What we make of those difficulties makes the real difference in our lives.
Most of us walk around oblivious to what makes us function as we do, oblivious to what creates our life experience, oblivious to what makes people change, oblivious to what makes people live in well being and with peace of mind. Oblivion is no longer necessary. It is never too late to live with this new understanding for the rest of our lives.
I realized if we deeply understood three spiritual facts or principles, how these facts work together and how our use of them gives us every experience we can possibly have in life, with this perspective we can move through life with peace of mind, well-being, mental health and psychological freedom. These three principles are revealed throughout the book. The question becomes, what do we need to know about these three principles and how they work together to help us most in our lives? To that end it occurred to me that The Three Principles point to ten little (but huge) points about life and relationships that would be extremely helpful for people to understand. I don’t expect these ten points to mean much as simple statements. Each takes exploration and reflection. Thus, a full chapter is devoted to each:
I. Our thinking is our life
II. Wisdom is always available to guide us, if we know how to access it
III. If someone’s thinking doesn’t change, they can’t change
IV. When our mind clears our wisdom appears
V. We don’t have to think our way out of our problems (or to happiness)
VI. The feeling is what counts, and it’s foolproof
VII. What we see is what we get
VIII. In low levels of consciousness it is unwise to believe, trust or follow our thinking
IX. To deeply listen to others instead of to our own thinking gives us a richer experience
X. We’re only as stuck as we think we are
To deeply understand the meaning of these statements is to live in a different world, an inside-out world. You may never see yourself or the world in the same way again.
People have within them something so powerful. It is the power to change, to monumental degrees. People are walking potential to change at any moment. They can change their minds, change their thoughts. People have the power to have truly clear minds, and from that clarity to have insights they never before dreamed, insights so powerful the world never looks the same; their lives never look the same. Our innate Health and its natural intelligence is always hidden within us, just waiting to rise to the surface. All we have to do is allow what we think we know to drop away, or no longer take it seriously, and this wisdom will speak to us. It is so close to us that we have forgotten it is there—like the air we take for granted—yet it holds the key that unlocks the potential in everyone. For everyone there is hope out of the destructiveness, out of the depression, the anger, the fear, the insecurity—out of every conceivable emotion and resulting behavior. To access it all we have to do is allow it to come through by recognizing its power in our lives and trusting it.
Thousands of people have now gained this new understanding and have seen their lives improve, many dramatically.
You could be next.
The only requirement is an open mind.
Wait! Before you start. I know many of you live with feelings you’d rather not have. I used to too. We live with worry, with stress, with frustration, with anger, bother, anxiety, sadness, depression, jealousy, guilt, with minds too busy, with addiction, and on and on. None of this is necessary. These feelings do not have to rule us. The secret is to understand where these feelings come from, and I don’t mean from past events. I mean understanding how all feelings are created within us. I also know from experience you will be able to see this best if we ease into it gradually. Why? Because the information itself means nothing; only your own insights about it make any difference. The mind has to be prepared to take in the new. Don’t worry about not seeing it right away; by the end of the book it will have crept up on you and will make complete sense. Then you can read the book again and see even more the next time. We begin with the story of Lisa…
Lisa had never climbed a mountain. She wanted to but was a heavy smoker and afraid she’d never make it. She feared not having the wind or stamina. Over her 39 years others had asked her to go hiking with them. She refused. She was filled with trepidation, and not only about mountains.
As a baby Lisa was abandoned. At 39 she still had never met her real mother. She was brought up by a stepmother, whom Lisa believed hated her. When she was a child her uncle, whom she loved and trusted, sexually abused her. Through such experiences Lisa picked up habits of thinking that at the time helped her survive but as the years went by proved less and less helpful. For twelve years she needed depression medication to get her through the day. She became involved in a series of misguided relationships, at least one physically abusive. She felt stuck. Many things in her life seemed like mountains.
Lisa attended a Three Principles-based course called Health Realization* that I taught at the New England School of Addiction Studies. In the class she heard something that touched her deeply. On her way home she realized she actually saw the colors of the trees for the first time. In awe she stood and cried at the beauty. Sporadically over the next few years she counseled with me and attended a longterm professional Health Realization training. She began to see the only thing keeping her stuck was her own thinking.
Through this training Lisa came to realize that she used her thinking in ways that inhibited her, that kept her in fear and longing for a better life. She realized the only thing in her way was how she used her power of Thought, and her thoughts could change. With this realization Lisa’s life improved dramatically. For the first time she began to experience well-being. She no longer felt the need for depression medication. Her psychiatrically diagnosed “seasonal affective disorder” no longer had the same grip on her. She volunteered to teach what she’d learned to correctional center inmates and began to affect their lives.
Because Lisa’s life had changed so, I asked her to co-teach the next Three Principles course with me at the New England School, held that year in southern New Hampshire. During the mid-week afternoon break, for my 56th birthday, I decided to hike Mount Monadnock. I hadn’t hiked it since I was a kid. I asked Lisa if she wanted to join me.
“I want to,” she said, “but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it.”
“Lisa,” I said, “this is the most climbed mountain in the world. People in far worse shape than you have climbed it.”
With all Lisa’s other insights about her life she was stuck on the mountain. Why could other people climb mountains and not her? What made her so different?
With mixed trepidation and excitement she decided to try. “If I can do this,” she thought, “it would be a huge accomplishment.”
So off we went. Lisa spent the entire first part of the climb, which was more like a gentle walk through some pretty woods, grumbling about how unpleasant it was. She wanted to stop and have a cigarette.
“Is this wise?” I asked.
She
