It has been said that all spiritual writing, all writing that is sometimes called esoteric – meaning writing with an inner meaning – is all in the nature of a sealed book, a book which one must have the key to in order to open it.  And that if one has the key to open it, one finds great riches within.  The New Testament is one such book.  It has been sealed for endless ages.  The Christ referred to it in one place and said that the Scribes and Pharisees had taken away the key of knowledge, the key that opened the book that was then available for knowledge.

So as we observe, we see that we have a key.  Over the past many weeks we have been making a key that can open many things.  Last week we looked at the key that opened a given area that what the lamp of the body is – the eye.  And we saw that by putting a Picture of Man to the side of it, that we had a key that opened that, and that 2000 years ago at least, it was well known that man was in a conditioned state, that he was serving the Four Dual Basic Urges and that he was not obedient to his nature.  It was told in a little story.  

So we’re not looking at something new, not something that the speaker invented, not something that has been invented in the area of modern psychology, but something – a study of man, the Science of Man – that has been around beyond all comprehension of ages, as far back no one knows.  Because the oldest writings we can find is still talking about the same thing.

Today, we will discuss another little area of information and we will try to use a key again to understand it.  This time we’ll read from Chapter 7 of the same Book of Matthew, starting at Verse 13.  

“Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many are there who enter that way.  How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life and few are there who find it.”

Now we will skip down to Verse 24.

“Everyone, therefore, who hears these my words and acts upon them shall be likened unto a wise man who built his house on rock.  And the rains fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, but it did not fall because it was founded on rock. And everyone who hears these my words and does not act upon them, shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on sand. And the rains fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and was utterly ruined.”

Now obviously if we look at this in its very literal term, a man is given instructions about buildin’ houses, and that we build ‘em on foundations and not just set them out on a sand dune somewheres.  So on its literal meaning, it has totally no value to us because we all know enough in our modern technology to put a foundation under a house.  

And in the beginning of it, it says, “Enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction.”  Now, that doesn’t sound so well.  It might be like one was saying, “Well, don’t go on the freeway because you’ll get killed.  Find a little narrow out of the way road and take that because there’ll be less traffic on it, and you won’t get injured.”  And if course, that doesn’t make much sense to us today because we find that freeways, if one pays attention, is relatively safe and certainly more desirable.  But He’s not talking about a literal gate and a literal road.  “Way”, you know, is a road – The El Camino Real, the King’s highway.  So maybe the King’s Highway is the broad wide way.  It says that the king of the world is mammon, this world.

And we have been looking at that fact that the Four Ideas of the World were:  ideals was what had value, not what is.  And that everything we should do was to improve this self and other selves so that they would realize the ideal so that they would have the value that we have put on the illusion called the ideal.  And that it says here that, “to enter by the wide gate,” which is that of self-improvement by the way of the world, to have ideals and struggle towards ‘em. 

And how many ideals can there be?  That’s a broad wide one, isn’t it?  It can go from here on because you have an ideal, I have an ideal, another person has an ideal; we all fight over those various ideals of what ought to be.  So that is the broad way.  And of course if one takes the way of self-improvement one gradually, completely destroys self because one is strugglin’ towards an ideal, is frequently disappointed, feels hurt, looks for blame and all the rest of that Vicious Cycle.

But it says, “Enter by the narrow gate.”  Now, the narrow gate means something that is precise.  And it says that the way or the road is “close”.  Now, the “way” and the “gate” is the Teaching.  The Teaching starts off very simply by one simple thing – I will dis-identify from the self and observe the self.  That is a very narrow little gate.  It doesn’t give a lot of ways – it is not interested in self-improvement, it’s not interested in being a success, it is not interested in being a failure or avoiding failure.  

It is interested in putting Light on the self – much as we talked about last week of having Light in that Spiritual Body that was all distorted and cramped and conditioned.  So the “entering by the narrow gate” is to enter by the way of the Teaching.  And the close road is there is one step at a time and careful attention is paid to it.  One does the things that is in the way of the road; one doesn’t just hear about ‘em, as the latter part of this particular reading said that:  the “man who doesn’t act upon it.”  

So the man who hears the idea of self-observation and doesn’t act upon it and the other things that are included in self-observation – such as observing unpleasant emotions arising and identifying with ‘em and feeling entitled to ‘em; of observing the Accounts Receivable against all sorts of people, against all the things that the self does that holds up the excellent idea to appear to be different.  And that one doesn’t attempt to achieve or act out a spiritual experience but that one waits until one experiences it.  Those are little signposts along that narrow, straight road.  Now this word that says “straight” doesn’t mean that it is a straight line, but it means it is close in.

So we have deliberately taken on the act of self-knowing, the act of dis-identifying from that self, from the act of taking account of all the Accounts Receivable we had against everyone.  This is the straight way – we deliberately put ourselves under the Teaching to experiment with it, to find out for self.

Now, in the broad wide way one wouldn’t experiment with anything except some means of self-improvement.  One might experiment with improving self by positive thinkin’, which is trying to make one’s self believe something one doesn’t believe, one doesn’t see, but hopes it’s some sort of magic formula.  We might study motivation, so that we could more apt to do.  We might study sensing more – sensitivity training – all means of attempting to improve self.  We might undergo a long session of psychoanalysis or we might take up some form of psychotherapy.  We might throw over all the usual rules of the games of everyday living and begin to live freely, be strictly on the side of “A”, turn into a Gentile. 

Or we might get so tired of that we would go entirely to the side of “B” and accept some organization, begin to believe and do as we’re told by that organization – really be “good”, you know.  Or we might try to please many people.  Or we might try to put on a new front – we might wear a yellow robe and scrape our hair down to a little bead over the top and chant and sing.  Or we might set in states with our eyes closed in reverie and have all manner of dreams – all with what purpose in mind?  To be less disturbed.  Not to be more conscious, but to be less disturbed, to gain more pleasant sensations.  You might have heard someone tell you what a wonderful feeling they had when they did so-and-so.  Feeling, of course, is a sensation. 

And so we are struggling toward sensations when we are in the broad wide way.  Where does it lead?  To disappointments.  What does disappointment lead to?  The next step on the way is feeling hurt.  What’s the next one?  Lookin’ for blame, what went wrong.  What do we find to blame?  Possibly some other person, some circumstance, some interference.  “The phone rang, just as I was about to get in a certain state.  I was entering the silence and the phone rang,” or somebody rung the doorbell.  And of course, “They’re to blame for me not having the great experience that I wanted,” – the experience being some sensational experience, maybe seeing a vision, having a reverie which is a very brilliant dream, sometimes.  Or maybe we were intent upon the drug experiences and we use certain drugs and then the police said we couldn’t have those drugs.  So they arrested the pusher that was supplyin’ the drugs.  That leaves one out.

One then begins to look for blame.  One feels mistreated, one feels sorry for self, one feels put upon and one of course begins to use the ideas of the world, which all lead to destruction.

One looks for signs and wonders that one has achieved a certain amount.  “My sales increased last week.  I have more money in the bank this year than I had last year.”  (That’s not true for the speaker.)  “I have a new automobile.  I have a much more pleasant household; my wife doesn’t gritch at me as much,” etc., etc., etc. – all which are looking for signs and wonders that one’s means of self-improvement has succeeded.  But all of us who have been along the road of self-improvement knows that sooner or later some Second Force comes in.  This is what is referred to in the reading here as “the winds came and the rains fell and the floods came.”  In other words, a Second Force – something that was a decided challenge.

And if we had our house, a spiritual house, or the Spiritual Body built on sand of only hearing words and of practicin’ means of self-improvement, and still no knowledge of the inner man, no knowledge of all the conditioning, some of that conditioning will rise up and act.  And of course, all the well signs and wonders that one had so valued are suddenly all gone and the house is utterly ruined.  And again, either one starts back on another program of self-improvement in the broad, wide way that leads to destruction down the freeway of the world; or one starts again after the house is ruined with the ideas of the school.  And experiments with ‘em to find out how they work – really runs an experiment of dis-identifying from the self and beginning to observe the self and all its many conflicts and struggles within.  Begins to observe that it’s building accounts against everyone in sight.  That all it ever considers, “Does this make me comfortable?  What do I get out of it?  How does it give me any improvement?  How does it help me gain the ideal?”

As one observes this, one can start the act of self-knowing, leave the broad wide gate and enter the narrow straight way, begin to experiment and to see what’s going on.  One may not experience exactly what one likes.  One may not like what one sees on this narrow, close way.  It may be like drivin’ over a mountain road where it curves and twists and it’s one lane, and one moment of lack of attention destroys the whole trip.

But if one pays attention and observes the self, which is that road – continually to observe it – one is using the Teaching.  And one begins to value it because one becomes awake and conscious.  One’s eye – E-Y-E – the third eye, the inner comprehension, begins to have light.  One begins to see the inner world and that inner world is transformed by X when the light is thrown on it.  As long as it’s in the darkness, of course X does nothing about it because it is not reported to X.  As one acts upon something one finds out about it.

Now, all the Teachings were the words we have been considering, the various practices that we have.  Now, no doubt that certain people have only done them very lackadaisical.  They dug down about six inches below the surface of the soil, “So, well this is deep enough,” and they laid the foundation there.  The house still will not stand.  It will stand a little bit but it won’t stand very long because there will be temptations, which we have considered.  Which is why we are going through these various things that continually give us Teaching that is available to us – to be reminded of that we can read as well as listen, that we can begin to practice the things of the school.  And we find that they are continually about us – that it is not some strange material that someone thought up, but that it has been around for centuries and it has been used by all of those who arrived.

Some place in discussing these the great Master Teacher said that “How narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leads to life.”  You see, the broad wide gate leads to destruction, is death itself.  And He said, “How few are there who find it.”

Yes, there is few who find it.  Not because it’s not available, but because the key is not recognized for its value.  And because we sometimes have the key handed to us and we don’t ever use it for anything.

You see if you had a key to a vault with untold riches of diamonds and rubies and gold and silver and you never used the key, it wouldn’t be of any value to you, you see.  The key is only of value to what it opens to.  The Teaching in itself is a lot of words.  But if one uses it as a key, it opens untold riches – riches of peace, riches of serenity, riches of complete comprehension of everything that’s in front so that no longer are decisions necessary for one to go through struggles.  One sees clearly.  One has a Spiritual Body.  One has a frame of reference that is eternal.  It is not something that is gone by every shifting sand – that today we believe one wind that will improve self and make one’s self into a magician and that tomorrow we believe something else and we practice it.

You see, man basically is somewhat of a child when he is conditioned; the Four Dual Basic Urges and the various decisions are all magical formula, magical rituals when they were tried.  It was supposed to be magic to cry.  And it really is a magic cry, isn’t it?  Watch the baby that you can see somewheres around:  it cries and it gets what it wants.  So that is a magic ritual.

To be belligerent is a form of a magic ritual.  Man believes in violence, that it is a magical ritual and that it will get him what he’s lookin’ for – the ideal.

He believes that pleasing people is a magic ritual.  So he passes out compliments, says the appropriate thing, waits on people.  And they sometimes don’t notice it and then he gets all upset.  He’s like a magician that his wand won’t work any longer.  He says, “What went wrong?” and then he has to start all over again.

Another person believes that believing and doing what he’s told by authorities, saying certain words, attending certain meetings, being at a certain place at a certain time, saying certain words and formulas, being certain ritualistic procedures – that they were some way magical and will entirely convert him.  He may even believe that if he’s dipped in a vat of water with certain words said over him that he will rise up a new man.  But when he goes out and experiments him with it a little bit, he’s still the same.  He may think that if he has gone through some long ritual play that it may bring about a complete change in him.  But unless he sees that play as being a relation of his inner state and then goes and acts upon it, he will only have some interesting trivia to talk about.  And nothing really has been changed in the inner state of the man.

Putting on a new front doesn’t change the inside.  It’s like a little kid puttin’ on a cowboy outfit; it makes him a cowboy.  He puts on an Indian suit and he feels he’s an Indian.  He takes a stick and jumps on it and he is ridin’ a horse; and of course this is about the way of, “I’m trying to put on a front, being very polite, very kind, very considerate,” but it doesn’t change the inner man.  It doesn’t build one thing to the Spiritual Body.  All it does is reinforce mammon and all his bit that says, “We’ll be less disturbed if we appear to be different.  We’ll only be the Scribe and the Pharisee.”

It doesn’t do any magical formula to blame someone; it still does not relieve one of responsibility for being obedient to one’s nature.  I can blame all day long and still “what is” is still there and I haven’t seen the value of it.  I’m only blaming because mammon’s system didn’t work.

And as long as this goes on, man is on the way to destruction.  He’s strugglin’ towards an illusion of the ideal.  He has not observed the narrow gate.  He hasn’t entered and he hasn’t acted upon anything.  He may have heard the words, listened to tape after tape, but if he hasn’t acted upon it, he’s still building his house on sand.  And there will be a Second Force that comes by and the house will be utterly destroyed and he’ll have to start all over again.

So it behooves us to pay attention.  It has been around a long time.  And what is the whole purpose of attention?  Is to be aware – aware of the self, aware of the world in which one lives, and be aware that one is of another world, the real world of living beings.

And one lives in the man-made world and the man-made world is the greatest teacher of all time if we have the key to it.  We can be very thankful that we are one of the few that have had the key and that we can enter there.

We can be ready for to give the key to any worthy seeker.  But one doesn’t give the key to a treasure to just any “passerbyer”.  That person must first demonstrate by something or other that they are really deserving of being given the key.

A little way back here we might read in this same book that one doesn’t give that which is holy to dogs and one doesn’t cast pearls before swine.  Obviously nobody needs the literal instruction.  You wouldn’t think of taking something that you considered to be holy and give it to a dog.  You wouldn’t even give a book ordinarily to the dog unless you were teaching him to carry it, and you certainly wouldn’t give him a book you valued.  And to be “holy” is one that something valued very greatly.  One doesn’t go out and throw their jewels before pigs.  So it is another thing that is being talked about – the key, which is the key to something holy that makes one whole and complete.

And it is a jewel.  It is a treasure.  It is not passed out indiscriminately any more than you would give the key to your home that you live in – and all your furniture, and your clothing and everything’s there – you wouldn’t give the key to just any passerby.  In fact if you should accidentally lose the key, in all probability you would have all the locks changed on your house.

So when one has something holy, one has something valuable entrusted to one.  One doesn’t use it indiscriminately.  One doesn’t pass it out to animals.  Now, this is another way of saying not that humans are dogs or pigs, but that the conditioned man, that mammon, is a pig.  And that one doesn’t give things to people who are serving mammon because they will do what with it?

They will try to use it as a philosophy to improve themselves so that they will have more ideals.  And of course, the Teaching won’t work that way – it’s so designed it protects itself from that use.  They can get some counterfeit, but they can’t use the Teaching for that.  And then they will turn and rend you, which means they will use every means of the tricks of mammon to discourage you, to destroy you, to say that you are dealing in something that is a fraud and all manner of other things.

Now, if we were to be trying to use the Teaching for means of self-improvement, it would be a fraud, wouldn’t it?  But we’re not interested in self-improvement.  We are interested in being conscious – of having inner Light, of seeing what is and of seeing the value of what is.  Then the Teaching is valuable.

But if I gave you a key that fit a corncrib and told you it fit a great treasure, then you wouldn’t ever think of using it for the treasure, you’d only use it for the corncrib and it wouldn’t fit there.  So you would probably say that I would lie to you.