Study artificiality.

"'I know why you said we must study the artificiality of human

life here on earth.'

'Why?'

'Because an artificial flower has no perfume.'"

                              There is a Way Out, p. 156

Lay down our ego, our thoughts, our desires

Q: What happens to the consciousness of a realized one in sleep?

M: Such a question arises only in the minds of the unrealized. A jnani (one who has realized the Self)) has only one state, which is unbroken throughout the 24 hours, whether in what you call sleeping or waking. As a matter of fact, the majority of people are asleep, because they are not awake to the Self.

In the deep sleep state we lay down our ego, our thoughts and our desires. If we could only do all this while we are conscious, we would realize the Self.

See the Self as real

We see the world as real, and we see the Self as unreal.
Begin seeing the Self as real, and seeing the world as unreal. 

Become aware of the deep sleep state

Deep sleep also exists in the waking state. We are always in deep sleep. That should be consciously understood and realized. There is really no going or coming from it. Becoming aware of the deep sleep state while in the waking state is samadhi. It is nature, i.e. prarabdha (that part of karma being worked out in this life), which forces you to emerge from it. Your ego is not dead and will rise again and again.

Any difference between dreams and waking state?

Q: Is there any genuine difference between dream experience and the waking state?

M: Because you find the dream creations transitory in relation to the waking state, there is said to be a difference. The difference is only apparent and not real.

You will see it as your Self

"When you see the Self, the world does not disappear; your view of it changes. It will not look like it does now.  You will see it as your Self."

Detach yourself from yourself

"Don't be afraid, therefore, to let go, to detach yourself from

everything that you have considered right, wise, intelligent, bright,

cheerful. Have no hesitation in making a fresh start right now while

you're listening to this talk. Just try to understand what it means

to detach yourself from yourself. That effort is a prayer, a wish,

a right start."

                Your Power of Natural Knowing, p. 44

The world is a play act

"The world is a play act. You have written, in your imaginative mind, the script, the acts, and the actors, and yourself as one of the actors. Recognize this and dwell in your authorship."

"If there is anything in the world we like or dislike, it is master over us."

"You have to start mastering the world because you are convinced the world is master over you.  You must see that you are the one who determines it. That makes you master over it.  The next step is to become master over your mind and then you are a Master. "

"Primarily, you have to un-want the world and want your Self."

Men and women are hypnotized.

"Men and women are hypnotized. Their entire life is one great nightmare, which

they take for reality. One of their handy sleeping pills is their blithe

assumption that they are not asleep, that they are a perfectly conscious

human being.

In spite of the repeated disasters occurring in their nightmare, they

still insist they are awake. They goes through life like a sleepwalker,

bumping into one painful object after another, but never letting

the shock wake them up.

This is what the mystics have been trying to get over to humanity

for centuries."

              The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power, Chap. 2, p. 28

Let go of the ego sense.

"We must let go of the ego sense and just allow our natural being just to be and then everything falls perfectly into line."

‎"Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" --- and find that there is no death.”

Q: I realize intellectually that I am part of the great "I," the Universe. 

M: Then are there two "I"s? Realize that you are not part, but the whole.

Lester Levenson Quotes for the New Year

"If the world is real to you, you are all the time validating ego."

"A frustrated person is one who attempts to do and carry out things by him or her self instead of letting the forces of the Infinite do it."

"All knowledge of the world is knowledge of delusion and must be let go for realization."

"The realer the world, the greater the misery.  The realer the Self, the greater the joy."

"The world is one long misery when seen as world, but eternal joy when seen as your Self."

"The world is powerful only because we have been in the habit of it for a long, long time."

"If you do not know the world is in you, how can you let go of it? If the world is out there, what can you do about it."

"World equals misery. Self equals joy.  The cause of misery is that you think the world is real. The cause of joy is knowing that the Self is real."

Do you persist in putting "I" in front of statements?

"You yourself are your greatest adventure in life, so let's get

on with it. Imagine yourself in darkness. How many don’t need to

imagine it? All right, the darkness is there. You can feel it.

You can feel that you’re at the mercy of whatever it might want

to do to you.

Now, here is the good news already. Listen to this. You are not

that darkness you fear. You say, 'I am miserable.' It's part of

darkness, misery, right? 'I am miserable. I am confused. I’ve

been betrayed. I don’t know which way to turn. You're talking

about an imaginary self.

You - real you - never have existed as ignorance and darkness.

It is there. It is not you. Why do you persist in putting ‘I’

in front of all your statements and woe and defeat. Why do you

do that? Because you don’t understand what we’re talking about

right now."

   from a talk given 9/1/1991

 Vernon Howard's Higher World - MP3 CD Volume 32, talk 784, track 4

Welcome...2013

You are painting your picture.

"No doubt. This world is painted by you on the screen of consciousness and is entirely your own private world.  Only your sense, 'I am,' though in the world, is not of the world.  By no effort or logic or imagination can you change the 'I am' into 'I am not.' In the very denial of your being, you assert it. Once you realize that the world is your own projection, you are free of it. You need not free yourself of a world that does not exist, except in your imagination!  However is the picture, beautiful or ugly, you are painting it and you are not bound by it. Realize that there is nobody to force it on you, that it is due to the habit of taking the imaginary to be real. See the imaginary as imaginary and be free of fear." (pg. 200)

"Life is finally enjoyed when we understand clearly what it means

to live without unnecessary thoughts, emotions, actions, speech,

involvements."

                               Cosmic Command, # 88