There’s frequent reference to a “Teaching” and teaching is generally carried on in a school. And sometimes the schools are put on where a group of people are together. And others who are not there think it must be some unusual thing goes on. But at this particular moment we would like to describe what a school is and what goes on in a school.

First off, there is a group of people that has their own ideas of “what ought to be” brought from various areas and put together. Now, wherever there’s two or more people together in any form of a relationship – whether it’s working together, whether it is living in the same house or living in the same apartment or whether there is two people have some intimate relationship such as marriage or family or etcetera – we have that portion of a school; two or more people in one place with different sets of conditioning, different sets of ideas of “what ought to be” – in relationship.

Now the other thing that goes in a school is the ideas of a school. What makes up Teaching? The ideas of self-observation. And this self-observation, of course, is in relationship with other people.

What does one do when one has what one thinks one “ought to have” and somebody else comes along with a different “what ought to be” at that particular moment and they bump a little bit? And this determines what one sees. Then if I sees that the conditioning is doing this, one is separated. If one identifies with the “what ought to be,” with the conditioning, there is then conflict between two people. And, of course, this is used as a Teaching example.

So anywheres in the world there’s two or more people, there is the physical requirements for a school. Wherever the words of the Teaching, the ideas of the Teaching are available – whether one received them from tape or whether one receives them from some person in person – then that is the other aspect of the school. And then is the person doing the self-observing. And these three factors make up a school. And when you put these three factors together – the Initiative, the Resistance, the Form – then there is a Result. When a person has this, there is a result of building a new Spiritual Body and a body is a frame of reference. It is a body of ideas, a body of observations and has nothin’ to do with beliefs or etcetera, but is really something that one has experienced and seen for self.

So each and every person that is listening to these discussions is in a school.

One, you have certain ideas with which to work with, which to observe. You’re practicin’ self-observation. You are in relationship with one or more people whether it be at work, at home, or whatever; there is a relationship. And one can only be in school in relationship.

If one went out to be a hermit and took these ideas, there would really be very little to observe because only in relationship when the other person is being resistance to the ideal. Now, no one has to think of being resistance to another; just by the very fact of our existence, we are resistance to other people. We are Second Force.

So, FIRST we have two or more people together. SECOND we have the ideas of the school, of the Teaching. Self-observation. What does one observe? One observes building accounts; one observes the many “I’s” jumping around, having each one their say; we observe the many efforts at conflict, the efforts to self-improve, the efforts to convince the other, the efforts to blame, the efforts of make everything fit the ideal and be disappointed. We have all the ideas and we can observe them.

So Life really is the teacher. The ever’day existence that we find self in, is the teacher. Because there is always relationship and they continually remind us whether we are using the Teaching or whether we have gone to sleep and identified with the world again: the basic ideas of ideals, self-improvement, signs and wonders and demonstrations, and blaming – anti agape – which comes up with all the unpleasant emotions of anger, guilt, fear, insecurity, frustration, aggravations, annoyances, etcetera.

So one is always in a school wherever one may be and if one recalls this and is aware that ever’ other person there is a student also – maybe consciously, maybe unconsciously, but at least I’m a student if I am observing – and each one that bumps me, so to speak, reminds me to use the material. As long as we do this, we will have plenty to do.

Now we’re going to do a bit of review as to the kinds of “I’s” that one sees in the self, what kind of “personalities” are in the self. Now, as we have observed, some of them get to be rather well educated as one is observing them, and they get more cunning. They don’t want to be caught. They’re like foxes that have been trapped heavily by trappers – they get very aware of being observed and they become more cunning. The ones that have never seen men trapping them are quite bold; they go on about their affairs. So we might say we’re fox hunting or fox trapping because foxes are, in all fables and Teaching stories, considered to be very cunning.

So here is some “I’s”, some foxes, that one may observe. There is a not-I that continually tries to entice I to identify with it, always attempting to get I to identify.

And then there’s a condemning “I” that will pretend to be I. It says, “After all…all these other “I’s” are doing wrong.” And it makes ever’ effort to ally with I, the Observer. And I, the Observer, has a lonely job and sometimes it’s quite easy when something is trying to be its ally for it to agree with it.

And then there is a self-improving “I” that comes along and attempts to identify itself as being I, the Observer. It pretends to observe and says now they will get better. And it starts one into identifying with it and then it starts into a self-improvement bit.

And then there is the self-righteous “I’s” that try to reason with I to see it that everything should be made “righteous.” Now these are very cunning. They are pretending to be “angels of light” and they’re wanting more and more righteousness, but their real intent is to get I to identify with them. Once one agrees with, identifies with one of these not-I’s, then they begin to change their tactics.

And then there’s “justifying” that makes almost anything sound good. They’re wonderful attorneys-at-law. They can argue fine points about anything to make it sound like this really should be justifiable. “This is right, this is really X talkin’,” – maybe. They are experts in changing the meaning of words. These “I’s” just love to take the Teaching – that I is free to experience whatever may arise in the house of the self and not identify with the happening – and they try to twist that “I” idea into license to do anything and everything that they can justify.

And obviously, we will observe that there is two basic parties of “I’s”, both of which are very cunning – the party of “A” and the party of “B”, and that they’re in conflict. And that each party is attempting to get I to identify with it to overcome the other party, which is being held out as being very evil.

In other words, seemingly it would be quite all right to overcome evil, wouldn’t it? And “A” holds out that “B” is evil because it produces guilt and because it puts on a false front and because it will believe whatever it is told to believe by an authority. And so it holds out how evil that is and one should join forces with “A” in overcoming it.

But “B” says you should overcome “A” because “A” is a complainer and it is a violent one; it sticks up for its rights. And above all, it judges and blames other people. And both of these can be made to sound very enticing.

But as I observes these, I is beginning to build a body, a Spiritual Body, a spiritual frame of reference. Now, the old frame of reference was somewhat of a monster – it had two heads: “A” and “B”, and anything with two heads is rather a monster. And it has complete disorganization in itself and it has all kinds of blind areas. It is in someplace says it has a beam in its eye and is still trying to get the speck out of its brother’s eye.

“A” has a big beam trying to get the speck out of “B’s” eye and “B” has a big beam trying to get the speck out of “A’s” eye, so they contend and moan quite a bit. But one, they get more and more subtle as we go along so it is well to be aware of these parties. Keep the Picture of Man where one can observe it and listen to their various ideas.

Also they begin to try to get one to agree with thoughts. Now, thoughts are mere associations and as associations come along, one sounds pretty reasonable. We read something in a paper or someone says something and we associate something else with it and feel that we have made a great stride in understanding, but it is still only one of the old associations. It is to be seen and reported – not to be identified with, not to be judged. As long as one is seeing and reporting, one is building a clean and pure Spiritual Body. And the old man that is distorted, has two heads, is blind, possibly is a leper – is being destroyed, is being eliminated by X.

Another way of saying it is that the whole house is being cleansed – the house of the Awareness – and is being cleansed so that I with its new body can move in. Now, it’s like any baby; it starts off with a very small body, just observing. But as it observes it begins to then, by experience of observing not-I’s, begins to build a Spiritual Body. It has a Spiritual frame of reference. It has discernment. One might say it discerns demons – the not-I’s. And it discerns Spirit – the truth and the value of the Teachings that reminds it what to do. It does not tell it, “It must do this or not do that.” It is a guide, a Light, and it begins to be a body full of Light. And more and more Light is in, the less and less of the dark creatures of the conditioned world are in.

One might also observe these very cunning “I’s”, that there is a considering “I” that always says, “Well, how does this affect us?” “How does this do this?” “Now that wasn’t fair the way they did that.” And I is easily enticed in this because I is always doing what seems right, proper, and justifiable – and really leaves off the justifying. But the not-I’s use justifying to make ever’ sort of a thing seem right and proper. After all, that is the whole purpose of justifying, is it not? That it makes something that is questionable seem to be right or proper. Now, I only does that which is right or proper. But the not-I’s use the techniques of justifying to make most anything appear to be right or proper. And one will also notice that each not-I or many of the not-I’s that come by has a very high opinion of its worth and tries to convince I that it is a worthy companion, that it has a very great value. And this, again, is another form of justification.

There are a group of “I’s”, a whole group of ‘em that defend this false picture that they call being Pride. They are continually having a picture of their great worth and their great value to I, that they are helpmates, that they’re of value to him, and they defend this position. And one may notice, as we have noticed before, that Pride and Vanity and Greed are very powerful forces, especially when they have justified themselves into appearing to have on shiny garments; that they’re clothed with very adequate reasons for being a helpmate to I.

I is, of course, always realizing that it is not quite complete; it is a function of X. And while it’s in this new stage of being aware, it has not really realized X yet. So it is always groping for an ally or a companionship to make it feel complete. And all of these come by and, shall we say, “court it”, “romance it”, and want to be its ally. They are very interesting to observe because they put on their best behavior, and they put on their very best garments. Their “garments” means their particular ideas and their particular arguments as to why they are so valuable and necessary.

And another one that it is very interesting to observe is that to observe if one criticizes other people on any situation. This is one of the better ways to observe some very cunning, very carefully hidden not-I’s. They criticize something in another person. And you may be quite sure that if there is criticism of another person, that that not-I is lurking somewhere in the house speaking in the name of I. In other words, if you should observe that there is, self is, criticizing someone for being a gossip, you may be quite sure there is a gossip in this house still unrecognized.

If there is someone who is criticizing someone else’s moral behavior, you may be quite sure that that one is lurking within. It may and may not be performing the act, but it’s certainly wanting to. If there’s one that criticizes another’s behavior in any direction, be on the lookout for that particular not-I lurking somewheres in the shadows of the house. Turn the light of self-observation on it so that X may remove it.

After all, I does not have an ideal to work from. Its frame of reference is experience, not ideals. And as it builds its body, it is built on experiencing, on Understanding, Love, Agape, on Faith and on Grace and not on ideals. It also sees consideration as part of its frame of reference, part of its new body. It also sees harmlessness as part of its new body – a body of harmony, a body of beauty – and it has contribution in that frame of reference. But anything of the not-I’s has is always an ideal. And they attempt to take all these ideas, all these bits of frames of reference and produce counterfeits. Instead of love, they would have as a counterfeit something like being “tolerant”, you know. And instead of harmlessness, they would have “being helpful”. And instead of contribution, they would have seeing what we can contribute to power, to make something “under control” – how we can organize it. And they would see making an organization and setting it together to control people as being a contribution. These are, of course, the counterfeits.

And as one observes these things, one of course is building a body. I is building it a Spiritual Body. There is a natural body, which we see as the physical form, and then there is a Spiritual Body. The Spiritual Body is the frame of reference of I; and as it grows and develops without the conditioning, it is a very beautiful body and is expressed outwardly in beauty of form, and beauty of function, beauty of behavior.

And as long as the not-I’s are building the body, there is conflict, confusion, aggravations, annoyances, angers, etcetera, and that body is being built. And one sees it expressed on the outside as the form of behavior that one experiences on the outside.

The not-I Spiritual Body is built out of beliefs – the beliefs in that they know what ought to be. But then there is two different ones of “what ought to be”. Course both of ‘em agree that they ought to be non-disturbed. But one ought to be non-disturbed by havin’ ever’body wait on them, and the other one ought to be that they be non-disturbed by doing as they’re told, by being very domesticated. Both of ‘em believe that they know the future because then they could know what ought to be. And they already know the future – that if this was so, then everything would work out so-and-so down the line. They know what would be the outcome of ever’thing that happens. “If I just know that if so-and-so would do, then everything would be happy and we’d make lots of money, and, that all this…” “I just know that if we had enough money we wouldn’t be fighting all the time, ‘cause our only fighting is about money.”

And they believe that they know what is “good” and what is “wrong”. Because whatever is closest to their agreement of what is the ideal is good, and when if it’s not close to the ideal it’s wrong. They believe they know what is good and bad. The false body, the crippled Spiritual Body, the one that is dying is made of out beliefs – of beliefs in things that are not true. A belief that, “I know what I need in order to be happy,” and “that I know what happiness means. And I believe that I know how to get what I need to be happy.” And really the only thing that that body doesn’t admit to knowing is that, “I don’t know how to make all others see things like I do, so that they will do what I know is right and then that I could be happy.”

But one says they don’t know that. And of course there is much study on how to make other people do what they ought to do – “what I know is “good” for ‘em.” It is probably the most studied subject in the world.

And incidentally, it may be a very nice one to observe that “suggestion” comes appealing to the Four Dual Basic Urges. And it first appeals to that very first method of self-improvement; but instead of complaining, it complains for one. Someone comes up and complains for you and tells you how unfortunate you are and how badly you have been mistreated. And then they tell you about all your rights and they want to stick up for your rights for you and tell you how much you should stick up for your rights. And they tell you what’s to blame and who’s to blame for all your misfortune. And they tell you how different your are; and that is because you are so different and so unusual is the reason that you are being persecuted and mistreated.

You must beware. ‘Cause that is the slave master, that is the way the slave operator works. It is very interesting to listen to it, because certain people have found how to control the conditioned human being mind with precision. And it is being practiced.

Observe and you will see: stick up for their rights, blame for them, complain for them, and tell them how different they are and see how appealing. “It seems that someone really understands me,” and this puts a person in a slave box.

And, of course, there is an “I” that says its ability to reason is infallible, that everything it reasons out with logic is bound to be true. If it is logical, it is true. If two plus two equals four, then four equals four. But it’s also just as logical, but not true, that if two plus two equals seven then seven equals four, and “I believe that if a statement is logical that it must be true.” That is a very common one and one that is hidden away behind the barrier that sometimes makes it double difficult to see.

And also, there’s one that believes that as long as something is committed to memory from phrases or words from books, that the I, thereby, knows the whole meaning of it. This is a continual suggestion to I to identify with an opinion, a viewpoint. And there is many, many, many more of these beliefs.

Now, may we say that it would be interesting to write down this week all the things that one finds one is saying, “I believe”. Write it down, then observe it, check it out and see if there is a validity for that belief. If there is a validity, then you no longer believe it, you’re aware of it. If you believe it, it is from conditioning and you haven’t checked it out.

So suppose that for this week, we take as our practical application writing down all the things that starts with “I believe”. And spend some time in digging into seeing what “I believe”. This is an excellent work for I to observe the beliefs stored in the archives of the Awareness, many of which will then react almost spontaneously or mechanically as long as there is a belief.

Now, we’re not saying that these beliefs are all false. We are only saying that we can check them out. If we have a belief that is impossible to check out, then of course it is not a valid belief. We will park it amongst the unknowns and wait until sometime maybe there will be a way to check it out. But if there is a way to experiment with it, we can find out if it be true or if it not – by our own efforts by observing these beliefs.

Now, “belief” is a poor substitute for experiencing. I may believe that there is a lost city somewheres; but unless I go see, I will only be operating on theory or hypothesis and I will not be using the ability of I to experiment.

So for all beliefs, we’ll write them down. Possibly you can sit down and gather up quite a bit of ‘em all at once. And then as you go about your way, you will be observing the self and it will pop out, “Well, I believe this,” and “I believe that.” and “I believe the other”. So we can see what the self believes. Then we can check those beliefs out and see if they have validity. This will keep you quite occupied.

You will also listen to beliefs of others, and you will observe whether they have any validity or not. And this is to be checked out and to be verified if there is validity to the beliefs. And not much more valuable thing could be spent. So let’s check out the beliefs. And the ones that can’t be experimented upon can be parked away amongst trivia. The ones that can be checked out, we will check out and they will at least get one answer when you run an experiment – it’s either true or it’s not; it is works or it doesn’t work. That’s one wonderful thing about approaching things scientifically – there is no failures, there is always an answer: yes, it’s true; no, it doesn’t work, it is not true. In this way we change beliefs either into experiments – something that has been experienced and known – or something that can be discarded. And this eliminates a lot of very cunning not-I’s.