We have been considering, for the past several weeks, becoming acquainted with the self, with the mechanical conditioning. Recently we have been disidentifying from the self, to be aware of the self as an “object,” and I is an observer reporting to X that which is going on in the self so that the self does not report in the name of I directly to X and set off all manner of unnecessary, unpleasant situations that are destructive or disintegrating to the state of being. To further aid our observation we will consider some levels of consciousness and some levels of being, and as we observe these it may be possible to make an aim. Now an aim is not a goal. A goal is to arrive at a certain place, to achieve a certain result. An aim is a direction to go. So possibly, we will consider that an aim might be, to be able to see differently than we have heretofore seen in our conditioned state, and that as we are observing we will see differently.

Now the greatest obstruction to man using the Teaching and possibly evolving into a different state of being, or having the ending of disintegration which means exactly the same thing, is that the self-improvement concept, the self-improvement suggestions since the earliest days of one’s existence is very, very strong — the urge to be different. As we observe the self and begin to be acquainted with it and we see some of the things in the self, a self-improving I attempts very strongly to get I, the observer, to identify with it and then start on a program of self-improvement. This is to fall back into the world. If one should discover that one has done so it is not anything to be ashamed of, to regret. It is to say, “I’m awake and back on the job” and to be aware of that particular bit of conditioning.

The Teaching says that there are four basic levels of consciousness and many levels of being. We will consider first the four general levels of consciousness:

1.  The first is SLEEP. When one is asleep in the bed, under the influence of an anesthetic, under the influence of toxicity in the body from adaptation or in a state of coma, in this state of sleep, obviously, one is not responsible. One doesn’t do very much and only dreams go on, if anything. Some of the dreams are not recalled, some are recalled. They are merely the Not-I’s playing and are totally in sleep. I is asleep and I must sleep now and then. One finds that I uses tremendous amounts of energy in observing and must go to sleep now and then. However it does not have to sleep for years and it’s been in a hypnotic sleep for many years.

2.  The second level of consciousness is called WAKING SLEEP. In other words the person appears to be awake, walks about, does all the daily chores, writes books, teaches college courses, performs surgery, repairs automobiles, cooks meals, builds buildings and all sorts of things. But this is a walking sleep or waking sleep because one is in a conditioned state and responds to the same mechanical responses; buttons can be pushed.

3.  The third state of consciousness if called SELF-AWARENESS or AWARENESS OF THE SELF. It is paying attention to the self as an “object.” It is the one we have recently started on and it is a new state of consciousness. It is seeing the self, John or Mary, as an “object.” It is not condemning or justifying. It is an observer simply to be aware of the self. This is a new state of consciousness, a new state of looking at things, a new way of being, actually, from anything that we have ever known. We have always said I to everything.

4.  The fourth level of consciousness is called OBJECTIVE AWARENESS or OBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. One sees everything freely without identifying with anything, without having any ideal to compare it to or to look to. It is seeing everything objectively, reporting to X, and X does all the work. This, of course, is a state of consciousness that we may not experience for some time. These states of consciousness are not something one “can do.” They are something one experiences as the various Not-I’s, the bits of conditioning are rendered inoperative by X from the conscious paying attention to the self as an “object.” This is really the only thing one can do; the other states occur.

In the states of being which are existent in each of these states of consciousness, there is more the one state of being under each level of consciousness. Under the level of SLEEP there is coma which can be brought about by toxicity or injury. There is bed sleep without dreams. There is bed sleep with dreams and possibly the state of consciously being aware of being asleep, however still physically asleep. There are three basic states of being, coma, sleep without dreams and sleep with dreams in the sleeping state of consciousness.

In the WALKING SLEEP there are several levels of being. The first one is apathy. When one is totally under the control of suggestion and the particular type of suggestion that says, “What’s the use, everything will be miserable anyway.” If any of you have ever seen a demonstration of the hypnotic technique you will somewhat know a little more about this. A person can be hypnotized and brought into a certain level of sleep called somnambulistic which is not real easy and usually isn’t accomplished in the first many attempts of an operator to hypnotize a given subject. But it can be accomplished and the person looks for all appearances like everyone you see walking around. However, they are totally under the control of one operator. Whatever the operator suggests to the person, this is their state of being. If he suggest that they are paralyzed, they can’t move. If he suggested that they are a very strong athlete, they can do unusual feats that are not possible to him in their usual waking state when there is a conflict of interest. There are several hypnotists; all the Not-I’s working on him. As one could tell someone that they were in a very pitiful shape, they would sit down and be in a state of apathy, or one could say, “Your being terribly mistreated and you must defend himself,” and you would be very angry. The Not-I’s are hypnotists and they have hypnotized I, kept it sound asleep, and it reports to X whatever the hypnotists has to say.

As there are many there are ever changing states. The first state of being in the walking sleep, the lowest one, is called APATHY. You may have seen people in apathy; you couldn’t get a smile out of them no matter how hard you try. You cannot get them to be enthused about anything or interested in anything, they just moan. Even their flesh hangs. If they raise up an arm the skin and the soft tissue hangs below the bone. Their whole face has dropped, their eyes look sad and they are in a woebegone situation. Of course, the physical body is functioning at that level, very erratically, and nothing seems to be functioning, usually, in it

The next level of being in the walking sleep state is FEAR. In fear the person has come under the control of a Not-I that is suggesting every conceivable dreaded thing is going to happen to him. This person believes that all sorts of catastrophes are going to occur. Earthquakes are going to destroy us. Inflation is going to destroy us. Illness is going to strike me. I will probably come down with cancer or diabetes or a brain tumor or some other dread disorder. I am afraid we’ll be without a job and we won’t have enough food to eat. I am afraid the house will burn down. A Not-I gets one frightened and can put one in a state of panic. You may have experienced it. You more than likely have. It tells you that something terrible is going to happen and all of a sudden you seem to believe it. The heart races, the palms perspire; the person is in a state of anxiety from every direction. This is fear. The person who has been under the control of a fear-producing Not-I over a period of time is usually considerably overweight. This is very simple because it is being reported to X that a great catastrophe is going to happen very shortly, soon, so the appropriate thing to do is store up food and water so every particle of nourishment that goes into the body is stored by X in response. It is the appropriate thing to do if one is going to be attacked, in a very severe situation, and unable to have food. It is stored inside the body. Generally these people are quite overweight and they’re quite sick because all the many things are occurring in the adaptation because these terrible states do not occur very frequently. As our entire society becomes more under the control of the suggestion of fear we have more and more people decidedly overweight.

The next level of being in the walking sleep is HELD RESENTMENT. It really means HATE. It is a combination of fear and anger. The person is angry, feels they have been mistreated but afraid to do anything about it. This is a state of being where in one is continually seething inside, that one is constantly fighting “in imagination.” Sometimes there are violent killings in this imagination or producing all-manner of difficulties — it is “getting even with them.” In this state tremendous energy, of course, is being burned up in imaginary fights. But X does what from the information received from I that is hypnotized by the ideas of revenge and hate? This is continually drying up the body so it is burning all the excess. This person is usually rather skinny, somewhat wrinkled up. The face shows the signs of the attitudes that are working within. And, of course, they have all the symptoms that require adaptation from the continual state of preparing energy from the various hormones to prepare to fight or run, and it really isn’t being done except in imagination, so they have their share. These two states of being, fear and held resentment, make up most of the practice o