Summary Roll Call: Serge, Mark, Paul, Jo, Ella, Debbie, Tom, Lisa, Peter and Karin
(Session begins 7:50 PM)
[An echo effect manifested and continued throughout Kris' delivery up until the break.]
KRIS: Now we are thankful for your consideration and most glad that you can all participate. Unfortunately we are not very good at imitating the voice of God! (Laughter) Therefore you will have to imagine it.
MARK: (Chuckling) I think the echo effect will add a nice tinge to it!
KRIS: Now this evening's topic is, we believe, most important when it is necessary to understand whom and what you are, and very specifically when you are exploring the nature of your reality. Who is able to provide definition for the mind?
PAUL: My definition of mind is my sense of "IS-ness" or Being.
KRIS: Does anyone else wish to offer their definition?
MARK: This is Mark. I would say my definition would be the nonphysical counterpart of the physical brain.
(Pause)
Anyone else?
JO: [Jokingly, but with a very deadpan delivery] Something that's nice to lose from time to time.
(Group chuckling)
KRIS: It's sometimes helpful to get out of!
JO: Yes!
KRIS: Now it is obvious to all of you that the mind is not something quite as tangible as say, your feet, your nose, or your hands. It obviously has qualities that are quite different from those tangibles. And you have also -- or should also be able to surmise -- that the mind is part of your own psychological makeup, but is NOT who you are. You do say things like, "I am going out of my mind," and so on and so forth.
So you refer, often, in your language to the mind as something that you have that obviously is not a good or a property that you can exchange like chattel. It is not something that you can trade or sell off in an auction or in a poker game. The mind is also not something that you may examine under the microscope as if it were a life form, but it does provide you with the ability to identify self; and what you regularly refer to as your ego is also definitely tied in with, and partner to, the mind.
And though you may not be able to see or touch the mind per se, you are aware that it provides you with a definite sense of yourself in some manner or another. And it can be said that your physical form -- including the entirety of everything that is perceived by the senses, meaning the physical phenomenon of the world as you know it -- is an extension and expression of parts of the contents of your mind.
Now OUR particular definition of mind is, as you experience it: an "AMALGAM of specific consciousness patterns that provides you with a specific sense of who and what you are at this point in time." And you are definitely aware of the mind, since, again in your language you make references to it on a frequent basis. And you are also accustomed to identifying with one particular grouping of patterns, since you can more or less say, "Yes, this is my mind, not someone else's. Does that make sense to you so far?
(Yes)
And because of the habitual patterns that you identify with in reference to yourselves, you may not necessarily notice that that mind that you identify with is merely one particular group of patterns, whilst in truth you indeed have MORE THAN ONE particular mind, which also implies that you also have MORE THAN ONE INTELLIGENCE to work with.
You may not necessarily understand that you have more than one mind, because everything presently in your culture is structured towards the identification of the one self, usually based on the interpretations of the one ego. And as such, if you have more than one mind, by necessity you also have more than one ego. And all of the multiple minds, multiple intelligences, multiple egos, arise naturally, effortlessly, and with great exuberance from the rich bed of the psyche as naturally as the seedlings pierce through the ground, rise up towards the sun and the air, and reach for the sky.
Thus we are hoping to start this evening presenting some information and even some tools or exercises by which you may be able to recognize that you CAN function consciously whilst accessing more than one mind -- and as such, own your own definitions of self, of ego, of awareness -- and gradually expand beyond the particular boundaries that you are accustomed to. Do you have questions so far?
MARK: Any questions?
(Silence)
KRIS: Now does this mean there are no questions, or there is no one there?
(Laughter)
TOM: We're still here.
DEBBIE: We're still here, no questions though.
KRIS: Indeed, this information should also enable you to make greater use of the tools and resources you normally make use of to alter and transform your perceptive mechanisms. And as you may well be aware, all of these materials and discussions also tie in with your belief systems which -- by now you should be aware that beliefs are not impediments or obstructions or albatrosses to your growth in awareness, but by understanding the nature of your beliefs you can take advantage of truly powerful tools, because that is what they are.
Now as we suggested previously, you are culturally indoctrinated to think of yourselves as having but one mind, one perception, one intelligence, one ego and you do not have to take it solely upon our word that you have more than one ego, one mind, or one intelligence. The information, exercises, should indeed assist you in discovering this for yourself on your own terms. We cynically suggest that you do not yet tell those that have deeply-held beliefs in the notion that the ego is to be put to death for their own enlightenment, because they will become frightened, knowing that they may have more than one ego to kill!
(Laughter)
After all, if an ego cannot have some fun, what can it do? Now earlier we suggested that the mind is an amalgam of consciousness patterns, each pattern tied into sets of beliefs and the point is not to find the belief as if it is something that you must ferret out and exterminate like a rat. That is not the purpose of knowing about your beliefs, nor is it the purpose of knowing about the mind.
And we are certain that each and every one of you has an organizational structure to put all of your patterns into play regardless of your notions of language and syntactical structure. We could say that syntactical structures and language are the surface-most exposures of a deeper meaningful arrangement, just as when you hear a symphony you may be able to pick out individual notes from various instruments, but it would be difficult to hear the entire musical arrangement all in one.
You basically need to hear the notes as you experience them. Similarly, language is synonymous with the various notes, whilst underneath the structure of language is the entire symphony and you consciously dialog with yourselves in language. You may not necessarily notice the powerful imagery that gives rise to the translations of language at those layers of your awareness.
Underneath the layers of language that you utilize in your own inner dialog are larger layers, literally a latticework of potent imagery from various areas and eras of your life, arranged in a very different manner than your language. And those images are directly linked to different gradations of emotions or emotional events related to your own life. Do you follow so far?
(Yes)
So the language structure, syntactical structure, that you utilize at the uppermost layers of awareness in communicating with others -- or even with yourself in inner dialog -- those specific layers are highly structured, but underneath those structures exists a different reality, a different arrangement and it is from this rich inner field of events that rise all of the elements that you then encounter in your daily reality to one degree or another.
Now you may think, "What is this old goat up to, talking about imagery, inner events, emotions, as having any kind of structure?" almost as if that area of your psyche has its own psychology and indeed it does, but it is based on a different order of priority based upon intensities and entire fields of intensities. It is not unlike when you play at word association games, but these are life event associations and it is a powerful, charged area of the psyche.
The electro-magnetic intensities are far more powerful than anything you can surmise, and though to your own minds, pardon the pun, it may seem that this area of the psyche may even appear as chaotic -- as chaotic as bees even -- there is an order and a preciseness that is on such a grand scale that it may even dwarf the kinds of orders that you utilize in your own logical processes.
The logic of this field contains such wisdom that it would indeed behoove you to explore it more in depth. If you were to play a word association game, and we say the word, "spaghetti," all sorts of images seem to come to mind, does it not?
(Yes)
For some, it may actually be the pasta itself, or the pasta sauce, or the Italian sausage in the sauce. (Kris pauses as an emergency vehicle passes through the neighborhood) We would not think of not sharing the sounds of these sirens with our lovely audience!
(Group laughter)
For some others, the word "spaghetti" might bring up images of when you as a baby, or when YOUR baby first learned to eat pasta, replete with mess. For someone else it may bring up images of a grandmother gathering her tomatoes and cooking them over the stove to make a pleasant sauce for the evening's pasta dish with her family. For others it may bring up images of Tuscany or Rome or Italy. For others it may bring up images of a fine Italian wine, or good Italian food and music, of rich aromas and so on and so forth. And there are likely dozens or more such associated images that may come up to the surface of your mind, correct?
(Yes)
And even one person may experience almost all of them and if you notice carefully when the images and associated sentiments, or memories even, are brought up to the surface of your awareness by the word, they -- the images, the memories -- may not necessarily come to the surface in the exact chronological order as you experienced it in sequences of time, but rather in an order relevant to the emotions and their intensities relevant to your experiences. Does this make sense?
(Yes)
And by becoming aware of those emotions and related images you may gain insight into how your own personal consciousness is layered and organized, giving you a rather different picture of what you thought you were about. And if you were to dig even deeper in such a process, you might even discover that you can actually, consciously play with and even re-organize some of those blocks of memories in such a manner that the outcome of your experience can be rather different, if not altogether altered. Does this make sense?
(Yes)
Such a process can also be utilized when dealing with perhaps even rather unpleasant experiences and memories that may still influence your daily events to one degree or another, but giving you a powerful message in an effort to experience a different outcome of experience. Are there any questions up to now?
(No)
Before any specific exercises and methods are given and utilized, it is important to understand that you do have tremendous tools with which to transform your reality and this is one of those tools, because it can help you experience the notion of having another mind, thus experiencing another intelligence and even acknowledging a slightly different ego perspective. What is the time?
MARK: 8:31.
KRIS: May we suggest a small break.
(During break Tom suggested that the echo effect had manifested when Peter and Karin called in. According to Tom, the echo effect is caused when a person calls in who does not have an "echo cancel" on their device causing every other person's device to also echo. He suggested a solution: by setting up a phone number that would go through the echo canceller he had on his own device, Peter and Karin could call back in using his number, and then each one of the participants also hang up and then call back in onto the regular conference line. This attempt worked quite well and the problem was resolved. Way to go, Tom!)
(8:39 PM Kris returns)
KRIS: Now we are glad that you have fixed your gizmos.
When you delve into those deeper layers of your consciousness and begin to pay attention to the organizational structure of events, of memories, you will begin to notice that indeed, at first it may look like complete disarray to the manner you are accustomed to organizing your thought processes at the conscious level.
It seems to make little sense at all that you would remember an event over another seemingly out of chronological sequence. However, if you pay attention to the processes that are involved, it may even dawn upon you that some of these states so generated may even produce a slightly different sense of who you are compared to how you think you know yourself in regular or everyday terminology.
And herein lies a great key: that this different self, this self with a slightly different perception is ALSO yourself, but organized in a different manner. And there are MANY of these selves in their various organizational structures that are very illogically arranged -- apparently -- if you compare them to the manner in which you think you are who you are in the good old-fashioned every day way.
And to most people, venturing in this apparently unknown territory can even be frightening because it seems as if the very boundaries that you establish, that define who and what you are, may indeed feel slightly threatened, but only because you have been indoctrinated to believe that any other representation of "YOU", in quotation marks, can be a threat -- that it is foreign and different and therefore to be kept out of the picture or even submerged deep into the layers of what you call the unconscious.
However, there is no need to feel threatened, but instead, a great sense of adventure, discovery and excitement at discovering how you are differently organized at these different layers of the self, and this can even cause a great exuberance and unleashing of energies to help round out your already effervescent personalities.
Recently we were asked if more can be expressed through the individual personality. Is that the correct question, Tom?
TOM: Yes, it is. I did ask that, yesterday. [In a private session.]
KRIS: Indeed and indeed more can be expressed, but not in the usual sense. You cannot, for instance, shove twenty potatoes in a can that can only hold ten. Otherwise, there is definitely a containment problem and you look at cleaning up a fine potato mash! However, the human personality structure is not as rigid as a tin can. It has great flexibility and leeway, and it can be done through the acknowledgement of the manner in which events and memories and emotional intensities are catalogued at those deeper layers of your awareness.
And it is not done, as we suggested, in a sequential, alphabetized, numerological order in a very rational manner as you are accustomed, but instead through an order of emotional impact. And playing with those issues can provide you with a great deal of adventure, even assisting in healing up painful past issues that you may have buried in your unconscious for fear you did not have the necessary tools and resources to deal with such an issue, whatever it may be. Any questions so far? (Silent pause) Then, who can provide an example of word and emotion association from their own life?
MARK: Anybody?
ELLA: I don't understand how you mean word and emotion. Associated?
MARK: Associated word and emotion?
ELLA: I don't quite get the question...
PAUL: I have it. I'll have a go. Chocolate! The word is chocolate. For me it brings up images of candy, Easter eggs, sweetness, childhood delight and feelings of comfort.
KRIS: Indeed and if you explore those series of images and the emotions tied to them, you may notice that they appear to be rather random, without a specific order, but some may hold a stronger charge than another, is that correct?
PAUL: Definitely.
KRIS: Now if you isolate a specific memory and associated image, perhaps one that is stronger than another and allow it to branch out into its own randomness, what comes up for you?
PAUL: Just continuing the thread with chocolate and exploring that came up, I had a memory that came up of being about ten or eleven years old, sitting at the breakfast table, my mother made me a glass of chocolate milk and I poured it on -- I think it was Frosted Flakes (Laughs) -- and it was way too sweet! It was a somewhat unpleasant memory that came up there, associated with chocolate. Nothing overly traumatic, though! (Chuckling)
KRIS: Indeed. Now, if you were to focus on some of the components of that particular scenario. You have your mother, for example, which in itself may lead into ANOTHER branch of associations regarding "mother." Is that correct?
PAUL: (Inaudible)
KRIS: It is difficult to hear.
PAUL: Yes, absolutely it does. It branches out into all sorts of feeling tones of that breakfast room and my mother preparing meals and food, and so on and so forth.
KRIS: Indeed. Now if you allow yourself to follow that stream in relation to your mother, what comes up for you?
PAUL: A very warm feeling of my mother, of my relationship with my mother, who was very much a nurturer, a caretaker, a matriarch of our family, a very warm, pleasant feeling of her caring for me -- even though that chocolate milk was too sweet that morning! (Laughs)
KRIS: Indeed. Now, out of those images another contact has emerged: Family. And if you follow THAT thread, what comes up for you?
PAUL: The next hyperlink is just thinking about my conversation with my mother today and discussing my stepfather who's in a nursing home with Alzheimer's and she's a caregiver for him, taking care of him daily. That's more of that care giving imagery and her struggles with seeing his decline. He will be 84 or so this summer, so that leads into that care giving role and her current struggles with aging and caring for him.
KRIS: Indeed. Now in that particular sequence there was the mention of chocolate which brought the memory and feelings of you being a ten-year-old pouring overly sweet chocolate milk on something and from there, the image of your mother, and from there the image of family and father, each with their apparent distinct tones, correct?
PAUL: Yes.
KRIS: Indeed. If you allow yourself to take each of those sequences and re-organize them into a new thread, separate from their past associations, you may experience a different feeling-tone. Is this correct?
PAUL: Sure. It just keeps branching out, whether it's in that kitchen or in that house with the ten-year-old with the chocolate milk I loved in Bosco....and it goes into the Easter candy she made in Easter baskets that she gave us -- jelly beans, chocolate eggs -- and back into the present moment with my step dad and his Alzheimer's and her care giving for him....
KRIS: Indeed. Now, another step also is that you focused upon the memory of yourself as ten years old, but there may also be interesting memories of you as an eight-year-old or twelve-year-old involving similar timeframe of Easter time and chocolates. Correct?
PAUL: Yes. I'm remembering a white chocolate Easter bunny in my Easter basket, from your mention of that. I don't know how old I was at that time.
KRIS: Indeed. Approximation?
PAUL: Twelve.
KRIS: Indeed, then! Now, as an experiment, what would happen if you took the imagery and associated feelings -- emotions -- of the white chocolate, twelve-year-old Easter and moved it before the scene of the ten-year-old and the chocolate milk? What occurs in your consciousness?
PAUL: Just the connection that I didn't like that white chocolate Easter bunny and I didn't finish it, so there's an unpleasant connection with both experiences.
KRIS: But you preferred the chocolate milk.
PAUL: In the two memories I have, they were only unpleasant.... (pause)....actually the white chocolate wasn't THAT bad...but it wasn't like good Hershey's chocolate. I like milk chocolate. It's my preference.
KRIS: Indeed. Do you have a memory of such an experience?
PAUL: I'm getting a nice chocolate milkshake that I made as a teenager. I used to make them, throw in an egg and add vanilla or chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup.
KRIS: Indeed then, the suggestion is that you focus upon that experience of the delicious chocolate milk and if you so desire you may even expand that image so that it seems rather large. Do you follow?
PAUL: Yes.
KRIS: Indeed then. Now our suggestion is to continue playing and take that now LARGE image of the delicious Hershey chocolate milk and move it right over the other two images, not to squish the other two, but to overlay them with that one, so that the other two are still there, but somehow or other they are framed within the larger picture.
PAUL: Nice. Yeah, good.
KRIS: And, what seems to happen to you now?
PAUL: As I'm wrestling with the three images, I really was drawn to that overly sweet chocolate milk, it was so sweet and I'm trying to think, "how can that delicious chocolate milkshake get rid of that?" Yet as I expand the chocolate milkshake memory and keep in focus the white chocolate and that sweet chocolate milk, it does soften the feeling-tone and memory of that terrible sweetness. And now that I've brought it back up, it's terribly sweet again! (Laughs) But I get the point! I did have a moment where that expansive, delicious chocolate merged with that sweet chocolate, and it wasn't so bad.
KRIS: Indeed! Now this is a very small example, but it is sufficient to give you an idea that it is possible at those layers of consciousness to make some modifications, even re-structuring of how things are laid out at those foundational layers and it can produce a different experience in the now, since you are still dealing with the now overall. Do you follow?
PAUL: Yes.
KRIS: Does anyone have questions?
TOM: This is Tom from Hawaii. The question is: that example that Paul just gave dealt with spatial manipulation. Are you implying that you can also get a different feeling-tone dealing with temporal manipulation and remembering things in a different order?
KRIS: You consciously have labeled and catalogued every event and experience of your life in an apparent chronological order, but the emotions and inner subjective experiences are not stored in that same fashion. They have their own order. Their own order of play stored in a different -- and highly evolved but DIFFERENT -- manner. One based upon the emotional intensities.
Thus it would be possible for instance, for you to emotionally remember events completely out of the conscious memories as you laid them out, and this would have a different impact upon your personality were you to delve into those areas. And this is where the notion that you have different minds comes into play. Those layers of emotional memories, events, encapsulate vast amounts of energy.
And this is an area of consciousness rarely ever mined for its resources for the manner in which it can provide you with a different perception and perspective on reality. Indeed, to alter your reality, even if slightly and sufficiently, for you to understand that there is indeed more than one reality, more than one you, more than one mind, more than one intellect, and more than one ego at play; and the self, as you think of it, is NOT AT ALL what you thought it was. Does that make some sense to you?
TOM: Yes.
PAUL: Kris, I just have a follow-up question.
KRIS: Indeed!
PAUL: You're not telling us to repress the overly sweet memory, to knock it out of our awareness; you're telling us to hold that in awareness, and yet hold other memories, other feeling-tones, emotional aspects in awareness and merge them in such a way that neutralizes that overly sweet, or overly negative or overly positive aspect of that experience. It changes it, it accepts it and neutralizes it, is that correct?
KRIS: Indeed. Now, neutralizing is a very subjective word. It can also free up segments of the personality that may indeed have felt trapped or burdened by issues that the individual has not been able to deal with. Do you follow?
PAUL: Yes.
KRIS: And we would never advocate the suppression of or the alienation of any parts of you. On the contrary, we are about literally coaching a greater freedom of Being and lopping off parts of your psyche, your subjective self, would NOT make you more of an individual. Does that make sense?
PAUL: Yeah, and I'm just trying to assimilate what you're saying in terms of Triple 'A' -- Acknowledging, Addressing, and Accepting -- and it seems like addressing, that middle stage, would involve this process of following the different connections --
KRIS: Indeed. It could even be said that this is another entirely different layer of the Triple 'A'. The Triple A can indeed work very nicely with the conscious aspects of self in the manner in which it has been understood for many months now, utilizing it in this context gives it an entirely different meaning because it expands what you think of as self in a very real, tangible and pragmatic manner. Does that make sense as well?
PAUL: Yes.
ELLA: May I ask a question?
KRIS: Indeed!
ELLA: I am trying to also observe the information you are presenting. I feel there are a couple of concepts floating in my head and I am trying to put them together in perspective. What I am dealing with right now is the relationship of ego -- multiple aspects of ego -- or if you say, different egos to different minds -- and also I'm trying to understand just for me, it's easier for me to imagine, if I would imagine where all these multiple minds are located because...it's not in the brain, correct? The tool that helps us to process our conscious, objective reality, but...where all of that is...is there any way to somehow summarize it?
KRIS: Indeed. You are not your brain, nor are you your mind, but the brain can be said to be the physical expression -- as the body is also the physical expression of those patterns of energy consciousness you call the mind. Many of your older esoteric metaphysical religious teachings have usually tried to instill the sense that the mind is something that must be controlled lest it lead you astray, just as many have also taught that ego must somehow or other die for you to be who you are.
And both statements are erroneous, they are misinterpretations. First of all, you cannot kill the ego, because it is not tangible, and secondly, what you perceive of as the ego is merely but one of many. Thus, even if you were to successfully kill one, another would rise in its place on a perpetual basis.
And the mind is not your enemy, nor is it you, but by learning its function and exploring its psychology, its organization, you learn to literally take advantage of the vast fields of potentials that are contained within this amalgam of energy-consciousness patterns. And so many of the variances and eccentricities within all of these organizations can give you many minds from which to mine resources and tools and savoir faire and wisdom that continuously and constantly rises to the uppermost surface layers of the conscious mind, unless you fear it and thus suppress it and literally attack it, fearing it will control you.
But your entire system is often based on the false assumption that there is something within the self -- namely your mind, something within your mind -- that you must be leery of, and when that happens you do not trust the natural impulses that give birth to the rise of new minds over time.
That is why we urge you, even in this very simplistic fashion, to examine the manner in which the mind organizes its psychology, how it puts together events, situations, memories, emotions, because they will be varied and sometimes radically different from the manner in which you think you organize your reality. By uncovering these rich treasures of the mind, you avail yourself of opportunities and probabilities that can enrich your experience of selfhood greatly. Does that answer your question?
ELLA: Yes and no. Theoretically yes, practically, I would sort of want to see an example that I could relate to my own personality as I access my different minds. For example, when I am being logical, am I using one of my minds, and when I am being childish -- which is a completely different personality, I could assume -- am I using, you know, perception....the reality from a different mind?
KRIS: You are utilizing portions of these different minds. One that we would urge you to discover is the manner in which your childish self has organized memories and emotions as being very different from the manner in which you would organize say, your education -- which is done in a logical, rational manner -- and yet, the childish, or any other mind, has its own order which may appear chaotic to the rational mind, but indeed, the inner mind's own rationale is so vast and so carefully construed, that to it, your rational mind could indeed almost be a prison of sorts. Do you follow?
ELLA: Oh, very much so.
KRIS: Are there other questions?
TOM: Yes, I have another question. My question is, when we talk about beliefs and not being able to destroy a belief, I'm wondering is there a relationship between the belief, one of the multiple minds, and egos?
KRIS: There will indeed be many relationships because all of these associated memories and emotions are based upon various beliefs.
Now comes the part concerning detachment and discernment as is part of the original title. Many people are unaware of how their mind or minds function and are sometimes even intensely swept up in the feelings they consciously interpret and experience from those deeper layers that well up to the surface of their conscious mind.
And though, on its own, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such a scenario, from OUR perspective the individual's experience can be greatly enhanced and fulfillment can also be enriched by exploring and understanding the psychology within your own mind or minds. Thus, enabling any one of you to be slightly DETACHED from the sometimes potent urgency to immediately act upon any and every feeling that courses through your veins at any given moment without the understanding that all of these subjective actions catapulted into the physical reality are the result of the beliefs that you hold and engage.
And by exploring the deeper knowledge that is yours, the deeper knowledge of your reality, you would be able to experience a certain detachment which can help you immensely to understand and even come to a point of identifying the various beliefs that are involved in your actions and basically allowing the reality to manifest itself as opposed to trying through sheer willpower to make events happen at the conscious level. And what we are saying here has very deep implications in the understandings that you may have cultivated concerning this apparent New Age philosophy of ‘Conscious Creation’.
And secondly, DISCERNMENT is something that is poorly understood, but such a powerful aid to your journey of self-discovery. For example, you would be necessarily utilizing a certain amount of discernment in exploring those deeper layers of your own awareness and consciousness and again discerning how the reorganization of even the viewed emotional imagery moments or experiences can have as an impact upon the outcome of your reality.
And discernment can help you more carefully gauge what you call physical reality which IS in so many sweet -- chocolatey sweet -- words, the feedback mechanism of all of this subjective work. And observing, discerning how alterations, changes, reorganizations at those subjective levels can have an impact into the everyday reality encounters.
Something that is more potent than reality television! So these are two very powerful tools that definitely can give you an edge in this kind of exploration. This kind of exploration truly qualifies under these two words: KNOW THYSELF, which necessitates a redefinition of what you think of as self. Does that make sense to you?
(Yes)
Are there questions, chocolate-y or otherwise?
MARK: I've got a comment. I definitely understand this very clearly having experienced it, and having changed the outcome of these intensities of these feelings, these emotions tied to a specific event, can indeed drastically change one's life. For instance, when I was about 14 or 15 years old, I was told by a person that I respected that I was a waste of a human life and that stuck with me for decades.
And it was about four years ago I went to an NLP practitioner and I was taught to first of all picture that person saying those words, and then change that person's look to a cartoon character with a very funny voice. I picked Itchy from Itchy and Scratchy (Group laughter) and suddenly the words lost all intensity, it became comical, I didn't focus on it anymore and therefore how I felt about myself and felt about that statement became very, very different.
KRIS: Indeed.
JO: That sounds a lot like the Harry Potter movie where the kids learn to look at their greatest fears and change them into something comical and put them into an entirely different context.
KRIS: Indeed, it certainly would be most hilarious if each of you could take your own private demons and fears and put them in a hat with flowers and a long dress.
(Laughter)
Are there other questions?
PAUL: I just wanted to comment that that's a great technique for dealing with nightmares that I put into practice years ago and it's been awhile and it just reminded me of the technique. So I have a very scary confrontation with a stereotypical beast-type threatening creature in a dream and I woke up with a start, and when I recalled that dream, I dressed that beast in a dress and put little fingernails on it (Chuckles) and little flowers in its hair, and it completely dissolved the tension and fear in that dream experience and I fell back asleep and never worried about that beast again.
KRIS: Indeed.
MARK: Go ahead, Ella.
ELLA: Well, I'd just really liked the example that Paul gave, I think it's a good technique also, I'll remember that.
KRIS: The main point is to entice you to explore how you, at those inner layers, deeper layers of awareness, organize reality -- structurally very different based upon emotional intensities, images and memories -- and we encourage you to playfully look at this order and allow even the results of the observations to have an influence upon the manner in which you hold onto situations and your beliefs. Now what is the time?
MARK: 9:34.
KRIS: Then we playfully suggest we end our lovely discussion and that you may all experience beautiful dreams. We wish to continue next telephone conference with part two. Have a pleasant play.
ALL: Thank you, Kris.
(Session ends)
Detailed Roll Call: Toronto: Serge (Joseph) and Mark (Philip)
Castaic, California: Paul (Janaki) and Jo (Rosalie)
New Jersey: Ella (Lazuli)
Oklahoma: Debbie
Hawaii: Tom (Desire)
Oregon: Lisa
Nelle, Germany: Peter and Karin
