Volume 4, Issue 2, page 4

reference point, the child with many doesn't
get upset -- he still has eight or ten others.

This is standard procedure in living.
but what is the viewpoint here? We should
be able to change our minds, to change our
ideas, to evaluate and to observe the points
of operation that we consider our so-called
stable points. When you ask someone to
change an idea -- one of these operation
points—this is real serious. If you ask
someone to suddenly believe in Totality and
abandon all their concepts of God, they
can't do it. They have accepted the idea --
the thought -- that there is a God somewhere,
and they are depending on this Supreme Being to take care of them. You suddenly
throw the idea at people that they are Totality, that they are responsible, and it
kind of staggers them. They suddenly feel
that they have had something taken away
from them.

Any time you try to convince someone of
anything, you will discover it is impossible. Convincingness in this universe is
force and power. The harder the impact, the
more convincing it is. But I do not try to
take God away from you. I merely add this
data to what you already have -- that possibly this is SO- and eventually, you may
discover that you ARE God.

Once you are aware of Totality you are
aware that things cannot get lost because
they are within you -- within your awareness
-- and you get a very comfortable feeling
that you can change your mind, that you can
be the emotion and attitude that you want
without getting upset about it. In other
words, the most stable data you can have is
that you are Totality.

Trying to convince people of this is
difficult, but trying to convince people of
anything is difficult. If someone has immutable ideas, don't try to change them -- just
add to them, gradually. And if you add to
them enough, in the right direction, they
will eventually discover that they are Totality.

By JOANNA WALSH
I'd like to explain briefly why we decided to help you recall the teachings of our
philosophers. For one thing, they have made
a profound impression upon our thinking and
our life down thru the times since philosophers began to philosophize.

Philosophy, as you probably know, means
"love of wisdom" -- "philos" meaning "love"
and "sophia" meaning "wisdom". This is a
great goal, a tremendous goal, but let's
adopt a greater one.

We know that Socrates impressed his
opinions and ideas upon Plato, Plato upon
others, and all down thruout history, they
have made their impressions upon each other. Yet each one was able to gather his own
ideas and add them to the ideas of their
teachers: This is healthy. This is good.
Yet Socrates was put to death. Others were
put to death; others were ostracized because of their desire and love for wisdom.
So, if anyone is ever critical of you for
loving wisdom, you do not stand alone. We
can understand that they cannot accept these
ideas -- so let's not force them upon them.
Let's begin where they're at, and if you
can add another idea to it, if they find it
4 The AB
acceptable, fine; if they don't, just leave
it.

In this series of talks on the philosophers, we are trying to recall what those
ancient philosophers had to give us, and
tie it in with what our most modern philosophers have to give us today. We are not attempting to make comparisons, we are attempting to add to their information.

Plato had this theory of the reality
being in the invisible plane, and that
which is in the physical plane is never
quite as satisfactory, because it is mere
dross; because it is of a denser frequency
of vibration, it is less esthetic on the
physical plane than it is on the idea plane.

I think he gave out a very fine idea of
that when he brought out the idea about the
circle. He said: "You draw a circle which
is a crude approximation of the idea of
circularity. The idea of circularity is
created by our minds alone. There it is
true, there it is correct, in our minds.
Any circle that we draw must have enough
thickness or breadth or extension to be
visible to these eyes, and we know these
eyes have their limitations. We know, in
fact, that we do not see with our eyes.
Therefore, the circle that we draw, or
things we create in manifestation on the
physical plane, are an imitation of the
real in the idea world. The real circle,
originally created, without any physical
existence, is really the true circularity
idea."
This is only an example that we can use
to understand the difference between an
idea that we imagine and as we imagine it
is true. From the time of the idea in the
imagination stage to the time when it manifests, is quite a time-lag for most of us.
The idea has to come thru these blocks of
unawareness, thru the impact areas that we
have in and around the body, before we can
get the message thru from us as Totality to
this grosser physical plane.

But you need more than a philosophy that
you can understand about such things. The
philosophers gave us the idea of a love for
wisdom, but they would sit around and yak
back and forth about it. In this modern dAy,
we want to add to that idea and put the
philosophy into application. We want to go
into action, now.

A fairly recent philosopher I would like
to give credit to is L. Ron Hubbard. In one
of his books, he gives us this about ideas:
"People have their personal reality based
on a set of stable ideas': You see how
Plato's teaching comes down and gives us
this, now: "As this can be added to or
amended, their understanding will be greater"
If you would increase a person's understanding, then find out what his stable
ideas are, what his reality is -- but do not
attempt to invalidate it or remove it. Add
to it; then he will be proportionately a
more understanding person himself. In this,
of course, which is typical of Hubbard, he
gives us methods for releasing "stuck' ideas.

Let us consider that we, as Totality,
create ideas by choice. That kind of feeling does that give you? I know what it does
for me. I can look at an idea or not look
at an idea. I can accept it or not accept
EMI=