A Saturday Class

June 29, 1996

To get out of prison, you need perspective.

Corky: Quantity. What's quantity? I'm going to ask a lot of questions tonight. Anybody tell me about quantity? Who's got a definition of "quantity," or a feeling about quantity?

Lenny: An amount.

Donna: Volume.

Gracey: A gross.

Corky: Everybody... I don't know if all of you participated, but most of you who are here have. I'm talking about people who go buy and take food for the needy. There's a quantity that's involved there. Have you been observing it, Al? What would you say about the quantity and the people?

Al G.: I'd say that they take what they need. They don't take all of it, they take a certain amount. They take a quantity.

Corky: What would you say about the people that need it the most, how much do they take?

Al G.: They probably take the least, actually.

Corky: Isn't that weird? The people that need the food the most, take the least. And the people that need it the least, take the most. Quantity is really interesting. There are a lot of scriptures and stuff that have been written over the ages, and everybody deals with those scriptures in a different way; they talk about them, they justify them, they preach about them, they establish their religions, their way of life on them, and they seem to be important to some people, and they seem to be irrelevant to some people. And one of them has to do with quantity. Does anybody know what that scripture is about? All the religions talk about it.

Gracey: There are lots of them that talk about it.

Corky: Uh huh.

Dale: Well, they refer to specific numbers sometimes. The hundred and forty-four thousand, and the forty years, which isn't necessarily forty years, it's representative of a time that we don't understand. We take it more literal than they meant it. But there are specific numbers that way.

Corky: What about the difference between a rich man and a poor man. Does quantity have any relationship there? Shad, what's a rich man?

Shad: Well, there's the monetary, having lots of dollars and cents.

Corky: Lots of dollars, not a lot of sense. Ha! A lot of cents to... cents to make the dollars, right? What would someone define as a rich man? Jo, what would you say a rich man would be?

Jo: Well, personally for me, a rich man is someone who is very content in his life. It has nothing to do with material wealth.

Corky: What does a rich man gather wealth for? What's the purpose underneath, what are they trying to find?

Jo: Security, status, a place in society.

Corky: Contentment?

Jo: Well, I see rich people, materially rich people, who aren't content.

Corky: They believe that by having those material things that...

Jo: Well they believe that, yeah, but the search never ends.

Corky: But that's what they believe?

Jo: Yeah. They believe that it's going to bring them happiness, but if it did, they would at some point say this is enough, and this feels good, but it's a never ending quest for more.

Corky: Does anybody know what a quest is?

Dan: Striving to achieve a certain goal or object.

Corky: Isn't it that thing that goes on in your mind that makes you get up and dance, and says that you've got to go do something? To get something?

Lenny: Try to get stoned, gotta go to work.

Corky: It's like Dan there. Dan gets a quest on to go find a girl and do something to her.

Lenny: Play crazy eights with her, huh?

Dan: Uh, ok, yeah. Alright, I know who you're talking about now.

Corky: You know what I'm talking about?

Dan: Oh yeah.

Corky: It's ok to talk about that?

Dan: Yeah, that's fine.

Corky: Ok.

Lenny: A quest.

Corky: You have quests? Tell me about one of your quests, Lenny.

Lenny: Try to achieve little things, tasks in my life. Make something happen, not trying to consume a lot of money.

Corky: Does it bring non-satisfaction?

Lenny: Well it depends, most of the time it doesn't.

Corky: But isn't it sort of like eating? As soon as it happens, you're sort of fulfilled. Temporarily. For a short time, and then you get hungry again for it. Do you ever get hungry, Dan?

Dan: Uh huh.

Corky: For your quest?

Dan: Yeah.

Corky: How often? Daily?

Dan: Uh huh.

Corky: That's ok. Nothing wrong with any of these quests or missions or whatever they happen to be. But there is something about them. It's sort of like eating. It's a continual thing. It's a momentary thing. It's really good that you guys are reading the Rajneesh book. Rajneesh talks about all of these things in there. All the things we talk about in Summum. And he talks about them in a beautiful way, so that a lot of people can understand them. And that's what life is; it is a quest. Isn't it? It's sort of a quest to achieve something, or to do something, or to experience something.

That's what life is all about. It's a quest to become a seed, to become a plant, to become a bush, to become a flower, and start all over again. Do the same thing over again. And that's what life is, and that's what life is supposed to be, and that's what the creation is, and so there could be nothing wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's ok to be doing all those things. The only thing is, there's an advantage sometimes, and all of you have experienced the advantage in one way or another. The advantage sometimes is going into a room, and speaking the same language as everybody else that's there. Has anybody ever been in a room where you have not understood the language being spoken? What does it feel like?

Lenny: It feels kind of shaky. It doesn't feel comfortable.

Gracey: It's like, are they saying something about me?

Dan: Paranoia.

Gracey: It's a paranoia.

Corky: It brings a paranoia or a fear, and that brings us back to the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer says, "thou shall walk through the valley of death without any fear." And that was sort of a concept that you could reach a state of consciousness where there's no fear in your life, where you can go through these quests without fear. You can go through these quests without apprehension. You can go through these lifetimes and these experiences in a state of consciousness that allows you to speak the language that they have. But most people are in the storm of them, in the anxiety of them, in the fear of them, in the lack of security of them. Because their attention is so involved in them that they don't stand back a little bit from them, and see them for what they are, because they have no perspective on them. They haven't transcended them. They are on the level of them, and they haven't transcended them.

Back in the 70's, we had a little chart where we drew a line, and you transcended, and you could get a better perspective. Story has not changed, has it? Same story from back in the 70's. You get a better perspective of what they are, and they give you an eternal view, a larger view, they call it a cosmic view. And everybody talks about it. All the great masters, Buddha, Christ, Rajneesh, Mohammad, Krishnamurti, all of them talk about it in one way or another. And everyone is on a path for this eternalness. And everyone drops into experiences or a flowering or a quest of spirituality, to give themselves perspective. All religions give themselves perspective of one sort or another. They let you stand back from life, and give you a larger picture of the whole. But all those religions and philosophies say that the rich man can't enter the domain of God, or go to heaven. Or that you can't serve God and mammon too. Rajneesh says that you can't ride two horses at the same time.

[There is a knock on the door] Hmm... that's Edith. Let's take a quick break, and let Edith in.

We need to give Edith a nice glass of nectar here. Why don't you drink half of that for starters, Edith, and it will mellow you right out.

Ok, let's get right back to where we were. We sort of approached the topic of... what did Christ say about those rich guys going to heaven?

Jo: It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven.

Corky: And they sort of mellowed that story out a little bit. He said they aren't going. The reason being, is because of the teachings of what Christ was all about. He said that you can't serve two masters. God and mammon. You can't do both. The reason being, you can't be so involved here in your quest, and have perspective. You have to transcend a little bit in your quest. Doesn't mean you can't do your quest, but you have to transcend your quest a little bit to get perspective of it. Hasn't anybody ever heard that you have to stand back a little bit, and look at it?

Dale: You gotta look at the forest for the trees.

Corky: Right, exactly. These things are all so simple. It's so simple. It's so simple that it's just really ridiculous that nobody gets this. You gotta transcend a little bit, you've got to get involved in chapter 17 of the Summum book. It's all in chapter 17. It is back in the lecture on 2300 East and 4500 South back in 1975.

[Reading from the Summum Book] "The Components of Summum Meditation... "

Anyway, the books are really an excuse to avoid the issue. They're a lot of words, you can get involved, and you can read them, and you don't have to do anything about it. It's fun, you know, you can read the book, sounds good and everything, and then you go home, and do what you were regularly doing. And the only reason I'm talking about this tonight is not for you guys, it's for the tape, so that somebody can see this in the future, and listen to it. Because I'm really worried about you guys doing anything about it.

Su: We're hopeless now, we're beyond help. Haha!

Corky: Yeah. No, I'm not saying that.

Dale: Corky, don't you think that the rich man, his wealth can be in his knowledge and his happiness and things like that?

Corky: That's exactly where it is, it's within the self, it is within his perspective. He is rich in perspective, he's rich in seeing the forest, he is rich in consciousness. Not necessarily knowledge, because knowledge always changes. It is like the medicine they taught in the 1800's, would you practice that medicine they taught in the 1800's?

Dale: I just am amazed that they could keep any of them alive.

Corky: I mean, they used to give them mercury as a laxative! And the medicine that they practice in the 1900's, in the 2000's, they'll say, "I'm amazed anybody lived." And so knowledge changes, it's not in the knowledge, it's in the consciousness, it's in the perspective of the eternal. And so these movies, or the stages of life that you guys all get involved in, and play, are wonderful. And you should be in them, because that's what creation is. There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. I'm not saying that you are bad. I'm not saying that you're doing anything wrong. Everything is perfect with you. The only thing is that I'm trying to offer a gift. A gift of perspective, where you can stand back, and look at it a little bit. And the perspective gives you the wealth of the other horse, of the eternal, of god, of creation. Versus the thing that continues to bring back the hunger, Dan. You wake up every morning hungry?

It is a permanent ecstasy. It's something that always will be with you. It is not in the disposable, this consciousness. It's not in the things that pass away. It's the thing that lasts forever. But there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. It's ok where you're at, it's ok to do those things, but it's a lot more permanent and eternal if you do those same things, and view it from perspective. Because everyone has so many incarnations until they get it. Everyone goes to so many of these classes, or someone's classes, wherever they be or whatever, or someone's religion or whatever, until they get the perspective. And it's my job, I signed up for the job to try to give a gift of perspective. And it has nothing to do with you. Who you really think you are, the one you think you really are, is the one that chapter 17 says is going away.

I didn't say this, Christ said this, I think, or somebody told this to Christ, or someone told it to Buddha. One of those evolved beings which you will be some day. You know how you tell it to your kids, or you tell it to your neighbors or whatever, and then it's sort of like a ladder; there's the scale, and everyone who's discovered it tries to pass the information on to someone else if they're willing to listen.

"When you lose yourself you find yourself. This is the paradox of the whole matter. This goal of finding your spirit seems very elusive when you do not know what you will find. Although, those disciples in search of the answer to what Creation is will automatically be guided to this vehicle of meditation. A complete, ideal meditation must include TOTAL devotion, trust, surrender, and Love for a Master more spiritually evolved than your self that you are going to lose." You're going to lose this self.

Rajneesh is pretty brutal in his book where he says the thing that is going to go away is you. How could anybody read that and feel comfortable? They're going to do away with you, Edith.

Edith: Um, I'm ready.

Corky: You're ready? You're prepared?

Edith: I stopped liking who I am.

Corky: Right, and they're going to replace it with God, or the eternal perspective? All the beliefs, all the memories, all the things that you think you are, gonna be replaced.

Lenny: No matter how long it takes, huh?

Corky: It's sort of like Bob. You know how Bob bunkered in? You saw how Bob bunkered in didn't you?

Al G.: Yeah.

Corky: What was Bob bunkering in for?

Al G.: I guess basically for a free ride.

Corky: No, to preserve himself. Wasn't he? He was protecting himself, wasn't he?

Al G.: Oh! Yeah. In that sense, ok.

Corky: What was after him? Something was after him, right? Something was threatening Bob, right?

Al G.: He felt that way.

Lenny: Life.

Corky: Life, experience, the quest threatened Bob? He bunkered in? Put the couches up against the door. Put all the furniture so no one could get in. So the perspective couldn't get in. So Bob wouldn't go away. What do you think about that, Jo?

Jo: He must have had a lot of fear.

Corky: A lot of fear. Hmmm. I mean, it could sneak up on you tomorrow. Just think, Lenny, just think that those machines could all get stolen.

Lenny: Yeah, that's possible.

Corky: And the state of Utah could say that instead of 900 dollars, nine dollars. All the machines are gone, down to nine dollars. How long will nine dollars last you, Su?

Lenny: A long time, huh Su? Ha ha.

Su: Depends on how you spend it.

Al G.: Depends on if she can come down here, and get free food.

Su: That's right!

Lenny: You could fill up your tank, and go to Fred Meyer, and get bread.

Corky: Yeah, but what if someone puts your picture in the paper, and says you're a "Summunite?" And once they find out you're a Summunite, all the parents don't want their students coming to you. And you don't have any students to teach, you don't have a job, and all of a sudden this Joseph Usiepio over at the police department gets on Ron, and gets him fired because of the wrong religion. Ron doesn't have an income. You've got all those payments. All that monthly stuff going out there. Nine dollars. How much is your rent, Lenny?

Lenny: 400, plus luxuries. Heating, telephone...

Corky: Have you seen anyone going up and down the street that doesn't have a telephone? I saw the bag lady today from Anaheim. She came just before the lady that Al saw in the shorts. She had on four coats.

Lenny: The one from Anaheim had on four coats?

Corky: The one that was here today. And the one in Anaheim today that ate worms out of the planter because she didn't have any food. She would go to the gas station, and pull worms out of the planter, and eat them.

Lenny: Oh, I never heard this story. And she ate some bread today, huh?

Corky: No, she came by and opened one little package and took a muffin. That's the one I brought in to you that had one muffin missing, and there were two muffins left.

Al G.: She didn't take the whole package, she just took one muffin out of the package?

Lenny: That's what Bob used to do.

Corky: She had on four coats and one of those ski cap things. Hadn't had a bath in ten years. No teeth. Just think, you could be there tomorrow, Lenny. Now I want you to be real honest with me. Do you ever think about not having any money?

Lenny: Uh-uh. No. I always see myself going to make money.

Corky: Edith? Do you ever see...

Edith: I saw myself many times without money.

Corky: Does it worry you?

Edith: Uh, not anymore.

Corky: Did it worry you?

Edith: It used to.

Corky: Does it bring fear?

Edith: Well, frustration, fear, and irrational reaction.

Corky: Shad?

Shad: Yeah, I've thought about it.

Corky: Same thing? Dan?

Dan: I think about it quite often.

[Corky asks the same question of everyone in the room; Ron, Su, Gracey, Dale, Terry, Jo - everyone answers in the affirmative]

Corky: Anybody ever heard of a prison before?

Lenny: Yeah.

Corky: You've heard of prisons? What are they?

Lenny: It's a place where you don't have access to any facilities, or food, you're just kind of isolated in an eight foot square room.

Corky: You're locked up?

Lenny: Exactly. You might have a roommate in a bunk if you're lucky.

Corky: What do you think about prisons, Shad?

Shad: Very confining.

Corky: Do you have a fear of them?

Shad: Yeah, somewhat.

Corky: How about you, Dan? Al? You don't want to be in one?

Al G.: No. I think, interesting about the term prison, is it comes in a lot of ways. You know, we can be imprisoned by some type of a burden. Like some kind of financial burden or some type of an obligation that we got involved in, and it became burdensome, and that became a prison. So, you know, we can still drive our car, and go about as we do, but we're confined. Something is limiting, we're not totally free, like a bird that has a string tied to its foot.

Corky: Don't you think that society has created a prison?

Al G.: Oh yeah.

Corky: Don't you think that society tells Jo that she has to have a job, and be a prisoner? Don't you think that society has told her about all the things that she has to do? And to be a correct person has made her a prisoner of society?

Al G.: Yeah.

Lenny: And all of us here too.

Corky: You're a prisoner? Edith is a prisoner of her daycare.

Edith: Uh, yeah. I'm trying to get out for the last couple years.

Corky: I thought you were trying to get in to the prison.

Edith: I'm trying to get out. I am next month losing both of the students that are renting from me. And I really said that I'm not renting to any students anymore. And right now I have only one or two children drop in during the summer until September.

Corky: It has your attention, doesn't it, that prison?

Edith: Yeah, this is going to be the time where I'm going to make changes. I'm not going to look for another student, I'm not worrying about other children coming in, I've started writing.

Corky: Yeah, but what about when the power bill comes?

Edith: I think a solution will come before the power bill. I really think so.

Corky: What do you think Jo?

Jo: Well, I think that solutions do come, but you have to make them happen. You can't just sit and wait.

Corky: Now, I don't want you guys to forget that I'm saying that everything that you're doing is ok. I'm just saying there's perspective. Lenny, tell me who's the most important person in the world.

Lenny: Lenny.

Corky: Very honest answer. Dan?

Dan: I definitely have to go with Dan.

Corky: I mean, when you wake up, you've gotta get it satisfied, don't you? Dan's got to get satisfied right? Isn't it interesting that when you're thinking about yourself, you can never be happy? The only time you can really be happy is when you get involved in something, and forget about yourself. When you get lost in something other than Lenny, Shad, or Dan. That's when happiness is there. Because when you're thinking about taking care of you, you are worrying, right? It's the prison, the stress, the hunger; the wish, the want, the desire. It's a hunger, not a happiness. It can't be there, it's a frustration. And so Christ said, who's going away? The neighbor? No, he said you have to lose your self before you can find your self. Rajneesh said, how did he say it?

Lenny: He said you can't ride two horses.

Corky: Right. He said you've got to drop dead before God can come in. And I'm sort of saying that you need, I'll sort of tell you gently, you need to get a little perspective. You need to step out of it, and stand back a little bit, and look at it. Transcend it a little bit, and you do that through meditation. Through practicing meditation. It's not going to happen overnight. Everything is a step at a time, in time. I'm not saying it's not possible to happen overnight; if you've been through the time already, it can happen overnight, but the potential needs to build up there for it to break, and for it to happen. Does anybody know what an Ashram is? Ron? You've been to an ashram before.

Ron: It's like a monastery.

Corky: What is it, describe it to everybody.

Ron: It's a place where the individuals that live there, they just take care of the place, and they live a fairly austere life, and practice meditation or prayer of a particular religious sect, and do their work, and try to focus more of their time on their prayer or meditation than they do on pursuing other things that western societies are chasing.

Edith: I have this friend whom some of you have met. He was in an ashram for eight years, and he was taken in to program their computers to their activities and their meetings, and he said I just did it for two hours a day, and for the rest of the six hours I worked in the garden, I loved that more. And they didn't like it, and he said I didn't like to work eight hours on the computer, so they kicked him out.

Corky: There must have been more to that story. Does anybody know what a monastery is?

Lenny: Is that where you go practice to pray? Ron, what were you saying?

Corky: Does anybody know what a monastery is, has anybody heard of a monastery?

Dale: It's a place, usually confined to men, and it's a religious sect where they do a lot of meditation and a lot of study. And Tibet has monasteries for different purposes. Lobsang Rampa went to become a doctor when he was just five years old. And he was so advanced, and so easily taught, that he became intimate with the Dali Lama, and had lots of wonderful experiences, but he had a very sad and hard life. They made life hard for him.

Corky: Does anybody know what a convent is? Jo?

Jo: It's for women who have become brides of Christ.

Corky: What do they do there?

Jo: They pray and live a life of celibacy and devotion to Christ. Or they venture out as teachers after they learn things there, or as missionaries.

Corky: Does anybody know what a cathedral is? Edith, do you know what a cathedral is?

Edith: Yeah, I went to a catholic school! I just remembered!

Corky: And a cathedral is what?

Edith: And, uh, the nuns would...

Corky: No, a cathedral.

Edith: Oh, yeah. A cathedral. That is a church that has a lot of expensive gold and decorations, and they have the twelve stages of Christ's suffering portrayed on the walls, and it is ornamented with a lot of gold and whatever. It has precious stones.

Corky: Millions and billions of dollars, right?

Edith: Oh and expensive paintings.

Corky: The most beautiful art of the world? Could you compare it to a castle?

Edith: Oh yeah. Some castles are not as elaborate as cathedrals.

Corky: Ok. Does anybody know what a Mormon Temple is?

Dan: Just from the outside.

Corky: Su, describe a Mormon Temple.

Su: Well, it's pretty elaborate inside too.

Corky: Does it have nice carpet? Does it have beautiful paintings? Does it have nice water? Is it clean? Is it immaculate? Is it a castle? It's a castle isn't it? It's a beautiful place to live. Did you know that people live in temples?

Edith: Um, not in Mormon Temples.

Corky: Yeah they do! They live there. They live in the Temple, it's the Temple president. They live right in the Temple.

Jo: I thought they lived in the Hotel Utah.

Corky: No, they live in the Temple in an apartment right inside the temple. There is someone there twenty four hours a day. When I was a missionary, I lived in the Liberty Jail. It was very elegant. It only cost them seventeen million dollars to build. Had solid granite walls as big as this building, all carved in scriptures. One piece of granite as wide as that wall, carved with the doctrine and covenants in the rotunda area. And there were eight walls like that.

Dale: Did you say the liberty jail?

Corky: Liberty Jail in Liberty, Missouri. They built a visitors center there. I lived there.

Dale: Well Joseph was there, he was kept in a very confined...

Corky: Yeah, they surrounded it with this beautiful temple. And Joseph was confined in the old liberty jail, and they have it there, but this huge rotunda is built around it, I lived there. Has anybody ever been inside of a convent, and seen the wealth? Has anybody ever been to the Huntsville monastery? Have you seen the wealth? Five thousand acres. One trillion bees. Ten thousand cows. Twenty eight monks. Has anybody ever been to an ashram? How about a Kibbutz? Anybody ever heard of a Kibbutz? What do they do in Kibbutzes? Jo knows.

Jo: No, I don't.

Corky: You don't know what they do in Kibbutzes? Nobody here knows what they do in Kibbutzes? It's a monastery, except it's both a man and woman monastery and a convent together. It's Jewish. It's a commune. You know, it's a communal thing that's dedicated to a religion. They're very wealthy, communal type things. Anybody ever heard about the United Order? Tell us about it, Dale.

Dale: That's where you're supposed to live all equal. You give everything to the organization and take what you need.

Corky: Did the LDS church have one of those?

Dale: They did, we're living under a lesser law of tithing.

Corky: And when they had a united order, did they say that someday the united order would be restored?

Dale: That's what they say.

Corky: So that was better than what's going on now?

Dale: Yeah.

Corky: Hmm. That's very interesting.

Dale: It didn't work out, the people couldn't live it.

Corky: Why? They were all so greedy?

Dale: They were greedy.

Corky: They were involved in themselves. They couldn't find the other horse. They were involved in mammon. They couldn't dedicate their life to a cause.

"A complete ideal meditation must include a devotion and surrender to something larger than the self which you are going to lose," one of these days or one of these lifetimes. Honest. Guaranteed. "This devotion or this oneness or this surrender can be for the cause Summum or to an incarnate master," or should be, "as a surrender not complete is not a oneness, but just a compromise."

A sort of a compromise came about, and then they lost the united order, didn't they? They compromised it into the bishops' storehouse, then they compromised it a little more, and they sort of dropped right back into the world. The LDS church is very, very, very, very wealthy. But everybody is sort of trying to go out and take care of who?

Lenny: Themselves.

Corky: Who is themselves? Does it start with an L?

Lenny: Yup. Then an e-n-n-y.

Corky: When you look at - we're just trying to develop some consciousness here - when you look at the struggle of taking care of Lenny, is it a struggle?

Lenny: Yeah, it takes a lot of energy every day.

Corky: But when you sort of let go of that, and get lost in a cause, is it fun and happy?

Lenny: No worries.

Corky: It's really interesting how this thing works. You know, when you go to the temple you get a new name. When you become a monk, you get a new name, in the Catholic Church. When you become a Christian, you change your name from Saul to Paul. When you become a Hindu, you change your name. When you become a Buddhist, you change your name. And we have an initiation where you change your name. And what it is, is a getting rid of the old, and taking on a new horse. Or letting go of mammon, and becoming involved in the convent, or the monastery, or the Kibbutz, or the commune. It's all those things. It says that I devote my life to that rather than storing things away in my old name. Don't get stressed, it's all ok what you guys are doing, everything's fine. We're just making this tape for somebody in the future.

To get out of prison, you need perspective. To get perspective, you need to let go of your old self by changing your name.

Dale: Well that's what being born again is about.

Corky: Exactly, you need to be born again with a new name. And it isn't necessarily the name, but it is the placement of the attention, rather than storing stuff in your name. You build a commune, you build a convent. You consecrate it. You build an ashram. You walk through the valley of death without fear. You dedicate your life to the eternal that says it will always provide for you. You let go of who you think you are, and you surrender. But don't worry about doing it. You can go over the waterfall like Rajneesh talks about, and go through the nightmare of it, it's ok to do it that way. That's the hard way. Or you can really let go, and get involved in it, once you hear it, and it touches you, and you know that it's true. And rather than walking away from it, you make a decision within your life to do it totally. A man can not own a home and enter the kingdom of God, because his heart is there.

Lenny: Is that what it says?

Corky: That's what it says.

Lenny: Own a home?

Corky: Own a home. A man cannot own a car and enter the kingdom of God.

Lenny: A car? A material item is the bottom line, right?

Corky: Because that's where your heart is. It's in your personal pleasure to maintain Lenny. But it doesn't say that you can't live in the castle or the cathedral, does it? It doesn't say that you can't live in the Temple. How stupid can you be?! Why not live in the temple? Why not live in the cathedral with all the gold? Why not live in the ashram with the gardens and the flowers and the roses? It's ok what you're doing. Everybody does it, it's fine, there is no problem. Like Rajneesh says, one out of every hundred start listening, and out of ten thousand of those do something, and out of every million of those, something happens. It is ok to justify it all, it's no problem. But sooner or later you guys will get fulfilled with doing it, and you'll decide to get a little perspective. Because you'll see that the happiness is not in the worry of taking care of Lenny. Right?

Lenny: That's how Bob was, right? That's how a lot of these guys are at the churches when we bring all the food.

Corky: That's what Rajneesh says, right? Says the guys that are crazy are lucky. They're over the waterfall. But they're taking the difficult way. There's an easy way to do it, you know: to make a decision to get involved and do it. To make it your life, to make it your existence rather than being forced over the waterfall into it, to see it that way. There's always an easy way to do things and a hard way. You've all experienced that, you know, there's an easy way to do things and a hard way. You argue with it, you struggle with it, and it forces you down until you're bleeding and bruised, and surrender with your face stuck in the mud of the smothering of it. Or you can just let go and do it?

Should we take a little quick break and come back?

[Break]

Corky: Well, I guess everybody had a chance to get back to normal, huh? You know, get back to what is regularly happening. The regular vibe. You know, even though we've been talking about these... I could even make this worse, and we could talk about something that Christ once said. He said that any of you who forsake your family for the kingdom of God's sake will be first in that kingdom, or arrive there first. And let me add a little bit of interpretation to that. What he was really saying was he didn't necessarily want you to not have any contact with your family or anything like that, but not let your family stand between you and your spirituality. You see a lot of media coverage about how some people go off to a convent, or they go off to a monastery, and there's not much of a problem, is there, because the Catholic Church is pretty well accepted, right? But what happens if one of your kids goes to an ashram? Big problem? Why?

Jo: Well, it's not for me, but it is for society.

Corky: Why?

Jo: Well, they think they're going to be brainwashed I guess.

Corky: Yeah, but did you know there are more Hindus than there are Catholics?

Jo: No, I didn't know that.

Corky: Yeah. There is. There are only 750 million Catholics, there's a billion Hindus. They're ahead! Ha ha. They have the majority. And so if a Hindu becomes a monk in a Catholic monastery, oh, bad time, huh? And so all of the masters have said that it's ok if you forsake your family, that's something that you should do. Say, "Don't let you guys stand between me and spirituality. Don't let you block my consciousness. I'll change my name from Nowell to Ra. And if you don't like it, it's just too bad. I'm sorry. I'm not going to be your prisoner. It's your problem, not mine. I decided to evolve on. You struggle with it, not me. I let go of it. I let go of the Nowell and became the Ra. I let go of the one horse, and rode one instead of two. I decided to be happy inside, and still be in the world." Wasn't your mother wondering what you were doing up here picking tomatoes, Al?

Al G.: For sure. I think they're still wondering. It blows them away when they see us on TV or something.

Corky: Yeah, but wasn't she wondering if you were sort of going to be led away, and lost and brainwashed into this little...

Al G.: Yeah, and she also had the feeling, "How could you leave your family?" and that. I said, "Mom, I'm not leaving anybody, but nobody's going to get in the way of what I'm going to do."

Corky: Yeah, but what happens when you change your name from Greco?

Al G.: That just spun them around a little bit. They didn't know how to deal with that one at all.

Corky: Yeah, but what if you went into a monastery? Catholic monastery, and decided to change your name to Father Emanuel?

Al G.: They'd probably understand a little.

Corky: What if you went into a convent, Jo, would that be ok?

Jo: Oh yeah, because it's traditional, it's accepted. You know, it's an accepted religion.

Corky: Of society, right? The prison that society has created that you can jump into. You can say, "Ok, I volunteer to do this prison."

Jo: And you'll be commended. They could call you a saint.

Corky: Are you concerned about getting old?

Jo: Oh, I think so.

Corky: Does the thought ever enter your mind of how you are going to provide for yourself?

Jo: Uh huh. I care for the elderly, so I see what it is.

Corky: Are you concerned about the nest egg? To be able to have shelter from the rain and the cold of the winter?

Jo: Yeah, I don't want to live on the streets.

Dale: That's a cop out to me. There are people that maybe some of them can't do it with their mentality and that. To me, they're not willing to work.

Corky: Are you concerned about after you die?

Jo: Well, in respect to if I have unfinished business, uh, the battle begins again.

Corky: So, are you more concerned with your present state than you are about your eternal state? Be honest.

Jo: I would say yes.

Corky: And so your perspective is stuck in the present of your daily struggle from moment to moment to moment to moment to moment.

Jo: Yeah, I can't seem to move beyond that.

Corky: You can't get off the line of tomorrow. Of the illusion that doesn't exist. Of what's going to happen to you next week. Or ten years from now, or thirty. You want me to tell you? ............ You're going to get old and drop dead. I guarantee it. I swear to God. You're going to get old and drop dead.

Jo: Yeah, that's a fact.

Corky: And you know what else? It doesn't make any difference if it's tomorrow or 100 years from now, you're going to do it. All you're going to do is play a little game in-between trying to take care of Jo. And you're stuck in that prison. And Al thought that Su ought to read this page out of Rajneesh's book, since she does such a good job at it.

Su: [Reading from The Mustard Seed by Osho]

Whenever you are happy, the first basic thing is to remember that you were searching for something else. Not for happiness. If you search for happiness directly you will miss it forever and forever. It is a byproduct. You are engaged in a search for something else. And then that something else is discovered. That discovery makes you so fulfilled, the whole effort relaxes. The whole tension goes, you are at ease, at peace, at rest, and you feel filled with happiness. Happiness is a byproduct. The second thing to remember, if you seek after it, how can you lose yourself? The seeker can never lose himself. The ego remains. You remain a point of reference. Whenever happiness happens, you are not there. Remember moments of happiness, you were not there. It may have happened in a deep love, it may have happened in a discovery, or it may have happened just when you were playing cards. But you became so lost, suddenly the upsurge! Anything can trigger it, but a direct search is dangerous because you will miss it. If you come to a master in search of happiness, you are near him for the wrong reasons. Then you remain hidden in your wrong reason. You remain close physically, spiritually there is much distance. Your eyes are blind, you will not be able to know this man, Jesus or Buddha. It is impossible because your eyes are filled with the wrong goals.

Or you may not even be in search of happiness. There are even lower goals. You may be near a master to attain power. You may be near him to attain some siddhi. You may be near him to attain a more egoistic state. Then you will miss him completely. There are even lower aims. And the lower the aim, the more possibility there is of missing, because then you are more blind. You may be near him just for very ordinary reasons, like seeking health. You are ill and Jesus will cure you, or you are poor and Jesus will give you money. His blessings will become money to you, or you don't have a child, and he can give you a child. The lower the aim, the more you will miss, because the lower the aim, the more you are in the deep valley. And Jesus exists on the top of the hill. The distance goes on becoming more and more. Many have escaped, but of those who have come near... not all of them have come near, either, only one who comes for the right reason, and that right reason is truth.

But why do you never seek it? Truth seems to be so bare. Truth seems to be so dry. There seems to be no urge to seek it. Happiness seems worthwhile. And if I insist, "Seek truth, and happiness will be the byproduct," you may even agree to seek the truth because the byproduct, happiness, will be there. You are still seeking happiness. If you come to know that to seek happiness, truth has to be sought, you may start seeking truth. But you are not seeking truth, your mind remains focused on happiness. That focusing remains wrong. Only when you are a truth seeker do you come near Jesus, Buddha, Zarathustra. Otherwise you never come near. For any other reason, you are near physically; spiritually, you are very, very far away. Vast spaces exist.

Now look at this saying of Jesus: Jesus said to his disciples, "Make a comparison to me, and tell me whom I am like."

Why has Jesus asked this question? Is he not aware who he is? Is it to be known through the disciples who he is? Why does he want to know through the disciples who he is? Because whatsoever they say will show why they are near Jesus. You create the image of your master according to your desire. If you are near Jesus because you are ill, Jesus will be the healer. You look through your desire. You project your desire. If you are there to seek power, then Jesus is the omnipotent, the most powerful. Because only when he is the most powerful can he give it to you. If you are seeking immortality, if you are seeking a state of deathlessness, if you are afraid of death, then the image of Jesus will reflect your search.

Why did Jesus ask his disciples, "Tell me who I am?" He asked just to know what they are projecting. If you are projecting anything, you will miss. Because to know Jesus or Buddha, nonprojecting eyes are needed. You should not project anything. You should simply look at the fact. Jesus is a fact. The most vital fact that is possible in the world. Look at him directly, immediately. Don't bring your desire in between. Don't make a screen of Jesus, otherwise you will see, but you will see your own desire reflected.

Jesus said, "Make a comparison to me and tell me whom I am like." Simon Peter said to him, "Thou are like a righteous angel." This man must have been a moralist. A puritan. This man must have been guilty of his immorality. Because whatsoever you say about others never shows anything about others, it simply shows something about you. Whatsoever you judge is not a judgment about others, it is a judgment about you. Jesus says again and again, "Judge ye not!" because all your judgments are going to be wrong. You will be there. A thief is a sinner for you, why? Because you are so attached to your private property. It doesn't show anything about the thief, it simply shows your possessiveness.

I have heard that one Englishman died and he reached hell. The devil asked him, "Which hell would you prefer? Because we have all sorts of hells here. The English, the German, the Chinese, the Russian, the Indian." The Englishman said, "The Indian of course!" The devil was puzzled, he said, "You look like an Englishman, so why do you choose the Indian?" He said, "I am an Englishman, but I have been in India, and I know well that in the Indian hell the heating won't work!"

Your mind accumulates experience. Whatsoever you say about hell or heaven or other persons, it is your experience speaking. It is you reflected in each word you assert. This Simon Peter said, "Thou are like a righteous angel." He is saying two things: first, "righteous." He must have always been afraid of wrong. He must have been afraid of sin. He must have been afraid of being immoral. The opposite he projects on Jesus. That's why he is with Jesus. Remember one thing, opposites attract each other. If you are a man. you are attracted to a woman, and that is the trouble! Because she is the opposite, that's why she is attractive. But to live with a woman will be difficult because she is the opposite. This is how the misery of marriage arises. It begins in the attraction of the opposite. But when you have to live with the opposite, then there is trouble because in every way she is opposite. Her logic is totally different from yours. A man never comes to understand a woman. It is impossible to understand her, because a man thinks like a man, and a woman thinks like a woman. They have different dimensions. A woman is more intuitive, she is not logical, she jumps to conclusions. And almost always she is right! That makes more trouble. She cannot convince you; she cannot convince you whatsoever she says because she has no logic about it. But she has insight, she immediately looks.

Once, Mulla Nusruddin was caught in a legal case. He looked in the court, twelve woman jurists, and he said to the judge "I confess! Because I cannot deceive even one woman at home, so twelve in the Jury, impossible! I have committed this sin, simply give me the punishment."

Every husband knows it is difficult to deceive a woman. Howsoever you plan, everything goes wrong the moment you reach home. The wife simply catches you. She hits exactly right at the wound. She is not aware either how she functions, her functioning is different. A woman can never understand a man. This is also the reason why they attract each other. Because only mysteries attract. But to live with someone you cannot understand is bound to create trouble. There is bound to be fighting. So wherever there is love, continuous fighting happens. Each moment a fight. The opposite attracts. If you are a greedy person, you will be attracted by a man who has renounced. You will go to a saint who has renounced all if you are a greedy person. This is very difficult because this creates many troubles. Look at the Jains in India. They are the most rich, and riches don't come without greed. But they worship saints who have renounced all. They will not allow their saints even to wear clothes. No, that too is not allowed. The authentic digambar Jaina saint remains naked with no possessions, not even clothes. He posseses only his body, that is all. He has to take his food in his hands, he is not allowed to take food twice, once is enough. He sleeps on the ground, and that's why he is called Digambar. The sky is his only covering. The sky is his only house, his only roof. But why this phenomenon? Why does this happen?

Mohammed talked about peace, the word "islam" means peace. But look at Mohammedans. They have been the most violent people on earth. Why were they attracted to Mohammed and the religion of peace? The opposite attracts. The opposite is always attractive because this is the basic pattern of sex. And this basic pattern of sex follows you everywhere, whatsoever you do.

Corky: That's good. Thank you. Like we say in the Summum book, sex is everything. Move into the temple. Move into the cathedral. Why not? I don't know why you guys want to continue torturing yourselves in the struggles of your personal prisons. Move into the ashram, into the convent, into the monastery. You struggle harder than most people. I mean, whoa! Intense. The harder you work, the poorer you are. The more wealth you gather in the world, the more destitute you become. The more you have your name on for your security when you drop dead, Jo, the thicker the walls of the prison. Move into the commune. Move into the Kibbutz. Give yourself to eternity. That's enough for today.