The Text - Section 130
130. FINDING TRUE ABUNDANCE BY GOING THROUGH YOUR FEAR
Greetings my dearest, dearest friends. Blessings for every one of you, and blessed be this new
year. May it be crowned with success in your endeavors for spiritual growth.
People are often confused by apparent contradictions in spiritual teachings. We have
discussed this a number of times, and I always point out the common denominator which brings
together two apparent contradictions and thereby eliminates an either/or situation.
Tonight's topic is a fundamental one for your approach to life. Every one of you can find
substantial help in this lecture if you think deeply about my words. They will answer questions
whether or not you were aware of these questions within yourself.
There are two philosophies about life and spiritual reality which seem completely
contradictory. One says that the spiritually and emotionally mature person has to learn to accept the
difficulties in life. In order to cope with life, people have to accept what they cannot immediately
change, what is beyond their direct sphere of influence. It says that lack of acceptance breeds
disharmony, anxiety, and tension, increases the difficulties, and destroys peace of mind. The ability
to accept the inevitable -- such as death, or other acts of destiny -- is a gauge of maturity and denotes
a well-rounded personality.
The other philosophy says that nothing negative need be accepted, that all hardship, even
death, is unnecessary. It says that there is no destiny other than the one human beings mold for
themselves, and that they, whenever they decide to, can mold a new destiny in which they no longer
suffer. It postulates that true spiritual awakening is marked by the realization that suffering does not
need to be accepted, that the universe is open, that immeasurable abundance is available for all
human beings right here and right now.
These are apparent contradictions. Not seeing the absence of contradiction in these two
approaches must lead to confusion in your mind, whether or not you are aware of it. You have
undoubtedly found both approaches in all great spiritual teachings, as well as in my own lectures.
Now, my friends, why are these two approaches not mutually exclusive? Where is the
common denominator that unifies them? The key is the element of fear. If you want happiness
because you fear unhappiness, happiness remains unreachable. If you want happiness for its own
sake, and not because you fear its absence, nothing will block its attainment. And this is an
enormous difference.
As long as you have fear, it is sometimes inevitable that you experience what you fear in order
to lose the fear. If fear can be shed by realizing the truth that there is no reason to fear, then it is
not necessary to experience it. But you are often incapable of this insight, so you must familiarize
yourself with the feared circumstances until they lose their threatening aspect.
As long as you want the positive mainly because you fear the negative, your fear barricades the
way to the positive. The planet Earth, this sphere of consciousness, is characterized by the desire of
the positive not for itself but for the fear of its negative opposite. Let us examine a few of most
human beings' fundamental desires.
We will begin with the great duality of life and death. This will give you a better
understanding of a lecture I gave a few years ago, in which I spoke of life and death as being two
facets of the same process.* I said that you must learn the ability to die, that you will do so by
acceptance, and by that acceptance you will learn that there is nothing to be feared -- in fact, that
there is no death. I also said that the person who fears life must fear death, and vice versa.
It is impossible to truly love life as long as one fears death. This can be constantly
corroborated when observing human reactions. The more a person lives with gusto and joy, the less
he or she fears death. The more people shrink in fear from death, the more they cling to life, not
because they enjoy life or because they are dynamically related to it, but in order to avoid death.
Such people really do not live at all. Fear of death and dying prohibits one from living, and only by
deeply living can you learn that life is one unending process, and dying is a temporary illusion. If
one clings to life because of the fear of death, life will not be meaningful, nor can it be pleasurable.
Needless to say, this is, as always, a question of degree. Since hardly anyone is completely free of the
fear of death -- otherwise they would not be incarnated in this sphere of being -- there is hardly
anyone who truly lives. But some are relatively free from this fear and therefore live meaningful and
pleasurable lives.
Since it is almost impossible for the average soul to realize that death is not to be feared, it has
to go through cycles and cycles of embodiments, one after the other, learning to die until dying is no
longer a frightening experience. When the fear of dying is overcome, life eternal is possible; as long
as it is feared, dying must be gone through.
Another great sin of the human being is the wish to be in control. Consequently, the person
fears being out of control. While spiritual teachings postulate that death is unnecessary, they also
claim that the truly evolved individual is master of the universe, and that he or she alone controls
destiny. The human soul strives toward this goal. But as long as there is a fear of losing control, the
individual must learn the ability to relinquish it, to flexibly adjust. The fine balance between steering
one's ship through the river of life and the ability to let go must be learned. The more one fears
letting go, the greater the imbalance of the soul movements, and consequently the greater the loss of
the final control over destiny. The tight control one grabs at is a pseudo-control that merely
increases tension and anxiety. It prohibits peace and confidence in the self and in the life process.
The only way confidence can grow is entrusting oneself to what seems the "unknown," by giving up
the tense holding. Such letting go eventually results in full mastery without the fear of losing it, for
the person now knows that there is nothing to fear.
Human beings are not yet capable of immediate control over self and life. They still have to
temporarily accept certain limitations within the self which create an undesirable destiny. Denying
these limitations by sheer outer will that comes from fear, must make the situation worse.
Acceptance of one's temporary limitations and, consequently, of the results, does not mean
resignation to tragedy and suffering. It merely means going through a phase of lesser expansion,
comfort, and bliss, accepting responsibility for this state, and thereby overcoming the dread of it.
Such an attitude will open the door further.
Because the human being is, in its highest evolutionary state, in control of his or her destiny,
the ability to give over in trust to greater forces must be at least potentially present in every
individual. In fact, only by doing so can a person become one with these forces. When one refuses
to relinquish control, it is out of fear and distrust. Thus that which is most benign, which is power,
liberation, bliss, is blocked.
A further fundamental human aim is pleasure supreme. All these aspects -- eternal life,
control over one's destiny, pleasure supreme -- are deeply inborn, instinctive spiritual aims. The
psyche instinctively knows that these are both its destiny and its origin and therefore it strives to
recapture them.
If you desire pleasure because you fear pain or the absence of pleasure, the door to pleasure
remains closed. Once you have learned that the absence of pleasure is not an abyss of darkness to
shrink from, fear will no longer prohibit your fulfillment.
Every aspect of living follows this principle. If you desire health in a spirit of fearing sickness,
you prevent health. If you fear the aging process, you prevent eternal youth. If you fear poverty,
you prevent abundance. If you fear loneliness, you prevent real companionship. If you fear
companionship, you prevent self-containment. So it goes on and on.
The great enemy is fear, and the best way to meet and conquer this enemy is first to ascertain,
admit, and articulate it. This approach will diminish fear to a considerable degree and open the way
to further measures for ousting it. Of course, the desire to do so must, as always, be clearly
expressed in one's thinking and intentions. However, if you struggle against fear out of fear of fear,
this will be difficult. Therefore, the calm admission and the momentary acceptance of it will do
more toward its elimination than fighting against it would.
A long time ago we discussed that the three major stumbling blocks in the human soul are
pride, selfwill, and fear. The more the soul is unified, the more it can reach the basic point of
unification when encountering inner divisions. The same applies to this triad. Pride and selfwill are
easily overcome when there is no more fear. If you are not afraid to have your dignity impaired,
there will be no need for false pride. And if you are not afraid of being controlled by factors beyond
your influence, you will have no need for selfwill.
Fear is the great locked door which prohibits you from entering, right here and right now, into
all that is immediately available the moment fear is uprooted from your heart and soul.
This is what your life is all about, my friends. This is what the human sphere of
consciousness, with its repeated incarnations serving as schools of experience, is all about. And this
is what our path here is all about: the discovery that fear is unnecessary.
When you hear the admonition that it is necessary to learn acceptance, you always interpret it
as having to accept an ultimate fate of suffering and deprivation. The advice to learn to let go of
control implies to you that you have to release yourself into an abyss of danger, pain, and hardship.
This is why fear increases, and so does tense reluctance and stubbornness. You shrink more rigidly
from your liberation, your life eternal, your bliss. In truth, acceptance must bring you to the
realization that you are called upon to have that which is most desirable. Giving up control -- the
little selfwill -- will finally prove to you that this step releases one into a new freedom, into
something positive and desirable, so there is no longer any need to fearfully hold on.
When the soul is sufficiently experienced and deeply impressed with the truth that there is
nothing to fear, the human personality suddenly comes to a point of realization in which acceptance
is no longer a risk, for it embraces the entire benign universe. Then it is no longer a question of
having to go through the fear in order to rise above it. Then one is prepared for all the fulfillment,
the abundance, the bliss and pleasure supreme in a liberated life, and in the life eternal, with all its
dynamic, joyful aspects. All that the human heart desires is immediately available when one has
overcome fear.
When you realize this truth, it is the liberation your spirit has been waiting for. It is as though
your spirit exclaimed, "Oh, that's the way it is! Why did I not see this wonderful simplicity before?
Why did I plague myself with all the unnecessary hardship?" And you step out from your
confinement. The world becomes your own!
But where the soul is not yet ready, it still has to learn that there is nothing to fear. It does so
through being involved in a world that expresses this ignorance -- for only through such a real
involvement can the ignorance of the truth that there is nothing to fear be broken through. The self
must discover the truth that even what hurts is never quite what one fears.
You all have had this experience, my friends. When you anticipated a certain event, how
many times did you find out that, after having gone through it, it was not half as bad as you had
feared?
This leads us to the important fact that the main element of fear is not a particular undesirable
factor or event, but the unknown quality about it. Now, it is possible to fear something one already
has experienced, either consciously or unconsciously. But while experiencing something in a state of
fear, all faculties and perceptions become dulled. The truth of the experience is not fully registered,
assimilated, or perceived. The fear blurs one's view and one's capacity to evaluate it objectively. So
it is very possible to go through an experience in a certain frame of mind and come out with the
impression that this experience was not the way it really was, but rather as one had expected it to be.
That is why the soul requires so many repetitions until it can rid itself of fear, particularly in
the experience of dying. Let me assure you, my friends, that the trauma of being born is an infinitely
greater one than the one of dying. Yet a peculiar mass image exists about dying, which is deeply
impressed on all souls who come, again and again, to the earth sphere. When an individual goes
through the liberating event of shedding the material body, this mass image produces such fear that
the person is too anxious to be able to register the reality of the event of dying in full consciousness.
In addition, the conscious intellect ignores the true facts of dying, but meets an unknown
element, and the fear of it half-anesthetizes the act of perception. Hence the truth cannot impress
itself upon the soul. What is experienced becomes hazy, due to a very low consciousness at the
moment. The little that has registered is easily forgotten, for memory is also dependent on a free
state of mind, uncluttered by fear, prejudice, and misconceptions. The little the soul does remember
is soon blotted out by the strength of the mass image that again overwhelms the individual.
It happens frequently that an individual registers at the time of transition a feeling like, "Oh, is
this what it is? How wonderful!" Yet the mass image cannot be blotted out unless the truth can be
experienced in full consciousness, and fear barricades such a full experience. With each repetition, a
little more of the truth penetrates until, slowly but surely, the soul rids itself of fear and becomes
relaxed about the transition -- as relaxed as you are about going to sleep at night, or about starting a
new and as yet unknown phase of your life you look forward to without qualms. Dying is produced
by the fear of it. It becomes superfluous and ceases to take place when the fear of it vanishes.
The same principle applies to many other aspects of living. Wherever fear exists, it produces
the circumstances one fears. These circumstances are, at the same time, the only way to convince
the self that the fear is unnecessary.
The more an event is known, the less it is feared. Although a vicious circle exists in which
fear dulls the senses, every vicious circle can be broken. You may argue that actual pain can be very
much feared. But, my friends, think about it: pain is inordinately feared only when one does not
know where it will lead, when one suspects something dangerous in it, such as a serious disease and
finally death. If you know that the pain will not threaten your safety, you can bear it in a relaxed
state of mind and thus it ceases to be pain.
When you meet your fears and squarely acknowledge them, it is important to understand, and
specifically ascertain, the unknown element about them. Then you have a chance of making that
element a little less unknown. In certain instances, its unknown character may be completely
eliminated, while in others you may consciously accept the fact that some element must remain
unknown for the time being and yet simultaneously accept the fear.
Where there is uncertainty about what the future will bring, there is fear. Nothing one truly
knows, even the greatest difficulties, are really feared. In order to make the unknown known, the
feared unknown must often be entered into -- just like the experience of dying. But this must, by no
means, be construed to mean that you should be looking for negative, painful experiences.
When you open your whole psyche to positive experience, without a trace of fear of the
negative, then the unknown must become more and more known; life becomes more and more
fulfilling on all levels.
Now, my friends, are there any questions?
QUESTION: Is this the only sphere in which one goes through the experience of death as
we know it?
ANSWER: This is so. In other spheres there are other experiences, equally important for the
evolution of the soul.
QUESTION: Are only those who fear death incarnated in this sphere?
ANSWER: That is one reason for drawing souls into this particular sphere of consciousness.
But if a person is afraid of dying, that fundamental fear leads to other soul conditions and is
connected with a great number of other erroneous concepts. They are all interconnected. As I have
said before, being afraid of dying is also being afraid of living -- of the unknown elements of both.
When such fears exist, there must be misconceptions and erroneous imprints in the soul.
When fear constricts the soul, the human being is incapable of entering into and becoming a
part of the cosmic life force which gently guides to fruition and which wants to envelop him. He
struggles against the cosmic force as though it were an enemy, but in reality the enemy sits within, a
product of false fears, misconceptions, and unnecessary limitations. It is because of these limitations
that people turn against themselves and, in spite of a part of their spirit continuously striving for
their birthright of fulfillment, another part actually strives for nonfulfillment, pain, and deprivation.
The great danger falsely believed to be unavoidable seems less threatening when it is quickly brought
about by themselves. At least it is then no longer unknown. But avoidable negative experience has
a bitter taste. Negative experience courted out of fear and error is much harder to bear than
negative experience that is a result of still lingering limitations. One does not rush into the latter
voluntarily. It requires deep insight into the mechanics of one's inner life to even discover this, but
only with such insight is it possible to stop the destructive repetitive process.
When you learn the rhythm of your life, when you no longer struggle against, rush into, forge
ahead blindly, thereby disturbing the natural rhythm, you will become part of the great cosmic
powers with which you can play, which you can guide, and thus you become truly master of the
universe.
QUESTION: What do you mean by spheres?
ANSWER: Spheres of consciousness, spheres of being. Where entities with a similar state of
consciousness flock together -- and they do so according to immutable law -- their overall
consciousness can be referred to as a sphere. From the point of view of space, a geographical area
may be indicated in this way. From a spiritual viewpoint, time, space, and movement are all
expressions of particular states of consciousness. This is why it is difficult for an entity geared in
three-dimensional thinking to comprehend utterings of a consciousness that comprises more
dimension, and also unifies these dimensions into one greater consciousness.
Therefore, when spiritual spheres are discussed, the danger is that people begin to think of
them in oversimplified terms of geographical areas, located somewhere in outer space. Although it
cannot be considered untrue that the entire physical universe is inhabited -- all space, all time, all
planets, all stellar systems -- the real universe, with all its myriads of spheres, is within the self. This
does not make the existence of many more spiritual worlds an abstract idea, however. They are
reality, just as each planet is a reality and exists both within and without.
Now, when I speak of entities with comparable overall development, this must not be taken
literally. It cannot be denied that there is considerable difference in development among human
beings, and so of course among entities of other spheres of consciousness. Yet they all have certain
points in common, in spite of great differences in perception and comprehension between older,
more developed spirits, and younger ones, relatively new to this state. But they all can fulfill
themselves better by flocking together; this is why they are drawn to make up a so-called sphere.
QUESTION: I can't visualize a sphere. Could you give an example of another sphere?
ANSWER: In a different lecture, I explained that conditions on the earth sphere are an exact
expression of the sum total of the consciousness of all human beings inhabiting it. This also
comprises, of course, individuals who do not at this moment reside in a body, but belong to this
sphere by their overall development and who will reincarnate again here. I explained that all the
beauty on this earth, in nature, and in that which is created by man and woman is a direct expression
of those inner qualities which are in harmony with the universe. Conversely, all strife, such as war,
poverty, quarrels, difficulties of all sorts, sickness and dying, are the expression of humanity's
confusions, its state of consciousness which clings to destructive emotions. In other words, the
earth, with its conditions, favorable and unfavorable, the greatness and the pettiness, is a direct result
of all the consciousnesses which inhabit it. All that can be called a "sphere of consciousness."
Other spheres express the sum total of all consciousness, too. If the overall consciousness is higher
than this one, conditions are accordingly more harmonious and less difficult. In a sphere where the
general level of truth-perception is higher, it is inevitable that the circumstances that arise will be less
limiting.
QUESTION: Do we reincarnate into the same sphere?
ANSWER: Yes, until you have learned to overcome whatever disharmony and error the
present state of consciousness expresses. From all I have said in the past as well as in this lecture it
is obvious that as long as consciousness is not raised to a higher degree of truth-perception, a new
sphere cannot be created for a particular entity. For an entity's environment and inner state of
consciousness are one and the same.
You are not reincarnated into the same sphere because any deity "sends" or "commands" you
to do so; this is accomplished by a process of attraction and repulsion, according to law, that is like
the laws of chemical bonding. You must not imagine that first the sphere exists and then the entity
is incarnated into it. It is the other way around. The sphere is a result of your thinking, feelings,
attitudes, and general state -- the sum total of your entire personality. The sphere expresses you. If
you express different qualities, you are no longer drawn to this sphere, but to the sphere where the
majority of beings also express your stage of development.
QUESTION: Are other spheres also physical?
ANSWER: Human beings make too arbitrary a distinction between physical and non-
physical. A human being consists of many layers, and each is matter of a special density. The higher
the consciousness, the finer the consistency of the matter. But this does not make them formless or
their existence less real.
According to people's beliefs, they will be drawn into spheres of more physical -- that is,
denser -- matter, or finer vibrations. If the entire thinking is still geared to a very superficial and
materialistic plane, the matter the entity produces for the vehicle of its spirit will vibrate accordingly.
The denser the matter, the greater the ignorance, error, misconception, prejudice, limitation, and
darkness -- hence, the greater the suffering.
When humans realize that their real self is not just in the body, their perceptions will widen
and the matter of their entire soul substance will become much finer and more sensitive to truth.
The result will be a greater sense of reality.
It is extremely important for all of you who work on this path to find where you fear the
negative and therefore grab for the positive alternative. When you find the areas of fear, and see
how you want the positive for negative motivations, you will be able to accept the rich abundance of
life with a raised head, as a free person. It is this soul movement that makes all the difference.
The soul condition of fearlessness produces the conviction that nothing negative is ever
necessary and that the human entity's fate is bliss, unfoldment, and dynamic life. And where such
conviction exists, outer facts must follow suit. Shrinking away from a feared alternative and wanting
the positive alternative because of that, makes the latter an unreachable illusion. This may explain to
many of my friends why a number of doors have remained closed for them, in spite of much
progress and insight. However, it requires an extended awareness to notice the existence of fear,
and to be aware of the fine differentiation between wanting happiness for the sake of happiness, or
wanting it in order to avoid unhappiness.
I have discussed general aims, but your specific desires, with the fear of their opposites, have
to be ascertained in your personal work. Nothing is too big or too little, important or unimportant,
when it comes to the human psyche. For anything that may appear to be an insignificant aspect is,
in the last analysis, connected with the great questions of life. When you find these elements, new
doors will open to you, my friends. Even before you can shed the fear itself, ascertaining it and
knowing what it means must make a great difference in your attitude to yourself, to life, and to the
particular desire that has remained unfulfilled because you have overlooked the shift in motivation.
This is an all-important key.
Don't overlook either that the presence of a fear of the negative does not necessarily annul a
healthy wish for the positive for its own sake. It is absolutely possible -- in fact, it is frequent -- that
a healthy wish exists simultaneously with the distorted motivation.
Once you put your finger on the fear, you can directly treat it in your meditations. This will
make a great deal of difference on your path. It can be a solution to many problems that have
remained stubbornly locked so far. The mere realization, "I cannot step out into freedom because I
want freedom not for itself, but because I fear to be imprisoned," will bring liberation a great step
closer. If you realize that you cannot be free because you fear unfreedom, in that realization greater
freedom is yours. This may sound complicated and quite paradoxical, but if you deeply think about
it, you will understand how true it is.
Blessings for every one of you, my friends. May these words lift your spirit and bring you
nearer to the light of truth, to the reality of love, to the unending bliss of spiritual existence. Be in
peace, be in God!
* Lecture #81