We like to invent

M O N S T E R S
to justify our attacks on what we're afraid of -- what is unknown to us.

M O N S T E R
is whatever (or whoever) we want to use to justify an irrational fear.
It is, by definition, an illusion ... invented by the frightened mind.

So when we FLEE from a monster...

(or DECIDE TO ATTACK BACK as though our life is at stake)
it is really THE MIND reacting to an illusion!

Allowing your mind to convince you to ATTACK and DEFEND an illusion
is not only patently insane, it's also what's known as a

WHY?

The mind ATTACKS out of FEAR ... what it BELIEVES to be real.

After attacking anything,
the mind automatically puts up a DEFENSE in anticipation of getting back what it put out...
thus perpetuating a vicious cycle.

GET IT?

The "vicious cycle" will not be broken

until a person learns the difference between what's real and unreal.

THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO FIND OUT...
NO ONE IS GIVEN A "HOW-TO MANUAL."

YOU HAVE TO FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT ON YOUR OWN.

BUT HELP IS AVAILABLE IF YOU KNOW HOW TO ASK!

WHAT IS CALLED FOR IS A CAREFUL INVESTIGATION

TO LEARN THE TRUE NATURE OF THE MIND

and how to help it become your

conscious servant

rather than your

unconscious dominator.

ARE YOU A LOGICAL THINKER?

THEN FOLLOW THIS:

Fear is an unconscious reaction to future pain.

Pain in any form is caused by resistance to the natural flow of energy.

THEREFORE:

Resistance causes PAIN . . .

PAIN causes FEAR. . .

No resistance, no pain, no fear.

It really is that simple.

Hmmm... if life is that simple to figure out, what's the problem?

What is it that we're obviously resisting ?

C H A N G E

WHY IS CHANGE SO SCARY?

The UNTRAINED mind believes that
unknown things cause pain . . .

Beliefs
are ideas previously accepted into the mind and reinforced over time.

They are automatic behavior patterns that do not question what the mind has accepted as real.

Overcoming resistance is the beginning of overcoming the fear of continued pain and suffering.

The IRONY is you can't overcome resistance by RESISTING IT...
(any more than a nation can achieve peace by going to war.)

SO...

The mind doesn't care whether or not something is
real or not real...

ALL IT REALLY CARES ABOUT
IS

AVOIDING PAIN

SEEKING PLEASURE.

The logic is pretty clear and simple, isn't it?

CAN LOGIC MOTIVATE A PERSON INTO ACTION?

WHETHER OR NOT a person decides to change his or her mind usually depends on either one of those two big motivators (avoiding pain or seeking pleasure)... and how BELIEFS determine future thinking and behavior.

Let's take a CLOSER LOOK at FOUR BIG IDEAS...
and how the mind tends to operate.

IDEA #1: The mind is like a computer
When you "boot-up" your computer, a lot of unseen things take place as it electronically comes to life. Without a "DOS" or "disc operating system," however, your computer would be of little use to you. So when you push the button to turn on your computer, a series of repeating programs work invisibly to allow you to launch various programs, write stuff, go on the Internet, and maybe do some work. In order to do work on your computer, you launch and do work in a software application, but the DOS is working invisibly underneath, making it possible to proceed with work.

MEANING: The DOS of your mind = Your beliefs

YOU'RE NOT AWARE OF THE DOS any more than you are aware of the LENS OF YOUR EYES through which you see the world or do work on your computer. The DOS of your mind consists of REPEATING THOUGHT PATTERNS, or BELIEFS, that enable you to go about your daily existence based on two powerful motivators:

FEAR (the avoidance of pain), and DESIRE (the attraction to pleasure).

IDEA #2: Beliefs have as much power as we give them

The relative power inherent in a belief can depend on how many generations a belief has been reinforced WITHOUT QUESTIONING IT. These unconscious memory-loops TAKE ON ADDITIONAL POWER when "handed down" to successive generations because they are given as "the way it's always been," although times change.

MEANING: Would you rather be right...or be happy?

Just because "we've always done it that way," is hardly a good excuse for continuing insane behavior. For example, two groups of people may have had a bitter disagreement over why they didn't share the same religious beliefs (you know where this is going, right?). Years after the fighting started with fists and sticks and stone-throwing, the groups are still at it. Only now they have The Bomb and the same anger that escalated from fist-fighting has taken on deadly meaning for the entire world -- all in the name of "God." If it comes down to and "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," without forgiveness we would soon be a world filled with one-eye people with no teeth.

IDEA #3: The mind is like a programmable robot bodyguard

The programs that the robot bodyguard uses are the beliefs it treats as TRUE and necessary to survival.

MEANING: Who's running the show -- you or the robot?

The mind either is repelled away from something (fear) or is driven toward something (desire). Once accepted into the mind, a belief is not usually QUESTIONED, but rather REINFORCED or REFINED based on repeated trial-and-error experiments to give real-time feedback regarding the original validity of the belief. The more a mind believes something to be true, the more forcefully it will defend that belief, treating it as though it were REAL -- although the idea may not have anything to do with reality (and therefore is a "false" belief).

IDEA #4: Everything is up to you, the director

The mind can be changed only if the DIRECTOR of the mind QUESTIONS the belief and ultimately decides to stop giving energy away to it (like discovering the truth about black cats and bad luck).

MEANING: If not me, who? If not now, when?

A belief with no power has no effect. As soon as you, the director, stop giving power away to a false belief, that belief will fade and disappear as though it never existed except in memory.

SO, WHAT IS A GOOD DEFINITION OF REALITY?

The Course gives us a hint:

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.

FOLLOW THE LOGIC:

A PERSON WHO CANNOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WHAT'S REAL AND NOT REAL

WILL SUFFER UNNECESSARY PAIN FROM CONFLICTING DESIRES AND GOALS.

CONFLICT IS BEING OUT OF BALANCE WITH ONE'S SELF.

BEING OUT-OF-BALANCE CALLS FOR CORRECTION.

ANOTHER WORD FOR CORRECTION IS CURE.

TO CURE IS TO HEAL.

Therefore, healing is both needed and called-for when a person believes illusions are real.

What does HEALING really mean?

TO HEAL MEANS "TO MAKE WHOLE."

TO MAKE WHOLE MEANS "TO RE-MEMBER"

TO RE-MEMBER MEANS "TO GATHER TOGETHER"

( LIKE FRAGMENTED PIECES OF A PUZZLE )

TO GATHER TOGETHER MEANS TO PUT BACK TOGETHER

( AND EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A PUZZLE IS NOT COMPLETE IF ANY OF THE

PUZZLE PIECES ARE LEFT OUT OR MISSING )

LEARNING HOW TO SOLVE LIFE'S ILLUSORY PUZZLE MAY REQUIRE HELP.

LEARNING CAN BE FACILITATED THROUGH

THERAPY... (healing)
of the

PSYCHE... (the mind)

Either

FORMALLY

(together with a psychotherapist)

or
INFORMALLY

(by teaching yourself -- such as with A Course in Miracles)

RESISTING letting go of what's known and familiar is an understandable cause of pain. Have you ever noticed how toddlers will cry when mommy disappears momentarily around the corner of a grocery aisle? (And, perhaps more interestingly, did you also notice how the child's cries got the attention of all mothers in the vicinity? )

Confusion in life isn't limited to children alone!
Even grown adults can pitch a fit if they believe
someone is not fulfilling the role they allotted them.

HEY! Wait a minute...
What have I signed up for anyway?

YOU MEAN I'M SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY

LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT BEING HUMAN

WHILE I'M ALIVE IN THIS LIFETIME?

THINK ABOUT IT:

ISN'T LIFE really a form of school...?

The lessons we fail to learn now are merely presented again later.

So, why not decide to learn whatever it is that life keeps presenting us as a repeating lesson?

THREE GOOD QUESTIONS:

1. DOES IT REALLY MATTER HOW we learn a lesson that helps us let go of useless beliefs and negative thoughts?

Of course not!

2. DOES IT MATTER WHERE THE TRAINING COMES FROM so long as we remain in control of the training process?

NOT ONE BIT!

3. IS ANGER AN APPROPRIATE EMOTION to use as a way of kick-starting us into action?

Anger is merely a sign that you have identified with an illusion!

Don't give in to anger...
Be cool.

WHY?
ANGER REVEALS YOU ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

In truth, anger is nothing more than a veiled attack...

The untrained mind believes it is always under attack.
HERE'S THE BEAUTY OF THE LOGIC:
A mind that thinks it is under attack will automatically defend itself.
Attack and defense comprise the "vicious cycle" of fear.

SO, WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? (Really!)

WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS HAPPENED TO US???

The most worthwhile questions
a person can ask are:

"Who Am I?"

and

"What Am I Doing Here?"

That should stop your mind for just a moment...
(but then, watch your "puppy mind" get quickly distracted again)

"Where's that remote control?"

"I need a pint of Ben & Jerry's."

"I wonder what's on at the movies?"

"What's for dinner?"

SO, WHY DOES THE MIND GET SO EASILY DISTRACTED???

SIMPLE: IT ONLY KNOWS THE PAIN OF THE PAST

AND THE FEAR OF MORE PAIN IN THE FUTURE.

Even though a person may DESIRE to have life improve,
the mind can be exceptionally sneaky in coming up with
"good excuses" for avoiding a plan of action!

This is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of

THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG.

SO...

WHERE DO WE START?

THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY:
If your toilet is overflowing, do you call the realtor to sell your house...
or do you just call a plumber?

THE SMARTEST DECISION YOU CAN MAKE IS TO DECIDE TO BE THE
DIRECTOR
OF YOUR OWN MIND...

This discovery is no different from realizing that what you once thought was the steering wheel of your car was really the rear view mirror.

And all those accidents you had in which others were blamed?

NOW would be a good time to begin accepting

full responsibility for your actions.

THE CATERPILLARS OF CHILDHOOD
ALL GO THROUGH A METAMORPHOSIS...
BUT WHAT CATERPILLAR IN ITS RIGHT MIND WOULD DELAY
BECOMING THE BUTTERFLY IT IS MEANT TO BE?

What is your GOAL as a butterfly?

To agonize over the loss of your identity as a caterpillar?

The only goal worth having is
LETTING THE PAST GO

THE VERY FIRST THING YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR
PESSIMISTIC MIND

( GET IT TRAINED )

TRAINING YOUR MIND IS LIKE TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR CLEANING THE "FILTERS" ON YOUR CAR -- THEY DON'T JUST CLEAN THEMSELVES.

THEREFORE YOU, AS THE OWNER/DRIVER, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING IT DONE, EVEN IF YOU WIND UP PAYING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU. IF YOU DON'T DO IT, YOU'LL SUFFER POOR PERFORMANCE AND POSSIBLE ENGINE DAMAGE.

HOW YOU PUT YOUR TRAINING PLAN INTO ACTION
IS BY FIRST SETTING A GOAL.

THE GOAL for any plan belongs at the BEGINNING,
because it is THE BEGINNING that will determine THE OUTCOME.

Logically, any PLAN to train the mind in learning how to escape from fear must involve
REJECTING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
AND
ACCEPTING POSITIVE THOUGHTS

OBVIOUSLY, THIS MUST BE DONE
REPEATEDLY...
UNTIL THE MIND IS RE-TRAINED
AND YOU ARE TRULY ITS DIRECTOR.

OTHERWISE,
IT WILL CONTINUE TO DIRECT YOU...
LIKE THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG.

REPEAT THE FOLLOWING QUOTE TO YOURSELF ... QUIETLY ... AND SEE HOW IT FEELS TO YOU:

"There is nothing outside me
that can cause pain and suffering . . .
unless ... I give it the power to do so."

When you've got nowhere else to turn...

When you've hit rock bottom...
a place that is so dark you can see no light outside...

It is then that you become aware of a light
i l l u m i n a t i n g
your mind from within.

Once upon a time...

...your mind was brilliantly wide open to the light and you absorbed everything with an open heart and playful mind...just like a puppy.

And you adapted to life as your body sent you signals ... occasionally painful ones... that caused you to become SUSPICIOUS of the world around you as your body grew and you learned to walk and talk and got diaper rash, teething pains, cholic, ear aches, tummy aches, bug bites, scratched knees, and hot stoves.

Later, your parents, teachers, and friends warned you to be cautious of OTHERS...

and you believed them

even as you suspected they gossiped about you, too...

GUESS WHAT?

GOSSIP KILLS RELATIONSHIP...

After all, who is THE OTHER...???

In truth, aren't you an "other" to someone else ... who looks suspiciously on you as someone they're unfamiliar with? (Do you look particularly dangerous today?)

An oversimplified example of "corrected thinking"

When you were a kid, did you ever believe the superstition that black cats meant "bad luck"? Do you remember feeling funny if you saw a black cat and wondered if something bad was going to happen to you? Do you remember how you felt when you finally realized this was just a lie? And all your friends figured it out at the same time as you?

Read more about this phenomenon
in THE HUNDREDTH MONKEY
(Amazon.com)

Although oversimplified, the lesson is still clear: The moment a person accepts responsibility for incorrect thinking, they are free to make a better choice...thus freeing their future from further pain and suffering.

Another Silly Belief...

Who says an old dog
can't learn new tricks?

(Even with black cats!)

What's Next???

Look below... OR... CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE COURSE

We like to invent M O N S T E R Sto justify our attacks on what we're afraid of -- what is unknown to us.