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Audio
Teachings Tape #18 (Temptation) (healing and giving teaching to others) [brackets for clarification] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adolescence and childhood are times of great temptation. There are so many things that seem desirable; but one does not have the ability to obtain them. So one has the temptation to obtain them by devious quick methods. That is growing up in the physical body in the physical world while the "self" (the personality) is developing. As one enters into the spiritual life, one begins to grow in the spiritual life and begins to form a spiritual body, nourishing it with self-observation, observing other selves, seeing relationships, seeing how things work, seeing what is and seeing the value of what is? Along about this time comes some rather unusual temptations. One has certain serenity and peace, one has certain functions, is behaving in a different way, is experiencing a different state of being, maybe even experiencing small indications of Faith (using Faith in a small way), and may even be experiencing Faith in a very very small way, and may even be experiencing Grace a bit. The temptation that comes along now is quite different than it formerly was. The old temptations one was acquainted with was the temptation to identify with the Not-I's (with mammon). Now the temptation comes in another way. It is the effort of the Not-I's (that have been cast out) to identify with I. I has become more powerful and is growing. The Not-I's begin to be very jealous of it and mammon is very jealous in all directions. There is a great story told of the temptation of the Christ. He went through many things, and he was in the wilderness fasting for forty days and forty nights. Fasting means that he had experienced something, but he was fasting from Faith, Grace and possibly from Agape to a degree. Fasting means one is without food. He was without food that seemed to make the inner being (the spiritual body) grow. As he returned from the desert, he was met by mammon who tempted him. Now, mammon is experienced as thoughts and experienced as suggestions from without. Mammon said to him, "If thou be the son of God, if thou art the servant of the most high (in other words, if thou sees that thou art a function of X and that thou art serving X instead of mammon) command that these stones be made into bread." In other words, see the truth of something (stone is a literal truth) and make it into something good, usable, valuable (bread). There are many parts to this little question, "if" is the first part. First off, mammon is trying to start doubt in the person. Are you really serving X or are you deceiving yourself? If you be this, you could do so and so, and he set up a condition of proof. The only thing that mammon was saying, "If you are the son of God, then you can do so and so." He didn't say that you might experience peace, that you might see things differently, that you might behave differently, or that you might have a new state of being. No. He said, "If you are, (trying to cast doubt) you will perform a wonder." You know, the "world" (mammon, the ideal) always looks for a sign, looks for some credentials that one is at a certain place. But the credential is not outward. It is what you are experiencing, is it not? There is no way you could make a sign or a demonstration to another person. It is what you are experiencing. But here comes the temptation to perform a wonder, to have a sign that one is serving X. "If you are serving X, you should have a sign. That is a trick of mammon, of the ideals. It says, "If you are doing something so wonderful you should have a sign." Here is the world trying to get the adolescent back into its power. The Christ did not respond to that temptation. He didn't try to show his credentials. He didn't have any proof to offer that he was serving X. He only said, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." In other words, I will live by the Teaching. I have been experimenting with it; I find it to be true, I find it to be valuable; and I don't need to demonstrate to anyone, to any man of the world who is talking about ideals. I don't need to demonstrate that I am serving X; I don't need signs and demonstrations because I have experimented for self; I have discovered the Teaching to be true and that it is very valuable. He is talking about the Teaching which no man claims credit for. Everyone says it comes from a higher mind. It came from another realm. No matter who carries it, who transmits the Teaching, or by what method, no one claims "This is mine". The Christ himself said, "The teaching is not mine but is from Him who sent me." So he had found the Teaching valuable and he said this proceedeth from the mouth of God, from a higher mind and a different realm than the education of the man-made world. So he didn't succumb to that temptation. But mammon wasn't through yet. He said, "If you really are the son of God, it is written that you shall stand on the spire of the temple and jump off; and that you will not bruise your heel because it is written that X will not allow his servant to bruise his heel." In other words, again try for a demonstration to show off-to demonstrate and then to gain attention and approval. Which all seems rather nice, doesn't it? That one could have attention, approval and that one could demonstrate. Then, of course, people would "believe" and more people would come to the teaching. But you see one can only come to the Teaching by one's own experiment, not by having some grand demonstration. Then one would only "believe" because of the demonstration and they would hope to find a way to improve themselves that they could perform a demonstration, and/or gain the benefits of the demonstration. But man comes to it because he has questioned the purpose of living and he pursues it to try it out for himself. He is not convinced by anyone nor by any sign or demonstration. You see, this is always the hope of everyone--that they can perform a demonstration. Somebody performed a healing somewhere and somebody got well and it was said, "Obviously, that is the truth, we must follow that." The Christ told some of his students that they didn't believe because they hadn't experimented with the Teachings themselves. They didn't have any inner strength in themselves because they hadn't experimented.. They only believed and followed him because of the signs they had seen when he had healed the sick, raised the dead, and made many loaves and fishes out of a few loaves and fishes. In other words, when he practiced Faith, they believed in it because of the benefits to the physical man not because they had experimented with it and found any aspects of the teaching to be correct. This great temptation that the Christ underwent is the same that everyone of us undergoes. First, the temptation to perform a wonder and get a sign so that I can prove to myself that I am serving X, and that I am doing something real. The first temptation is an attempt to doubt the self unless there is a demonstration--I is even tempted to want a sign. The next temptation is the sign that other people will recognize something--that is to jump off the spire of the temple, a very high point, and not get a bruise on the heel or injured in any way--which would certainly be a sign and a wonder. Again the Christ said, "It is also written that Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God." In other words, one doesn't show off with the idea that X will protect him from his showing off; therefore trying to and gain attention and approval. He knows that X does what one sees as truth and what one sees as good. He couldn't see any value in jumping off the temple because all it would be doing is serving mammon or to gain attention and approval and possibly have a great number of followers (who were not interested in challenging the idea of "what is the purpose of living", and beginning to know for themselves). They see something they say is a wonder, and they want to follow it hoping they can find some technique whereby they can achieve the ideal and gain attention and approval for themselves--and power over other people. The Christ said, "It is written that thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God." In other words, I won't put on a performance that I really know is not worthwhile but only to serve mammon. Mammon wasn't through yet. So he took the Christ to a very high spot and said, "Look, here are all the kingdoms of the world and they have all been delivered into my hands. I will give them all if you will fall down and worship me." Now, we are all conditioned and we are all tempted to worship mammon (the ideal), to have the four dual basic urges, the greatest one being, of course, to have power over others. So mammon offered power over all the people in the world if one would worship him. He was saying, "You are something great you have great powers". "You have accomplished great things." Mammon was trying to identify with the enlightened man, but the enlightened Being had nothing to do with him. He would not accept the power over others. He said, "Get thee behind me." In other words, "personality," you go behind me; you may be a tool for use in some of the practical affairs, such as building a house, but you will be under control. So nothing tempted him. We are all subjected to this temptation to have power over others. This is one of the reasons that Faith is not experienced very early because it could be used for power over others. It is why it is withheld for a while to see if we have the patience, tosee if we have understanding, to see if we have compassion and see if we can see other people's lines of thought in their conditioned states. Even though they can produce very horrible things, one understands that but for the Grace of being (the Teachings), there goes I. Realizing that one could do any of the things that any other human has done or ever will do while in their conditioned states. One can understand that that person is operating by the only light he has, the "self", "the conditioned being".and that mammon (which is darkness) is the only thing operating. So the poor person is functioning in darkness. When one begins to see this, Agape is increasing in power and possibly one can begin to experience some degree of Faith. But being the power that it is, one would use it sparingly and one would not do something for "self". If one made up one's mind to achieve something for "self", even if it were healing, it would be for a demonstration or a sign--and one would be caught in the trap. After all, I have the greatest gifts there are, do we not? Everything that happens is a gift that gives me reminders, gives me some being, some opportunity to grow and develop the spiritual body-that is the real man--that which is indestructible because it is based on what? EXPERIMENTATION! The new spiritual body is building a firm foundation because it has acted upon every aspect of the Teaching to find out for self if it is true. This is referred to as having built one's house on rock or a firm foundation. There are temptations (floods, rain storms, winds and every kind of temptation). Every kind of second force may come by; but when one is fully aware of the value of the Teaching, and of the fact of it, and one has experienced it, one has experimented with it, and one has acted upon it, these floods and so forth do not break one's state. How many of us at this moment could stand the temptation of performing a wonder if we could? Of putting value on demonstrations rather than on that inner serenity and knowing from experience and from knowing self and other selves, seeing what is really going on, seeing relationships and understanding temptation when it does arise. How many of us could withstand the temptation to take over the whole world and rule it--to have everything go "just like I want it?" It might be that it would be difficult to not perform a miracle if we had the ability. And if we tried to perform these wonders, one would be caught in the clutches of mammon-mammon identifies with I. There is an old Russian saying that when the devil is hungry, he will eat flies. Mammon would much prefer to have I identify with him (mammon)-the ideals of the man-made world, the ideas of the four dual basic urges, the ideals of self-improvement, in addition to signs and wonders to prove one's greatness, and finally the idea blaming if something doesn't work just exactly right). As long as he can, mammon would rather you identify with that; but if you begin to observe the "self" and see it for what it is, he puts on a disguise and attempts to identify with I and tempts in a very subtle way, mammon says, "You are wonderful, you are superior, you are great." Mammon tempts in a very subtle way. There are any number of temptations that will arise. So we are going to make a study of temptation this week. You are at the state of being where you will experience many of them. There will be someone who will ask you to do something and you will be tempted to do it in the way of performing a wonder--showing how great one is. One will find there is a temptation of doubt, "if one is really doing something, one really ought to have certain visible, demonstrable talents to demonstrate". But one doesn't. One has only what is evidence to I, that I am serene, I am peaceful, I am seeing things in an altogether different way, and it is not anything that I can show you. None of us can show our inner state to another; we can only put on a front. We can only do that (No. 5) in an attempt to impress others. What for? The Scribes and Pharisees fell victim to this temptation of mammon. The Scribes and Pharisees were the descendents and students of the school called the House of Israel. They had been given many Teachings. The literal ones on the outside were symbols or parables of the inner Teaching. They succumbed to the temptation to have power over others. They accepted rulership because it said, "You are worthy." and they, of course, are not worthy to have all the inner Teachings--so lets give those others outward performance. And this, of course, is what happened. We described it in the Teaching of the "world" when Teaching was used as a philosophy. They took the Teaching and perverted it for the uses of the "world"-a philosophy. They were caught in the temptation of allowing mammon to identify with I. Then they began to be tolerant of the little folks and said, "They cannot understand it so we will give them ritual. We will give them commandments that they are to live by because they are not capable of seeing the inner meaning. So in one, two or three generations, or in five, six, seven or eight generations it was totally forgotten that it had an inner meaning. The Christ said they only cleaned the outside of the cup (the outer man). They put on a good show and performed Beautifully. They were well mannered; but they did many things to gain attention and approval. They prayed in public places. They gave alms; but being sure they had someone to go ahead of them to announce that the great so and so was going to give alms. It was done for attention and approval--like jumping off the temple spire and not bruising one's heel. They accepted power over other human beings to control their destiny, to control their every action and their behavior, and to keep them in subjection by threatening them with the wrath of God. They offered some kind of reward sometime later (after death), but not in this world. The temptation hits all people. The reward, however, is that we, in fact, are students of a great Teaching coming from a higher mind, and that we can experiment with the Teaching to discover every aspect. It doesn't mean we can go to sleep someday, sit on a nice soft pillow and everything will be fine. To serve a great Being-X--requires that we stay on the job. What is the only thing that awareness can do? BE AWARE. It is aware of what is and aware of its relative values. The more it builds the spiritual body, the more one is aware of the value of each what is. This is what the growth of the spiritual body is about; and it is called WISDOM-seeing the value of. Truth is seeing the fact plus the value.of that fact. That is reporting to X. That is one's job. One doesn't come to the point where one no longer needs to report to X, because that is the nature of one. One is the awareness function of X. One is the Son of a King. But that doesn't give one the privilege of ease and comfort. It gives one responsibility. When one accepts that responsibility, one is free--free to experience whatever may arise-freely--and report it and its value to X. This is being a conscious man. This is arising to a state of being known as objective consciousness. Objective consciousness has states of being wherein one has unusual abilities; however, one never allows anyone else to see them, if at all possible. These abilities occur when they are needed and are not something to be shown off. They are not something one can command. They are something that is there at the proper time, place and circumstance. It is not something that I can do, but is something X does because it has been reported accurately. It could have happened any time during one's existence. No new power has been attained, it is only that one has developed one's spiritual body to see what is and the value of what is. Had one seen this when one was 4 years old, X would have done the same thing. But you see we have never seen what is very well. We didn't see what it was related to. We didn't see what its meaning was, we didn't see what it was related to, and we certainly didn't see the value of it. We only saw value in the "what ought to be" and the "ideal". We compared what is to the "ideal" and what is was seen as of no value. We only saw "what ought to be" was of value. Now we are seeing that "what ought to be" as valueless--that "what ought to be" is an illusion. We are no longer struggling towards it. So we can see more clearly what is, what it is related to; and we can begin to see all the things that are involved in the what is--and we see the value of it. This is having knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is seeing what is--knowing it from moment to moment. Wisdom is seeing the value of it. In certain Teachings, Wisdom is called wine, and Knowledge (what is true or the truth of it) is called bread. And when we combine bread and wine, we have a fit offering to X. It is the only acceptable offering. One must observe what is true and what is valuable. We are constantly being subjected to the temptation that "ideals" are valuable. They come under different names now. They are not called gaining pleasure, comfort, attention and approval. They are put under other names. They are "helping people" which is really a means of feeling in control of them. It is the means of harming a person because we are trying to say they are not responsible beings. It comes in ideas like "being considerate", only instead of considering, it is condescending. You see the meanings can be twisted so very easily. So we want to look down on someone. It is to make a contribution (but it is not a contribution). It is seen as something worthwhile for them so that they will be in a less disturbed state. We cannot see that disturbance is that which continually occurs--that disturbance increases man's necessity to check on the purpose of living, check on the ideas of the "world" and to question mammon, the four dual basic urges. One only checks them (the purpose of living) when one is not comfortable. As long as everything is comfortable, the comfort seems very desirable so one thinks, "Why should we check it?" It's only when Life increases one's necessity (because of the disturbance that is going on) that one begins to question. So if we were trying to prevent everyone from having any disturbance, one might say that we were being very harmful and being very condescending; and it all sounds very wonderful, very good unless one is aware. One is aware and alert to this temptation. One can then see mammon in his tempting business of trying to identify with I, the observing function of X.


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