Attention - God

Attention - God / Document 13

December 2001    
 
 
We have only one birthday, the end of which we call death. Within that time there is a possibility for what is called 'rebirth'. That comes at the point where you experience the fact that you are not your body, or its functions. There is an essential you that was born, into a body. With that realization, you are re-born. 
 
Well, that might sound as true as it sounds strangely artificial: 'Oh, I like that . . . maybe . . . I don't know . . . whatever it is!' 
 
Before your natural-birth, you were not here. But, you did come from somewhere. Yearly celebrations of birthdays are ceremonies, originally religious ceremonies, that were meant to remind you of that fact. 
 
The dropping of the body is not the end of the story. Now, what do you want to do while you have it? You want to dance? You want to smoke? You want to fly? You want to be admired? Maybe you would like to be famous? You want somebody to love you? Is that what you came for? 
 
Oh, I know what you want – that's the funny thing. You want exactly what everybody wants – you want to stop suffering. If you were really honest with yourself you would realize that that is just about it. All else, that you think you want, is merely part of that struggle not to suffer. If you were to fully understand that you would never again argue with another person. It would be clear to you that that is the one thing that everyone is doing – trying not to suffer. Neither you nor they are being overly successful, and you ended off blaming each other! 
 
There's no mind in that. You can only begin to be rational when you realize that everyone is frantically struggling to keep balance, just as you are. If you want someone to 'kiss your ass' within that truth, you're barking up the wrong tree. 
 
Another truth: 
 
ATTENTION IS FOOD
 
Idries Shah comments: 'If you don't know the source of attention, it's like not knowing where your next meal will come from.'
Look around and see how it fits. How much attention a young child needs! We've got three young boys up the street that can be used as an example: Avraham, Benya and David. Take a look at them as they prance around. They're dying for attention, and are ready to 'kill' if necessary to get it. The infant here in this house is getting a great deal of attention. If she didn't she would scream, make a mess, be a pain in the ass. Any child will get attention, even if it has to pee in the flowerpot. More often than not, that continues throughout peoples' lives. If they can't get attention with a kiss, they'll accept a hit. If they can't get a compliment, they'll be satisfied with a criticism. Attention, is the issue.
 
You could call this the 'big secret' of the Work! An understanding of that would be the beginning of freedom. The first 'baby' step. 
 
Work is essentially self-study, leading to self-knowledge – through self-observation. Self-observation requires attention – your own attention! To start using that inner faculty is like the beginning of a pregnancy, the beginning of re-birth. The 'essential you' comes alive again, slowly but surely. Surely? Yes, surely – you begin to utilize the 'light of attention'. You had always demanded that attention come to you – now you realize that it must come from you! That's a 'reversal' (chozer bitshuva).
 
You have everything you need . . . the problem is, you never got to know what it was that you had! 
 
The 'Essential You' was born into the body, and does not die when the body drops. Your 'own' consciousness is a drop in the Ocean of Universal Consciousness, an aspect of God, eternal and everlasting. 
 
This whole life, is as one day in the life of the soul . . . it is always your birthday. 
 
Remember that directed attention is your tool and responsibility, within Consciousness Itself!  
 
 
Today is my birth-date. I feel so very relaxed, free from others' expectations. Isn't that why everyone loves his or her birthday? No obligations, free to be 'themselves'! It can sometimes turn ridiculous, like when people get drunk and get into all kinds of nonsense, feeling 'free'. But they are missing something there. 
 
you can do anything you want 
so long as you remember yourself
 
. . . if you don't remember yourself, you're really not doing anything – it's all doing itself. You are not even there. 
 
We want this birthday to count for something! It's so stupid you know, people struggling their whole life in order to escape the agony, and they have no idea where to start, or how they got into it in the first place. They end up getting so identified with the details of their own pain that they would not give any of it up for all the world. (laugh) 
 
How can you take advantage of this one long day? Does that sound too business like? Well it should be business like – it doesn't necessarily make it impersonal. Take advantage of an opportunity to get what you can, when you can. 
 
Anat : Is it not 'using an opportunity'?
 
Alan : I think that that's better – yes, exactly, using an opportunity. Use it for what? Hopefully for something lasting – something of a quality that doesn't just 'come and go'.  
 
It is my birth-date but I don't want to abuse my 'rights of birth', if there's any such thing. What special rights has Alan got today? Why all of a sudden is there such leniency on your part? (laugh)
 
Anat : Such what?
 
Alan : 'Leniency'. 
 
Tamara : ma ze (what's that)?
 
Alan : Ah, it's like 'forgiveness'. It's hard to put into words, but when it's someone's birthday it definitely changes surrounding attitudes. Like a wedding, or a brit, or a bar mitzva – something 'good' is supposed to be happening, no? Okay, hardly anyone believes that anymore, it's hard to get excited with those kinds of things. 'Oh, look who's getting married! My best friend is getting married . . . oh, his sister is getting married . . . oh, my mother is getting married, oooh!' Well, in the movies they still seem to get excited – like someone just hit the jackpot. 
 
A birthday is different. Somehow there is an instinctive 'knowing': 'now they are here, before, they were not.' From the other direction: Tzvika is 'gone' now. It's hard to understand. He was here, now he's not! Then I look at you, and I think: 'Oh, there was a time you were not here. Where did you come from, all of a sudden?' (laugh) 
 
In the face of death there is a unique kind of shock. Even the elephants react when they come across one of their own dead. You get the feeling that they know: 'Oh, me next!' At any funeral you touch that 'knowing'.  
 
The one thing that you don't do on someone's birthday, is to ask them for anything. Generally, we expect others, to do things, that suit us. Except on their birthday. Suddenly they don't owe nobody, nothing – you kind of 'owe' them. It reverses the whole relationship. It's almost as if you have no choice. 
 
I generally feel quite free – not in debt as far as I know and not burdened with unfulfilled promises. I don't feel pressured or 'obliged'. But still I become aware that there is, like, a special kind of freedom tonight. It's my birthday so we can let that serve as an example. Better to face that kind of example, than, you know, have to wait until somebody dies. 
 
Can you (Tamara) recall your birthday just a few days ago? You had a good day, didn't you? And not just because of the places you visited or how nice the people were to you. There is something in it that is bigger than a 'you' or a 'me' or a 'birthday'. It's something that brings up the taste of the 'miracle of being'. 
 
If that were fully tasted, in depth, it would change a person's world. If we could only meet up with everybody as if it was their birthday. But the fact is, that is exactly what it is – 'one day in the life of their soul'. What right does anyone have to expect anything from them? How can you expect anyone, on their birthday, to be considering you? This by the way is not some kind of a mind trick.
 
Did you ever hear of 'death-row', in prisons? People waiting to be executed. I'll bet that if one of those guys or dolls on death-row has a birthday, they get treated real special. On your birthday you're forgiven everything. There's a valuing taking place there, that goes beyond our usual judgmental habits. A respect without a 'reason'. That respect goes even to a convicted murderer –     a 'being', here, for a while. 
 
Secrets and lies are devilish things . . . they are an avoidance of the truth. They imprison a person in their own dream-land!
 
 
I've got only a few minutes of 'grace' left before it's twelve o'clock. Are you yawning on my birthday, Adam? 
 
Do you expect from others, when it's your own birthday? One could really get into trouble there! You have to remember that it's also their birthday. If you don't, and start expecting from them, you spoil your own birthday. 
 
I'll tell you a secret: When you really remember it's always the other person's birthday, it's almost impossible for them not to remember that it is yours as well. Sounds like a good formula for sanity.
 
Eight minutes to twelve and I'm back to being just an ordinary person (laugh). We are definitely over simplifying the human condition, but nonetheless we are talking the truth here.
 
 
(To Anat): You are going to have to be brave. In another document I used the term 'warrior'. Do you remember? A warrior is not a 'fighter' – there's a big difference. A warrior is constantly challenged by truthfulness, humility and love. It's very much an energy issue. You must have the courage to say 'no' to fear, and revert back to your aim, within your evaluation. You must first 'stop', put the brakes on when you are in mechanical fear, stop slipping backwards. Only then can you really think!
 
There are certain energies, moods, places, where a person should never think from. You can't start from fear – you must start with an 'idea', from remembering. All thinking that starts in fear, ends in fear! You have to remember, what you remembered, when you remembered best!
 
I appreciate your mood tonight, and I'm happy to spend our birthdays together. 
 
Sometimes I have this thought about the child: She is almost constantly in the company of adults and has already received more attention than most people get in a lifetime! I think to myself: is she ever going to be able to be alone?
 
 
In addition – from the Friends and Na'ama:
 
THE FALL OF BABYLON
 
CONSCIOUSNESS INSIDE CONSCIOUSNESS
WE ARE A PART OF THE BIG CONSCIOUSNESS
OF THE FATHER CONSCIOUSNESS
SO WE ARE CONSCIOUSNESS
IN THE POTENTIAL OF GROWTH
 
THE BEGINNING OF FREEDOM
WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT YOUR 
BODY, MIND, EMOTIONS
IT'S THE TIME TO DEEPEN IN SEARCH 
OF THE SELF
A SPACE IS OPENED
IT REACHES THE LIMIT OF THE FIRST CHAPTER 
THE FIRST COLLECTION OF 
UNCRITICAL SELF-OBSERVATION 
PHOTOGRAPHS IN SELF-REMEMBERING
 
THE ETERNAL & EVERLASTING
THAT IS WHAT IS
EARNED IN HARD LABOR
THE BODY DROPS AND WHAT GOES ON 
INTO ETERNITY
IS KEEPING THE LABOR HARD
THAT IS WHAT IS
A SPACE SUIT, WRINKLED SUIT
 
AN ASSOCIATION CROSSES THE MIND:
I AM A GUEST IN THIS BODY
LEARN TO BE A GUEST
LEARN HOSPITALITY
IN ORDER TO CHOOSE THE BEST
LEARN THE BEST
 
EVERYTHING IS DONE TO GET ATTENTION
GIVING & RECEIVING ATTENTION 
IS EARNING ENERGY
IS TO INCREASE GIVING