CONVERSATIONS
WITH RAJ
MAY 1985
Vol. 2, No. 5
QUESTION: I feel so limited by my three-dimensional awareness now. I have a
really hard time resolving this thing about time. I don't know whether time
exists in the three dimensions or whether it really doesn't exist in the three
dimensions. I don't believe it exists at all in reality beyond physical
reality. Anything that involves change to me implies time, like growing as an
entity and learning and getting knowledge. It baffles my imagination as to how
this makes sense beyond the concept of time in the three dimensions.
RAJ: You are correct in your perception that time exists only in the three-dimensional
frame of reference. It is very much like your lap, in that your lap is not a
physical object, but is caused by the relative position of your legs and body.
(Where does your lap go when you stand up?)
Time is an experience relative to objective events, but has no actual, tangible,
physical, measurable existence. Fourth-dimensionally speaking there is no experience
of time.
What you call the three-dimensional frame of reference is constituted of the
perception of your conscious experience, which is based entirely upon the data
gained through the five physical senses and the conclusions drawn therefrom.
But, the fact is that there is more to you and your world than the five
physical senses can register.
The more of You that is available to you is available to you as direct conscious
experience, but not through the five physical senses. This level of experience
is accessed through, first of all, a willingness to doubt the evidence, which
the five physical senses present you with, as though it were ultimate fact.
Secondly, a willingness to sense into data or information beyond what the five
physical senses provide you with.
At the point where you move beyond the perceptual realm of the physical senses,
you move into a realm of MEANING. Every single object in what you call the
physical universe is the visibility and tangibility of MEANING as some aspect
of your infinite conscious experience of Being. Your Self is not finite in any way, even though that is what your
senses tell you.
After first being willing to doubt that things are the way they appear to be,
you can best put yourself in the position of beginning to experience your world
at the level of MEANING by allowing yourself to become quiet through any method
of meditation, which you desire, or any method of becoming quiet and inwardly
attentive.
It is my suggestion that you not utilize any form of posturing, such as yoga,
for meditative technique, because the amount of time it takes to get into a
quiet space is a great deal longer due to the attention, which is given to the
physical posture.
Once you are in this quiet and apparently "inner" space, you can pick
any problem, any question, any object and desire to understand the underlying
meaning. Once having desired it, be still and listen. Be attentive for
information and answers to present themselves at the point of your conscious
perception, without being aggressively pushy about it.
At this level, you have guidance available to you if you choose to ask for it.
And if you do not choose to ask for it, you will nevertheless find yourself in
a position of beginning to discover new levels of perception and perspective
that you did not realize you had available to you.
As you move into this realm of your Being, which has heretofore not been consciously
available to you, you will put yourself in the position of experiencing a great
deal of growth, a great deal of new understanding. And I will suggest to you that some of it will challenge your
present concepts of things. But, of course, you have been willing in the first place
to doubt your present certain way of perceiving your world, and thereby have
put yourself in the position of expanding your perspective, enlarging your
boundaries of consciousness. This certainly puts you in the position of growth
and change into a fuller, more wholizing
experience of life.
I mention this because if you were not aware that this was going to happen, it
might be misinterpreted as a destructive influence or an unsettling and
unnerving experience. When, in actuality, all that would be happening would be
your excursion into areas of your Being with which you are not presently familiar-perspectives,
which are new to you, and which simply require you to allow yourself enough
time in that space to become familiar with the territory.
I have already described a great deal of what opportunities you have before you
in terms of delimiting your conscious experience and expanding from a
three-dimensional-only level of consciousness into the Fourth-dimensional
Conscious Experience of Being. To continue beyond this would serve no purpose
because there would be no way of your being
able to make practical sense out of the information until you had begun to make
small excursions of the sort I have been talking about.
This Fourth-dimensional territory does not include within it the binding sense
of time. As you gain more experience in this Fourth-dimensional frame of
reference, your perceptions of time and the degree to which you honor its
apparently binding structures will change. Your manner of dealing with
situations in your everyday life will begin to change and become apparently
more successful because you are not as likely to bind yourself by your educated
concepts as well as your present physical
perceptions of the world.
The guidance that I mentioned would be available to you is guidance of a sort
that is always compatible with your willingness and ability to deal with new
information and is fundamentally loving and supportive in its nature. You may
experience it as insight. You may experience it clearly as an individuality
speaking with you, willing to converse with you. This is an experience, which is totally natural and which need
not be frightening in any way because of the advanced nature of the individualities
who are involved in this type of activity.
I encourage you to view everything, which I have shared with you, up to this
point, in the light of it being a process of enlarging the boundaries with
which you presently define yourself. So that more of the Totality of You is
consciously available to you, rather than existing as a totally functioning but
totally unconscious portion of your Being. I encourage you in this perspective
because if you realize that this process is a matter of enlarging the borders
of your conscious experience of YOUR Being, then you will realize that you are
not expanding into what is actually foreign territory.
The simple fact is that at this very moment, you exist as Fourth-dimensional
Conscious Being, but are simply utilizing only the
five physical senses to experience It. This locks you into a three-dimensional-only
experience of your Totality. There need be no fear that you will leave yourself
open to negative, destructive influences, because the fact is that it is
impossible for you to get
outside of your Self, being as infinite as It is. Therefore it is impossible to
get into a condition or place, which is unlike You and
therefore capable of being able to function to your disadvantage.
Although the well-established ego concepts, which you are familiar with WILL
seem to block your way, because they are comfortable and familiar to you, the
fact is that your entire Being works with you in total harmony and support as
you begin the path of expanding your borders, of being willing to sense into a
higher conscious level of experiencing your Being. Therefore, you will find
available to you a tremendous amount of loving support, which will sustain you
at times when your very urgent, strong ego sense of things seems to block your
progress.
It is important to understand the unified nature of your Being, even though
from the partial view of the ego, it seems to you that you are at times at odds
with yourself and split up into inner factions. I assure you that this only
appears to be this way from the standpoint of the ego's frame of reference, but
not from the standpoint of your Being. The process of expansion that we are
talking about is a process of becoming more totally connected with and
consciously aware of the Infinity, the infinite conscious experience of Being,
that constitutes Who and What You Are.
I will share with you also that as you indulge in expanding your borders, you
will begin to find that there is no part of your world, which actually can
exist outside of your conscious experience of Being, and therefore constitutes
some aspect of the infinitude of your Being.
As this process of Wholizing occurs, you will find yourself confronted with
the opportunity to experience your world as being more and more in harmony with
you, because it is at this inner level of expanded perception that the Oneness
of everything can be experienced.
I do not mean to oversimplify in anything that I am saying here. But in order
for you to be willing to venture forth along these lines, it is necessary for
you to have a general idea of what you are doing, what can be the result, and
what is the nature of the environment in which you will be doing it. The simple
fact is that you can read forever and tantalize yourself with the ideas you
read about, but for any of it to have value for you, it must relate to you in a
practical way. In order for it to relate to you in a practical way it has to be
reduced to the level of EXPERIENCE.
What I have been sharing with you is a means of allowing yourself into an
experience of your Being rather than a study of a theoretical knowledge ABOUT
what your Being could be. I am not suggesting that you venture forth along
these lines until you feel convinced and comfortable with the idea of doing so.
There is no schedule that you must meet.
There is no deadline facing you.
Although the process of growing, of expanding, is not always easy, it is not,
in itself, designed to be difficult. It is only the reluctance of the ego to
let go of its precious concepts that makes the process of unfoldment seem
trying or difficult. The process of expansion, the process of Awakening to the
fuller experience of your Being, is not, in itself, difficult or strenuous, but
always supportive and never overwhelming.
QUESTION: For two weeks now I have been suffering from bronchitis, and just
maybe today, I feel somewhat normal. I thought, maybe you could help me
understand right now what I should be doing to take care of myself.
RAJ: The actual facts are much simpler than you have been imagining, and simply
boil down to the idea that you are a physical organism subject to various other
organisms—included in which is the belief of contagion.
To be more specific, it is a belief of solely being a physical organism. The fact is, however, that you are totally
mental. Your total being, including your body, is mental, and the body is
simply the manifestation or evidence of the Individuality that you are. It is,
therefore, not existing in a "physical realm." This is a significant
point to understand.
It is inaccurate to think that you are made up of two parts—a mentality, and a
physicality—as though they can both
exist in two different realms and yet somehow be connected. It needs to be
clear that as long as there is a distinct conceptual separation between mind
and body, together with the belief that they both function in different realms,
the body can then SEEM to be subject to viruses, germs, and untoward physical
incidents, such as accidents.
When one sees oneself solely as a physical organism, which somehow has developed
a brain, which allows that physical organism to perceive itself and think, one
places the Totality of himself in a physical realm, and this is the grossest of
the belief levels. I say that because the belief doesn't make it a fact.
What you are dealing with here is simply a belief in contagion, rather than any
more sophisticated arrangement of mind/body wherein the body is manifesting
some imbalance, mentally, or inappropriate destructive mental tendencies that
you might be indulging in. Your resolution of this situation, therefore, lies
in your willingness to embrace your body in your thought.
In other words, conceptually lift it out of the physical realm. See that it is
the visibility and tangibility of mind, your mind. Once you do this simple
thing, you will have, so to speak, shifted belief structures, except, there is
very little belief to the understanding that your body is a mental
manifestation. Accepting the premise of yourbody being mental puts you in the
position of being able to assert that it cannot be subject to a physical virus
because it does not exist as an independent physical entity in a "physical
universe." The only Universe there is, is the Universe of Mind in Its
infinite manifestation.
What I am saying may seem naively simplistic, but I assure you that it is most
practical and most effective. If you are not a physical organism and if your
body is not a physical object, then there is nothing present to react to a
supposed physical virus.
Logic would suggest, then, "Isn't it possible that the virus might also be
mental, and therefore just as real as it seemed to be when the body was accepted
as being a physical object?" The answer is NO, because at the level of
Mind, Oneness (and therefore, infinite Harmony) is the foundation upon which
all forms arise and none can be inimical to another.
It is only at the level of the misperception of the ego (which bases its views
on the evidence of the five physical senses) that there can seem to be
separateness and potential hostility between the separate parts. Put in a nutshell, I want you to acknowledge
the idea that because the body is a mental manifestation, it functions and
exists entirely outside the realm of, or the reach of, viruses, bacteria and
all other antagonistic physical organisms.
For clarification, I do not mean to suggest that there really are physical
bacteria, viruses, et cetera. But for purposes of illustrating this to you, it
is helpful for you to see that there cannot be any contiguousness between
something, which is totally mental and something, which is totally physical,
even in belief.
QUESTION: You have said, "If enlightenment doesn't pertain to your life, then
it isn't worth a hill of beans," and in a lot of books that I have read,
there was this big idea of "renunciation." I wonder about that idea
for myself. Whenever I start thinking about getting things or about living
better, or buying a new dress, I think about people who are starving.
As I begin to move toward this new awareness, one of the knots in my mind that
keeps getting in the way is this idea of renunciation, which in a religious
sense means to let go of all of this worldly stuff and concentrate on God and
helping people. Could you clarify that for me?
RAJ: As I have indicated before, it is the whole Universe, which is to be
redeemed, not risen above. What ends up being renounced are the theories and
conclusions, which have been arrived at ABOUT this Universe on the basis of the
partial information of the five physical senses, which we have verbalized as
being the ego sense of self and world.
There is very definitely a renunciation, but it is a renunciation of ignorance
about the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Universe which the Life-Principle is
manifesting as Its infinite manifestation. This is not a theoretical
renunciation, but an experiential renunciation, so that when you ultimately
look at any object, it will not even APPEAR to be dense and dark, but subtle
and constituted of Light, together with the actual experience of that Light
substance as Love.
So you see, the only thing that will be renounced will be the misperception,
the misinterpretation, the ignorance of what everything actually is. And, it
will be renounced or given up in preference to the experience of it with all
accuracy. Thus, everything will truly be seen in its true light.
Once you realize that any and every object is some part of the total completeness
of your Being, your approach to it will be unpossessive. And thus, being in a constant conscious
state of experiencing your completeness, there will be no sense of
"getting" or even "having," but instead, of BEING
everything that you see.
Thus, the whole concept of possessions will become obsolete, together with the
fighting and wars over gaining possession, which fundamentally, all wars are
based upon. The ultimate reason is because there is a feeling, a misconception,
that there is not a sufficient amount of everything for everyone to have. This
is the kind of belief that will be renounced.
Once this point is arrived at, each individuality will find that he will HAVE,
by virtue of his Being, everything that manifests fulfillment at any given
time. This will be without any sense of not being able to have it for long
enough or not being able to have it until someone else is through with it. But
always with the Knowing that equals confidence that each one, by virtue of his
Being, has and will have all that he needs for the fulfillment of Purpose at
any given moment.
QUESTION: The situation seems to be not just my ignorance, but also my impatience,
because when you say that as soon as I see everything as light—I just kind of
go into myself and say, "Oh, my God, I'll never get there. It's too far
away," and it feels like there's an awful long time to go.
RAJ: This is not unusual. What compounds or intensifies the feeling that it
will be a long time is the great intensity of your desire to experience it NOW.
I am going to suggest that you are in a far better position to experience it,
even in terms of momentary glimpses, now that YOU are aware that all forms have
as their substance, Light. At least you are not walking around thinking that it
is something made of cardboard, wood, or plastic. Intellectually and
theoretically, at least, you can conceive that maybe there is more to it than
presently meets the eye, and that what it is, is Light, and that the Light is
living Love. Being aware of this opens
the door for you to experience it, whereas the individual walking around seeing
it as concrete and plastic and asphalt
and other forms of matter is simply locked into or stuck with his limited
definition.
Be careful to be patient and loving with yourself in terms of how much of
Reality you are presently able to see. The ego certainly would want you to be
discouraged, but the fact is that at any moment it is possible for you to see
it, because it is going on in all of its purity right now. It is not a matter
of an evolutionary process of some kind whereby matter becomes rarified and
refined into Light.
Now, another facet that is important is to realize that your desire is the
VEHICLE by means of which you will arrive at experiencing whatever it is you
desire, as long as that desire is in harmony with your Being. The key is not to be frustrated into
attempting to manipulate yourself forward faster, but rather to remain calm and
relaxed with your desire, and let IT move you to your destination. This is a
marvelous lesson to grasp, and an enjoyable process to participate in.
This other urgency to hurry up and somehow do something better, in order to get
into the Kingdom of Heaven—the perception of Reality—is frustrating,
energy-depleting, and generally nonproductive. Be alert for the difference
between these two approaches, so that you may, when you get sucked into the
"urgent" approach, recognize it for what it is and decide to lay that
down and get in touch again with your simple desire to see things as they Truly
Are.