If human consciousness is the sculptor, our soul substance is the material it molds. It contains our conscious Yes, which is based on truthful insight and breeds love and unity. It also contains our unconscious No, which is destructive and breeds hate and disunity. Where there is unfulfillment or a feeling of being unlucky, both a Yes and a No must be present. This is like driving with the brakes on.
If a No-current is driven underground, the Yes becomes frantic, creating tension and pressure. This convinces us of the “rightness” of our desire for fulfillment but is really our clue we need to search for the root cause of our unfulfillment. Even if we discover our hidden fears, this rarely changes things because there is still a hidden No-current.
The work is to uncover the No, understand the faulty premise, and shed the old belief. When we find the statement of our actual unconscious belief, we will see how we actually cringe from fulfillment. For example, if a child received painful experiences as part of the imperfect love it was given, the child may have internalized the push-pull dynamic of rejecting the one it wants to love. The belief may then be “I need to have someone I reject.”
No’s are connected with an original image that was already molded into the soul substance when a person was born. It is not that we are hard-wired this way and cannot change. Rather, healing these deep soul dents is the reason for this incarnation. The Guide teaches that they typically do not originate in this lifetime. If they do, they will be easy to resolve once the adult reasoning mind considers the reality of the situation.
We weaken the No-current by allowing the Yes-current to observe it: “I now say Yes to wanting to understand the No. I take the reins in my hands.” We can start by examining the layers that are accessible. The half-conscious materials to work with are emotional reactions and fantasies. We must see how we say No.
- Where am I dissatisfied?
- What would I want to be different?
- How much do I want it?
- Is there something in me that does not want it or fears it?
- How do I detect this in my daily life?
Positive thinking and affirmations create a temporary hopefulness and even some success. But to truly change a No-current requires that, in Jesus’ words, we must be “reborn.” Dissolving a No that is being held by the will is like turning a battleship. We need to go slow.
We must get quiet and call on divine strength to help us see the truth and to have the stamina to change. When sitting in emptiness, we will first see the destructive elements floating up. Then we will be able to tap the constructive elements hidden deep within. Note that some Yes-currents, such as greed, are really products of a No-current.
Just knowing about a No-current will not stop it. We need to observe it in action daily to see and feel its effect, and to see why change is desirable. The final decisive factor is us. We need to change the “I can’t” to “it is possible.” This will eliminate the cringing, the fantasies and the frantic Yes. By using our will and positive intention to change, only we can end our suffering. After this, we can never be the same. We will see the truth of divine order.
Learn more in Bones, Chapter 15: Learning to Speak the Language of the Unconscious.
Steps for Purifying and Transforming the Lower Self*
- Have desire to work with Lower Self to transform it.
- Have desire to know what else we are, knowing we are more than we thought we were.
- Establish contact with the divine and ask for help in having the strength, stamina and ability to change.
- Use thought process in a new way: change “I can’t” to “it is possible.”
- Be willing to feel original pain, and also the present pain of how this has been affecting our life.
- Meditate on wanting to go in and see what we have been avoiding.
- Be willing to see the No-currents.
- Compare the parts of our life where we are fulfilled with those areas where we are not. Feel the difference.
- Talk out our problem.
- Meditate: “The truth cannot harm me, although something ignorant in me rebels against it. In spite of it, I say Yes. I take the reins into my hands.”
- Observe negative attitudes.
a. Question feelings and reactions to negative creations.
b. Work through effect on self and others—what price do we pay?
c. See the falsity of pretenses, looking underneath blame and victimization. “What I do doesn’t work, this is why not, and I wish to operate in a different way.” More insight will lead to more will to give it up. - Shift identification to the observer.
- Find the essence of the quality that is negative.
- Shift identity and attitude by asking: “What attitude do I choose toward what I now observe in me and do not like?” See what our choices are as we observe the destructive attitudes and intentions within.
- Meditate with three voices: Conscious mind with the Lower Self (the inner child); conscious mind with the Higher Self; Higher Self with the inner child.
- Say the Gateway Prayer.
- Recognize the Stages of Awareness:
a. Half-asleep climate—do not know who we are and blindly battle against what we hate about ourselves.
b. Observe, acknowledge, and articulate what we do not like.
c. Become aware that the “I,” or real self which observes, can make new decisions and choices.
d. Comprehend the previously hated aspects, which means their dissolution and integration. - Have a conscious inner dialogue as we uncover the unconscious:
a. Admit what we uncover.
b. Know why attitudes are negative and how they distort truth.
c. Intelligently consider the situation versus the child’s view. Bring reason to emotions.
d. Express the irrational desire behind the destructive attitude.
i. How does it oppose reality, fairness, truth?
ii. Why is it wrong? How could it be different? - Visualize the state we want to grow into.
* Created by Cynthia Schwartzberg.
Learn more in Gems, Chapter 14: How to Visualize Living in a State of Unity, in Finding Gold, Chapter 12: Approach to Self: Self-Forgiveness Without Condoning the Lower Self, and in Pearls, Chapter 14: Meditating to Connect Three Voices: The Ego, the Lower Self & the Higher Self.
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