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by Thaddeus Golas, 1972
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CHAPTER ONEWho Are We?We are equal beings and the universe is our
relations with each other. The universe is made of one kind of entity: each
one is alive, each determines the course of his own existence. That is really all you need to know to understand this book or write
your own. Everything I say has its roots in that first paragraph, and it is
possible to resolve any question by going back to it and thinking it through
for yourself. The universe is made of one kind of whatever-it-is, which cannot be
defined. For our purpose, it isn't necessary to try to define it. All we need
to do is assume that there is only one kind of whatever-it-is, and see
if it leads to a reasonable explanation for the world as we know it. The basic function of each being is expanding and contracting.
Expanded beings are permeative; contracted beings are dense and impermeative.
Therefore each of us, alone or in combination, may appear as space, energy,
or mass, depending on the ratio of expansion to contraction chosen, and what
kind of vibrations each of us expresses by alternating expansion and
contraction. Each being controls his own vibrations. A completely expanded being is space. Since expansion is permeative,
we can be in the "same space" with one or more other expanded
beings. In fact, it is possible for all the entities in the universe to be
one space. We experience expansion as awareness, comprehension, understanding,
or whatever we wish to call it. When we are completely expanded, we have a
feeling of total awareness, of being one with all life. At that level we have
no resistance to any vibrations or interactions of other beings. It is
timeless bliss, with unlimited choice of consciousness, perception, and
feeling. Space is a level of experience that any of us can reach, but it is
difficult to talk about on our present plane precisely because it is
unlimited. It is that which chooses limits and makes definitions. We might
say: all experiences are available to the One Mind, and the One Mind is all
of us or any of us at the highest level of expansion. Or we might theorize:
God could not create anything more limited than Himself that would persist,
but if He duplicates Himself, He can enjoy a persistent universe. Each
entity, therefore, is a duplicate of God, "made in His image." It doesn't matter what words we use: we exist and the universe
exists, and it is possible to test this expansion-contraction idea within the
limited scope of what is real to us as human beings, especially in atomic and
sub-atomic studies. When a being is totally contracted, he is a mass particle, completely
imploded. To the degree that he is contracted, a being is unable to be in the
same space with others, so contraction is felt as fear, pain,
unconsciousness, ignorance, hatred, evil, and a whole host of strange
feelings. At an extreme he has the feeling of being completely insane, of
resisting everyone and everything, of being unable to choose the content of
his consciousness. Of course, these are just the feelings appropriate to mass
vibration levels, and he can get out of them at any time by expanding, by
letting go of all resistance to what he thinks, sees, or feels. When a being is alternating expansion and contraction, he is energy.
My guess is that at the middle point, fifty percent expansion and fifty
percent contraction, a being would be logical, non-subjective, egoless, and
predictable. This may be the "zero" which is one side of energy
equations in physics, as well as the "ego-death" we go through in
expanding to higher levels of awareness. It is important to note that energy is not a quantity of anything
"objective." Energy, like space and matter, is what a lot of live
beings are doing. Energy beings usually react to their neighbors in a way
that is often predictable and apparently automatic, like falling dominoes.
While relating to space beings, energy beings will appear to be high,
vibrating rapidly, with a sense of increasing subjective freedom. Oriented to
mass beings, they will be low energy, vibrating more slowly with a growing
feeling of subjective compulsion and disorder. The universe is an infinite harmony of vibrating beings in an
elaborate range of expansion-contraction ratios, frequency modulations, and
so forth. There is a particular set of feelings and ideas that goes with every
variation, every combination, every vibration level. There is also a
different perception of how other beings are relating from every different
view-point. The thought of these possibilities is so staggering, trying to
contain them in writing is so ridiculous, that it is hard for me to move my
pen any further. However, what we are after is to isolate some basic
attitudes that will recover awareness of our freedom to move around in this
maze—or go straight to the top. What we need to remember is that there is nobody here but us
chickens. The entire universe is made of beings just like ourselves. Every
particle in every atom is a live being. Every molecule or cell is a tribe of
beings. Energy is a large number of us vibrating together. Space is an infinite
number of our brothers and sisters in perfect bliss. There is no important difference between live and dead matter, since
both are made up of live entities. Not only is mass convertible into energy,
but energy is convertible into space, and vice versa. It is our own
withdrawal from awareness, our own mass condition that makes us see our
brothers and sisters as objective matter, energy, and space. We always have
the experiences and perceptions appropriate to our vibration level. The same rules apply to all of us. The rules do not come from
anywhere outside ourselves. They come from the truth that we are all equal,
we all have the same range of possible behavior and experience. We are free
to do anything we want to do, within the necessary laws of our relations as
equal beings. And love must be the first law. Love is the action of
being in the same space with other beings, which means that love is real, as
real as we are. Love is not a limited idea, it is something we do, ultimately
with our whole selves. Perhaps many of us do not like it where we are in the universe now,
but we can all be certain that we got where we are by our own decisions to
expand in love or withdraw from it. The kind of brain and body you have, the family and society, the time
in history you were born into, all these and more were determined by you
yourself, by your degree of expansion, by your willingness to love. No one
did anything to you. No one forced you. There is absolute justice in the
experience that each of us is having every second of the day. In one sense we
can all relax, because nothing is secret, nothing is lost, nothing is
forgotten, no one is abandoned. Each of us is the same kind of being, capable of outflowing attention
and awareness, or withdrawing it. And that is all we need to do: Give full,
permissive, loving attention to absolutely anything that we see in our minds,
in our bodies, in our environment, in other people. Expansion in love is an action that is available to every being in
the universe all the time. A willing awareness will take us to heaven, a
loving attitude will make us free. Nothing else controls our fate. Good or
bad behavior is secondary. Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing
it. Whatever you are thinking, love yourself for thinking it. Love is the
only dimension that needs to be changed. If you are not sure how it feels to
be loving, love yourself for not being sure of how it feels. There is nothing
on earth more important than the love which conscious beings feel towards
each other, whether or not it is ever expressed. There is no point in worry or wonder about worse or better spiritual
conditions, although that game is available. You will not be able to rise
above your present vibration level to stay until you love the way you are
now. No matter what your spiritual condition is, no matter where you find
yourself in the universe, your choice is always the same: to expand your
awareness or contract it. And you have to start where you are. There is
nothing wrong with being where you are—it's one of the infinite experiences
available to us. What you are, I can be. What I am, you can be. Whatever we have done in withdrawing from full consciousness of the
One Mind, we are doing now. Whatever we are doing will always be within us to
do, even when we are not doing it, and therefore is not to be resisted, but
transcended. These are reminders I frequently use: "That's always
within me." "This, too, can be known with a fully expanded
awareness." We can trust the flow of the universe. If these rules of love are
true, then they are effective whether we agree with them or not, whether we
are conscious of them or not, whether or not we use words to talk about them.
The reality of love is something you do for yourself, with or without words,
and judge the results from your own experiences. All information like this
exists in space all the time, and doesn't need books for its reality. It's
always within you. It follows that I am not writing this book out of any sense of
objection to what anyone believes now. Beyond all reason is the mystery of
love: you know we are all equal, no one in truth needs any help from anyone
else, no one needs to be told anything or given anything—and then you do the
most compassionate act anyway, do the best for your brothers and sisters that
you have in you. I'm relaying what was given to me when I felt I needed it:
if I felt that way, maybe someone else does, too. This is a letter to my
brothers and sisters, a love note to try to show how, when we thought love
wasn't working, it was working perfectly. It's an interesting mental exercise to turn the whole game upside
down: the problem is not how to free yourself from the mass level, how to get
enlightened. The real question is: if you are a completely free and
self-determined being, how did you lock yourself into a body to play games on
the material plane? How did you get yourself and others to agree to this
game? How did you get it to be compulsive? Several times when I've spaced out, I flashed: Well, if it's that
easy to get out, I might as well go back and play the game. Maybe that's the
ultimate temptation. And maybe no one really wants to know how easy it is,
nobody wants to upset the game. We may all be playing let's pretend,
hide-and-seek. Physical reality is one of the biggest horror movies of all, and you
know how we love horror movies. If the universe as we see it from our
vibration level is illusory, only partially true, then that's all the more
reason for enjoying it and loving it, instead of getting freaked by it. Everything that happens on earth can be experienced on any of
thousands of different vibration levels, from the most euphoric to the
gloomiest. We are entirely free to emphasize any level we wish. We need
change nothing but our own attention and love, our own expansion and love. Since the universe is nothing but live beings, each controlling his
own level and his own relationships, there is absolutely nothing in the
universe that needs to be corrected in any way. We don't have to do anything
about it, whatever it is. There is consciousness everywhere in the universe,
and we can trust all beings to handle their own decisions. No matter how it
looks to us, love never loses control: the laws of our relations are as
honest and exact as the laws of physics. I can't say I know at this moment what all these laws are. But on
some level everybody knows that we are all getting exactly what we deserve. The harmony is infinite
and one and divine. Where do you figure you fit into it? Don't be too hard on
yourself. A little bit of love goes a long way. [ Contents | Next Chapter ] home
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