108 Inspirational Lectures by Charles F. Lutes - Lectures 37 to 42

Charles F. Lutes; 108 Inspirational Lectures - Lectures 37 to 42

Editor note: This special web edition of “108 Inspirational Lectures by Charles F. Lutes” is presented in 18 sections of 6 lectures each, and has been specifically formatted and edited for the Institute of Spiritual Sciences (ISS). It is re-published here by permission of the author: Vincent J. Daczynski. Please see the Introductory Page for more details. -RJR

108 Inspirational Lectures
by Charles F. Lutes
Lectures 37 to 42

37. Self-Mastery
38. The Ego
39. Birth and Death
40. Modes of the Mind
41. The Way to Realization
42. The Individual and Universal “I”

Lecture 37
Self-Mastery

At the beginning of our practice of
Transcendental Meditation we find a new
inner calm and peace we never had before.

By the infusion and integration of the self into the Self we reach a point of less and less attachment and thereby gain Self-mastery; a state of freedom from desire for what is seen or heard or felt.
The waves of the mind flow in one of two ways, either toward the objective world and increased bondage, or away from the objective world toward liberation. Most of humanity flows toward the objective world and increased desires. It is said that the path of virtue is virtually impossible, because the attempt at sterile effort to be good at all costs results in a far greater cost than most are able to support on a physical level. Therefore, we are faced with repeated failures and mental confusion. The attempt to control the thought waves of desire calls for greater mental capacity than we can exercise. Yet, at all times, we should exercise discipline against desires lest they run rampant and cause our life to be non-productive and often destructive.

It is important that when a negative thought enters the mind let it be a release of a thought; do not cognize the thought and give it unnecessary power. As we go along the path of spiritual development, if we stumble and fall from time to time, we should pick ourselves up and go forward. Do not give up in despair. The spirit is always willing and strong. It is the body that is weak. When we pick ourselves up and press on, we then discover that we do not fall as often as we did. We develop skill in action and we grow stronger daily. No failure is ever a total failure, unless we allow it to be so. The object is to continue to move ever forward.

With the development of our inner and subtle resources, such as the development of discrimination, we slowly gain control over our thoughts and we automatically begin to perform right action. Thought and speech become easier and natural. Due to our continued development we learn what desires lead us toward freedom and what desires lead us to further bondage, and the latter desires we avoid. Under normal activities of life, decisions are relatively easy, but under pressure, stress, and excitement, we are put to the critical test. It is then that we need to rely on our inner strength and inner development to see us through.

Non-attachment is not an overnight achievement and we should never delude ourselves that it is. However, at the beginning of our practice of Transcendental Meditation we find a new inner calm and peace we never had before. The mind under stress and strain does not function well, and it is when we experience a crisis period in our life that we fully appreciate the inner calm and peace that we have gained from our meditation practice.

The cross of suffering at one time or another comes to most of us and by our degree of non-attachment is the degree to which we suffer. As we grow in non-attachment, the soul also grows in greatness and in power. Then, when in the course of human events, we come face to face with our own cross we are able to carry our cross and face the ordeal that is ahead. The lesson of the cross can come in many ways, yet the end result is always the same, success or failure.

Many feel that non-attachment is gained by adopting an attitude of indifference to activity. This does not work. Non-attachment is the ability to be in activity and yet be in complete separation from the activity. Non-attachment is gained by infusion of purity into our physical mind and body. Then non-attachment becomes automatic to where our nature is an expression of pure love. In this expression of divine love we love people for what they really are, rather than on the basis of selfish love and selfish desires. When we begin to love humans for what they are, we love the Atman in them, which is their true inner nature. The fulfillment of non-attachment is when the mind has full cognition of any situation that arises and then, through sustained peace and calmness and increased intelligence, it enables one to make a constructive decision and yet it is not bound by the resulting action. It is like a line drawn on water; there is no lasting impression on the mind.

Non-attachment, freedom from binding desires that arise through the senses, is achieved by the identification with one's inner Self. When one has identified with one's inner Self is when Self has at last conquered self.

Lecture 38
The Ego

The way back to God realization is to
allow the attention to flow back to the source
and, through Transcendental Meditation, transcend
everything that is not pure, for that which is not pure
is that which keeps us bound. In the transcending, we
introduce the purity of Being into our physical and relative
nature and we begin to effect the necessary
change that leads to enlightenment.

The purpose of being on the spiritual path is to awaken ourselves to the realization of our real nature. The number one barrier to Self-realization is the ego, or the sense of separation.

Ages ago when humanity first became involved with creation, it was through an orderly process. The soul is a ray of spirit which is surrounded by a magnetic field composed of feeling (emotions), ego, intellect, and mind. From this aura, electricity emanates and produces the casual and astral bodies. Then, the soul takes on a physical body and this is where we find ourselves now, as physical sense-oriented beings.

The way back to God realization is to allow the attention to flow back to the source. Through Transcendental Meditation we transcend everything that is not pure, for that which is not pure is that which keeps us bound. In the transcending, we introduce the purity of Being into our physical and relative nature and we begin to effect the necessary change that leads to enlightenment.

Early on the path, we start to learn the importance of letting go of our selfish cravings. We learn to replace uncontrolled emotions with reason. We also learn to make intelligent use of the mind; to use the mind as a creative medium. And, we cease to create binding personal situations for ourselves and, in most cases, for others who we are in contact with.

As human beings, we are a combination of body, mind, and spirit. Ordinary people, who are in tune with the mass consciousness of humanity, are known as sons of man. When we awaken and become conscious knowers of truth, then and then only, we become sons of God. This is the challenge of the seeker on the path; to rise up from the son of man to his true status, son of God.

Of ourselves we can do nothing, the ego can do nothing. This is the recognition that leads us to the path of freedom, the path that lies within all of us.

This life is either one of bondage, or one of becoming free. This depends on whether we are awakened and without an ego, or whether we are conditioned and unaware. Up to a point, we have free will. We can decide whether to relax and surrender to our higher Self, or we can willfully follow personal ambitions. While we are busy pursuing a mundane course in a material life, we will never find true happiness. We can only find happiness as a result of our absolute surrender to our divine true Self.

Once we start to work toward rendering a worthwhile service in this world for the upliftment of humanity, then we begin to feel that we are a part of the cosmic plan for the transformation of this earth and the people on it. We then rise above petty concerns, problems, and personality conflicts. We are no longer ego motivated, and we find satisfaction in working towards the realization of God. We then find that we are neither moved by praise or blame. We do not surrender to temporary obstacles in our path, and the gales that blow do not blow us away from our eternal goal.

The main thing is that we understand and not become depressed when we see how slowly the masses awaken in consciousness, and how few people there are in the world that are concerned with spiritual growth. We just do our work, because it is ours to do. We, however, know that our selfless action is the action that leads us to the Supreme life. In the final analysis, that is really all we need to know.

The true renunciate is the one who renounces all activity that would bind him to this world. Success and failure, health and sickness, wealth, and poverty; these are appearances on the screen of life. They belong to the world of relativity. There is only one thing that now matters to us, and that is to be forever anchored in the absolute life eternal; one with our Self and one with God. This and this only is the one thing that can bring us everlasting happiness; bliss divine.

Lecture 39
Birth and Death

As one grows in consciousness, this world
diminishes; what we thought was real,
we now realize was only the shadow on the
wall of life. An unenlightened person
leaving this world feels the loss of all he thought
was real, and this becomes his own
personal hell. He discovers that he lived a dream
in the world of the waking dream.

There are numerous experiences in life that humans may go through, but everyone has the common experience of birth and death. As long as humans are externalized, birth and death are a recurring experience that goes on for ages. Around and around the wheel of life, humanity slowly moves. Another thing all humans have in common is that they must learn the lessons of life. Different lessons are affixed to different positions on the wheel of necessity, the wheel of birth and death. Human life on this earth is a life of knowledge and experience. The best philosophy taught was to live well in this life and go to the next life free from fear. Almost everyone believed the next or other life was a more perfect extension of this life. Only in the West has fear been implanted in our thinking, regarding death and the life hereafter.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, morbid fear was instilled in the people. Hell, fire, and brimstone were introduced. This was done to get peoples' attention on the church which taught their members how they could be saved from their eternal damnation. Plato taught that man did not go to hell when he left here; rather, he went to hell when he was born here. The big question that was debated for a long time was, “Does consciousness survive death?” Most people, by instinct, felt that it did. However, the hallmark of this past Age was teaching people how to die. The hallmark of the coming Age is to teach humanity how to live and how to gain eternal life.

The human started out in this world as a divine immortal being, who slipped into mortality and must now move back to his true status; immortality. For much of humanity, for many ages, the grave was the goal of life, and many felt that when they died, they were truly dead. This was because they identified solely with the body, and were completely oblivious to the spirit or the soul.

Spiritism was introduced in the nineteenth century to show that there was something beyond the grave, a continuity of life. It was the only real purpose this teaching served. People who die and leave this world go to another world and are beyond contact. The main problem is that upon entering this life, we have no memory of where we have been prior to our present birth. This memory loss is necessary in order to allow our free will to function so that we may learn from our experiences in this life. Not to learn from our experiences in this life is to step out of this life into darkness. Also, it is not necessary for us to experience everything that happens in the world. We could and should also learn from the experiences of others, yet few do this, especially in youth.

Now is the time in evolution when we are to awaken to the truth and facts of life.

The only thing that we can take from this life is our integrity; the lessons we have learned and mastered. We are in this world to learn, and each lesson we have learned is the only thing of value that we can take with us. When we awaken to the spiritual aspect of life and enter a spiritual path, the world and its material nature begins to lose its importance. As one grows in consciousness, this world diminishes; what we thought was real, we now realize was only the shadow on the wall of life. An unenlightened person leaving this world feels the loss of all he thought was real and this becomes his own personal hell. He discovers that he lived a dream in the world of the waking dream. The true purpose of life that must be lived is to be awakened to the truth of life while we are here on earth, and that is spiritual awakening.

We now know that in a universe of motion, we are out of step with life if we do not continue to move forward. Ignorance now becomes a heavier and heavier burden each day. We now know that the lessons remaining must be learned quickly. We are glad to have mastered life in this world and even so in the universe. Before us now stretches all eternity in a life of unbroken bliss consciousness. The grave of life is now only a memory and we now know that the real common experience of humanity was not birth and death, but eternal life.

Lecture 40
Modes of the Mind

Anyone who is constantly trying to change
that which cannot be changed is always in trouble.

The individual mind is not the higher mind. It is only a condensation and individualization of the higher mind. It is the lower mind that weighs and judges everything, but contributes nothing of a higher nature to one's daily life. That part of the mind which is creative is manifested only in the higher aspect of mental consciousness. The lower mind passes judgment on all things, and mostly from a platform of ignorance of the true facts of the situation. Mostly, humans are of a negative nature. From the perspective of the childlike mind there is acceptability for most things, but from the perspective of the so-called mature mind there is very little acceptability for anything; hence a negative reaction to most things.

To some extent this attitude is an extension of self-preservation, being cautious; otherwise it is purely a negative reaction to things caused by our own lack of insight into ourselves. The manner in which we react is usually the result of subconscious pressures resulting from our actions in past lives. Also, the conscious mind is, in many cases, a lazy mind that does not try to ferret out the truth. We are here on earth to live in the framework of truth, but to do this takes mental effort which we are not willing to expend.

However, there comes a time when we feel the need to expand our awareness, and to grow inwardly, and in so doing we come into quiet acceptances. As we progress along our inward journey, we become less and less negative, because we learn to accept certain situations in life. We are no longer fighting everything for no reason and nothing for every reason. We are now gaining a greater capacity for deep understanding. We are now beginning to learn what we can change in life and what we cannot change. We now begin to accept certain situations that exist in life.

Anyone who is constantly trying to change that which cannot be changed is always in trouble. The real problem is that we never bother to change ourselves, which should be our first priority. We spend our time trying to change others to our misguided way of life. We should spend our time changing that which we have control over and not that which we have no control over. We can only do more when we know more and not before. Therefore, we have to go along according to the pattern of things we understand. And, we should stand for and support patterns of life that are life supporting and good to the degree that we understand good.

The first thing we must learn is to interpret ourselves before we attempt to interpret others and pass judgment on others. As the scriptures say, “Know Thy Self,” and when we do, we will no longer pass judgment on anyone.

Most things that we think are so important are only important because we think they are, and not because they really are. As we increase our inner awareness, the pressures of life become less and less, because they have less meaning. The nagging pressures to demand more and require more become less and less, because the mind is no longer declaring itself to be always right and then defending an untenable position to the bitter end. We slowly cease to be in great error because we have learned that the ones to be corrected are ourselves.

We cannot erase all errors in one life, generally speaking, but at least we are firmly on the path of rectification. We are now changing our attitudes and correcting numerous bad habits. We are at long last gaining mastery over our emotions and our selfish desires, and in so doing we are also gaining good health. We have cleaned out the attic, and thereby the rest of the house is lightened and relieved. We also find that we have grown much more cheerful because we have inner peace and happiness that endures.

In looking back at ourselves we now see how negative and unhappy we really were and that it was of our own creation. We also realize that although we were very miserable, in our misery we thought we were happy. This is a great delusion of life that we have now outgrown. We are now expressing our inner true nature which is the God nature within us. We no longer need to constantly defend ourselves because right speech, right thought and right action need no defense. We have now moved into the light that knows no shadows and a life that knows no sorrow. We are becoming one with the light; yes, we are the light.

Lecture 41
The Way to Realization

In order to master materiality,
we must transcend materiality.

The way to God realization is by the reversal process. That is, to flow the attention back to the source to pure Being, and rise above or transcend everything that is relative or not pure and permanent.

It is the soul that is eternal, but which has become identified with the individual body. As a result it has become immersed in ignorance or darkness. It passes through various transformations through different bodies and the soul identifies with these physical bodies as long as it remains in them. The soul also gets immersed in ignorance by the identification with the mind, senses, intellect, and consciousness.

There is also the divine spirit that shines through the physical organs and permeates the entire physical body, as well as all of creation itself.

The human being desires above all else to be happy because this is his true nature. In ignorance, however, he tries everything he is familiar with to find some combination of things or events that will give him this sought after happiness, even to the point of attempting to become master of materiality. All things fail and then he discovers that his individual soul must evolve into divide spirit.

Then he begins the practice of Transcendental Meditation whereby he learns that in order to master materiality he must transcend materiality. Through meditation, the individual self as a spark of the divine light is now in the process of freeing itself from its sins. To succeed, he must become endowed with sincerity of purpose and his mind must always hold this true purpose of life uppermost.

He now discovers the difference between the Self and the not-Self. In his quest of “Who am I?” he sees the Self as different from the mind, body, senses, intellect, and ego. Slowly there comes a detachment from the world of not-Self. There comes a lessening of passion or desire for any further entanglement in the world of duality and illusion; a falling away from bondage; freedom from desire; absence of cravings; and, an increasing detachment from worldly objects. He is now gaining spiritual strength and wisdom.

As we increase in wisdom the unconscious levels of the mind are freed from gross complexes and subtle desires that would continue to bind us. We develop a mental serenity which enables us to exercise mastery over the senses. As we integrate the Being through our practice of Transcendental Meditation, we are no longer inclined to those actions that have been based on the cravings and desires of an egocentric demanding mind. Now faulty actions are being replaced with higher actions; selfish actions are now being replaced with selfless actions. We are gaining the strength of wisdom and will and the superior qualities of endurance, persistence, and patience. The mind is ever gaining a higher level of purification. It now begins to reflect the true glory of the Self. We come into possession of unswerving devotion in our purpose, and an increasing faith in the Self. The mind also becomes more and more relaxed and free from worries, sorrows, and distractions. We experience tranquility of the mind.

We now know that the consummation of spiritual development is eternal life. We are now erasing the ego which has been the number one barrier to Self-realization. It was the ego or the sense of separation that for so long has kept us in bondage. We are now on the spiritual path to eliminate the sense of separation. We are not on the spiritual path trying to build a spiritual consciousness or earn the favor of God, but we are awakening to the full realization of our real true and lasting nature.

Lecture 42
The Individual and Universal “I”

What we need is to experience
God, because then you come
to know the reality of God.

The human is many things, but the actual reality of the human is silence. The first stage of silence is the physical. The second stage is the psychological. The third stage is the spiritual. In the first stage the tongue stops talking. In the second stage the mind ceases to imagine. And, in the third stage there is only silence, free from the field of relativity, which shines forth as absolute truth. Now multiplicity has found reality in unity.

The real Self is the life of past, present, and future, and in every incarnation it struggles to come out of the maze of matter and all of its entanglements. In every incarnation the Self is involved with a new name and a new form, and at death it is temporarily released from the physical form and name. However, at the next birth, it is again confused by the same thing; a new name and a new form, but in a continuity of the process of evolving.

By the practice of Transcendental Meditation we release our individual self from this repetition and gain an eternal, lasting, absolute status.

Each time we incarnate we identify with the body and with the “I” principle. There are, however, two “I's,” the one that is individual and the other that is universal. In life we are caught up in two important things; imagination and reality or experience. Through imagination we conceive a mental picture of something that generally is far from reality. For example, if for all your life you did everything in the name of God, at the end of your life all you would have would be an imagination of God.

What we need is to experience God, because then you come to know the reality of God. Imagination is a glimmer of the truth in symbols and images. Imagination carries the mind to the gate of reality and when reality appears imagination disappears or ceases. Through Transcendental Meditation the individual “I” (lower self) begins to be replaced by the universal “I” (higher Self). By becoming absorbed in love, devotion, charity, and service by means of a simple technique one becomes infused with the Self (God) and this becomes freedom and bliss.

The ego has taken the form of the universal “I” and this has led to very great confusion in life. The ego is not the “I” because God is the “I.” What we need is to learn the true “I” and then the ego vanishes and reveals the pure “I” as the true Self.

As long as we are in the “I am the body” consciousness, we are held in bondage and we limit ourselves to the waking, sleeping, and dreaming states of consciousness. When we rise above the individual “I” mode of consciousness, we then automatically gain liberation.

Bondage exists solely in the mind and when we transcend the physical we come into the reality of life and the ego begins to let go. What happens is that the mind changes from the “I am the body” to “I am not the body” and it realizes “I am an eternal and immortal spirit.” We then know that it is God that shines eternally in us as the “I.” The spirit of the human and the spirit of God is one and the same thing.

When death comes, it is the body that dies and it is the spirit and soul that does not die. So, the Self is the deathless spirit. It is the universal, absolute “I.” All the conscious activity connected with one's body, senses and mind are centered in the individual “I” alone.

When one meditates, the power of the meditation focuses the attention on the absolute “I” and the temporal “I” vanishes. After continued practice of Transcendental Meditation all thoughts will come and go, but the “I” thought becomes continuous. Whatever activity the body is engaged in, the individual “I” will be centered in the cosmic “I.”

Also, by practice we gain a status whereby we are no longer drawn into worldly desires and entanglements; such desires are burned out and the ego consciousness no longer has the power to draw us into a subsequent incarnation. We become cosmic and we realize that there were never two “I's” - one individual and one universal. It was the individual karma that made the real absolute, the universal “I,” operate like the individual “I.” Now and forever more one experiences the true Self, the true “I,” one with God. I am That and That I am.

All text Copyright © 2012 by Vincent J. Daczynski
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