Session 1 of the Accepting Differences Triptych
Topics:
Session 1 of the Accepting Differences Triptych
“The Importance of the Individual: Honoring Yourself and Others”
“Choosing a More Genuine You”
“Rightness, Fear and Opposition”
“Wings and Snake Imagery”
“Early Abolitionists and Ongoing Racial Divisions”
Session 20200721
Session 1 of the Accepting Differences Triptych
“The Importance of the Individual: Honoring Yourself and Others”
“Choosing a More Genuine You”
“Rightness, Fear and Opposition”
“Wings and Snake Imagery”
“Early Abolitionists and Ongoing Racial Divisions”
Tuesday, July 17, 2020 (Private)
Participants: Mary (Michael) and Ann (Vivette)
“Having to be right has an element of fear in it. Because in that, when you genuinely are moving in that direction of being self-aware, and you are genuinely comfortable with yourself and accepting yourself entirely, you know what you know to be right for you, and anyone else’s rightness doesn’t threaten you.”
ELIAS: Good morning!
ANN: Good morning!
ELIAS: (Laughs) And what shall we discuss?
ANN: We’re just going to meander today. (Elias chuckles) But the first thing I want to tell you is very interesting to me. You probably will find this amusing. (Elias laughs) So obvious. So, I was lying in bed the other night, and for whatever reasons there’s little images - I don’t know why, but I always think if I was ever going to get a tattoo, I thought – not that I want a tattoo and not that I would ever get this tattoo – but I always just think about getting a snake. It would start at my ankle and wrap around one leg, wrap around my torso, come up here. And I always thought that’d be kind of a cool tattoo. I just think about it. And then, I’m always joking with John about on my back, where my wings would come out. I’m like, “Oh, it’s itchy, my wings are coming in, John. Can you scratch it? My wings are coming in.” This has been going on for years and years, my wings. (Elias chuckles)
And then I was lying in bed just the other night. I thought, you know, these two images that always play in my head are suspiciously close to the images you gave me as my personal symbol. I thought, ha ha ha! Maybe there are no coincidences, because in my little symbol, I had little wings, and then it was… It wasn’t a snake, which I’m very glad it wasn’t, in my symbol, but it was… I think it was a purple ribbon that wrapped around a sphere or spear, or whatever that one was. But I thought, Oh, interesting. So, that was just very interesting to me. And I’m thinking, are they my thoughts, or Elias’ thoughts? (Elias chuckles) Are they all kind of woven together in interconnectedness?
ELIAS: They are.
ANN: Yeah.
ELIAS: They are.
ANN: It’s so interesting.
ELIAS: But I would also express that both of those images are symbolic for you. And I would say that the image of the wing is obvious that that is an image that is significant in relation to your growth and your expansion and how you are expanding, and that that is your symbol of freedom. But the snake—
ANN: Yeah, I’m very curious about that one.
ELIAS: Actually, the image of the snake is significant, because this is a symbol of power.
ANN: Oh! Interesting.
ELIAS: And therefore, the factor that you are incorporating this image to be wrapping around you from the ground up to your head is definitely significant as imagery, in that symbol of power and also connecting that power to being grounded.
ANN: Wow. Now maybe I do want to get that tattoo. (Both laugh) I’m just kidding. I don’t, but isn’t that interesting. (Elias laughs)
Okay, so this is interesting. So, then another thing that these images that play in my head, for whatever reason, like sometimes to get my mind off of thoughts to help me go to sleep, I’ll just play an image in my head. And it varies a little bit, but it always kind of has the same thing, where I’m either arriving in a carriage or arriving on horseback. Sometimes I’m on horseback, like this very proud lady (Elias chuckles) sitting up tall on my steed. But I’m riding up to Mount Vernon, and George and Martha Washington are standing on their stoops to greet me. Sometimes they’re just images, there’s not as much interaction; and then sometimes it stops there, sometimes I go in like I’m going to go stay in my room up in Mount Vernon. So, I go to my room, get unpacked and I’ll look out the window. Sometimes the window’s in the hall, sometimes it’s in my room.
But the exciting part is under the rug in the room is this trap door that I go down. Like one time you said to help you relax and go to sleep, so, I think maybe I incorporated that image. So I go down and down these stairs, and it’s all really old. And then I get down to the bottom of the stairs, and it’s like a stainless steel, very modern elevator. And I get in the elevator and then go down, and then I come out in this other world where my Booboo Bear, I call him…sometimes I ride on his back, sometimes I play with him. He’s been around for a long time, but I’ll play with him. But this same scenario, more or less, different things, plays over and over again. So, I’m wondering. For me, that imagery… I mean, I get the Booboo Bear, I get the other world, I get going down, but I guess the curious part for me is George and Martha Washington. (Laughs) That, to me, I’m like what the heck? But it’s always them. So, what are THEY symbolic of? (Laughs)
ELIAS: They aren’t symbolic.
ANN: Oh!
ELIAS: It is another focus.
ANN: Who? Martha or George?
ELIAS: No, neither. They are friends. They are—
ANN: Oh! So, I’m another focus visiting them. Well, would I be one of their grandchildren, or nieces or nephews, or just a friend? Interesting.
ELIAS: The wife of an individual that was very closely associated with George Washington.
ANN: Ah. Interesting. Interesting.
ELIAS: Hamilton.
ANN: (Laughs) Now I’ve got to see “Hamilton” for sure.
ELIAS: Ah.
ANN: Yeah. Oh my god, Hamilton! I was the wife of Hamilton. Okay, so when…? It’s so hard to ask these questions because… and this will segue into another thing about different—
ELIAS: I would say that that is interesting imagery that you have connected with, because that actually is physical imagery, that there actually was a trap door, so to speak, or door in the floor, yes.
ANN: (Laughs) That is so amazing. How fun is that!
ELIAS: That actually did lead down. And therefore, what you have done is you have incorporated actual physical imagery that you are familiar with and that you experienced, and added to it or modified it to use it as imagery to aid you in relaxing and sleeping.
ANN: Interesting. So, did my focus know about that trap door?
ELIAS: Yes.
ANN: Ah. And so there… I feel like there was something purposeful and that was like a secret, right? I feel like there’s a secret. I feel like there is this secret that they all were kind of privy to.
ELIAS: This was actually an area in which at times this was used in relation to slaves.
ANN: Yeah. And the slaves would…? Oh, to have sex with the…?
ELIAS: No. No. No. These individuals were some of the first abolitionists.
ANN: Oh, they were?
ELIAS: Therefore, in that, there were times in which they would be aiding certain individuals that were slaves that required help to be escaping.
ANN: So, they were helping? Were they helping their own slaves escape, or other slaves?
ELIAS: Others.
ANN: Okay, so you know what’s really… Let’s talk about, even more interesting: I just watched this documentary on this slave, Ola? Ola? Anyhow, she was one of Martha Washington’s slaves who, when they were stationed in Pennsylvania, there was a law that if you stayed in Pennsylvania you could find your freedom or you could be free after six months, or after you reached the age of twenty-eight or something like that. Anyhow, the thing that I thought was interesting is, they wanted to bring her back. They ended up not, but they kept coming. The brother came, wanted to bring her back, was demanding to bring her back. I don’t think they ever brought her back, and she did live out her life. But that is interesting, that if he was helping… So, this is interesting to me. They’re helping slaves escape, yet—
ELIAS: Now, understand—
ANN: They still have slaves.
ELIAS: Yes. But that wasn’t unusual.
ANN: Yeah.
ELIAS: Because in that, it was a difference in perception and philosophy. And in those early abolitionist expressions, it wasn’t that they necessarily didn’t believe in slavery at all, but that they also didn’t believe in, or had very strong opinions about, the treatment of them, and that they had very strong opinions about the treatment of slaves in significantly abusive capacities. But let me also express to you, in similar manner to what we had discussed previously in relation to this subject, these early abolitionists: they had very similar opinions about all livestock.
ANN: Mm-hm. I got it. Mm-hm.
ELIAS: Therefore, horses should not be mistreated, cattle should not be mistreated, any type of livestock should not be mistreated and should be incorporated in a lifestyle that was as natural as possible and therefore they would thrive, and also be more productive. And therefore, in that, that is significant to understand, that the early abolitionists did not follow the same philosophy as later abolitionists. That the abolitionists in the 1800s, their perception, their opinions were very different than those in the 1700s – in the 1600s and the 1700s. And in that, it definitely was still a matter of that perception of almost livestock - or definitely livestock - and then having very specific opinions about how they are raised, how they are bred, how they are incorporated in the treatment of them. And therefore, for some, if they were being considerably mistreated and they knew about it, then they would aid them in escaping from that type of environment and treatment.
ANN: So, before we had that conversation and you were telling me the Europeans coming and seeing the apes and the gorillas, and I was like a little… but I don’t know if I had ever really thought about that. But then, I just saw the other day this documentary where that’s exactly what they said, that they were suggesting that the black race was the missing link between apes and whites in the evolutionary scale.
ELIAS: Yes.
ANN: And, AND there was actually at one point in time – and this might even have been in the 1800s – a black man with his monkey at the Bronx Zoo on display. And there was an outrage. There were enough people at that time who were like yeah, this can’t happen, but they did it. I was like, Whoa.
ELIAS: That also gives you an example of the divide.
ANN: Yeah.
ELIAS: Because there were many individuals, many people at that time that had moved in a direction in which their perception had evolved and their opinion, so to speak, of black individuals was becoming significantly different. They still incorporated the perception that they were of lower intelligence, which was reinforced and borne out in evidence in relation to the behaviors and the expressions of the black individuals, but they weren’t educated.
ANN: Right. From lack of opportunity.
ELIAS: Correct.
ANN: Which, if white people were put in the same situation—
ELIAS: Correct. Correct. But in that, it was a perpetuating perception at the time.
Now, there was a tremendous divide, though, in the population – in YOUR population - because other countries had already moved in a direction of abolishing slavery and adopting a different perception of these people. And your country continued to move in a direction of this tremendous divide of people that continued to incorporate and hold to that perception that they were livestock.
ANN: I hope that perception isn’t alive and well today in this country, but I do think the perception of them not being as smart, I hate to say that I think there are some individuals still alive that think that.
ELIAS: More than some. There is a tremendous divide still in your population, and it isn’t simply a divide between north and south.
ANN: No, I know.
ELIAS: It is not a matter of location any longer; it is actually considerably expressed throughout your country in this division of perception. There remains a significant number of people that this has been passed from generation to generation to generation.
ANN: That I am aware of.
ELIAS: And in your present generation it still holds true.
ANN: So, this leads me to the next thing I was thinking about, this separation. I almost don’t want to bring this topic even up, because this topic is insane to me, but it is representative, this mask topic, whether wear a mask or not, and the virus and this divide, and then take racism and this divide. Well, I’m thinking, like I had tried to express my opinion. (Chuckles) I wasn’t just expressing, which I know is… I knew, I know: Just express, it doesn’t matter, I’m not responsible for how anyone else accepts it or whatever; I know that. But if I had to be honest with myself, I wanted to explain it so another individual would understand. Which, I know, that other individual (laughs and Elias chuckles) is never going to understand. So, I’m like we are just on two different realities. The division is becoming so wide and so deep that really…
Actually, I have several thoughts about this. So really, we ARE in two different realities, two different perceptions. And if your perception does create your reality, then we are living in two different realities. So, the curious thoughts that come around that are, Well…well, one thought that pops into my head is, I remember Bashar or you or somebody saying that there will be a time frame – and maybe this is this time frame – where you’re going to have all these people living with all these different realities, but then as it goes you’re going to kind of get more set in your reality, and that’s going to become more of the norm. And it’s going just depend which way you go, like I could kind of go to this way, I could go to this way, and right now everything is kind of fluid and movable, more so than in the past or maybe in the future. So, I have THAT thought. But then the other thought that I have is, If there’s such separation, I thought okay, we’re all interconnected, how can such separation occur? How, or why maybe - I don’t even know what word is the appropriate word to ask this question - this divide doesn’t make sense to me unless it’s for exploration of a way to explore different viewpoints. But it just doesn’t make sense to me that we’re putting… It feels like we’re becoming more separate, when I’m under the impression that we should be becoming more unified.
Okay.
ELIAS: I understand.
ANN: So, you take it from there.
ELIAS: And what I would say to you is, It isn’t that you are becoming more separate—you already were.
ANN: Okay.
ELIAS: It is simply becoming more and more obvious.
ANN: Okay. And that’s a true statement.
ELIAS: And you are presenting it to yourselves in a more and more obvious manner so that you can see it. Remember what we have been discussing, what I have been expressing to all of you in, I would say within the time framework of this past two years most especially, in relation to different perceptions or behaviors or subjects that are so directly in front of you that you don’t see them: this is one of them.
ANN: Wow.
ELIAS: That this has been so directly in front of all of you for a considerable time framework - throughout your life, in actuality. And in that, you simply—
[Audio stops after 24 minutes, then session continues with second audio]
ANN: All right. Drat. I don’t know what happened, but okay. Go ahead.
ELIAS: You have thinned that veil, and in one capacity of separation - not necessarily between yourselves objectively, but the separation between what is familiar to you and what you are accustomed to and what actually is being expressed directly in front of you - that you haven’t necessarily been aware of or you haven’t been looking at or you haven’t seen previously. And that is becoming more and more and more obvious. This divide that has been occurring, or this divide that you see now that seems that you are more and more and more separated? That isn’t new. That has been occurring for a considerable time framework; you simply haven’t been aware of it. You simply haven’t been looking at it, but it has been present, and it has been a matter of what you pay attention to. Which is also what we have been discussing in this past two years approximately, more concentratedly, what you are paying attention to and how important that is, and how influencing that is, and then in relation to how suggestible you are and what THAT has influenced.
At this point now, this mass event has opened that tremendously. It has opened your eyes. It has pushed you in a direction in which now the veil has been taken away, and you are looking at your reality from a very different angle and seeing much more of it. Just as in our previous conversation, you were expressing to myself in relation to the realizations that you have had in relation to yourself and your perception in association with other people, and recognizing that – and once again, I tremendously acknowledge you, not simply for recognizing it but for what you did with it, that you recognized it and then made a definite decision: “No, I’m not going to dwell on this. No, I’m not going to be stuck in this. I see it, and now I’m making different choices from this point on.” THAT is what I am tremendously acknowledging you in. And that is the point: not to be stuck in the what was, but rather acknowledging that, seeing it and moving forward in an intentional and definite manner of, “This is what I choose to do now. This is who I want to be. This is what I want to do. This is how I want to express.”
And in that, this is what I have been expressing to all of you in this last two years, that this is the point of choosing who do want to be, what do you want to do, how do you want to express yourself – and do it. Choose it, and do it. And move in an intentional direction that is more the genuine you.
And how do you know what is more the genuine you? The more genuine you is that ideal that you want to be. That IS who you are and that’s why you want to be that. But also recognizing yourself and how you express naturally, and what you do naturally, and allowing yourself to fit that into your ideal, and therefore becoming your genuine self.
As an example – and I will use this example because I am aware that recently again, not that it is the first time, but again—this has somewhat come up in your expressions personally—not that you are discounting yourself about it but that you are simply acknowledging it—that you are aware of your volume.
ANN: (Laughs) I knew you were going to say that.
ELIAS: (Laughs) Now; in that, I am also definitely acknowledging you, that you aren’t discounting yourself for that or judging yourself; you are simply acknowledging it and then moving in your natural direction.
Now in that, using that as an example of recognizing that this is a natural expression for you, therefore it would be unrealistic for you to express this ideal of who you want to be and what you want to do and how you want to express yourself in being very quiet and demure. That would be unrealistic. (Ann laughs) Therefore, it is a matter of incorporating you want to be kind, you want to be accepting, you want to be engaging, and you want to be connecting and experiencing that interconnectedness, and doing that but in your natural expression and your natural flow, and not expecting yourself to be something different.
ANN: Yes.
ELIAS: But in this, that is becoming more of an actual direction, because you are seeing your reality more clearly and because you are recognizing some of those pieces that were directly in front of you that you didn’t see before. And now you see them, and therefore now you can address to that and you can move forward, and you can express how you choose to express.
But I would say in this that yes, to this day, today presently, there is a tremendous divide, and it isn’t that that hasn’t been there—it has been for quite some time.
And let me express also that there are differences in that, that there has been a significant divide between people throughout your world in different capacities but in definite separations, which the base element of that separation has been the perception of differences and creating these ideas in those differences of better, higher, more intelligent, more sophisticated, more civilized.
And in that, these divides have been expressed everywhere in your world; it isn’t only your country. And in each area they have their own focal points, so to speak, or focuses on what the considerable divides are, or what the biggest divides are. And in your country, one of the biggest divides is that between black and white, not simply between race.
ANN: Right. Yes. Black and white. Yes.
ELIAS: There has always been divides with race, and there has always been divides with race in every country—literally every country. YOUR country generates a very specific divide between blacks and whites. Another country that does that in a very similar manner and still does to this day, very similar to your country, is Australia.
ANN: Really? I thought you were going to say South Africa. Really, Australia. Do you think South Africa does?
ELIAS: Actually, no.
ANN: Really?
ELIAS: Not to the degree that your country and Australia do.
ANN: And are we talking about the aboriginals? Yeah. I can see that.
ELIAS: In that – and they definitely incorporate a very similar perception, that they are a lower form of humanity, if they are even classified as humanity. But no, actually in South Africa… Now; in that, understand that South Africa was settled in a combination of the Dutch and the British, and both of these cultures actually evolved much more so than your two cultures in relation to that factor. And they…I would say they did it in a manner that you are moving close to now. They forced themselves into practically a war.
ANN: Like apartheid. Right.
ELIAS: That was their war.
ANN: That’s what we are getting close to. Yeah.
ELIAS: Their expression of apartheid was that tremendous oppression and then the tremendous revolution to end that unbreakable conflict. And in that, that changed the perception.
Now, there still are some peoples in these countries that still hold to the old thinking and perception, but not as many as you would expect. Because in that, they forced themselves in a direction of those differences, and they forced themselves in a direction of learning how to be accepting, and it genuinely did change perceptions.
And I would say that the perceptions of the home countries aided in the change of the perceptions of the people that lived or had settled in South Africa.
Now, unfortunately—
ANN: We don’t have that.
ELIAS: Precisely. Therefore, you have to do it on your own. And you are moving in a direction… I would say your incorporation of the divide to this point has been (chuckles) very similar to apartheid, in which the whites have expressed a considerable domination, and not only being dominant but being considerably oppressive.
ANN: You know, I feel like… Yeah, it’s like be careful what you wish for or whatever, but I feel like after the George Floyd thing and then there were all the protests and marches, I thought that was encouraging. I was very happy to see it, but I’m like, is it going to be forgotten? I mean, these other moments have happened, in my lifetime, several people. Is this just going to be another one of those? That makes me sad to think if it is. It feels like it might be lessening a little bit.
ELIAS: What I would say to you is, this is an example of how affecting and how strong energy can be, that you don’t have to be marching, you don’t have to be an activist, but not being silent either. But not being silent doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be engaging discussions or debates or even conversations continuously, but that you are expressing a continuous energy of solidarity.
Let me say to you, this movement that you are engaging in your country presently in which people are displaying these placards or signs, that is much more powerful than you realize, because each person that does that is making a statement and is projecting a particular type of energy, which adds to a collective. And in that, those that oppose it begin to shrink, and they also incorporate much more of a likelihood to be somewhat more careful about how they express their opposition because they see the growing energy, the growing number, in a manner of speaking, of people that are paying attention.
ANN: Yes. So—
ELIAS: Not that those people are being oppositional, but they are paying attention. They weren’t paying attention before; they are paying attention now.
ANN: Yes.
ELIAS: And therefore, the people in opposition notice that.
ANN: So, ironically it seems that is what is happening with this masks thing. And I feel like I’m on the other side. Like with the Black Lives Matter, I feel like I want to be on that side, I understand it, because not too long ago I was like, “All lives matter,” but now I get it. I get it. I get it. Black lives matter.
So, the masks thing… Like at first, I thought, oh my gosh. Maybe, you know, what you were saying: more people, more people. Like, if we all wear masks… like maybe if we DON’T wear a mask, then that’s showing other people you don’t have to be afraid, it’s not that big of a deal, or solidarity with the people who don’t want to wear masks. But now it almost feels like it’s oppositional to not wear a mask. I mean, obviously if I go into a store and they require to wear a mask, I’m going to wear a mask. It’s the requirement, no big deal. But walking around, I’m like… I could put a mask on, yeah, they say what’s the trouble? I feel like yeah, I could put one on, it’s no big deal. But it feels, just like you say, then I’m contributing to this energy of this movement which in my mind, in my perception, feels ridiculous. Because it feels like okay, everybody has to wear hot pink shirts, because if you wear hot pink shirts that’s going to save the world. Well, I don’t believe that’s going to save the world. So, I can wear a hot pink shirt, yeah; it’s not a big deal, but the fact that I am contributing to this mindset, I don’t like it. It irritates me. So, I guess my question to you is, How do I not be opposing but yet not contribute to something that I don’t agree with?
ELIAS: Excellent.
ANN: Thank you. And I’m waiting for your most excellent answer. (Both laugh)
ELIAS: Very well. In that, I would say first of all, in any other time framework other than when you are actually engaged in entering an establishment in which they are requiring you or they are making the suggestion that they require you… Remember: “mandatory” is a word that is being used as a very, very strong suggestion. And for individual privately-owned businesses in your country—which is the reason that it is so much more of an issue in your country than it is in many other countries—in relation to your Constitution, privately-owned businesses can refuse your service if you aren’t complying with their rules.
ANN: Right.
ELIAS: But the actual government can’t enforce that. You won’t be arrested if you aren’t wearing a mask. You won’t be fined if you aren’t wearing a mask, because it can’t actually be enforced in that manner. How it is being enforced is through public opinion.
ANN: Right.
ELIAS: Not through law.
ANN: Right.
ELIAS: And how it is being enforced in public opinion is through shaming.
ANN: Yes. Oh, god, yes.
ELIAS: Now, what I would say to you is, in relation to that, first of all remember: there remains still a considerable amount of people, approximately half the population – not of your country, of the world – that still is considerably fearful in relation to this virus. Remember what I expressed to you, that was the match. That was the flint spark. And therefore, that is the focal point. And in that, they aren’t necessarily objectively paying attention to what it is causing in relation to everything else. They are doing it, they are changing, they are moving, but they aren’t necessarily objectively aware of all of that.
What they are aware of is that focal point, and there is still a considerable amount of fear in relation to that. So, that is one point to continue to remember with yourself, is that you aren’t engaging wearing a mask in compliance or lending energy to fear or to that direction. But you are wearing a mask at times, in limited capacity, at times in relation to certain establishments; and it may not be all of them, but some, because you are not wanting to lend energy or contribute energy to more fear and therefore more intensity of this divide and prolonging this particular part of this mass event.
This particular part of this mass event most likely will eventually dissipate and won’t be a permanent part of it. The strongest potential presently is that this piece of it will eventually die out. It will eventually cease. But in the meantime, the more opposition that is expressed with it, the more you lend energy to the other individuals becoming more fearful and more oppositional.
ANN: Digging in, stronger.
ELIAS: When you are not in an establishment, then this is your choice to honor yourself and not necessarily be wearing a mask. It isn’t necessary, and there are no actual, physical consequences that will occur. In this, also I would say to you that it is a matter of individual-by-individual gauging, listening to your intuition, using your power of observation on an individual-to-individual basis. When you are in public but not in any particular establishment, gauge: What energy do you feel from the other individuals around you?
ANN: So, can I just tell you—
ELIAS: Yes.
ANN: This example, yes. Well, so John and I are taking a walk. We don’t have our masks on, and we’re passing a group of elderly women and they all have their masks on. (Chuckles) And honestly, Elias, I don’t know if this helped or hurt, but it felt good. I mean, it felt funny. So, the one lady, she has her mask on, we’re passing, and when she passes us she goes (Ann does an action) and walks around us like this. And John and I just look at each other and just wanted to bust out. And I - okay, to make her more comfortable I could’ve put a mask on, but I was… quite frankly, I’m glad I didn’t, and that might have been oppositional. (Laughs) But I was like, you’re ridiculous! I just felt like (in a sing-song voice), “You’re being ridiculous and I’m going to laugh at you.” We didn’t laugh out loud; I didn’t want to have her hear me, but I did laugh at her. And so, tell me about THAT. Was that a very helpful situation? I don’t know. For one reason, I just found it hilarious.
ELIAS: What I would say to you is now, partially that was oppositional. (Elias chuckles and Ann laughs)
ANN: Well, sometimes it feels good to be oppositional.
ELIAS: And I understand that.
ANN: Yeah. I know.
ELIAS: That doesn’t necessarily mean it is a benefit.
ANN: I know. It is.
ELIAS: Sometimes it feels good to punch someone - does that mean that it is necessarily beneficial to do that? No.
ANN: I know. The intellectual part of myself agrees with you. (Laughs)
ELIAS: And this is part of not following the feelings.
ANN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
ELIAS: And in that, what I would say to you is, not complying was actually honoring you.
ANN: Yes.
ELIAS: And in that, I acknowledge you for that. In that then, it is also one of those moments in which rather than judging the other individual—
ANN: Which I did. I admit it.
ELIAS: — as being ridiculous—
ANN: I still love judging her.
ELIAS: I understand that you can have your opinion that the situation is ridiculous.
ANN: Okay. Yes.
ELIAS: And that is entirely acceptable.
ANN: That’s better. I got it.
ELIAS: But that this individual—
ANN: Yes. She probably is afraid. Well, it’s the… Okay, --
ELIAS: Most definitely is. And let me express to you, this is the reason that people become aggressive.
ANN: Right. Okay, so let me tell you, the thought in my head was – and maybe it’s a wrong thought – she probably was afraid, but the thought was I was like, if she was just trying to shame us—
ELIAS: Because why?
ANN: Because she’s afraid.
ELIAS: Because she’s afraid, AND…? Now; this is a piece that I will genuinely encourage you to think about.
ANN: Okay.
ELIAS: Because she genuinely incorporates the perception that she is right.
ANN: Oh, my god. So do I. I agree with that, if that’s where you’re going. I know it.
ELIAS: In this, let me also express that having to be right has an element of fear in it.
ANN: Oh my god! No, Elias, say it isn’t so!
ELIAS: Because in that, when you genuinely are moving in that direction of being self-aware, and you are genuinely comfortable with yourself and accepting yourself entirely—
ANN: Yeah.
ELIAS: — you know what you know to be right for you, and anyone else’s rightness doesn’t threaten you.
ANN: Okay. So, I get that because I’m thinking…
ELIAS: And you don’t have to prove your rightness to anyone else. That woman expressing in that manner, that was a tremendous, an excellent, obvious physical example of this factor. That this woman is not only expressing her own fear in wearing the mask and distancing herself, but then in that expression, only in a moment, of aggression – which that’s what that was – that physical, animated display was an expression of aggression.
[The timer for the end of the session rings]
ELIAS: And why does she do that? Because what she is doing is forcing out, pushing out an energy of “I’m right, and you being wrong threatens me. You are wrong, but you think you are right or you wouldn’t be doing what you are doing, and that threatens me. Therefore, I have to prove that I’m right and be aggressive about that.” This is what motivates all aggression.
ANN: Okay. So, that’s good. That’s good.
ELIAS: And what is aggression? It is the one expression that creates separation.
ANN: So… Oh wow. Okay, so this is good, and I recognize that part myself where I’m thinking… I recognize that. But, so this is what I want you to help me navigate. Not “I’m being right” when I feel like, yeah, I feel like I’m right, but not expressing aggression with it, but still how to express what I believe.
ELIAS: You don’t have to. That is the point.
ANN: No, no, no. But I mean… Okay, so I could put a mask… Okay, well then, let’s circle back around, because I haven’t got that yet. So, I can put a mask on, but—
ELIAS: But only in certain situations.
ANN: Right.
ELIAS: Not always, but only in certain situations.
ANN: It would be… Let me stop, because I feel like it would be okay, sometimes I can put my “Black Lives Matter” sign up, but then sometimes I have to put “All Lives Matter” up.
ELIAS: No.
ANN: That’s what I feel like with this mask.
ELIAS: No.
ANN: Okay, so I want you to help me clarify this. I want to bring this home, because I feel like this is a hurdle, and I genuinely want to get past this.
ELIAS: And what I would say is, if you want to use that sign as an example, very well. You have that sign, and you place that sign in a particular area that is designated as yours and therefore reflects you.
ANN: Right.
ELIAS: You aren’t carrying the sign every moment of every day with you. You aren’t shouting it to everyone every moment every day. You aren’t engaging every conversation with every other individual and shouting to them, “Black lives matter.”
ANN: Okay. Got that.
ELIAS: You are having conversations with other individuals about entirely different subjects, but that energy is a constant, because that has become a concentration. You don’t have to think about it.
Concentration and attention are not the same. And in that, you don’t always have to be paying attention to it, because you have created it as a constant—a concentration.
In this, with this subject of the masks, it is in that capacity the same. You may be going into a particular shop or a store or some type of establishment in which they are saying they require you to wear a mask. Now, in that, their sign that is requiring you to wear a mask is their statement, “We are afraid.”
Now; you have a choice. You can oppose that fear and push your rightness onto them and make them more afraid, OR you can continue with your concentration that this is not a subject that is important to you, that—
ANN: Which is, that’s where I want to go.
ELIAS: — you aren’t afraid, this is not important to you, and therefore, if it is a matter of not opposing the fear, you are willing to engage that. And then when you AREN’T in that situation, you DON’T wear the mask, because it isn’t important to you. But it isn’t important to you either when you ARE in those situations, because it is more important to you that you aren’t matching energy, that you aren’t expressing the same. What are they expressing? “We are right.”
ANN: Right. Right. Okay. So, I’m obviously going to have to be aware of this and feel it and get it. But I just wanted to say one thing, not that I would do it, just to help even bring this in the clear. So, you say I put my “Black Lives Matter” sign up, that’s great, that’s contributing to that energy. So, what if inside my own house and right next to “Black Lives Matter” I go “Masks Are Unnecessary.” What if I put that sign right next to it in my house but still went about not opposing. Is that oppositional? I mean, I know it’s the energy that I put behind it, but that’s fine. You would say just to put “Masks—
ELIAS: Why do you need to do that?
ANN: And it might be a fair thing too for me, because the reason I would want to do that is to… um… ah… (Laughs) Okay. Let me see if I can say this in a way—
ELIAS: Without justifying yourself? (Both laugh)
ANN: Okay. All right. Well, okay. So, let me (laughs and Elias chuckles)…That’s good, Elias. All right, so let me say… um… But there actually is something there. So, I want to… Oh! It’s the fear on my… I’m afraid of everybody being afraid. That scares me, I guess. So, maybe that’s my fear.
ELIAS: And therefore, you are matching energy.
ANN: Matching fear.
ELIAS: You are matching the energy, fear with fear—yes. That is the reason there is so much opposition. That is the reason that there is this considerable divide and that there is such opposition with some individuals, and that you justify it in relation to your personal freedom or that this is taking away your choices—no, it isn’t.
ANN: Right. Okay. All right. So, the buzzer rang, so we’re going to come back to this. Yeah, that’s good. I mean, I’ll play around with it, because I DO want to get past this. But I think the path I really want to take is, I was just over making the masks important. It’s like okay, I’m done with it. They’re not… Yeah. So, we’ll talk again in a minute, but we’d better let Mary come back.
ELIAS: Very well.
ANN: All right. (Both chuckle)
(Second audio ends after 42 minutes. Total session time was 1 hour 6 minutes)
©2020 Mary Ennis. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2020 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved.