are beyond the physical grasping levels, which are in the emotional and mental and spiritual levels, so that you begin looking more carefully at those values which bring about not only your own happiness, not only the convenience for yourself, but which bring about the convenience for others which allows them happiness; for you realize that your happiness depends largely on the happiness of others. For your happiness requires that others appreciate and accept you, and they cannot appreciate and accept you if they are unhappy with what you are doing. Therefore, you begin to seek to please others. Yet, even in this action of seeking to please others, you become aware of a conflict; for not all others are pleased by the same thing, and you find it impossible to please all others. And as you attempt to do so, you find yourself being pulled apart, being torn to pieces, being used, being violated, being trampled on, having your values spit upon, and you find yourself promoting love when others simply seek lust, or possession of some material gain or benefit from you. You become disillusioned, and you see that even those values and ideals, when brought into certain energy fields must suffer from the consequence of those energy fields. Therefore, you realize that you possess discrimination, and must learn to discriminate, to discern where your energies should be given, and where your energies should be withheld. This discernment as that which becomes a key issue as you further explore the possessions which you seek, which you have, and as you further seek to discover Who, In Fact, You Really Are. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 3 Lesson 3 relates to communication of value, and how value is communicated. In the previous episode, we left you hanging on the realization that one of the things you have that is of great value is your ability to discriminate, or to discern. As you begin focusing on this thinking aspect, or this value of yours that you call your mind, you may decide to improve upon its capacity by seeking out an education or training for those areas that you would like to be more discerning in, so that the tool is more sharp. You begin setting a clue on how sharp your mind can be, and how valuable it is to have a sharp mind, and how necessary it is to be discerning, discriminating, so that you can pick and choose what you want in your life, and what you want excluded from your life. You then, because of having been idealistic and trampled upon, because of being too loving and too open, you may begin to find yourself discriminating against entities with the value being that: I have been this way before. I have seen these things before. I will not be taken in again by the likes of you. And therefore, you begin making judgments and discernment based upon past experiences, and these past experiences that have left you hurt and bitter, color your present experiences and

624

Value judgment. You become prejudicedpre-judging the circumstance according to past experiences that you have suffered; and because of this prejudice, your discernment begins to suffer. Your discernment, which you prized as a great value in your ability to socialize and to move in the City of Life, is being warped by the prejudice that has developed from past experiences that have left certain areas of your consciousness bitter, hostile or fearful. Therefore, the prejudice(judging the present from past experiences)in altering your ability to discern, creates a new value which you claim as part of your identity, and you recognize: I am the person who is prejudiced against that, and that becomes part or your identity as to Who, In Fact, You think you Really Are. This type of experience may then lead to other reactions, where you must defend your prejudice and where such defense of your prejudice requires that the mind become sharper and more clever in its defense. Therefore, you study those areas, and become an expert, a professionalone who specializes in discerning that which is based upon a prejudice that lies deep within the mind from a past experience that caused you discomfort and inconvenience. Therefore, your values now, in regard to this, may be been as representing the voice of authority, where you speak with authority on that which you know, according to your prejudice, based on past experiences. Being one who can speak with authority, you find it interesting that those who are not yet prejudiced tend to come around and seek your advice, and those who are prejudiced in the same way in which you are prejudiced tend to cling together with you, so that each may reinforce each other in their prejudices and beliefs. This then becomes a manner where discernment is colored by majority rule, and majority opinion, and where the opinion remains unquestioned until some unusual outside event occurs which shakes the opinions foundation. You find yourself now a judge in this City of Life, holding the majority opinion, walking through the streets, when all of a sudden there is your old friend, the beatnikphilosopher, and he looks at you, and you look at him; and sees you now as the establishment, and you see him as a reflection of who you were, what you were, before you took on the prejudice, before you took on the opinion of the majority. And now, you find yourself embarrassed in front of this entity, for you know not how to respond; whether to appear as you really are insidehappy to see the entityor whether to promote your new self-image by ignoring the entity and traveling on, hoping no one saw you converse or look toward the entity. You are torn between values: the value of that which was of deep importance to your past in helping to make you who you are, and the value of that which you wish to maintain. You are also concerned about that which you may one day be. Therefore you, still having certain questions about your identity, decide to perhaps sneak a visit with this beatnik guruso you glance around, seeing no one watching, ask the entity if he would like to go into the restaurant for a quick cup of coffee or tea, and the entity agrees.

625

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

You find yourself now confronted with an entity who looks at you and sees both the real youthe you which is searching for identity, and the you which is wearing the costume, which is playing the role of the judge. And you see that this entity, in looking at you, sees through these games that you play with yourself; and even though you think you are discerning, you recognize that your discernment is based upon prejudice that comes from past experiences of your own. At this point, you begin to realize that although you do have prejudices, and although these prejudices do not allow you to see clearly, this entity still accepts you as a friend; and although you do have the artificiality of a judge, this entity still accepts you as a beatnik, as one who is searching, who is beat by the system, but who still seeks to find answers. And although you see yourself stripped naked before this entity, you find that it is uplifting to be revealed to yourself through the reflection of that entitys consciousness; and thus, you discover more about yourself. You begin to discern levels of discernment, and you question your own mind and its way of thinking. You no longer need to have the majority opinion; you simply wish to seek to discover what it is that can be discovered and therefore, you begin probing and questioning your own self. At this point, you find it necessary to label, to create words, to find words, to write words, to write down concepts, to scribble pictures and symbols, to define those areas of your mind that you are exploring, to define those areas of society that you are exploring. You no longer are a judgeyou are an explorer: exploring society, exploring physics, exploring philosophies, exploring consciousness itself. You seek the truth, yet you know not what you seek, for you know not what truth is. Therefore, you simply seek; and in seeking you discover, and map what you discover. You begin to write, you begin to talk, you begin to log your voyage. And as you continue in this pursuit, in this journey, in this exploration of inner space, of social space, of outer relationships, of physics, of science, of politics, of education, of artall of these areas of exploration: as you continue searching, you must find a language, a way of presenting landmarks in consciousness, so that others may follow, so that others may understand what you have left: the trail where your consciousness has been must be marked by words, concepts, flags, symbols, markings, rules, regulations where others may follow, to see where you have explored. As this occurs, communication becomes essential, and the communication between yourself and others who have gone on before, between yourself and others who will follow after you, between yourself and others who walk with you; these communications become of paramount importance to your efforts to discover where you are going, what it is all about, and how it came to be. Thus, as you continue, you must focus upon how well you are communicating, and how well you are communicated to. Thus you begin studying and learning ways to

626

Value communicate words, ideas, concepts, thoughts and opinions, symbols which stand for certain situation, circumstances or activities. These which may be universally applied to other situations, become tools for communication. You paint pictures, you write, you talk, you share, you express and communicate through touch, through taste, through sound, through sight; and in this communication, you find there are many diverse methods where information can be expressed You watch others communicate. You see the clever use of words by some. You see the slight glance of another, which communicates more than all of those words could ever have communicated. You see the bitter, sharp, vulgar words of one who is claiming to have all of the answers, but cannot even be heard because of the vulgarity that walls him off from others who would otherwise listen to his story. You see the desperation of that entity as he seeks to express himself through those vulgaritieshammering away at the wall he has created for himself, imprisoning him in that cast which he has cast himself into. You see the professor, you see the judge. You see those communicating in those areas where position is paramount in their words, voices, attitudes. You see the artist conveying in this enormous mural, what he wishes to say to you. You see the musician manipulating chords, notes, music, in the effort to communicate what is felt inside: that hunger that longing, that desire to know Who, In Fact, Am I Really? How did I get here? Where am I going? What is my relationship with you? You see this need for communication, and these various efforts of entities to communicate, and you begin discerning carefully that significance which is found in discerning the communication of ideas, of energies, of essences, of emotions; and you begin to value communication as one of the greater communicating values of your world. And as this new value is discovered, it becomes of paramount importance to you that the communication be nurtured and tended with great care, as a mother would tend a child. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 4 Lesson 4 relates to nurturing values, feeding or starving values. In the previous episodes, as you journeyed through the City of Life, you became aware of how you were formulating certain values; first according to your own personal convenience and needs, and then, those values that were held by yourself and others, as though these were certain types of possessions. Then you became aware of how these altered as you moved from certain experiences to others and formed prejudices and judgments about things, according to your values, and your prejudgments. At this point, you began to recognize certain qualities associated with thinking and discerning, and became aware of the importance of communicating, both with yourself and with others, in regard to values. You now are moving through the City of Life with an understanding of values in relation to their own essences, the communication as a value for the sake of communication, art for arts sake, life for lifes sake, and dis-

627

Who, In Fact, You Really Are cernment for the sake of discernment. In looking at this, you may realize that although you do not know your eternal past, or eternal destiny, you do know something about your immediate past, and your direction, and you may set goals and purposes for your immediate future. Therefore, you begin to recognize the value of living in the present, and also the value of setting values and examining your set of values; this like values for the sake of values. As you begin looking at these values that you set for yourself, by which you may describe yourself, you realize that these may be transitory, and may change as you discover more about life, more about eternity, more about things that are beyond your present scope. However, even in this limited realm in which you exist in this City of Life, with your limited experience, you realize that there are certain values that may be accepted and nourished which may be of great significance and benefit to yourself and others. You also may be aware of certain values that you hold that limit you and hinder and cause problems for you. You begin a long study of these values, and determine that you shall nourish those that are beneficial and starve those that do not bring benefits. In order to continue existing in this City of Life, you must have some value for yourself. You must value yourself somewhat highly, or you shall have little future significance or existence in your world. Therefore, placing a value upon yourself may be that which is your first action, and this may be nourished by yourself and others. Where others do not recognize your value, you may need to invent some value of your own which you see as a potential or present worth, which makes you valuable not only to yourself, but to society, if not at present, then in the future. There tends to be within entities a compulsion to value themselves in part from the reflection of others; for if one values a common piece of gravel, but others do not see the value in that, then it is often a kind of delusion that soon passes leaving the possessor of that piece of gravel feeling as though it is valueless. However, if an entity values a pencil, and others tend to see the worth of that pencil, then likewise, this may become quite a reaffirmation, or reaffirming of the value set by the possessor. Therefore, it behooves entities not only to value themselves, but also to find ways where society can reflect appreciation and reaffirming interest in the value of that entity. Because of this, it tends to be that entities, when contributing to a society, when contributing to others, will find themselves growing in greater value, not only to themselves, but also to others, and this reflection will tend to increase ones sense of personal value. The nourishing of ones own personal value as that which continues throughout the entire lifetime. Also, one may value ones propertiesnot only those properties which one acquires, but those properties of a nonphysical nature, which one develops from within, or from the efforts of training oneself. These properties, such as talents, and the inherited or natural propensities which one has; the ability to think clearly, to move, to be moti-

628

Value vated, to act, to express; all of these personal properties, and also the properties which one may acquire in an external sense; these may have their values. You become aware that those material properties, while important, are not the only properties which are to be valued. You begin recognizing there are certain ideals that may be valued. There are certain relationships that may be valued. There are certain methods of interaction, of exchange, of transforming, of translating, of transferring. There are certain methods of holding, and all of these many different methods, ideals, relationships and material areas, and objects, may have their valueand you begin to recognize as you develop, things of value that previously you did not recognize at all. Even traditions begin to become valued. Places are often valued. Dreams and memories may be valued. As you recognize these properties associated with your life, whether abstract or material, whether belonging to others or to yourself, you begin to create a new set of values, and these may be nurtured to give your life greater abundance. Also you recognize that there are concepts and ideas, and ways of speech, ways of communicating which can have great value to you. The reception of information and the impression of information as that which can he nurtured, where your mind is developed, where your speech is developed, where your physical movement and expression is developed, so that communication in body language, in mental concepts, in speech and through the various mechanical means, may be developed and achieved in a manner which allows you to have great rewards and to give rewards to others. You begin to recognize perhaps that your ability to speak to others is worth a fortune, and can even bring you a fortunein money, in material goods, or in emotional wellbeing. You begin to recognize that your ability to think and to communicate in the realm of ideas can bring you great spiritual rewards as well as material rewards, and that you can be valued by others as you learn to communicate these things, and to give service to others through that communication. You begin to recognize also, that these areas of communication and the properties associated with your life are not the only values; you recognize also that there are certain environmental values which are of great significance and which need to be nurtured. Even as you were nurtured as a child by your mother, now you may also nurture the needs of others. You prepare a table in the presence of your friends, or enemies, and you converse and nurture the relationship. You sit with others and serve those nutrients of a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual nature; and in that action, you may find yourself nurturing those best qualities to bring about a setting that is pleasant and enjoyable. If these values are not recognized and nurtured, you may find yourself involved in a setting where trash is being thrown here and there, without regard for the feedings of others, where the garbage on your table is passed from place to place; or where entities with whom you are eating may reach from their plate onto yours, without permission,

629

Who, In Fact, You Really Are to take from your plate that which they desire; or where other improper actions are taken so that one person violates the space and rights of another to enjoy a meal, to enjoy a home, to enjoy an environment. Because of this potential disruptive lack of good manners, there have been many books, many rules created to assist entities in knowing how to relate in different circumstances. The books on etiquette, the books on courtesy and the books written to bring about social rules and regulations where entities are cast in the same setting with one anotherthese books are many. But in all cases, entities who have the sensitivity, who have the courtesy and respect for others, will find that these rules written, are almost unnecessary; for it is simply a matter of good taste to relate to each other in ways which do not inconvenience another person, either physically, biologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or in the levels of the environment, or verbally. When entities fully understand the importance of environmental and domestic nurturing of values that are necessary for the good environment, for the courteous relationships and behaviors, this is also a value that may be nurtured for ones lifetime. Beyond this, and yet closely associated, is that of the value of appearance, where the entity discovers the necessity to appear in a manner which is not offensive or inconveniencing to anothers setting. Where one creates a special setting in order to bring happiness, convenience and enjoyment to those who enter into that setting, and another brings in by their appearance a presence that is not compatible, but is incongruent with that setting, and the mood, or the physical appearance of the setting. This serves as a disruption. You would not throw a toad on a banquet table, nor should entities who are improperly dressed and attired move into those areas where entities have taken special pains to create a proper setting for a particular purpose to give others a sense of enjoyment. There have been those exceptions which may have been necessary, such as the hippie movement, where by certain types of almost obscene appearance, these entities deliberately reflected upon a society which had become extremely stilted and had left little room for entities, because the system had become so extremely regimented, where these entities had an effect in the sense of revolution in areas of appearance, and this revolution began to alter certain concepts. (This will be covered elsewhere.) In terms of a setting where entities make special pains to bring about a certain type of joy and beauty and entertainment for others, where those who violate that setting do so by bringing in that which is incongruentthis is an example of poor manners and a bad set of values. (This again being subject to possible exceptions, where one has a particular reason for upsetting that scene.) Also, in terms of setting values, one may consider the value of ones productivity. Where one seeks to be of value, one may also recognize the value of ones productivity, and may work carefully to improve that productivity. Such improvement requires also that one has relatively good health, or one works within that level of productive

630

Value capacity that is available according to ones health. It is for this reason that an entitys values should include efforts to improve ones health. For ones health and ones productivity go hand in hand, and are of significant lifetime value in terms of ones value to society and to oneself. Likewise, the value associated with ones relationship with the public in terms of various types of interactions, such as business, such as agreements and contracts or interchanges of a nature where ones energies are given to another, or where these agreements to exchange are made; these values may also be nurtured, attended, and may be enhanced as time passes; so that one becomes more and more capable of fostering good business relationships with others, and agreements that are more lasting and more harmonious. Also, one may find that the value of having the properties of others at your disposal, having those relationships which allow one to have access to others physical, mental, emotional and spiritual properties, as that which requires one to be trustworthy. Where one cannot handle the properties of others, cannot handle their material, emotional, spiritual social or their mental properties; that entity is not suited for relationship with the other. Therefore, many relationships are fleeing in nature, many agreements fall apart quickly, many activities involving others dissipate and the energies do not remain. It is in this area that some karma may be created so that greater problems evolve from the relationships. It is in this area that many forms of rules in regard to relationship with others may be formulated in an attempt to force entities into proper value systems. The morality, laws and rules that have been initiated by society, often are planted in this area dealing with the properties of otherswhether physical, mental, emotional or spiritualso that the entities can have a sense of protection by society from those who would violate them in this area. This area includes money and material properties of others, sexual properties, intimate properties, emotional properties, spiritual properties, the storage of possessions of another; and it will be noted that in all of these areas, an element of trust is absolutely essentialthat trustworthiness is necessary. For this reason, contracts and deeds and various forms of laws and rules are often recorded in one way or another, so that society may protect the individual interests, in regard to relationships with others in the society. Where these relationships, and the values associated with the properties of others are nourished, it becomes unnecessary for entities to call upon society to intervene in their relationship; for these relationships between consenting individuals, who are both trustworthy, will enforce themselves from within, and need no external morals or laws or rules to enforce them. However, that these are rare situations where entities can be trustworthy enough as to not desire the social influences or guarantees of such relationships.

631

Who, In Fact, You Really Are Along with these, there is also that set of values associated with the higher concepts of an abstract nature, which serve as the searching for truth, searching for meaningand where entities can value such as philosophy, religion, or abstract concepts and ideas; these entities, nurturing their higher mind, may find themselves entering into spiritual pursuits which give their life greater meaning, purpose and sensitivity. This also may include artistic pursuits, and those inclinations toward psychic or clairvoyant or mental pursuits of a higher order. These may be nurtured in institutions of higher learning, or through home study, through books or through group settings, according to ones own inclination. Also, there is that value which is found in ones purpose, direction and their goal in life, which may be set by the individual or which may be set by others and accepted by the individual; and where this is seen as valuable, the entity may pursue the purpose or goal, and nurture this purpose and goal by every action in ones life. Along with this purpose and goalwhich may take the form of a career, or which may be but a hobby, or which may be a secret paththe entity will establish a central movement that can be nourished according to the entitys own dedication. This being a value of great significance to the entitys inner being, to the entitys soul. According to what inner guidance the entity choose, his or her social reputation may be strongly affected by that inner crystallization and guidance system. If the entity, for example, seeks personal gratification and acquisition at any cost, and has no regard for othersthe goal this entity pursues may lead into some form of antisocial action that destroys the entitys social reputation and integrity. If the entity recognizes the rights of others and has a healthy respect for social conventions or for others in the society, this individual then may pursue his or her goal, while still maintaining a good reputation, with honor and a sense of nobility. It is in this area that integrity, nobility, honor, purpose, direction are all nurtured, according to ones value system, and the dedication that one gives these things. Entities who see themselves as failures generally do so because they have not yet nourished this area of their life sufficiently, and have given up on their goals and purposes. Generally, it is this area that has not been properly nourished that causes entities to become ineffective in society, and which also may lead to escapism, suicide, or that action of becoming a liability to others, and to self. Where this area has not been properly nourished, the entity may enter into the social scene of expecting others to carry him or her along on their stretcher, on their shoulders, on their financial well-being, on their value-systems; for this entity sees himself or herself as being weak and ineffective, and needing to ride on the coattails of others who are strong. In some instances, entities have a legitimate area of weakness, but no entity is weak in every area, and where this is not legitimate, entities should not assist to continue carrying those who can carry themselves. The nourishment of others then becomes a value that must be looked at carefully.

632

Value Where one gives ones energies in service to others, it must be looked at in a manner that discerns whether the services which are being given are creating an unnecessary dependency which prevents that entity from growing and developing, or whether the services which are being given assists that entity to grow and develop. Therefore, entities in serving society have a responsibility to present those services that not only assist, but also assist others to grow and develop their own capacities. It has been said that to feed one, may help that entity for that meal, but to teach one how to feed himself can help that entity for a lifetime. The final major area of value which needs to be examined carefully and nurtured, is in the area of dissolution, or dissolving of values, moving into change, where the old falls away and the new enters in, so that entities can replace values, according to the necessity and appropriateness of the change which is occurring. In this area, entities may find aspects of themselves going through much turmoil, or they may be losing certain properties, or certain communications may be cut off, or it can express itself in relationship with others. They may find themselves isolated, they may find themselves nonproductive, they may find themselves in some kind of dispute over their agreements, or over the properties of others. They may find themselves experiencing some type of new realization of new truths, or they may find their purpose and direction being altered. They may also find that their social status and well-being is being affected by the changes that are occurring as their values begin to alter. The entity who has been too trusting may experience certain changes that bring the entity into realizing that all is not as it appears, and entities must be more discerning and less trusting in certain aspects and areas of society. Entities who have been too selfish or demanding may discover in this area that they have lost their ability to control and influence and extract from society, those things that they desire. Entities who have been too loose and careless and drifting, may find that they have drifted into a direction which is difficult to extract themselves from, and where they may learn from this experience to be discerning as to where they allow their energies to go, and how to avoid the entrapment. It is during this time where these discoveries are made that nurturing of new realizations may occur, and the values that have been starved may become more meaningful and require greater nourishment, and those which have been fed and which have led to difficulties may be recognized as useless and may be discarded. This dissolution of certain values, and the recovery or discovery of others, is that which is essential in ones experience of nurturing, even as is the elimination process necessary in ones experience of digesting. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 5 Lesson 5 relates to expressing values, or demonstrating values, this including the packing of values.

633

Who, In Fact, You Really Are In the last episode, you were seen nurturing values as they were brought out as being significant and important to your well-being. There were seen certain values which needed to be discarded and essentially starved. Where these are certain things of value held within yourself, which you discover need to he attended, this then becomes a selfdisciplining, or an action which you work with internally, nurturing that which needs to grow, denying that which needs to fade away. Often this is best accomplished by substituting that which is more beneficial for that which needs to fade away. Where this is other than self, this may be found in actions that deprive those values of others that need to be starved, while feeding those values of others that need to be brought out. In this present episode, you begin to recognize that even as values may be seen as individual entities in your life, as possessions, as parts of your being; they also, needing to be nourished or needing to be deprived, these being brought into greater focus, will also be seen as needing to have their expression. Not only must values be nourished or deprived according to your own use and desire of these, but they also must have their expression in order to be wholesome in your life. Where you have personal and private values which are important to you, you may find yourself discussing and expressing these values to others, and may find yourself in an embarrassing situation, where you have aired your private life in public, and find that others in the neighborhood or in the society, have begun to talk about that which you felt was a private matter of your own: but now you discover ( because you have allowed this into the public) it suddenly becomes that which is commonly discussed, and which no longer is private. There is a great need and importance in keeping that which is personal and needs not be made public, and which may bring about problems if publicizedthere is that which is necessary in keeping such areas of ones life private. This is particularly so when it involves another person who may also wish this information to be kept private. One entity, in making a personal event public, or when making personal feelings public, if these include another entity, it is a violation to that other entity to make that information public, unless there is public need, or unless the other entity agrees to allow that to be publicly expressed. In many ways, a persons privacy is very important. In some ways, a persons private behavior needs to be brought out into the public: this may be necessary when the public is affected by private actions. But where the public is not so affected by ones private actions, it is not necessary that the public be made aware. This, of course, assuming that the actions that are being kept private are not illegal in terms of social laws and conventions. Where there is some discrepancy between social laws and conventions, it becomes an area where entities are risking public exposure for private actions that may or may not be socially acceptable. Therefore, ones personal expression, ones private expression may be brought into

634

Value public, and therefore an entity must set ones own value on whether one requires, desires and values personal privacy, or whether one can allow that which is his personal life to be paraded publicly. Each entity may set this value according to their own behavior, and according to their own value of personal privacy. This also assumes that society is not prying illegally into an entitys private life, which also may be a violation to that entity by society. Even as an entity can violate another by exposing that other, likewise a society can violate an individual. However, where the societys interest is being violated by the individual, this leads to an area of question where the society may have a right to pry into the individuals private affairs. In terms of the individuals property and expression of what one has upon the world, where one has certain properties and expresses this, it may or may not be expressed in good taste so that society is pleased; or where it is expressed in a manner that violates others, this then can be an area which needs to have values set, either by the individual or by society. Just because an entity owns a large hole in the ground and decides that it could make an excellent garbage dump, this does not necessarily give the entity the right to make such, if others in the area are violated by the sight or stench of the garbage dump on this entitys property. Therefore, ones property, which for any reason spills out and inconveniences others, may be limited by the society, or its rules, and values placed upon others right do deny such expression of ones property. This not only in relation to physical properties and material properties, but also in relation to behavioral properties, artistic expressions and mental or emotional expressions. Where the property of an entity is to have temper tantrums and spill out all of his or her hostilities on those in the restaurant, the society does have the right and option of removing this entity because of those expressions of that property in the entitys emotions. Therefore, entities may wish to take a close look at these property values, whether they are material, emotional, spiritual, mental or social or physical, to determine whether they are being expressed in a manner that inconveniences others. Likewise, in terms of mental expression, whether written, verbalized or expressed in other forms of communication, these expressions upon society can have pleasing effects or can be inconveniencing to the recipient. Where an entity truly values communication, truly values what one wishes to express, the entity will give much attention to perfecting that form of expression. The development of methods of communicating, of ways to communicate, of specializing in certain areas of communication; this, when acceptable by society, as that which can be of great value, and when so expressed, may be recognized as reflective of the entitys general value. Even as ones expressions reflect upon ones general self-evaluation, likewise, each of these areas of expression carry their own intrinsic value; and where one can express clearly, that in itself becomes a great assistance to others in getting to know the indi-

635

Who, In Fact, You Really Are vidual. This allows the entity so expressing to become more integrated with the society and the socialization process is enhanced. Likewise, in the area of domestics, in the area of nurturing relationships with others where one can please another, where one can feed another, whether this is physical food, emotional food, spiritual food, or mental food; where one prepares these meals, these recipes, these formulas, these ideas properly, where one feeds anothers emotional needs, this nurturing of another entity is a form of expression which can be of great benefit to a society. In expressing to another in a manner that makes them feel good about themselves, this type of expression can be of great significance. Where you speak to another and make them feel low and cheap, or unworthy, this has its certain effect on the other; and the entity, so feeling low, cheap and unworthy, must choose between rebelling or accepting that expression of yours. The entity generally will have mixed feelings, resulting in a form of resentment and possibly aggression or retreat. If the entity retreats from this, the entity simply accepts a poor self-image. If the entity becomes aggressive and expresses the resentment, it may lead to conflict. Where entities enjoy conflict, this may be looked at to determine what value is received from such expression. Where entities seek to assist each other through the nurturing of good qualities in each other, this may be a way where entities enhance the value of other people, helping their self-interest, helping their self image, and helping them to become more wholesome and beneficial to society. Positive types of encouragement can have much greater effect on socializing other than those actions which are of a critical nature, which cause the entity to feel alienated and separated from that which is a good social image. Therefore, the action of expressing nourishing types of affection or statement, or emotions toward another(this includes also feeding another, and giving biological affection and nourishment); this action as that which prepares an entity for being more wholesome in a society, and such preparation will result in better relationships and will result in a reflective appreciation and affection upon the one who so expresses. This leads to the next concern in terms of expression, which revolves around the concept of pride, where one takes pride in ones expression, whether this is in ones personal appearance, possessions, communication, care for another, ones performance, ones productivity, ones affairs of a public nature, ones transactions, ones ideas, ones purpose and reputation, ones gift to society or ones inner self-image. It matters not which areas this occurs: where one takes pride in these areas, this Awareness wishes to recognize that this can be of much benefit to the entity who so takes pride in all of his or her affairs However, when one expresses socially that pride, and one expects others to recognize ones accomplishments through what one expresses verballyparticularly when this is expressed verbally or in manners which call attention to the fact that the entity takes

636

Value such personal pridethis then becomes offensive to society. It matters not to society that you seek to do a wonderful job at what you do; but when you stop and tell society what a wonderful job you did, this denies them the recognition of that job, because you are taking the words from their mouth and putting it on them before they have the opportunity to so recognize and express to you. Where you pat yourself on the back, it denies others the option to desire of doing likewise. Therefore, pride, while an important part of ones expression, should remain in the areas of their inner actions and inner thoughts, rather than as a public expression that calls attention to ones accomplishments. Entities may be proud, may value their accomplishments, may value their efforts to accomplish, may value all of their expressions; but where entities express themselves, they should be most cautious about tooting their own horn too loudly, for this can become offensive to society. Some entities are capable of tooting their horn in a manner which society approves, where society can look at that and enjoy watching the fun that this entity is having. Others find that the slightest toot on their horn brings down much repercussion and hostility. Therefore, it depends much on the individual as to how and whether such should be expressed. Entities checking in this area of self-expression as a value must be most cautious and must be observant as to the repercussions that may follow. Expression in ones work and productivity is of great significance, and may also be enhanced, where the entity looks at what one is doing and with great pride and care, does that well. There was recently a song that stated, Do what you do well. This implies a pride in ones work; no matter what one does, one should do this well. This of course does not exclude entities from responsibility of doing something antisocial well. Even though it is done well, if it is antisocial or of antihuman quality, it is not acceptable to this Awareness or to society. The action of perfecting ones capacity in terms of productive efficiency, eloquence and expertise, is that which is appreciated by all of society, particularly in reference to those actions/productivities that are socially acceptable. The expression of ones productivity is an important part of ones life and reflects on ones general purpose, and may in fact be contributing to ones purpose and direction, and this productivity as that which leaves an entitys mark in society, as that which can be highly valued by society when the productivity is accomplished in a manner that is socially acceptable and of high quality Therefore, express yourself well in your areas of productivity, if those areas are socially acceptable and pleasing. When the Awareness speaks of socially acceptable, It refers to the universal society, not simply to vested interests that would violate others. If an entity is involved in a gang of villains who perpetrate conflict and violence, deception over others, and the entity is an expert in this area, this Awareness does not condone such expression, even though the entity may be an expert, and may do his or her job well.

637

Who, In Fact, You Really Are The area of expression in terms of business requires that entities have a sense of personal integrity, requires also that entities be very discerning in regard to the integrity of others, and the element of trust may or may not be involved. When it is involved, it must be mutual; and when it is absent, another quality must be brought in which can be trusted. For this reason, entities often bring in contracts, agreements created by third parties, such as attorneys, or which can be enforced by society itself through laws and conventions, and these contracts are trusted, even though the individuals involved may not trust each other. When the ideas and agreements are printed upon the contract and both parties agree, it is not the parties who trust each other, it is the contract that the parties trust. These are forms of expression and it is through such forms that entities may become more socialized. Likewise, relationships with a partner, such as a marriage partner or a close business partner, or a close friend, may also be enhanced by contracts and by written certificates of agreement. Where verbal contracts are made in lieu of any written contract, these are equally valid, but are not always enforceable by society, unless entities involved are truthful at the time when such may come into question. Therefore, if the agreement is something that is subject to change, and one would not accept the change, then entities should put the agreement into writing. This action of expressing ones values in this manner as that which can prevent many problems at a later time. In reference to ones expressions toward the properties of others, toward the properties of their partner, whether this as dealing with material, emotional, spiritual or verbal and mental qualities or sexual properties, this kind of expression as that which likewise requires a strong sense of trust, and where entities are trustworthy, then such expression is lasting and meaningful. There are at this time, many intimate relationships that are fleeting and meaningless except for a brief moment. The entities trust each other only for such brief moments long enough to have a gratifying experience; but do not trust each other long enough to commit themselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically or financially toward long-term relationships. In earlier days, one met all of those other criteria before committing oneself in an intimate relationship, for such relationships could lead to intense obligation:childbirth or disease or other karmic ties with the individual. Many entities now have sexual relationships, then children, then marriage, then discover who they are married to. Others have sexual relationship, then disease, then abortion after pregnancy, then some other problem following. It is important for entities to look at these areas very carefully, because values set in such areas, values expressed in these areas, can have profound and lasting results and effects in ones life. The repercussions sometimes are irreversible. In earlier days, entities were much concerned about the order of things. One grew up, one got educated, one got a job, one got engaged, one got married and then one had children. More commonly now, entities grow up, get involved, fail to get much of an education, have a child, may or may not get married, may or may not get a job. Doing things out of order is an expression of careless planning, that which often leads to a life that amounts to

638

Value continuous disorder and uncertainty, where the values do not rise above efforts to continue sustaining ones existence, or taking care of ones most basic needs. In terms of the expression of ones philosophy, truth, ideals, or their pursuit of happiness, one may find that such expression is offensive to others or is threatening to others, or is acceptable to othersdepending on how others may perceive such expression. Those who have certain strong religious or philosophical beliefs, and who promote those beliefs without the express invitation of others for such a discussion, are often violating that other entitys rights. Where there is a mutual agreement to discuss the areas of religion, philosophy or ideas, then of course there is the openingand the expression is that which is proper. Entities in their social expression will have certain ideals, certain principles, as well as certain purposes and goals, certain desires that lead them in certain courses of action. The course of action that an entity pursues often reflects the entitys value-system whether the entity values himself, whether the entity values others, whether the entity is integrated socially, spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. Such integration becomes visible to society through the knowledge that others have of that entity. Where an entitys ideas, value-systems are in continuous flux and change, the society becomes aware of that entity as being unpredictable, or predictably changeable. Where the entitys value-systems are fixed, and a reputation develops which allow entities to know this person to be this way or that way, where the entity is known to be trustworthy or not trustworthy; this becomes the entitys reputation, and the entity continues to express this reputation until his or her value system changes. When it changes, the reputation may still linger, even though the entity has changed his or her value-system; and therefore this becomes part of a karmic burden, where the reputation follows the entity, even long after the change has taken place. Therefore, ones expression at one time may follow the entity through the reputation for many years; and though the entity no longer expresses himself or herself in the same manner, the reputation still lingers and hovers and colors the opinion of society when thinking of that entity. This is simply a fact of life: that society does not observe entities clearly enough and persistently enough to keep up with their changes, and therefore, relates more to the reputation than to the entity himself. Entities must be very cautious in expressing themselves, to present the reputation that they wish to be seen and wish to be recognized during the years to come. In reference to the expression of ones concern for society, in reference to the expression of ones concern for others, it is often seen that an entity cares for no one, or for very few, or for many. Any amount of social interaction where there is affection is that which is healthy. If an entity can only relate to a pet frog, a pet animal, a cat or dog, this in itself is healthy. Where an entity can relate to other people, this also is healthy. Essentially, the more an entity can relate to others, the more healthy the entity is in a social sense and this social health is that which is important.

639

Who, In Fact, You Really Are This Awareness does not mean by this that an entity who has hundreds of friends in a shallow level is more healthy than the entity who has one close true associate. The entity who has one friend or the entity who has only himself or herself to live with, may still be equally, or more healthy than the one who has thousands of fans; for it is not necessary that the entity measure how many friends he or she has to determine his or her health. It is rather that the more capable one is of relating to others, the more healthy the entity is seen to be in terms of society. If ones relationships with others is through the mail, or through writing and sharing oneself through that writing, or through expressing in music, or through expressing In business, or in any other manner, and that action is satisfactory to the entity, and the entity also would be capable of speaking to almost any other person on earth and carrying on a conversation which would be acceptable to that person; then this entity even though living totally isolated, may be the healthiest person in the world as far as society is concerned. The entity who has thousands of fans may be equally sick socially, and may be incapable of having a close one-to-one relationship with anyone for any sustained period of time. It is not a measure of ones social value or worth to measure them by the number of fans, by their fame, or by their fortune. Rather, it is a measure of ones social worth to measure oneself according to the individuals own view of himself in relation to others. Where one has respect for others, can speak and communicate with others, the more capable that entity is, in terms of relating to any other form of life, that entity is socialized. Where an entity is limited in his or her ability to relate to others, such as the entity who can relate to this group, or to this type of person, but not that type, where the entity can speak to males, but not to females, or to young people, but not to older people, or to this race, but not that race, or to this type of person, but not to the authority type, or to the artistic, but not the business type; where entities must be tolerant of others in some ways, this entity to that degree lacks socialization. The measure of ones ability to be integrated socially is seen in their ability to communicate with any person from any walk of life, and to do so in a manner that is meaningful to both parties. In terms of expressing ones failures, (which is often necessary), where one begins to recognize certain inadequacies of one-self, there are many ways where this can be expressed, and certain values in regard to such expression should be understood and recognized. Those entities who fail in some way, but who would never consider admitting such failure, or those entities who fail, but blame such failure on others, or those entities who fail, but alter the indications or implications to make the failure look like success, or those entities who fail in something but refuse to recognize any value in such failurethese entities often suffer greatly from that type of expression. Entities who see failure as but one stumbling block on the path to success, entities who see failure as an opportunity to learn a lesson, entities who see failure as an indication of something which needs to be corrected; these entities may find much benefit from

640

Value the failures. Those entities who can admit a failure and still continue in another path, on another effort, or to create a new direction or purposethese entities are welladjusted, and have a value-system which puts themselves and their capacity above their reputation; so that even though they may have failed, and their reputation may have become tarnished or muddied by their fall, they may still pick themselves up and continue, or start again These entities, expressing such self-confidence, or self-assurance, are those who have an element of maturity that goes beyond the opinion of others as a measurement of self-worth. Where entities have their own value, and know their own value, they are not defeated by the opinion of societyeven though they may have failed at some point, and even though their reputation may have been socially damaged. Therefore, such entities express failure by picking themselves up and moving on, while others express failure by simply giving up and letting society run over them. It is important that entities express themselves in a manner that is not overly shocking or offensive to others. However, it is also important that entities have their own sense of integrity, and even though they may have to take a stand which is socially unpopular, if they truly believe that this stand is necessary, and if they feel absolutely sure that this is the best way to alter society, to change events or the course of events, or concepts or ideas which are held by society: for if they feel these concepts, ideas or events being perpetrated by society are in violation to the higher laws, to the Universal laws, to the rights of others who are being violated by society; then these individuals do have the right and the obligation to use their best levels of awareness to confront society and to alter the course of events, or to change the concepts in society. Too often however, the rebel of society does not offer a solution, but rather strikes out for personal vengeance or personal gain, or for personal gratification, using some excuse about society not being right, and in such excuse claims to have the right to strike out at society. Entities in their personal expression should be most careful to examine the traditions, customs, morals and rules of society that you would tear down, and ask yourself clearly and honestly if you have anything better to offer. If you do not have anything better to offer, it would be better to leave the situation alone until you can come up with something that would serve the society better than what it now has. Where an entity tears apart that which is holding the fabric of society togethereven though that fabric may be rottenstill, that fabric may be preserving and preventing an even greater illness in the society. Therefore, do not attack society unless you have some fabric that may be of greater value and can implement that fabric as you tear apart the other fabric of society. If such fabric as will improve society is available, then by all means, do it. It has been said that one entitys expression is anothers violation. This as a matter of degree, as a matter of debate, and that this expression of this Awareness as that which may have violated entities, but that entities may express themselves in violation to this Awareness; and the give-and-take in expression is often that which implies violation,

641

Who, In Fact, You Really Are but which also brings about relationships. Such relationship forms the essence of society. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 6 Lesson 6 relates to the order or hierarchy of values, priorities in values. As you become more and more familiar with your movement through the City of Life, recognizing your activities are related to the society in which you live, as you become more and more familiar with the effects and ramifications of expressing your values, and having others values expressed upon you, you begin to notice that there is a kind of order in society which demands and requires that certain values be given higher priority than others. You may value greatly your desire to have a lollipop or other treat; yet, there may be that other entity who desires to preserve your teeth and health and who objects to the effects of the sugar content on your teeth and health, and therefore, that value may supersede your own value, and you may be denied the expression of your wish. There are many types of conflicts in relation to these various values and priorities: of your own and of those that others in your society may impose upon you. In order to become better integrated into a society, if the societys values are also of a healthy nature, well thought out for highest benefits to its citizens, you may wish to observe the nature of the values in terms of their social implications, ramifications, and better understand how these values came to be. Assuming the society is one that promotes and exemplifies healthy values, you may notice that the individual is given an importance, and is given certain rights. The individual may be yourself, or may be another member of the societyand having those individual rights, the entity is not to be violated by others who would deprive that entity of those, even though such curtailment of their expression may seem to them as though their rights are violated. Where a society protects an individual from the violations of others, that violation of the other is not a legitimate expression of that individual. Therefore, there must be some curtailment of certain freedoms of individuals to express themselves in violation of others, and the healthy society recognizes the rights of everyone to have certain freedom to be themselves so long as that expression does not violate others or deprive them from their healthy expression. Even as this is true in terms of individuals, likewise it is true in terms of the respect for each others property. This not only relates to material property, but also to the physical properties that one may have. The personal body of an entity is the sacred right and property of that entity, and should not be violated by those who would impose their own expression on that entity. Likewise, other property belonging to an entity in a healthy society should remain available for the use of that entity, according to the agreed-upon rules and systems that the society has provided for the entity.

642

Value There are those societies which do not allow personal property, but which do allow entities to use certain property, rather than to own the property. There are other societies which allow entities to be the sole owner of property, but which, under certain circumstances, the entities can either have that property taken from them, or may dispense with that property. In understanding these values of the society, it is important to recognize that whatever your society requires does have its effect upon you and the values that you may wish to set for yourself if you are to reside within that society. This, of course, depends on whether you value the societys acceptance of you. If you do not value the societys acceptance of you, then of course, the priorities are not in the order, and you are likely to be antisocial, rebellious and incapable of being integrated into that society. In such case you may develop values which become substitutes for social acceptance, and which serve as a certain kind of gratification or compensation to you, to justify and to give you a sense of personal worth, even though you are not accepted by the society. Likewise, the recognition in a society that it is necessary to be able to communicate, to be fed, to be clothed, to be productive, to have relationships, and to transact business, to be educated by and in that society, and to have a purpose in your life, to be of service to that society, and to be able to have certain freedom apart from social responsibilitiesall of these areas also may be seen as part of the necessary order which a society allows and which the society may set for you. In setting the priority for ones activities in a society, one may first examine the societys priorities and its order, and then ask yourself, Is this the society which I can integrate myself into, or does this society go against my basic beliefs and my very essence? If you find yourself unable to integrate into the values of the society, you may wish to make certain minor adjustments (or even major adjustments), and recognize that though some areas of society you cannot integrate into, yet other areas you can integrate yourself into; and where you can integrate yourself into those particular areas, you may wish to carefully set priorities and have some social involvement in those areas. Where you find yourself unable to integrate into certain areas of society, that you may find it appropriate to withdraw and keep a low profile, avoiding those areas of society, according to your own inclination. Not everyone is comfortable in a social event or around other people. Some entities would prefer to be on the mountainside, in the forest near a stream, or some other place. Some entities do not mind being around those whom they know well, while others enjoy the meeting of new people and becoming acquainted with strangers. According to your own interest and degree of socializing, this will determine many of the priorities which you may set in your value-system, and this Awareness does not suggest that you must be totally socially integrated with a society, for there may be areas of a society which are contemptuous to you, or may even be seen as corrupt in terms of your value-system.

643

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

A societys corruption is no excuse for an entity to likewise become corrupt in order to fit into that society. Societies do change, and societies change not because of the society simply waking up and deciding to change, but societies change because individuals within those societies create change. Therefore, in setting your priorities, do not simply mimic societys priorities, but do look at the relationship between the social values, and those which you, yourself hold. As much as is reasonably possible or convenient, merge with the society in which you live, without losing your own integrity and your own values, particularly if these values have been carefully examined, and you fully believe them to be proper for you. One difficulty is that many entities allow values to be set for them by society, allow values to happen to them, allow themselves to take on values without thinking about them; and these entities then are struck with these values that have very little real value, in the highest sense, toward their greater evolution. An entity, for example, may discover a trick where he or she can seduce something from another entity through the use of that trick, and may prize this very highly. This trick may be seen as quite valuable; and the entity, thus having such a value, may promote and use that trick again and again; yet this value may be that which is totally destructive and hindering to the entitys growth and development in terms of a social being, in terms of a successful being, or in terms of a spiritual entity. One way to assess your values and priorities is to ask yourself, In terms of productivity for myself and others, what do my values bring? Where you can look at your life and recognize and see that you are productive, giving service to yourself and others, then you may see that the values you hold do have some reasonable social redeeming value, and are worthy of promotion and priority. If the values that you hold are seen to deprive others, are seen to hinder others, are seen to deny others their rights, deny others their rewards, or deny others their chances and opportunities, then you may wish to question those values that you hold, particularly when your values would deny the lives of others, or the happiness of others. Where your values assist others, but cost you greatly, so that you must suffer and must be deprived in order that someone else may benefit this also is that which should be looked at carefully, for it is perhaps not a worthy value. In a healthy relationship, in a healthy society, all entities benefit from each circumstance, each action, and from the values which are held by those entities and by that society. Where there is in a society an action or a situation where the majority benefit at the expense of the few, this is not a healthy relationship or situation. In a society where the few benefit at the expense of the many, this is not a healthy relationship or situation. However, where all receive benefit appropriate to the action and where the entities involved can share in the rewards and none suffer or are excessively put out in terms of their energy, then, from this kind of action or situation, it may be said that all entities

644

Value involved, having receive proper reward for energy given, the action is appropriate. In understanding this principle, entities may begin to recognize true value in terms of social relationships, and where these situations are of the socially valuable nature, entities will attempt at all times to be sure that everyone receives what they deserve, receive what is best for them. In some instances, this may be some gratifying reward. In other instances, this may be a lesson that an entity needs, even though the entity does not particularly want that lesson. It is not however, the duty and right of entities to set themselves up as judges for others, to determine what lesson they should or should not receive, except in instances where this is unavoidable, is absolutely brought about by the circumstances and situations which call forth this kind of reaction and response of entities, where the one who perpetrated some misdirected energy must be brought face-to-face with the consequences. In setting priority in terms of relationships, in terms of productivity; producing actions which lead to results, producing situations which lead to events, producing relationships which lead to circumstances, or producing things which result in rewards or items of valueany form of productivity can be seen an a measurement of ones social value, and ones sense of responsibility to the society in which one lives. Obviously the small child, in beginning to move into society, will be more demanding and needing than the entity who is a mature social being. The small child in need may be a highly evolved spiritual being, yet may be quite selfish in nature because of the incapacity of its being to serve itself or to serve others. As the child matures, it becomes more and more capable of serving itself and serving others. An entity who is setting values and priorities must recognize the level of capacity another entity has, must recognize the level of capacity which you yourself have, and where you see yourself having a capacity to do more, yet behaving like a child and not using that capacity, you may see that new values and new priorities should be in order, so that you become more productive. Where you see yourself incapacitated by circumstances which are beyond your control, where you are infirm, where you are deprived, where you cannot function because of a lack of ability, this can create limitations on you so that you may wish to set as part of your priority and value-system, the goals and purposes which would assist you in finding your freedom, overcoming your limitations, or your infirmities. Where these cannot be overcome, then you may find yourself creating values and priorities and goals that will allow you to compensate for that which is missing by doing something else. There are, for example, entities who may have no hands, yet who can play the piano with their toes; there are entities who, having no arms, have learned to paint using their mouth and a brush.

645

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

In your particular case, it is unlikely that you have such difficulties, but even if your difficulties are even more great than this, it is still possible for you to compensate in some manner, to create values and goals and purposes in your life where you can do something of a productive nature. This is essential to your own happiness, to your own sense of purpose, and your sense of value. Personal value, having a sense of personal worth, is essential for any entity, in any society. It is more important that you have a sense of personal worth than it is for you to feel that society values you. In terms of your setting of values, this Awareness does not wish to tell entities what they should or should not value, other than to ask entities: If you were setting values for another entity who would be relating to you, would the values that you hold for yourself be applied to that entity in his or her relationship to you? Imagine yourself in a room full of entities having your values, all locked into that room with you, to live with you for long periods of time, and ask yourself if you could enjoy living with these entities who have your values. Obviously, if you are valuing self-interest over others, you would find that this valuesystem would be one that would create many problems for you, being surrounded by others who value their own self-interest over yours. If you value your ability to push others around and get your way, you may find yourself in a room full of entities pushing you around to get their way. This value is something that would not be socially redeeming to you, if you saw this in others. Perhaps you value your ability to criticize the faults in others. This Awareness asks you if you would like to be surrounded by entities who likewise see through your faults and criticize you? In all of your values that you hold dear in regard to yourself; this Awareness asks you to look carefully at these and ask yourself, if you were surrounded by entities who held these values, would you feel comfortable? In the event your values are based upon prejudice against a certain class or against a certain religion, obviously you would feel comfortable around others who believe exactly as you doopposed to that class, opposed to that religion. However, in such cases, that you visualize yourself being one of the parties of that class which you oppose, or of that religion which you oppose; or, that you imagine yourself being judged by entities just like yourself, for your religion, or for your class. In essence, this Awareness is reminding you of the Golden Rule, which states that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In some ways this rule has been misinterpreted, for entities must realize that not everyone wants to be treated the way you would want them to treat you. For example, you may wish that others pamper you to death and make a big deal out of your presence, but it you do this to others you may find them becoming very embarrassed and wanting to get away from you. In a sense, it might be more appropriate to interpret this Golden Rule as doing unto others to their wishes, even as you would like others to treat you according to your wishes.

646

Value

Even this can have certain uncertainties, because not everyone deserves what they wish, and to give entities what they wish may not be that which is best for them. Therefore, it is not a rule that cannot have exceptions; but rather as a general rule, the implication being that you put their welfare along with yours, or above yours, if it is required. In so doing, you may find that the priorities that are set in your value-system could very easily result in a room full of entities who put each others welfare along with their own, or above their own. Where entities recognize the Law of Love as a value and priority that can assist as a social rule, then entities may begin to glimpse the ideal society that puts the welfare and concern and feelings of others above self. Obviously, not all entities will live by the Law of Love, and there will always be those entities who are rebelling, or who are selfish, or who violate others rights. Not all entities in a society will be mature; some will be quite immature, and there are many stages in between. There are certain rules set up which help to guide those entities as they move through society, so that their behavior does not go to any extremes to violate others without coming into a social checkpoint. It you find yourself running into these social fences and checkpoints, you may ask yourself if you are somehow immature and not following the guidelines set out by society; and if so, you may ask yourself if these social guidelines have any value in terms of general protection for social beings in the society, or if they are simply designed to prevent you and others in society from having that which is a deserved right. In some societies, it may be recognized that the society is created for the protection of a few at the expense of many, and those many may realize that this social structure is that which deprives them of certain undeniable rights, and which should not be recognized as a value, but which should be torn asunder so that new social values could be created. Depending on the social structure and fabric and ways which the society enforces its fabric upon the masses of the society, the entities may choose one or another form of rebellion, depending on how they expect to succeed. Where there is room for mental, verbal, spiritual rebellion, and this can be influential, this Awareness suggests that these as being the more appropriate. Thus, even rebellion may have a certain value when it is appropriate and necessary in order to bring forth a greater value such as freedom of expression, and the rights of individuals. However, when such rebellion deprives others, where such rebellion denies rights of others, or where such rebellion is merely the seeking of what someone else has, seeking power, seeking authority, seeking possession, or seeking to be free when one does not have the capacity or ability to be free, or to handle the responsibility of such freedom, then that rebellion may be some thing which is not a socially redeeming value. There are many forms of rebellions where entities seek this nebulous concept known as freedom. Yet these entities, in being successful in their rebellion, find themselves free to do what they wanted to do, and they do that, and find themselves simply entrapped

647

Who, In Fact, You Really Are in the makings of their own undoing; for they now have the freedom which they sought, but have not the means nor the self-discipline, nor the understanding nor the ability to take care of what they have created. The concept of freedom has often been used to rally entities who feel oppressed, who feel restrictions, who feel responsibilities in a society which they do not wish to feel; and where they overthrow the society, only to discover that they still have responsibilities, they still have restrictions and they still have the need to establish rules and regulations and social behavior in order to function and have even that freedom which the society previously presented to them. Freedom and responsibility tend to go handin-hand; too much responsibility denies freedom, and too much freedom tends to create a lack of responsibility, tends to create irresponsibility, which in turn dumps ones responsibilities onto others. Where one matures socially, one also takes on responsibilities, even as the freedoms are gained. The child is free from earning a living, but is responsible in needing to please and obey the parents. Where the child rebels against the parents, and leaves in order to be free, the child then has the responsibility to support itself. These responsibilities and freedoms that entities must always experience should be looked at hand-inhand, for they cannot be separated; and entities who think they can have freedom without responsibility will simply discover that they have deluded themselves. This like having a front without having a backthat the front and back are always together. The freedom and responsibility are always inseparable. Whatever freedoms entities have, are connected to responsibilities that accompany those freedoms. In setting your priorities, in creating productive and active lives, in setting a value for yourself, in recognizing the order of things, you must always look carefully and recognized that freedom which comes with the responsibilities that you accept, and also look at the responsibilities that will go with freedom that you seek. As you wander around through the City of Life, you may also look at others in terms of their priorities, in terms of the order or disorder in their lives, and you may recognize the freedoms and responsibilities which they exhibit, or which they seek to avoid. And in this manner, you may learn much from looking at others, and in such rejection and observation, it may assist you in setting your own priorities, in setting the order of your values, and your goals and purposes, and creating that which is the productivity of your life. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 7 Lesson 7 relates to agreements, values and meanings. As you move through the City of Life, having experienced the various pains of growing into greater understanding, having begun to formulate priorities in terms of values; you reach a state where you begin to recognize that your values are not always compatible with the values of the society, and even though you have prioritized your

648

Value values, there appears to be some type of priority in the society which may interfere with your values. Therefore, it reaches a time where you must consider the concept of adjustment adjusting to societys values, adjusting your values with those of society. In order to adjust your values with those of society, you must first understand what the values of society are, and whether or not you can accept these or adjust to these. In looking about, you will find that many of societys values are being, and have been pushed on you by others, (sometimes called pillars of society), so that you either have accepted reluctantly, or enthusiastically, the values of society, or perhaps have rejected these values of society for one reason or another. In looking at the values of society, you may see them as oppressive to you as an individual, preventing you from doing what you wish to do, interfering with your own selfvaluethat value you place upon yourself as an individual; or causing you to feel a lack of value, as though your individuality meant nothing to society. As you begin to look at this concept of your own self-worth in relation to society, you may either become discouraged, or you may look at society as if it is simply waiting for you and your expression to modify and change the society to fit your needs; or you may be somewhere in between, recognizing that you must make an establishment and relationship to that society which requires adjustment on your part as well as understanding of the society itself. Thus, the evaluation of yourself may be measured in terms of how well you adjust to society, or whether you believe societys standards are high enough and suitable for you, or whether you should put forth energy to alter the standards of society in order to bring them to a higher level that is suitable for yourself. When this Awareness refers to society, this can apply to all levels, from family to national or international levels, or to the entire group called humanity. Society, applying to all levels, including friends, associates, community, cultural, national, international and also to family and even to oneselfthe society of aspects of ones being: this is that which this Awareness refers to as society in general; and where an entity adjusts to the demands or principles, to the rules, customs and tenets of a society, it implies that the entity has integrated and is found acceptable to the society. This also implies that the entity has found society acceptable to his or her own standards and therefore, integration can take place. Such is an ideal arrangement, but is unlikely to occur with any individual, for in almost every case, an individual will find something wrong with society where its standards in certain areas are not those that the entity feels are of the highest, and therefore the entity feels an alienation to the society in this particular aspect. Also, the society may make demands upon the individual that the individual feels are unfair or unjust, and which the individual feels it is impossible to live up to. Therefore, there is generally always a rift to some degree between the individual and society in

649

Who, In Fact, You Really Are general, and yet there will be areas in which there is some agreement. The degree of agreement or disagreement with society is that which is the determining factor as to whether an entity is considered social or antisocial. When one begins to set ones priority in terms of values and one runs head-on into societys priorities and values, (the laws and customs and demands of society confronting the individuals desires and priorities and values), this leads to a confrontation or clash of values which may begin at home with the family, spread to relationships with associates or to society at large. It becomes important for the individual to learn how to evaluate his or her own values in relation to those of society, to determine which should be modified. Where one sees the societys values being unfair to the individual, then the individual may feel it is important to modify society. In being fair with this concept of evaluating society, one must not think in terms of the individual as oneself, but in terms of the stereotype individual, the social individual, no matter who it is. If one simply sees society as that which is creating rules which oppose ones desires, and if that one entity does not care about the rights of others in society then the entity is not a fair judge of what the rules should be, for he will insist that the rules favor himself and not be as insistent on fair play to others. Therefore, such an entity is not a fair judge of society and cannot be accurate or relied upon in any effort to alter society. If one is considering altering society, one must first examine oneself to be absolutely sure that there is not some vested interest, some interest in profiting for oneself by the alteration of society, particularly if that personal vested interest does not consider equally the rights of others; for if one assumes that one should alter society to please oneself, even though it displeases others or harms others, then one is not creating a society that is fair for all concerned. Therefore, the entity who would alter society must first examine oneself to determine whether society should be altered, or whether the self should be altered to fit the society that already exists. This in terms not only of society in general, but also of specific rules which society may present where the entity may challenge the rules unfairly, or may look at the rule fairly and ask if it is applied equally to all entities, is this a good rule for all people? If it appears to be a good and just rule for all concerned, then it should stay; if it violates some and benefits others, then the rule is questionable. If it favors you at the expense of others, the rule is also questionable. Therefore, the entity who begins to examine society in order to adjust oneself, must look at society fairly, with a clear understanding of what is just for all concerned. This applies not only to individual evaluation of ones worth, where the society values the individual and the individual equally values the society (which creates a perfect balance between individual and society), but where also the individual considers the rights of ownership of the individual, and the individual considers the rights of ownership by others in society with an equal fairness, where one cant say, I have the right to own

650

Value this, but you dont have the right to own that. There are many entities who actually believe themselves having greater rights than others, and would deprive another of having the same protective laws that they claim themselves. In order to be a fair society, all entities must be given the same opportunities, even if not in the same circumstances. In terms of the social rules and laws, the opportunities, when presented must be protected by these rules and laws equally. This does not mean that every individual in the society must be handed an equal opportunity as of others, but rather that the laws and rules protect equally those members of society in the event they do have the opportunity. In terms of property rights, in terms of communication; the rights of each individual of society to have equal opportunity to communicate under the law, (even if not in practicality, at least the law allows those opportunities of communication), and equal rights to nutrition under the law, to where no entity is deprived of nutrition because of a law which favors one over another; equal rights of expression, equal rights of job and work opportunities, equal rights of business opportunities, of trade, of religion, of maintenance of ones position and reputation, of ideals and services given through the society, and of the rights of access to institutions; when entities in a society are given these opportunities under law so that the law equally applies to all individuals, then the society is in harmony with individual rights. This does not mean that each individual in the society must be given the same opportunity for the job, for the business, for his or her property ownership; for opportunities are governed by circumstances that the individual may meet through his or her own destiny. What it does mean however, is that the law protects each individual to allow those opportunities to be utilized by the individual with the same standard across the board for any individual in the society; there is no class or particular individual that is not given equal opportunity under the law. There is often a great confusion among entities who believe that equal opportunity means that they should have the same opportunity as the person who is born wealthy or healthy or in a high class family, and these entities feel deprived that they have been cheated by life. Society cannot guarantee equality on all levels such as this. It cannot guarantee equality in terms of circumstances. It can only guarantee, at its best, that the law applies equally to all entities regardless of their status in life, so that a law that applies to the pauper applies equally to the rich man, and vice versa. This of course is the ideal, and is seldom found in practicality and thus, the society is often unfair to certain classes of individuals. Those who have greater power often have greater advantage in influencing the law in their favor. It is in these areas that an individual may find conflict with society and thus, the entity may find it impossible to adjust to society when societys standards are double or apply favorably to one class, and unfavorable to another. This is not uncommon, and many societies which claim equality are also hypocritical

651

Who, In Fact, You Really Are in that the application of law, rules, standards, even within a family or club, group, society, religion, nation; these are not applied equally to all members, and thus there is discrepancy. When this occurs, it is often the entity who cannot adjust or accept the discrepancies who is the one that begins to resist the social trends and bring about an attempt to adjust society, rather than adjust to society. The entity may begin attempting to alter society toward an ideal. When this attempt to alter society toward an ideal gains momentum with others, it is called a movement. If it is but one individual attempting to alter society, the individual is generally classed by society as antisocial; and depending on whether the efforts to alter society are based on sound and reasonable purposes, or whether these are simply a personal grudge will likely determine whether this individual receives support from others, for most entities do not side with the individual whose cause is purely selfish. Most entities will side only with the individual who has a cause that applies to a principle that all feel supportive of. Thus, when an entity in society sees a principle that needs to be supported in order to bring about fairness to various members of society, it can become a cause which receives much support from many entities, and thus this cause, gaining energy, can in time alter society so that the principles of the cause become part of the new society. Thus the individual may start a movement, but in many cases an individual simply hammers away at society for some personal vendetta, personal grudge or personal selfish purpose and does not alter society at all, but simply creates a name for himself as antisocial, an outcast, a misfit, one who should not be in society. Where one wishes to have an impact on society, one cannot expect to have an impact on society if no one supports what the entity is doing, or if the support is negligible in terms of society in general. The entity instead will be classified as antisocial, a nobody who tried to challenge the system. It is much better for an individual to adjust to society in those areas where possible, and in areas and aspects of society where adjustment is not ethical or practical or possible, and the entity feels it is necessary to alter society, then it is practical for the entity to examine carefully what alterations should be made that would apply fairly to all concerned, and then to rally support to finance or energize those changes which might be necessary in society to bring about the application of new ways of applying fair treatment to all concerned in the society. This is that which brings about agreement, which allows for forces to reach some type of negotiation and harmony so that they can say, Yes, it does appear to be fair, and yes, we can compromise on this to allow this to occur. In some instances it may need to be forced on entities through the consensus of society in general; for some entities may have an advantage where they are using leverage unfairly to take advantage of others and may not wish to give up that position of power, but if the consensus of society is strong enough, informed enough, aware enough, it can turn upon these who are using that leverage and insist that they join society in being fair, or acknowledge themselves as outcasts of society.

652

Value

In this manner, a society that is governed by unfair leaders can suddenly turn about and the leaders may become criminals to the society, and the society in turning against those leaders may cause them to be outcasts of the society. In which case, if this occurs, the adjustment is not of the individuals to the society that existed under the rule of these leaders, the adjustment is that which spread quickly throughout society to the point where the leaders are now the minority and must adjust to the change that has occurred in the general society. This is particularly seen in times of great turmoil, such as during World War II, when Mussolini, having been the dictator of Italy, was suddenly found to be the outcast. This is a pattern that often occurs when great changes in a society are in motion. For the individual, the small insignificant individual in society to start a movement to alter society, it is necessary to be in tune with the mood of the masses and to know that they, too, want that change in society to occurand when they are in tune with this mood of change, the individual in society, if being fully in touch with the principles and concepts and able to express clearly, that individual can become a significant force in challenging the society. Otherwise, an entity who seeks to change society without others being considered, or without others wanting such change to occur, the entity is simply beating his head on a brick wall; for society is slow to change for individuals, but individuals are quick to break under society. Thus, one can adjust to society, or one can adjust society to oneself; but to adjust society to oneself, one must recognize that the society that is adjusting must include the masses who agree with the individuals position, and thus the adjustment is not a personal adjustment, but one of the masses. Therefore entities should understand the mood of society and not see themselves simply as having the right to make demands on society, to flaunt societys conventions or laws or principles without experiencing some type of repercussion from the society. If others agree that these principles, laws and customs should be flaunted, to the degree that others support your action, this will determine whether or not there is a schism or an alteration in society that allows the change that you are demanding of society. If there is not sufficient support for your position or action, then you are considered antisocial, and all of your efforts, regardless of how sure you may be of their rightness, may simply be nothing more than factors that alienate you from society more and more. Society is quick to recognize the entity who favors himself and unfairly observes and judges others, and it doesnt matter whether an entity argues vehemently that he has been unjustly treated by society and that society is all scum; society will simply look at this individual as being out of touch with reality unless that individual is being totally fair in his evaluation. Too often entities are prejudiced toward themselves at the expense of others, and think that by arguing vehemently they can convince others that they have been misjudged, or violated. Generally such entities do not get very far with society, for society in general

653

Who, In Fact, You Really Are has a sense of what is fair and what is not fair. For an entity to adjust to society, that sense of fairness is the key, and if the entity understands what is fair to all involved, the entity is then in a position to accurately challenge an unfair society, or to accept the demands of the society and alter ones behavior to fit that society. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 8 Lesson 8 relates to the transition or exchange of values; and this includes conflicting values. As the individual adjusts his or her values to societys values, or attempts to do so, one becomes more and more aware of what society is presenting as its values, only to discover that every individual within society holds one or more values and is attempting to not only promote those values, but get others to acknowledge the worth of those values; each individual within the society is seeking something of value from others in the society. Thus, the entity in traveling through the City of Life soon discovers the entire city was set up for the exchange of values where entities are trading each other, selling each other, those things that they see as valuable and buying from each other those things that they see as valuable. The City of Life becomes like a big fair, a trade fair, where everyone gives and takes from each other in exchange of values, things which they value as being important. Many of these values are fleeing, temporal, gratifying only for the moment, satisfying the appetites; other values satisfying the senses or satisfying a sense of security; other values satisfying long-term needs: shelter, clothing or long-range security; other values satisfying the needs to be productive, useful in societya career or whatever; and other values relating to ones relationships with others as individuals, partners or as society members in general, and other values which relate to those areas which go beyond the physical/material plane into spiritual concepts, principles, laws and beliefs. Thus, the individual is bombarded by the marketplace of values in his or her society and where the values are of a wide variety, where the society has a wide variety of commodities or valuables to sell, the individual becomes much more sophisticated and capable of sorting out trash from that which is quality. In some areas in the City of Life there are few choices; the choices are meager, the choices are only in matters of shades of color for the same thing, and whether this is religion, material goods, philosophy, ideas, government or whatever, the individual has little choice and can only choose between the various shades of color and not have a great choice in terms of alternatives. Those societies within the City of Life which provide for great choice, which provide an intermingling of cultures, of goodies, of concepts, of ideas, of philosophies, of religious and philosophical points of view: these allow the individual to develop a sense of quality, a sense of comparison, discernment, discriminationlearning what is valid

654

Value and what is quality and what is simply trash. As the individual becomes more and more adept at discovering true equality, the individual learns what should have the higher price tag and what should be held cheaply. As everything in the City of Life carries a price tag and can be bought and sold, the individual also recognizes that this same thing applies to himselfthat he too is a commodity, is a value which has a price tag, can be bought and sold. And if the society values him as something cheap and expendable, then he can be tossed aside like a paper cup; or if the society sees its individuals as being important and having rights and having Divine Rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then the individual also sees himself as being valuable. Where ones society does not value the individual and the individual values himself more than the society does, (which of course is always the case), but where the society in general does not value individuals in general, then the individual feels himself to be isolated and separate from society, seeking to get into good graces with society and willing to turn against his or her fellow man in order to be part of societys inner circle. Thus, the individual begins to prize society that rejects individuality as being unimportant, and the entity in seeking to become more powerful within the society in order to have a greater sense of individual worth, may turn against his or her fellow members in the society. In the society where individuals are prized and are seen to comprise the makeup of the society, where society in general is seen as a composite of individuality and individuality is prized so long as it does not interfere with the rights and privileges of other individualities, then the individual is basically separated from society in a manner that allows him to feel an obligation to perform as an individualnot necessarily attempting to gain power over others, but to gain power over himself and his own limitations; and thus, the individual begins to compete with himself to become better, to improve on what he is. This type of society, in which the individual is prized, is the type of society that allows for the greatest amount of individual growth, inventiveness and evolution. It is for this reason that the United States, because of its Constitution emphasizing individual rights, that this United States has been foremost in inventiveness, creativeness and the ingenuity that has led to high technology sciences and development of systems. While this has had its many benefits, there have also been certain liabilities associated with this. For individuals can become so powerful within themselves that they become like miniature governments, controlling masses of servants or slaves or employees, or bureaucrats, so that they actually serve as little empires, sometimes growing larger than the government itself. Thus, many of these individuals, having built empires, having followers and servants, agents and mercenaries, become like dictatorships within the government that has allowed individuality to flourish; and thus, these individuals, in flourishing, develop qualities that deny the rights to others to likewise flourish or develop.

655

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

Thus, the competition that is guaranteed by the free-enterprise system, often reaches a state where the competition is wiped out by those who have developed superiority over others in their marketplace or in their systems. In this sense, free enterprise can sometimes become a system like a free-for-all, where the weak are destroyed and the mighty grow stronger. Therefore, there need to be laws governing the growth of free enterprise, guaranteeing the rights of the small and weak to also have their opportunities to flourish. There also need to be laws which govern the great and the mighty so that they cannot destroy those who are weaker through competition or through their own system of power. There also need to be laws to prevent the great and mighty who have flourished in the free-enterprise system which is created by the government, preventing those giants from devouring their own motherthe government which created the system on which they flourished, for often the government simply becomes eaten up by its own children. These great corporations and the great systems that develop often devour the very creator of themselves and the masses and people who remain are thus swallowed up by the children or offspring of that government which brought them into existence. Therefore, a society or a marketplace can devour individuals, so that the individual within the marketplace is caught up in the machinery and those who are in free enterprise spirit, growing so strong and powerful in the marketplace so as to control the marketplace, then may make slaves or servants of the merchants and of the people within the marketplace, so that none are free to have the same rights which were made available to those who became thus powerful. The individual, moving into the marketplace of values and ideas can see these principles at work in all levels, whether it be a commodity, a food, clothing or service, or whether it be high technology, inventiveness or ideas, schooling, education, or whether it be in the field of philosophy; religion, politics. There is always that which has established itself already as the giant in its field, and it tends to use its size to intimidate all newcomers, to keep all newcomers from having any opportunity to compete with it, or to develop within the field of its expertise. Thus, the newcomers must sneak in, develop quietly and through much behind-the-scenes operations, begin to gain momentum so that they suddenly appear on the scene before anyone knows how they got there, and there they are, sharing and selling their values, their valuables, their ideas, their beliefs, their commodity, their product-selling this on the marketplace. As an individual in the marketplace, you may find yourself in a position to sell your valuables; either your opinions, your personal worth, your skills, your talents, your products, your beliefs; something that you have to offer to society. For every individual in a society has something that can be sold, presented or offered to society and thus the individual in the marketplace, holding something about himself or his attachments as being valuable, attempts to present these things in their best light, so that they will be accepted by society and valued to the same degree that the entity values these

656

Value things. This Awareness wishes to discuss now how an individual can promote or sell those things that are of value to himself, and to seek in exchange those things that are of value to himself. One of the important factors in the City of Life, in this marketplace, is for the individual to hold himself as something of value. However, it becomes somewhat absurd for one to hold oneself to be something of great value when no one else sees any worth in the entity, and does not hold the entity to be of any value whatsoever It becomes even more absurd when the entity who is thus met by society as having no value, points out to society how valuable he is, particularly if there is nothing to support those claims. Essentially, this is an action which society recognizes as being but bragging and vanity, for society looks at the individual not for his claims, but for what is available or offered to society that can be of value. Therefore, the entity who walks through the City of Life shouting that, I am worth much more than you think! All herein present, look at me! How valuable I happen to be! I am worth much more than I appear to be!; the entities in looking may sense curiously that perhaps the entity does have something he is holding back, and may wish to find out what the entity actually has, but when it comes down to performance level, if the entity has made such claims and cannot perform, then the entity is seen as a fraud:hollow, empty and deceptive. Therefore, many entities may hold themselves in high esteem and demand society see them as beings of high esteem, but have no foundation on which that esteem can be recognized; and thus, their reputations are tarnished, and society, in time, rejects them as being false advertisement. Other entities may walk through the City of Life quietly, unnoticed, but doing thingsgiving service, healing, helping, doctoring, ministering, advising, sharing, selling, inventing, creating, buildinggiving something which others find to be very helpful in giving themselves a better life. They look back and ask, Who was that masked man? And thus, the entity becomes known without even having advertised that he is some great person. These entities begin to value the service available through that person, and thus, they begin to spread by word of mouth, advertisement for the entity. Advertisement from others is much more profound and meaningful than advertisement from oneself, and carries much more weight on the marketplace, and thus, individuals begin to look to that which others are talking about and thus society begins to value that which others see as valuable. If you as a member of society have ideas, commodity, product or services to offer, and you wish society to recognize the value of these, rather than attempting to push these into the mouths of others, force them to put on your products, cram these ideas down their throats, tie them up, gag them until youve presented your pitch; rather than doing this, this Awareness suggests you offer them the knowledge that you have something

657

Who, In Fact, You Really Are which they may be interested in, that you intrigue them first to open up and look at what you have to offer; do not push this at them, but let them peek at it and decide if they want to see more. In this manner, they are the aggressors, seeking to find out what your values are, what you hold as valuable, what you have to offer, and they want to look into your bag to see what is in there. This is much easier, to sell your values in this way, than to walk down to someones home, pound on the door and yell to them that youre ready to come in and sell them that which they cannot live without. It is much better to let them come to you, to ask you, What is in there that is so valuable, that you prize so highly? In presenting your pitch in this manner, you simply inform them of the value of your life, of the value of yourself, of the value of the things that you have to offer, but you do not force this on them until they ask to see it. In presenting the value of yourself, do not go out with a price tag or sign saying: Look at me! How valuable I am! Simply hold that attitude about yourself that you are a valuable person. You do not claim value for something that does not exist. You set about to make yourself valuable. You set about to train yourself to give things of value. You are as valuable to yourself as you want to be, as you claim to be, but you are only as valuable to others as you are able to give something to them that they need. You cannot expect others to love you for simply being yourself if there is nothing in yourself that is of benefit to others. The small baby recognizes that: Mother loves me because I am, but the adult who is matured, should not still hold such an attitude of, Others should love me because I am! Right now I am hungry! Right now I want this! Right now I want that! I should have these things because I am important, and I cant understand why no one else recognizes my importance! There are many entities like this; there are many entities who cannot get their act together because they want recognition for being nothing other than an appetite, a hungry mouth, a desiring being, a person who wants something for nothing. The entity who prizes himself as a valuable person will take care of himself and treat himself as if he were indeed a valuable person, and will not expect others to treat him that way unless he himself has a relationship with himself that treats himself as a valuable person, and anyone who sees himself or herself as a valuable person will try to develop, educate, indoctrinate or develop skills and talents worthy of a valuable person, so that the person can be of service to others and not simply be a bag lying there with a big appetite wanting help. Too many entities think that life is simply a place where you can cry out and mamma will come and stuff you full of goodies. This is for the being who just enters the City of Life, but the entity who cannot get beyond that state, to mature to where there is something of himself to sell, to present, to give to others; this entity is nothing but a bag of

658

Value flesh and bones and appetite, lying there like a child, waiting to be fed, coddled and cared for. Such entities are not highly prized or valued by society nor by each other. When they come across another like themselves they feel great competition and hostility at seeing such a worthless being. They will always find fault with the other and fail to see how much alike they are. The entity who in recognizing that all things are values, and have various quality associated with the values, and that those things are most highly prized which are desired by the greatest number of entities, and that those highly prized values are the ones worth cultivating; that entity begins to develop qualities, services, commodities, concepts, ideas which society in general begins to recognize as being valuable and of high quality, and thus, society begins to give respect to that entity, or to those commodities, ideas and services: then the entity becomes like a pillar of society, and has greater influence in society. Often an entity has greater influence in society but does not have a complete balance as to what is appropriate on all levels; the entity does have qualities which are highly prized, but may have a character flaw that leads the entity into doing something which is antisocial, which is erroneous or not fair to the members of society, and thus the pillar of society becomes tainted and loses his high reputation, becomes unethical and falls from grace. It is important when entities begin to formulate their values, particularly when rising in public esteem, to recognize that society requires fairness in all levels and that deceptive behavior or unethical activities simply because one has the power to get by with that unethical behavior, is not acceptable to society. One may ask the question: Should these members who are pillars of society be expected to live up to the higher standards in their personal life than the man on the street, or the woman on the street? Should their personal life be open for public scrutiny? This right to privacy is that which is also a value that entities may claim or may sell. Often entities sell their rights to privacy by writing a book about their private life, and in so doing, they may include the rights of privacy which others did not want disclosed. These are called scandal books or scandal stories, where others are scandalized by these stories that entities convey in regard to their own relationships or inner private knowledge of another. In such cases, the individual has valued the commercialization of inner or private information more than he or she has valued the rights of privacy. In such cases, this is a violation to the other person unless the other person agreed to allow this information out. Therefore, the potential for court action, protection by society to allow the individual to have some degree of privacy, or to punish those who deny that privacy. It is seldom possible for an individual who is in the public eye to have the degree of

659

Who, In Fact, You Really Are privacy that other individuals have, and thus the courts cannot, as a general rule, guarantee that scandals will not occur, even if they have been held as private by the individual, and often stories, will circulate throughout the City of Life in regard to a public figure in relation to his private life, and all entities in the City of Life who hear this story may pattern their own values, in part, with their attitude toward the story of these models of society, these pillars of society, and thus, the pillars of society become models for the members of society. There is the reflective action where the members of society may be living a life that is just as sinful or just as licentious as the model in society, but the entity who is on the lower scale may be highly judgmental of the model in society, the pillar of society, insisting that their leaders are not to behave in this manner: We want our gods, our leaders, to be of highest integrity; meanwhile, Ill have my fun! There are many entities who think this way, who demand that their leaders have much higher standards than they themselves hold. This is part of the double standard that many entities apply to their lives. Many entities apply double standards, not only to those pillars of society, but also to members within their own family: One child can get by with this, the other cant. I can get by with this, but my wife cant! This is a common flaw in the thinking and reasoning of entities in society, where what they demand of others is far greater than that which they demand of themselves, and thus, these entities add to the decay of society and its conventions. These are entities who need to be exposed publicly for what they are: having double standards, where that which applies to others, they do not apply to themselves. That which they demand of others, they could not accept for themselves. Likewise, in the marketplace, there are those changes which occur in time, where an entity may start off with a cheap useless product and gradually improve, creating greater quality, or that which has a greater value; but then, in looking back at newcomers, seeing their cheap products, may become highly critical and hostile that such entities be allowed on the marketplace; that their values even be allowed to exist. This is seen often in the entity who in youth was wild and developed a bad reputation, but once overcoming this tendency, becomes righteous and a pillar of good taste, and thus has the right to turn and condemn others who are sowing their wild oats. These entities also have a kind of double standard in that they may be honest to themselves, living by their own standards, but where they may not recognize that they were very much like those they now condemn, when they were in the same situation or at the same age as those whom they now condemn. In this sense it is like a double standard although it is not quite the same. Entities tend to value that which they identify with as being valuable, and obviously, when they discard something as having no further use to them, of being no longer valuable, such as the wild life, or the cheap thrills, they then look back on these things which they see others grabbing for and see them with disgust.

660

Value

The cheap thrill you cast aside because it is no longer valuable to you may be the greatest thing that ever fell in the path of the entity who is approaching it, and thus the entity picks up this thing you tossed aside and says: Wow! Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my life! It was such an experience! I think Ill become obsessed with this for six months! Thus the entity becomes obsessed with those cheap thrills for six months while you look on with utter disgust. It is important, to recognize the cheap thrills that young people often pick up from adults, are part of the process of developing values; as you have had the experience, having sucked the nectar of the cheap thrill to your hearts content, and are no longer excited about it, it does not mean that you are thus a much better person. It simply means that you have passed beyond the need for that cheap thrill, and those who are indulging now in the cheap thrills may need this in order to reach the state where you are at present, and those thrills which you now see as highly valuable may, in another ten or twenty years, be seen as nothing but cheap thrills of the past. Thus, as time passes, as entities mature, those things that seem so important to ones future, to ones goals, may in time be looked back upon as if they were but cheap thrills on the path of life, in the marketplace, in the city. What then is the purpose and value of living, if all those things that you prize may someday be seen as nothing but cheap thrills? The value is that you are learning to discern, to discriminate, to recognize quality and value; and as you learn to recognize quality and value, you begin also to recognize that quality and value in anything is that which lasts, enduring longest, and that which serves you most to the highest degree of efficiency. These values, whatever they may be, which last and endure through all circumstances, which serve and guarantee the best for all involved; these values are those that you recognize to be of highest order. Thus, you seek out the diamond, you seek out those things of highest quality, you seek out those things that last, you seek out those things that serve, you seek out those things that assist in your eternal growth and development. You seek out ideas that remain eternal and firm under all circumstances. You seek out concepts that stand up under all types of questioning. You seek out systems of government that last and endure under all circumstances, which preserve the rights and benefits to the most in the highest quality. Thus, you become one who has discrimination, good taste, a sense of quality. You realize the cheap thrills are necessary for those who are hungry for cheap thrills, but you realize also that there must be something given to these entities to wean them from these cheap thrills so that they throw aside the pacifier and get on with the nutrition of life. Therefore you begin to develop concepts, ideas, messages, information in an orderly fashion which can be spoon-fed to the masses to wean them from their cheap thrills, which can be spoon-fed to your children to wean them from their cheap thrills, so that they understand higher values, more enduring, more lasting values; things that hold up under all conditions. Thus, your child begins to value the education,

661

Who, In Fact, You Really Are begins to value the rights of others as presented in principles, concepts and ideas, as presented by government systems, as presented by philosophies and religions, which guarantee and promote individual rights and liberties. Thus, your child and you learn that the greater values are those which are intangible, and those which are intangible are often more enduring, more easily and widely applied and more able to serve than the material commodity which can be purchased at the shop in the marketplace, brought home and toyed with and then tossed aside. The abstracts often become the things that are most highly prized, the spiritual concepts become of utmost importance; and thus, the entity may decide that there is great commercial value in promoting spiritual concepts, and thus, the entity may begin to promote spiritual concepts simply for the purpose of gaining commercial value. When this occurs, the entity has essentially cheapened the quality of the spiritual concept; is using religion, is using spirituality for material gain. There is nothing wrong with receiving material benefits for energy given, for training, for talent and for skills; there is nothing wrong with the entity receiving material benefits necessary to allow him or her to continue giving service to others. However, when the entity is not interested in the expression of the spiritual message, but does so only in order to rake in the buck, that this then becomes that which is in error, and society will not tolerate this for long. Entities can sense sincerity from the conniving and manipulating of concepts, and only those who are lacking in sensitivity will be fooled by those who are using concepts to pull money from others. Thus the City of Life with its commodities, with its values, with its cheap thrills, with its higher quality, becomes a learning place, a place where entities have the opportunity to become more and more sensitive, more and more discerning, to refine their tastes, to discover true worth and higher value, to discriminate between the flashy shiny jewelry of the cheap thrills, and the pure gold and crystal that is of highest quality; to discriminate between the low and vulgar concepts, beliefs, attitudes, emotions and those which are of highest quality: the cheap love, the quality love; the cheap religion based on extortion, threats, emotion, deceptionand that higher quality of spirituality based on understanding, knowing, recognizing truth. Entities thus become refined in their consciousness, in their values by living in the City of Life and partaking of the marketplace that provides for wide variety and great diversification of values. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 9 Lesson 9 relates to the pursuit of values. During the experience in the City of Life, where the entity begins to discern and distinguish differences between values and becomes acquainted with values of higher quality, those which are more enduring, those which apply and give service to greater

662

Value numbers or for a greater quality, those values which have broad application and are more than a simple passing fancy or for a specific pleasure at a brief moment; those values which have a universal quality, the entity begins to recognize these as being of much greater value than others. At some state in the entitys development, he not only pursues those values, but also begins to search and pursue standards of quality or standards by which quality and values can be measured. For example, the entity who is an expert in evaluating diamonds is able to see which diamond is more valuable because of certain standards in the discernment of value. Likewise, the entity who becomes more and more refined in his evaluation of character, evaluates the character of another entity or of himself according to certain standards, and those standards become valuable in their own right. Thus, the ruler by which something is measured, becomes a value, has a value, and is considered as being of great value to the entity who knows how to use that standard, ruler or device, or system for evaluating and measuring. The electronics expert who uses his various meters for measuring the quality or the nature of a frequency or of a device or system learns to value his meters or his devices that do the measuring. Likewise, the entity who uses a tuning fork to set the pitch on the piano or other instrument places a high value in the quality of the tuning fork. These are standards by which measurements can be made of other things which entities value. There are those who use certain books, certain principles, certain documents, certain rules, certain codes, certain customs, certain traditions for standards by which to measure the quality and value of something that can be measured by those standards. Thus, the company measures its rising executives by the standards set forth by its founders, or those who have risen to high esteem and who set the standards for the companys rising executives. Likewise, the culture which has certain standards based on its founding platform, its convictions, its philosophy or belief system; the culture measures the members of the culture according to those standards, the codes of ethics, or morals or the laws and conventions of the society. If one lives with a pack of wolves and has been accepted in the society of wolves, it is not likely that the wolves would raise a fuss over the eating habits of the entity; and therefore, depending on the quality, nature and customs of the society, the entitys eating habits may be like that of a wolf and still be acceptable in an appropriate society; but were this entity to be put into a totally different society, eating with those kings and queens and royalty at a banquet, this entity would not be accepted if he indulged in the practice of eating like a wolf. Therefore, that standard of behavior in one place is obviously not always acceptable in another place, and each standard may be measured according to the culture. When one enters into a culture which requires higher standards and one does not seek or desire or attempt to adhere to those higher standards, the entity may be found as a misfit, unacceptable to the culture, to that particular type of culture or group; an entity from a

663

Who, In Fact, You Really Are higher culture, taken into that which is the pack of wolves, visiting with the entity who has lived with wolves for some 20 years, would be seen as acting totally out of place if he was concerned about his napkin, handkerchief or other trinket of civilized behavior while attempting to adapt himself to the culture of the wolf-pack. Obviously, either is correct within his or her own setting or culture, but either is incorrect when placed out of his mode and into a culture that is not accepting of his form of behavior. Therefore, it can be seen that each culture may have its own standard of behavior, its own rules, and entities involved in that culture may be required by the culture to abide by the rules of the culture. This can be troublesome to entities who do not accept the cultures rules as being valid for human beings of their level of development, and therefore find themselves unable to fit in with that particular culture or its standards. Because of this, there are those who join together with people of their own kind, of their own level who agree upon standards which are universal to their group, where they can all agree that this standard is that which we accept as being appropriate for our level of behavior, and these entities form a group or culture (or it may be termed a cult), where these entities expect others who are part of the culture or cult or society, to abide by those standards which have been presented. Entities who enter into that culture and fail to abide by the cultures standards are seen as criminal or delinquent or lacking in good breeding or lacking in good taste or sensitivity, or are lacking in character or some other social quality. If the culture is invaded by a large numbers of such entities, they may completely reverse the character of the culture so that the few who started the culture are now in a minority and their standards are not recognized by the majority; and thus, new standards of the majority begin to overwhelm those in the minority, so that their own standards seem to apply only to them and do not have the respect of the majority. Thus, the diamonds are tossed out and the plastic trinkets are put up on display, because the majority sees these as being valuable, as having the higher standard. The classical music is tossed into the garbage and the modern frantic music is brought into display, the behaviors are altered so that the majority, with its standards of acceptability overwhelms those standards of the minority. So it is in all things, in all ages, even that generation of ancient Greece where all seems, from the point of view, to have been molded in a particular type of culture; to those entities of that time, the standards of one generation were being violated by the upcoming generation, just as it is in modern day societies, where the adults see the next generation as attempting to overthrow the standards and morals of the society. It matters not whether this is in modern times or in ancient times. These conflicts between generationsthe youth and the olderhave always been part of societys experience. Often the older generation becomes crystallized in its pursuit of power and control over the younger, and the younger feels it is necessary to challenge and fight the oppression of the older in order to become free.

664

Value

Once free from the influence of the older generation, the younger generation now has the ability to seize power for himself or herself and to use this power over the next generation which is coming up in an unruly manner and needs to be taught how to live properly and to respect and relate to his or her elders; and thus, the pattern goes on, each taking the place of those whom they have overturned. There becomes a need for entities to pursue standards or values that can be recognized by all entities, regardless of age, regardless of desires, regardless of taste, discernment or ability to recognize value. There becomes a need for entities to find systems of, or standards of values, standards of measurements which allow all of these entities, regardless of their level of development to recognize and to have the standards of measurement applied fairly and to see that these standards are valid and meaningful. In the past there have been philosophies, religions, dogmas, rules, regulations, cultural orders, commands and customs, family order and patterns, the patterns of the pack, the patterns or pecking order of the family or the group, or the civilization or culture, the hierarchy system, the system of authority, the ranks, the caste system; there have been all of these various ways where entities were measured in the society by standards which had little to do with a universal standard that applied to all entities. In pursuing a universal standard that all entities can accept as being valid and meaningful to them, regardless of what level of development they may be on, it becomes apparent that there are very few standards that can be used. It comes down to a few simple terms: respect for each other, concern for the welfare, concern for the feeling of others, doing unto others as they would do unto you, giving others that which they need for their growth and fruition, for their learning, and accepting only that which is necessary for your growth and fruition and learning and for that which you have earned, and giving to others that which they have earned according to the ability to give, sharing with others. All of these actions of interrelationship with others become a value system which can be recognized as human relations built on mutual respect, where the child or the leader, the adult or the young person, the male or female, the pauper or king, can, when applying the Law of Mutual Respect, relate to each other by a particular standard of recognizing the Divinity in each other, and in such a standard of recognition, this becomes a system of measurement that transcends cultural differences, racial differences, age differences and sexual differences and religious and political differences. Where entities accepting the highest standard of measurement look at the Divinity in each other and relate to each other as though they were addressing gods, and thus, the pursuit of those standards of the highest order can then lead entities into experiencing a society that is on the move toward that which is of the highest order. Anything less will produce a society that is less than the highest. This is an ever ongoing movement, where entities more and more seek to see within

665

Who, In Fact, You Really Are each other that which is the Divine Part, and thus, addressing and calling forth in their relationship with the other, the highest and best, and giving of themselves the highest and best, entities begin to move toward the highest and best, and the society begins to feel that movement and respond with an ever increasing movement toward the highest and best. Thus, in the pursuit of values, this Awareness suggests that entities always pursue the highest and best, and that the spiritual pursuits are the highest and best callings, and therefore, not only pursue the highest and best in your mundane life, but also in your spiritual pursuits. It is suggested that entities be generous in terms of material things, and to give to each other that of the material plane, being willing to let go of material holdings. It is suggested that entities be quite selfish in their spiritual pursuits and to focus on the personal growth, personal development and personal spiritual evolution in a very selfish way, so that the entity looks first to self and asks, Am I getting the growth I need? There is a tendency for entities to look at material things and say: Am I getting the material gratification that I need? And look at spiritual things and say to others, Are you getting the spiritual growth you need? This Awareness wishes entities to reverse this and ask each other: Are you getting the material things you need? and to ask themselves: Am I getting the spiritual growth that I need? It is important for entities to assist each other, both spiritually and materially, but it is hypocritical and it is a tendency to demand others grow spiritually while attempting to grow materially oneself; to build ones material empire while demanding that others behave in a more spiritual and ethical manner. This of course is not the pursuit of the highest and best for all, for each entity then in turn begins demanding of each other higher and better behavior, while not making such demands of themselves, and each entity grabbing that material benefit while denying it to others is hindering his or her own development. Therefore, entities ask themselves: What is the standard by which I should measure myself? The obvious answer is, Am I living the highest and best of my ability, and if not, can I approach that highest and best standard by further refining myself? The pursuit of values is ever ongoing; the standard of measurement, the highest and best is ever ongoing. For when one reaches what appears to be the highest and best, the entity discovers there is still more: I can refine this even further to make it higher and better. The movement toward the pursuit of values, the establishment of ethics, of codes of morality, of cultural behavior, of ones own behavior; these things should be moving toward a higher and better refinement. Too often entities take off in an ethical path and become side-tracked and find their ethics going out the window, their ideals being tossed aside and temptations being placed before them so that they become corrupted and abandon their ideals, abandon the highest and best parts of themselves; and thus, for some cheap momentary thrill, they lose sight of the greater ideals and values and

666

Value fail to measure up to their standards. When this occurs, the entity can continue to wallow in error, to fall further, or can acknowledge that to err is to be human, but to set course and sail for the highest and best is to attune oneself to the Divine, and eventually become Divine. Such is the movement in the pursuit of values of the highest and best. As entities begin to perceive these concepts, ideals of the highest and best, they may share these images and concepts with others and thus, allow others also to join in the pursuit, and in such joining, the society begins to rise and move toward the highest and best for all. Any values that do not include the entire society in such pursuits will simply create a society that is in conflict with itself, and such conflict and division will bring the society down and away from the highest and best for all, where entities clash with each other, attempt to destroy each other to gain some momentary pleasure and victory at the expense of others, but all entities in so doing lose character, lose parts of their Divinity and fail to become the highest and best. Therefore, in your pursuit of the highest and best, do not create values that exclude others regardless of their race, sex, age, appearance, culture, language, behavior. If entities cannot behave according to that which is demanded, then let them wait and create the movement and the discipline that will include those entities when they are ready to enter into the discipline, but do not create laws that exclude them without recourse or ways of reaching or attaining the standards. If entities are capable of living up to the standards, to become involved in the action of the highest and best, that you allow these entities, upon measuring up to those standards, to enter into the action. You may let the standards be the judge, but do not judge and exclude entities simply because of some natural characteristic or social handicap. If an entity is born with a handicap or receives a handicap or is of a different color, different race, different religious belief, different culture or nationality, different language, and these have no bearing or have no particular effect on the standard by which you measure yourself in the actions which you are promoting as highest and best, then why use these things against others and exclude them from participating in the banquet of the highest and best? Obviously, if there is a reason why the entity is not qualified because of these features to become involved in this banquetfor example, the table is too tall, and the entity is too short, and it is impossible to lower the legs or to accommodate the entity, or if the entity is not strong enough to hurl the discus or to do whatever it is that is being offered as the highest and best, if the entity cannot reach the standard because the entity has no arm or leg, or is somehow incapable, because the entity is female and it is a contest between mens knees, and therefore, her knees do not qualifythen of course, these are reasons that are logical, meaningful reasons to exclude the entity. But where these exclusions are not part of the action, are not necessary, then those entities who are attempting to exclude others are in error and are not operating in the highest and best.

667

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

There are too many entities who would like to reserve for themselves because of their particular race, their belief that they are white and therefore deserving, and others are not white and therefore not deserving, or the belief that they are the chosen ones and other are not, or the belief that they are endowed with particular power or Divine Rights; these entities would exclude others, not because of some peculiarity that is vital to the action, but because of prejudice against a particular type which they do not want included. This can be seen in all levels and there can be areas in which conflicts occur where an entity, for example, may be sought as a model or cover-face for a magazine, and they want a particular type of face with a particular hair style, hair color and color of eyes, a particular type of skin, and thus, choosing a particular entity to fit the standard which is desired, they may, in the process, exclude others. The question may be asked: Is this appropriate? What if the entity doesnt have blue eyes? Is it unfair to exclude this entity who has brown eyes from this cover of this magazine simply because her eyes were brown? Likewise, questions may come up in regard to skin color. Obviously, some of these questions cannot be measured in terms of ethical standards, for these questions may be a matter of the particular or peculiar type of effect that the proprietor of the idea or magazine is attempting to achieve. If the script calls for a white man, then it becomes inappropriate to use an entity of a different color, and therefore prejudice is not an issue. If the magazine calls for blue eyes on the cover and the entity considers this to be prejudice against brown eyes, this may be in error or it may be accurate, but in effect it is moot, for the entity who intends to create a particular effect with the magazine cover has a standard which he or she has ordered, and it is part of the system, part of the program to allow entities to have variety and choice in creating, according to their desires. If there is a Boys Club, and the standards are that only boys can join; then it may be cried that this is a sexist club and that girls are being excluded and therefore, it is in error, and the exclusion is unfair. However, if the nature of the creation is designed to appeal to a particular type of being, presentation, creation or service, then it may be that the standards require that particular type and do not have room for others. These can be seen throughout a society. However, there are also those organizations, clubs or groups who create their standards, such as the group, which comprised of whites is set up as an organization with the intention of denying blacks their rights, and thus setting themselves apart to create conflict with blacks; this cannot be seen as an organization of the highest and best of its kind for there is a larger principle at work which indicates that its kind is not working in harmony with society itself. Look carefully at the pursuit of values and be most cautious in claiming values that deny others their rights to ascend in society to higher levels of equal rank. The highest and best is that which allows the highest and best for all concerned.

668

Value

Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 10 Lesson 10 relates to the establishment or maintenance and purposes of values. Previously, this Awareness discussed the need to move ever toward that which is highest and best, to continually seek to refine the values to that which is ever better. Along the way of this refinement, there comes a time and a place where an entity must recognize that certain values can be prescribed to others, or suggested to others by way of communication, where these values or standards can be made known and shared with others, so that they too may benefit from the refinement, from the knowledge of what is evidence of the highest and best achieved thus far. Thus, the sharing of such information as an ideal that all may observe and use, is a manner of institutionalizing a standard. To institutionalize a standard is to allow the standard to be used throughout the institution, whether this is a culture, an organization, or even within ones own family. In the same vein, there is the institutionalizing of a certain standard that one may hold for oneself; and thus, one has what is called his or her principles, and the entity does not wish to violate his or her principles. These standards that entities accept may not be the ultimate which they seek to attain, but may be those that they find as something that can be maintained and used as a measuring place for them to recognize where they are. Just as an entity may use sea level as a measuring device to understand what altitude the entity is at; likewise, an entity may also pick a standard of morality or standard of ethics, or what one terms his or her standards or principles by which he or she can monitor his or her own character changes. If one sees ones character level starting to fall, one can say, I am breaking my standards and principles to do this. Then the entity, recognizing that he or she has violated his or her principles may wish to make adjustments to reestablish, renegotiate, to rise again to those principles that he or she holds dear. Coupled with this concept of personal, group, national or cultural principles; the ethics or morality or standards by which these various entities measure themselves; coupled with this is that quality known as reputation. A nation, a religion, an organization, a company, a group of people, a community, an individual or a family may have their standards and live according to those standards, and from that develop what is termed a reputation. Entities find a consistency in the behavior of these, and that consistency is regarded as the reputation. The reputation is earned by its consistency, and when entities watch the consistency of behavior in an individual they come to trust the behavior to be maintained or to continue as in the past. Where there is no consistency and the behavior is wishy-washy, or moves from being extremely proper to extremely improper; this in itself becomes recognized as a measure of the entitywhether this be a nation, a

669

Who, In Fact, You Really Are group, a religion, an organization, a company, or individualsand this inconsistency becoming the reputation of that entity, or organ. Once a reputation has been established, where entities think they know the other, think they know how the other will behave in the future because they have watched the performance in the past(for example, they know that the product which this company puts out falls apart after about 3 months use), it becomes more and more likely that the entities who know of this company will assume that future products, or future actions of the individual will continue as in the past. Thus, it becomes necessary for a company or an individual, a nation or a group or religion, whatever the entity may be; the culture or the community, whatever the organ or entity isit becomes necessary that the entity either maintain the same reputation and allow others to continue to know and reinforce what they already know, or to make an effort to change that reputation to something else. If an entity wishes to change the reputation to something better, that entity has to overcome the past reputation before being allowed to have a new reputation; and it becomes exceedingly more difficult to overcome a past reputation than to have never had a reputation which needs overcoming. In other words, it is important for entities to recognize the value of reputation; reputation is that which is of extreme value, and not only in terms of what others think, but can have extreme value in terms of material value, in terms of opportunities given or denied, in terms of harassment given or denied, in terms of the way in which society treats the entity, culture, organization or individual or community or the nation. In some cases it may be that the reputation is written into history, recorded for others in future generations to read about. Essentially, ones reputation is perhaps more important than their holdings, than their possessions or even their contacts with important people; for these contacts with important people can very easily be severed if ones reputation is tarnished, and ones properties may be taken if ones reputation is tarnished. Not only can one lose all that one has from acquiring a bad reputation, one can also lose future opportunities and future friends may be denied. In some cases, an entity may need to pack up and go elsewhere and start over, and hope that the reputation does not follow. Therefore, it is exceedingly important, particularly for young people to be taught to recognize the value of their own reputation. Ones reputation is controlled not from outside forces so much as from ones inner attitude and ones own standards of living. It is possible for one to be branded a thief, a liar or worse, by outside forces that slander and defame the entity, and thus the entitys reputation may be tarnished or ruined without any justifiable cause. But it is more likely, (with most entities who have tarnished reputations) that they do this to themselves in one way or another, earning and deserving the reputation that they establish. The tragedy is that many of these people do not even recognize that they are damaging

670

Value their reputation, or that the reputation has any value; they simply see something and want it and do not stop to think, What would happen to my reputation if I got caught taking this in this manner? They may not see how others look at them or may not care how others look at them; for they are so obsessed with getting the immediate value that they fail to recognize the greater value of their reputation. Likewise, besides the need or desire to acquire property and the recognition or lack of recognition of the value of ones reputation, there is also that concern which entities may or may not place on the value of their word, and this too becomes part of the reputation; whether ones word and contract or signature can be trusted, or whether it is found to be of little value will determine to a great extent the reputation which the entity has. In some cases ones word may be given and circumstances prevent the entity from following through, and it may not, in all cases, be avoidable. The entitys intentions may be to follow through on what he or she has promised or spoken as truth, but it may be that due to circumstances beyond the understanding or knowledge of the entity, the outcome or the truth is different from what the entity intended or believed; and thus, the entity may have the reputation of his or her word tarnished because of circumstances beyond his or her control. Often, there is little that can be done for such other than making an excuse and pointing out that: Well, I just didnt know! I never expected that! I thought I was doing the right thing, I just didnt have the full understanding. This mitigates the circumstance, the evidence somewhat, so that the entity is not held as liable for the error as might be otherwise; but even when an entity makes a mistake that is beyond his or her control, it still has an effect of tarnishing to some degree the reputation. Fortunately, if the entitys overall actions and efforts are such that he or she is sincere in his or her efforts to be an honest and ethical person having high standards, doing actions which are of benefit to others and of concern for the welfare of othersin other words, if the entity isnt reestablishing a negative reputation on other levels, but on other levels attempts to be honest and deal with the highest and best, generally these mistakes can be overlooked, will be overlooked and will be outweighed by the good the entity does. There are very few entities in the world who can boast that they do not make mistakes, particularly if they are doing something worthwhile for humanity in their lives. It is only the entities who never do anything that can boast they do not make mistakes. Therefore, those entities who are active in attempting to do something worthwhile may have many criticisms from others who are looking for faults, looking for things to point at, and thus find their own greatness in pointing out the flaws of others. Any entity who is involved in attempting to do something worthwhile, must learn to live with a reputation that is always being attacked and partly tarnished and in some cases deserves attack because the energies are spread too thin or the efforts are such

671

Who, In Fact, You Really Are that the entity cannot live up to the standards demanded of him or her by the society, or by himself, or by the job or obligations which he or she has chosen to do. Therefore, entities in high places of responsibility should expect to have some degree of tarnish and mud on their reputation, but will be inclined to work harder than most people to keep their reputation clean and shiny. This is appropriate because the reputation is that which entities see when they consider the entity that they are dealing with. The reason that so many chain stores are successful is because they develop a standard which entities come to expect whenever they enter that chain store, regardless of where it may be, regardless of what city or what place, or what time of year, and in entering that chain store they know exactly what theyll get because of the reputation of the chain store. They may prefer to go to a chain store whose products are slightly inferior than to search for something better and take a chance on getting something worse. These chain stores essentially are operating on the reputation of creating a particular standard which entities come to expect; therefore, the chain stores are operating on reputation and expectationwhat is expected of them. Likewise, individuals who have relationships with others operate according to their reputation, the relationship is measured by the reputation that entities have developed through their dealings with each other, and although an entity may attempt to hide deceptive practices or to sneak around and pretend that he or she is being faithful when in fact it is otherwise, and although the entity may get by in doing this because another is trustworthy, this type of behavior can only go so far. The entity who comes home to his wife and tells his wife that his money was stolen on the way home when someone cut his back pocket open and took his walletthe wife may believe this the first time, but if this occurs the next week and the entity has the excuse, I was on my way home when these guys jumped out of the alley and pointed a gun at me and forced me to give my money to them!, and then on the 3rd or 4th week, another excuse, the wife will begin to doubt, even though the excuses may he of such clarity and such vividness as to actually be true. What is happening here is that the entity, even if telling the truth is developing a reputation of being incompetent to come home with his money, and therefore the wife is experiencing a look at a husband who cannot get home with his money; even though he may have all kinds of excuses to explain why, it still does not alter the fact that he cannot make it home with his money, and that he may or may not be telling the truth as to why he cant make it home with his money. If the wife can find some evidence or reason to suspect that he has some other payments or interests in spending his moneyif for example, the wife notes that the entitys eyes are pin-pointed and that he appears to be on drugsshe may suspect that he is spending his money elsewhere on drugs. This suspicion can be reinforced each time this happens, even though the entity may have other stories and other excuses to explain his behavior.

672

Value

Likewise, the entity who is in the vicinity where a theft occurred, and claims not to know anything about the theft and points the finger at other people who may have done itthis entity may get by this time, but if this occurs time and time again; wherever the entity is, there is noticed something missing, sooner or later entities begin to recognize that this entity, whether or not he has stolen the products, is bad luck and wherever the entity goes, something is stolen. The entity may think that he is extremely clever in covering his tracks, yet the entitys reputation is growing with each episode. Even if the entitys reputation is not developing as a thief, the entity may be developing the reputation of one who brings bad luck whenever he comes around. It is very difficult to hide ones character from others, or to prevent the character from spilling out into a classification or reputation; and it is very difficult, even if one wishes to look like Gods gift to humanity, as one who is very together, as one who is not in need of counseling or any help from anyone; the entity may abhor the thought that someone should counsel him, but whether or not the entity is counseled, entities around the other may recognize that this entity needs counseling and has problems, and he may not wish to tell his problems to a counselor, but by his very actions he is telling the whole world about his problems and the only one who doesnt seem to want to look at the problems is himself. There are many people who recognize they have these problems and their reputation is being tarnished, but they dont look at their reputation; they simply work to keep others from thinking anything bad about them by making excuses or diverting attention to something else, avoiding the issues, avoiding talk about what occurred last night, or last week, or about the time when he or she did that deed. Therefore, the entity attempts to avoid facing what he or she is, and what he or she looks like to others, by simply avoiding any discussion of it I dont want to talk about it. I dont feel like talking about that now. These are words that entities often use when they cannot face the prospect of looking at themselves, or at their actions. The entity who will not get out and do something productive will lament when someone attempts to talk about the situation that, Oh, I cant think about that right now! Ive got other things to think about, and thus, attempt to put off or delay any confrontation. Such entities think that they have solved the problem if they simply stop the discussion; but the problem has not changed, the problem is still there. They have only reinforced their reputation as being one who is not dealing with reality in a clear and honest way. It is exceedingly difficult to overcome a negative reputation; for the first thing, one must overcome those qualities within oneself that led to the reputation. The next thing, one must overcome the expectation and distrust that others have toward him which resulted from the actions and which are carried by the reputation; and if one has offended another in a manner which creates a bad reputation with that entity, that entity can very well warn his or her friends, Look out for Joe! Hes been weird lately! He does some strange things! And then the friends begin to be wary of Joe.

673

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

Reputation is contagious and spreads; if one has a very good and honest reputation, likewise, others hear about this and others seek out this person and want to do business or want to relate to this person. If one has a negative reputation, others hear about this and seek to avoid the entity, as if the entity carried germs or was contagious with the plague. Having a reputation or not having a reputation is not the issue, for all entities have a reputation whether they want it or not. The only question is, What is your reputation to be? How is it to be seen by others, and how is it to be seen by yourself? All reputations get mud splashed on them, but the most important concern is that you know within your heart that your reputation is as clean and clear as you yourself can make it, and it is as nearly perfect as you are able to keep it, and you would like others to recognize this, but you cant simply put all of your energy into convincing others. Therefore, the opinions of others, while important to you, cannot be used as excuses to give up on your efforts to do things simply because they have heard something, read something which is scandalous to you, but which might cost thousands of hours, thousands of dollars, too much energy for you to track down and refute, so that your reputation was again spotless. Meanwhile, if you are inclined to thus trace down attacks on your reputation, you are also developing the reputation of an entity who cannot stand any form of criticism, and spends all of his time chasing down people who are critical, and you may be negligent in attending to other duties while this is occurring. Thus, you may be developing the reputation of one who is negligent. It is important to recognize what you can and cant do in terms of maintaining your reputation; in terms of your valuesholding the highest and best standards for yourself; in terms of clearing up misunderstandings regarding your reputationhow important these misunderstandings are, whether it is worth pursuing such efforts to clear your reputation or whether you should just throw the incident aside and carry on and make sure that your future efforts are such as to, if possible, avoid further incidents like that. As innocent as one may be, one may be accused of something else, and it is not possible for entities to go through life doing things without some accusations from those who are jealous, from those who do not understand, from those who are opinionated, from those who transfer hostility from one entity to all entities in a similar capacity, (and you happen to be one such entity), from those who see in you something which unconsciously reminds them of someone they met previously and could not tolerate, and therefore they assume, unconsciously, that you are some kind of evil being. Perhaps you speak with an accent, or your tone of voice reminds them of someone in their early childhood that they did not like, but cannot even consciously remember, but for some reason they do not like you, and therefore, they look for reasons to find fault with you. Obviously, if an entity is looking for reasons to find fault, they can find such reasons, even if they do not exist, for they can manufacture coloration or motives to

674

Value explain why you are doing something, and assume that the motives they attribute to you are your motives. They may well be what they imagine your motives to be. Reputation is something that cannot be taken through the earth experience without coming in contact with mud, germs, tarnish and all sorts of pollutants; and yet, at the same time, reputation is that which you and only you know to be the result of your own doing, and of errors attributed to you by forces outside, which you do not deserve. Each individual knows how much of his or her reputation is deserved and how much is not deserved. One may have a great social reputation and know that he or she really didnt deserve this because someone else did all the work; or one may have a very poor social reputation and know that he or she doesnt deserve this because the work he or she did was good, although not yet recognized by the public. In other words, you are the only entity who rightfully can judge the accuracy of your reputation; but regardless of this, you will be living with your reputation, receiving the liabilities or benefits of the reputation. If your reputation is socially acceptable, you receive the social benefits; if your reputation is socially unacceptable, you receive social liabilities for your reputation. If you recognize your reputation to have been maligned and tarnished unfairly, you have the benefits of knowing your true integrity, and can benefit from this knowledge by keeping your faith and integrity in yourself. If, on the other hand, you know that your reputation was tarnished and deserved, you have the benefits of learning from the experience. If you find that everyone thinks you are innocent and pure as the driven snow, except yourself, and you know how corrupt you really are; then indeed, the liabilities of your reputation are affecting you, even though you may receive social acclaim for the appearance of a good reputation. Reputation is simply what people think of you and what you think of yourself; and yet this is a commodity that is of great value, for it affects how entities relate to you and how you relate to yourself. Likewise, the reputation of a nation, the reputation of an administration, the reputation of leaders, the reputation of a business, newspaper, magazine, communication system, army, the reputation of a school, of a football team, of a high school club, of a religious group, of a community, of a family; the reputations are those things which entities see when they think about that organ, entity or group; and it immediately calls up an attitude toward that entity, organization or group, and that attitude sets into motion the psychic energies as to how this entity wishes to respond or react to that organ, entity or group. The reputation may always be changing, but will always remain the same from one contact to another; and even if an entity has changed completely and ten years has passed and you meet that entity again, you will relate to the entity not so much for what he is at present, but from where you left off ten years ago. Thus, reputation, in order to be changed in the minds of others, must be constantly updated, or they will continue to relate to you the way you were when they last had contact with you.

675

Who, In Fact, You Really Are It is for this reason that entities sometimes keep contact with one another, to allow each other to recognize growth and change, so that when they come together again, they wont talk about those things which occurred 20 years before which were not resolved, but will have something to talk about in present time. This too, the upgrading of ones reputation, becomes part of the reputation. The entity who does not contact friends, who simply relates, then disappears, and shows up 20 years later, will have a reputation or expectancy of disappearing without further contact in the future again, unless there is some reason to expect otherwise. The entity who at 20 years old was found to have a deceptiveness which prevented you from being able to trust the entity in any business deal, where his word was total garbage, having no basis in relation to his actual intent; and you meet this entity 20 years later, and the entity has this really good business deal he would like you to get involved in; if youve had no contact with the entity during this 20 years, you will expect the entity to be exactly as conniving as when you last saw him, and would be quite foolish to get involved with him in this deal. It could be that the entitys life has been totally turned around during the 20 years and that his word is as good as gold, but unless one knows of the changes that have occurred, the reputation tends to remain intact; and entities actions create their reputation, entities statements add to their reputation, and it is safe and probable to assume that unless you have given entities reason to think otherwise of you, anything you have said or done in the past, any actions you have given, any manner of expression will be expected of you in the future. This is the nature of reputation and the maintenance of value-systems, where entities come to expect from the future that which they have seen in past performance. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 11 Lesson 11 relates to the perversion of values, invention, creation, revolt, revolution and socialization of values. As the entity moves through the City of Life, experiencing, discerning and refining values and begins recognizing and distinguishing the greater values from the lesser values, and attempts to develop a value or standard for himself, the entity is likely to come into contact with ideal values, values which the entity sees as being ideal. Though they may not be attainable, the ideal value can have its effect on the material society or on the individual. Often ideals are higher than one can attain, the purpose being to aspire to that ideal. For example, the entity who wishes to high-jump may aspire to the idea of jumping 9 feet high; this ideal may be much too great for him, but it may have an effect of helping the entity to jump 6 feet high. Therefore, ideals can be of value in helping entities to reach higher performance levels than would otherwise be attainable without the ideals.

676

Value

For this reason, entities have created concepts, principles and ideals in religion, in philosophies, in government and in great writings of inspiration and in social documents to assist entities in at least knowing what the ideals are, so that can have something to shoot for. Though they may never hit the target, at least they will get into the general vicinity if they have a target to shoot at. It is the purpose of idealsto give entities something to aim for, even though it may not be attainable. In a society, entities may wish to contribute to that society and its ideals, and in so attempting to contribute, they may wish to vocalize or express or clarify the ideals of the society in general, so that not only they can contribute to this, but also so that others can aim for such ideals. In a society, where all entities are heated on the highest ideal of the dayto make war on their enemiesand someone comes up with an ideal that is higher: Cant we find some way to reconcile our differences. Negotiate a peace before war breaks out? Negotiate a settlement of the issues? If by chance, others hear of this and recognize the ideal as being that which would be better than war, and give energy to this, it may be possible that a new ideal for society develops over the months and the new ideal being voiced as: Lets reconcile, lets negotiate, lets find a settlement!, this being the new ideal, and entities at this point look back and think. War? That was no ideal at all! That was simply animalistic, confusing! How could anyone have ever wanted to do this? An ideal can overcome and supplant other ideals, so that what once seemed like an ideal can be looked at as but a gross reaction or an unworthy goal. Entities, in seeking to establish the highest and best in a society may begin to ask themselves what kind of society IS ideal? This society may be the society of ones own family, may be the society of ones community, of ones state, nation, culture or business or may be of an international society. Whatever its level or nature, the entity may wish to consider the ideals that can be created and held up for members to aim at. Obviously, a society that respects the individual members and gives them rights and privileges of the highest degree possible, on a level that is equal for all, fair for all as much as is possiblethis, of course, is the highest value that the society can give to the individual. It cannot give an individual greater value than others, for it would deny others their equal right to value. Therefore, the society that attempts to give equal value to each member of the society is that society which offers the highest possible value for its members; when there is such a society, that society becomes valuable to the individual. In other words, as the society values the individual, likewise the individual places value on the society. There are many countries who see little value in the individual, and would use or misuse the individual, violate individual rights, but who demand that the individual value the society. This inconsistency creates an unfairness of the energy exchange and is unworkable, and will in time collapse or adjust to something that is more equitable where the society and the individuals making up the society have an equitable relationship

677

Who, In Fact, You Really Are that is fair and just. Likewise, the society which offers protection of the individuals properties, or rights to own property, and protect those rights, is a society that is highly prized, or should be highly valued by the individual who has, or owns property. If this is in a family, the entity who has personal property in the family, (even if it is on something he or she can keep in a matchbox), and if the family protects the rights of this entity to keep his or her property, then the entity having the matchbox full of property will or should value the society that protects that right accordingly. The society which gives the entity freedom of communication, whether family, nation, group, religion, school, business or cultural or whatever; that society that allows that entity freedom of communication: to speak, to think, to move about, is giving something of value to the individual, and thus, the individual will in all fairness and in all likelihood respond in kind with a valuing of the societys actions and appreciation of the freedom which has been allowed for the entity to move about. Often these gifts of society are taken for granted; if the parent allows the child to move about in the yard, or on the street, the child may take this for granted. But if the parent should suddenly stop and forbid the child to go outside, the child realizes there has been a change in the society, a change in the relationship, and may resent the new domination that prevents the freedom of communications, of movement. The entity values that freedom to move and values the society that grants that freedom, but often the entity may not realize how much he valued that right until the right is no longer available. Likewise, the entity who receives nourishment from a society whether mental, physical, emotional, whether national, cultural, religious or family nourishmentthat entity who receives nourishment comes to expect continuation of that relationship from the society, and this is seen as an ideal. If the entity can conceive of something where greater nourishment would come, the ideal is extenuated to a higher level. It may never be attainable, but the entity has an ideal in his mind as to what can be expected from the society. In the event this is disrupted and the nourishment is cut off, the entity will feel greatly deprived; where another entity who has never experienced such nourishment would not recognize any change or any problem, for he would not have ever expected such anyway. Therefore, it is important for entities to be aware of what the society provides, how well the society provides, and whether there is a consistency in the provision; and if this is recognized, then an ideal may be seen, and the actual and ideal of the societys performance can be valued accordingly. The entity in the society, recognizing freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of demonstration, right to assemble, to speak out, or to show his or her colors and attitudes: that entity may take these things for granted in a society that offers such, but if this were denied, the entity would then have greater value placed upon the ideal that allowed such freedom. Entities should appreciate any society for the amount of expression that is allowed, and accordingly

678

Value give tribute to that society for protecting those rights that the society offers. Likewise, occupation, health, privileges, ability to trade, to exchange, to barter, to buy and sell, the relationships created through partnerships and contracts and those societies which protect and hold those things sacred for an individual so that contracts are not automatically made null and void according to the whim of someone who is in power, where the contract is made meaningless, the agreement is thrown out because someone didnt like it, the agreement and contract which was made in good faith, now, at a different time, under a different jurisdiction is made to seem as though it were trash; this kind of society which does this to its people, begins to create a reputation for itself which does not gain support of the people, where they cannot value the society, they cannot value contracts or agreements, they cannot trust others in power. Therefore, those entities who have the opportunity to live in a society where law is properly applied, where contracts are properly held as trustworthy, where agreements are held sacred in trust for the parties who made the agreements, so that only they can alter the agreements by a further agreement to alter such, this society has integrity, and the society Is something which the individual should value, should hold in high esteem. Likewise, the philosophy which has made up that society, or which brings forth the ideals which allow for these things to occur; that philosophy should be held in high esteem, and should be altered only if there is some way of improving or finding a greater refinement to further clarity and to further enhance the ideals for better service to the individuals. The society that remains consistent in its policies is a society that entities have the ability to trust for its consistency. Even in the event the policies are shifting or are of lower ideals, at least knowing that they will be consistently enforced on these lower ideals is some kind of assurance, and it the entity recognizes that the ideals will not sink any lower; this in itself becomes a kind of assurance and has value. Therefore, consistency can be a value. For some entities who see consistency in a negative light, maintaining a society that is consistently in error, or consistently writes bad laws or bad policies, then it becomes possible that the entity sees consistency as something negative, and would like to disrupt that consistency and create some kind of dramatic change. In such a case, the entity may see revolution or rebellion as a high value, where change and alteration, perversion, distortion, inventiveness, creativity are valued as high qualities which need to be implemented in order to bring about a change in the workings of the society. This is not only in reference to national or cultural concerns, or even religious principles of a church where rebellion or changes are brought aboutit also occurs within a family, where the child, still being treated like a child, feels he should be treated with greater respect as a maturing teenager, begins to rebel against the parental controls which try to keep him within bounds they see their child should be in,

679

Who, In Fact, You Really Are while he is trying to break out of those bounds, to become a mature adult, and thus, rebellion occurs. The child sees this as being valuable to his growth. The parent sees the consistency and maintenance of family discipline and the status quo as being comfortable and valuable for their peace of mind, and therefore seeks to keep the child from rebelling or departing from their regimen. In these rebellions, entities can begin to value rebellion, for the sake of rebellion and think that rebellion alone is of great value, particularly when they receive attention and acclaim for their rebellious actions from certain peer groups or friends or media and the press which puts them in the limelight for their actions of being rebellious; and this rebellion against societys status quo, the consistency as that which the entity begins to thrive on and use as a personal value for getting attention, perhaps getting funded, perhaps getting some type of energy or support from others or sympathy from others; and in so doing, the entity develops a sense of value for being antisocial. The entity may find that Having rebelled against authority, I was thrown here into this place with you fellows, and I will tell my story, how I got here, what all I did in my rebellion against authority. When I am finished I will hear your stories. And thus, the entities sit around and listen with great awe to each others story of how they almost got by, if it had not been for that one cop in the corner that saw them, or how they could have and still intend to break out and really do it right next time. These entities thrive on each others attention and supportperhaps because they could not get support and attention from other things that they were doing in their life, and therefore, in their rebellion they have found something that was not provided otherwise. Likewise in terms of sexual perversion and rebellion, these things can also occur where the entity seeks something which he or she could not find in the society in which they were living that satisfied or remained in the consistency laid down by society to allow them to have something which they needed, and therefore, they rebel against the consistency or status quo, against the principles of their society and do what they feel like doing. Often that doing what they feel like doing does not in itself satisfy them, but the fact that they have taken an action and rebelled against that which was holding them back gives them enough happiness that they will continue doing what they are doing, even though that itself does not bring happiness. In other words, the rebellion becomes sometimes its own end. Entities, believing there is something denied them which will be provided if they rebel, then create the revolution, which provides them with nothing but more of the same, only under different circumstances. Many entities value the status quo, and see rebellion as nothing but disruption to the status quo. There are many entities who live in countries in which the government is overthrown and the government that is now in power will soon be overthrown, and

680

Value regardless of how many governments come and go: I will remain where I am, doing what I do for the next 20 or 30 years of my life, and entities enjoy this security of the status quo, knowing that it matters not who is in charge of the country, they will be making shoes, repairing shoes, under any domain, under any government, so what does it matter? Such entities value this consistency in their lives, the security, and thus, if a society or a trade, or business, provides such security, this can be highly valued by the individual. Lastly, there are individuals who, in the society may find themselves misfits, and may find themselves confused as to who they are, what their purpose is, whether they have a purpose, whether there is anything at all in life worth living for. And such entities look for a cure, look for the hospital to heal them, the doctor to provide the truth, the minister, the preacher, the religion, the panacea, the pill, the drug, the drink that will ease their pain; and entities in finding something that alters their consciousness or relieves their pain, begin to value these things greatly, whether this is religion, belief, concepts, hypnosis, pills, drugs, drink, seclusion, deceptive licentious sexual unions, or incarcerationwhatever the entity finds that covers and hides the pain, even if it is insanity, delusion, schizophrenia, amnesia, the entity may value this greatly; and if entities attempt to take this from the entitywhether it be religion, drugs, drink, pills, insanity or deceptionthe entity may fight and be willing to fight to the death to keep this from being taken. For the entity may fear the pain of being without that support so much that he or she would rather die than give up that which is so highly valued. Thus, the entity, moving through the City of Life, learns values, learns to be valuable, develops his or her standards, carries a reputation, and begins also to value certain things that the society, the City of Life offers, and will give support to protect those values in the City of Life. Thus the entity becomes integrated and values become intertwined, so that social values and personal values intermingle and one cannot extract oneself from the social values, from the values of society, and one cannot eliminate these values from oneself. The entity becomes a mirror of the society that he sees reflecting to and from himself. Sea of Aquarius, Vol. 11 Lesson 12 This relates to the dissolution of values, the collapse of values; this includes losses, sorrows, self-undoing, and rediscovery and re-search for value. The entity, having moved into the City of Life, having gone through much adjustment, searching, examination, give-and-take, buying and selling, sharing, research, discovery, refinement in regard to things of value, eventually learning to discern and to choose things of value, to avoid the trinkets and the cheap thrills while giving energy in search of things of true value, learning to recognize value in others and in oneself, and learning to appreciate value that society offers; the entity reaches a stage where he or she begins to examine all those things which he or she has held as being of such high value.

681

Who, In Fact, You Really Are As the entity begins examining, the first thing that needs to be examined is the self: all of the behavior patterns, the activities, the conditioning. When entities begin to examine the concept of conditioning within themselveshow they have become conditioned toward this or that behavior, toward this or that type of attitude, toward this or that habit, this or that occupation, this or that belief, this or that thought, this or that reactionthe entities begin to realize that all conditioning stems from values that have been accepted; and the entity if deciding that a particular habit or conditioning within himself should be altered, for it is no longer useful and is hindering the entitys growth and development or the entitys opportunities, the entity may wish to examine those values which brought about the conditioning. Often, what appears to be a conditioning that has long been part of ones basic personality or character, when examined, may in fact stem from one situation, or a very brief period of time in childhood. As an example which is appropriate to some entities: the concept of gluttony as a conditioning in some entities often may have stemmed from a value that was accepted as a child under a certain condition which was never reexamined, and thrown out when its value became less important or detrimental to the entity. When, as a child, an entity experiences great hunger, the entity may learn the value of eating when it is possible, whatever is there, without question and without waste, and therefore, this becomes a value to the entity in order for the entity to survive the hard times between those meals. Thus, the entity has established a value within his or her consciousness in regard to eating whatever is available, and to prepare or eat enough to stave off hunger that may threaten in the future. As time passes and the circumstances alter, if the entity continues to carry this value into adulthood and into the good times, where food is plentiful, and the entity still feels that it is important to eat enough to stave off hunger that could possibly follow, the tendency may become such that the entity is experiencing concepts of gluttony. This attitude has become a conditioning, and the value that prompted this conditioning is now a detriment to the entitys well-being. In this manner, that which began as a value to the entity may in time turn against the entity to become a detriment. An entity who finds that a stiff drink during an injury helps ease the pain may begin to value his or her liquor and thus, use the liquor every time there is an excuse or a slight hint of pain, or a possibility of upcoming pain. In such valuing, conditioning may follow to where the entity is a habitual drunkard, seeking continual drink to stave off potential pain which may come if the entity does not drink enough. Likewise, as in these simple examples, there are more complex examples, where entities develop certain techniques of relating that work, and therefore are valued. The entity learns that a particular whine, when offered to daddy helps to get daddys sympathy, and can sometimes have daddy intervene between the entity and mommy, so that daddy and mommy disagree and daddy wins out and lets the entity have what he or she desiresall because the entity has learned that this particular whine in the voice, or particular way of looking at daddy has an effect on his psyche that wins him over,

682

Value and allows the entity to manipulate daddy against mommy. This may of course, be vice versa, where the entity manipulates mommy against daddy, and the technique may not be a whine; it may be, for example, a direct discussion with one parent in regard to the behavior of the other parent. Where the entity learns certain techniques in relating within the family that prove to be workable; these are considered to be valuable to the entitys ability to become successful in manipulating or in influencing the members of the family to give the entity whatever it is he or she desires. Some entities may find it necessary and effective to throw tantrums. Perhaps Mommy just cannot deal with tantrums, and therefore the entity throws tantrums (but only when Daddy is not around). If this is workable, this becomes valued and the entity learns when and how to use this technique and it is valuable to the entity. As this is used, it also becomes a conditioning in the personality of the entity using it. When the entity leaves home, matures or is sent elsewhere for some reason, the entity naturally under certain circumstances is going to be inclined to call up that technique which is so highly valued because it never fails, and use that technique in this situation, though the situation is not the same as it was with mommy. The entity may throw a tantrum in front of someone, several people, or one to whom he has shifted his affection from mommy to this entity, and expect the entity to respond in like manner to the way mommy responded when the entity threw tantrums for her. That It is not intending to limit this discussion to tantrums, but to any form of conditioning that the entity has achieved through valuing certain techniques of behavior that work in one situation which, when brought to another situation is applied and may, or may not work. When the technique works part of the time, or for certain entities just as it did all of the time when the entity was at home or was a child, the entity may feel somewhat confused that it is not working as well as it used to but is not likely to give up the conditioning, the valued technique, unless it becomes unworkable altogether. As long as it works, the entity will generally continue, even if it only works once out of every 4 or 5 times. When it does not work any further, the entity may recognize that it has no value any more, and may search about to find something else which is more workable. Even as it is in habits or conditioning, in terms of personality tricks and techniques for manipulating others, so likewise it is in terms of training, special skills and special efforts or creations, where one presents many hours of study and effort to develop, and that skill which has been developed, or that business which has been developed over the years which did work well but now does not work any further, or is inefficient; the entity may begin to recognize that it is time to reevaluate. The term reevaluate means to create new values and examine the old values to see if they are workable enough to salvage. When one begins to reevaluate, (one does not begin to reevaluate until one suffers, until one is experiencing some kind of loss, until one experiences pain or misfortune), only then will one reevaluate his or her values. Thus, entities experience great sorrow and suffering before they begin to really learn to

683

Who, In Fact, You Really Are look and reevaluate the conditioning that they have placed upon themselves through their values, through their acceptance of certain values in their life. When entities begin to reevaluate, generally there will be a resistance to reevaluating the self. There will be much casting about, blaming the outside world, blaming this person or that person for not behaving properly, according to the values which the entity saw as being important: You did not live up to my standards and expectation of what I thought you should be, and you have betrayed me therefore! This is generally the approach that entities will use before ever examining their own values to determine whether they should reevaluate themselves, their conditioning. But once the entity can no longer gain any benefits from blaming others, the entity is stuck, and comes face to face with self and looks directly at his or her own values and asks himself: Is this really working for me, and is this doing any good for anyone, for me to continue to hold on to this value? Is there some way I can modify this to make it work better, or should I just discard the whole thing? Many entities, reaching this point in their life will discard the whole thingall the values that they once held dear are thrown out the window and the entity is off to accept whatever comes, and nothing is sacred. Other entities will recognize that, Perhaps this value is somewhat stodgy; perhaps I have clung to it too tightly. Perhaps there is something about it that I have missed. Perhaps it needs to be modified. When this Awareness speaks of values, It wishes entities to apply this term to whatever affair in their life is of significance and importance to them. If they are experiencing conflict in levels of religious or metaphysical or psychological or philosophical beliefs, or cultural shocks; if they are experiencing frustration in traditions that have been held sacred but now are threatened and may be broken: then look at this word value, and apply this to those areas which are of concern to you, for the word value is intended to encompass anything of value to you, whether it be physical, emotional, in relationship, in family, in philosophy, religion, culture, nationality, or whatever level. As the entity experiences this situation in which a value or conditioning becomes more detrimental than beneficial to his or her life, or perhaps it is in the balance; the entity has held sacred values for a certain time, and now has come to a point in a relationship which also is sacred to the entity, and the relationship is destined to fall apart unless this value, which the entity also held, is scrapped. The question is, Should I cling to my value? and lose the valuable relationship that is developing, or Should I take the relationship and scrap my old values? There is no way anyone can answer this for you, but it does appear in everyones life. And these situations in which there is a conflict of values within yourself are also found within families, and where one member of the family insists on a certain philosophy, manner of behaving, a certain type of integrity, or certain conditions of lifestyle, and another entity has different values altogether. This clash of values is the most difficult thing in any relationship, and it is during these times when relationships may break, or may grow, where an entity may break or may grow, and there is no one who can tell you

684

Value which way you should go. Entities may ask then, How do I know what I should do with my life, if my old values are in conflict with the new values that are coming into my life and I cannot choose one or the other without losing one or the other? What can I do? While no one can tell you what you should do, for the choice will be yours, this Awareness suggests you choose that path which opens toward the most encompassing, which gives the most freedom and the least pain for all concerned. Choose that path and action which does not hurt or harm anyone as much as the other path; this suggestion may be helpful to many who are in that situation. However, It recognizes that this suggestion will not answer all situations, for the entity will say: How am I to know who is going to suffer most from my decision to go in this direction, as opposed to that direction, especially when I see that either move is going to cause someone to suffer? When there is no apparent and clear choice, and both parties are near to you or dear to you, and you see that either choice may cause suffering of equal pain to one party or the other; at this point, you are justified in asking yourself: If both parties are equally in jeopardy from my decision and one is going to suffer, regardless of which decision I make, then the question is: which entity do I care the most for? If you cannot discern which entity you love the most, you may ask, Which entity will best understand my decision if I go against that entity? You may also have the option of doing what you want to do, which is: take some other path that does not satisfy either entity. You may also have the option of putting off a decision. However, there are those times, such as was discussed in the movie Sophies Choice, in which there is no time to dicker, and in which you must make a decision between two values, and your decision must be clear and precise, and instantaneous. There is no rule that can satisfy or be used to help you to make the proper choice; in this instance of the movie Sophies Choice, the Nazi soldier gave her a choice of one of her childrenthe other would be killed. The mother objected, but futilely, and thus, at a split second grabbed one of her children, and lived with the consequences thereafter of having made her choice. No one can tell anyone else how to make such a choice. No one can prepare themselves for such a choice. However, most entities will not be faced with such an extreme choice of values, and most entities will be able to look at each of the things they value: their traditional beliefs as opposed to the relationship that is developing which may require them to scrap their beliefs or modify their beliefs; for example, an entity of one religion marrying an entity of another and having to learn about the others religion. How do entities make these decisions as to which values should be scrapped in order to take on something of value? It is not easy and it is painful; loyalties, when broken, generally cause physical unhappiness or illness, sometimes cause accidents, and sometimes chronic disease. Loyalties, when broken, affect the psyche, creating illness. Loyalties broken result in guilt or anger or self-pity, and any of these is enough to result in physical ailment.

685

Who, In Fact, You Really Are

Therefore, the breaking of values, whether it be loyalty to a religion or to another person, or to a company or to a particular habit or pattern or relationship; the loyalty when broken, the conditioning when broken, is very likely to have an after-effect on the physical level, possibly on the emotional levels, and also on the spiritual levels. Sometimes that which one feels loyal to creates a sense of bondage; and loyalty and bondage, being very closely related when broken, can give an entity a sense of great freedom. One may be loyal to a dying mate, may suffer with the dying mate, may watch and serve the dying mate for weeks, months or years, and when the entity finally dies, the entity remaining may feel great relief, freedom from the bondage of loyalty. Yet, at the same time, the entity feels great sorrow, and the entity may even feel guilt at feeling such relief. There are always mixtures of feelings when loyalties and values are discarded. Therefore, that entities not judge themselves during times of shifting values, but rather look at the values that are there, the opportunities for new values, the opportunities for growth, the opportunities to expand your sights, to expand your values to something higher and if, in the process of shifting values, you find that you have hurt someone, irrevocably, and cannot undo that which has been done, you cannot wallow in the guilt of that erroryou must go on, and if you wish to make atonement, then make atonement later in some other way. Often entities will try to prolong a relationship with someone when they know they never could live with that entity, and really would like to be with someone else, and they will try to prolong that relationship because they do not want to create suffering for the entity, and they would feel so terrible and so guilty in leaving the entity. So they remain with the entity, creating misery and hell for both parties, while creating also misery for the other entity who waits for them; and thus, these entities, prolonging the agony to avoid hurting another whom they do not want to be with but who wants them, these entities continue the pain. It would be better to make the move, if that must be done to find happiness. However, that before making such a move, ask yourself, How many am I hurting? How much will I hurt them? Will the pain be something they can get over? Will the pain be something they really need to experience? Will they grow from the pain? Will they understand? Will they eventually become stronger? Ask yourself, If I make this move, is that going to satisfy me or will I do the same thing to this person? Is there something basically wrong with me that I cannot be satisfied with what I have? Is this some kind of conditioning of adventurism that I value more than those whom I pledged myself to? Am I simply using others to feed my adventurous spirit? Ask yourself these hard questions before making any choice to alter a relationship that cannot be reestablished, or which will hurt others in the alteration.

686

Value Likewise, in terms of changing jobs, occupation, careers, changing philosophies, religions, beliefsanythingchanging relationships or watching your children grow up, having to give up certain control of your children; turning over their lives to them any of these actions where change occurs, values become shifted, values dissolve, new values are taken on; any of these areas require deep contemplation, sometimes suffering, sometimes close examination, much sorrow and suffering, as one seeks to plumb the depths of ones soul in order to know what to do. There is no way out of these circumstances, where you must suffer when values and conditions are broken and dissolved, and new values are taken on. There are, however, ways where entities can move through life without establishing such conditions and such programming of values to such a degree that they would suffer from the alteration of their values, or suffer too much from such alteration of values. When you recognize that life itself is very brief, and that your being goes on long beyond this short, brief flicker of life, you know it is important not to become too attached to the values of the world; the pleasures of the flesh need not be the greatest values attainable or sought after; religions and philosophies 1,000 years ago are much different from those today, and 1,000 years from now will still be even more different, and it is vanity of the utmost to assume that your beliefs, your religious values and philosophy happens to be the only one that is right, at this particular moment, this particular time; and for you, of all people, to have discovered the only right religion or spiritual value system. It is somewhat vain to assume that there is no other value, and to hold on to such a value to the point where you cannot let it go without great suffering or without causing the suffering of othersthe killing of others in some casesfor religious promotions. So long as you recognize the fallacy of holding these values too dearly when there are eternal values that are still greater than the dogma of your religion, than the word that you cling to with such ferocity; when you realize that all values are temporal except for life itself, love, eternity; reality and the spirit that fills the universe from which all things come, and that you can always dive into that greater value, the essence of being, and in that essence of being all things become acceptable for what they are, and all things are working in the machinery of the universe to become what they are to become; and therefore, you may dive into that essence of being known as faith and experience the faith that all will work out. Once this has been experienced, the old values may be laid aside and seen as nothing in comparison to that essence of being. When one reaches that state, the essence of being, one can look back on the loved one or those who are clinging desperately, hoping you will choose them over another, or hoping you will take this path and not thatyou can look back on this value which says: Remember me! I was the one that saved you from all of your sins and errors, and I was the one that will deliver you and made all the promises!and you can look at this other value that says: That was but temporal, for a time, and now it is time for you to put away this childish thing and come and enjoy this new freedom, and you can look at this value that says: It is time for me to seek new things, to discover something deeper, and you can look at all of these values which have conditioned you and

687

Who, In Fact, You Really Are which are pulling on you, and which are calling for you not to change; but you, in the body of essence, having dived into the essence of being, can look at these things and say to yourself: Whats happening here? Nothing needs to be altered! I recognize and hold this value dear, I hold this value dear, I hold this value. I need to go here. I will come back. All is well. Diving into the essence of being, you are able to move through time and space with faith, and to look and question and to be yourself, and still not betray others, but to let them grow in the wake of your moment through time and space.

688

You might also like