Waiting For God

I listened to a session of inquiry today by Byron Katie entitled The End of suffering - 2 which can be downloaded for free from the link I have provided. At the beginning of the session, a woman, I suppose you could say the inquiree, said, “I want God to make it easy for me to commit to a partnership.” The thing I want emphasise and explore in this post is the concept of waiting for God – expecting God to do something for you.

The woman, the inquiree, correctly identified the fact that holding onto the thought that God should do something for us, that it makes her feel like a victim, bottom of God’s list, orphaned, unlovable, and separate from God.

Without the thought that God should do something for her, the woman related that she would feel more self-worthy, more trusting of self and more open.

During this session of inquiry, Katie raised the point of procrastination: when we hold onto the thought that God should do something for us, we inevitably put off doing what we should be doing. With this thought, God becomes the source of the blame for our not doing something, or something that we expect to happen in our lives, which ends-up not happening.

The turnaround for this session is, “I should…”, or, “I want me to…” It is a matter of self meeting self. If we want God to do something for us – we could be in for a long wait. If we want God to do something for us – we should do it. Personally, I believe in God so the way I see this is that it is God who moves in me. Nevertheless, I concur that holding on to the thought that God should do something, is a recipe for procrastination.

Cancer Meets Inquiry

This session of inquiry at the beginning of The End of suffering - 2, reminded me of one of my favourite sessions of inquiry by Byron Katie entitled Cancer Meets Inquiry which is downloadable via iTunes (for a cost) or for free via the link I provided.

In this session, a woman was saying that God promised all good. She was upset because her church (she is a Christian) promised that God is good and that He would heal her. So when this woman developed cancer, she held onto the thought that God promised all good and that He would heal her. The contraction around this thought brought her stress.

She said she was angry because she didn’t know what she was doing wrong. This is a common thing that happens when people believe in God. When a person becomes a Christian, or believes in any other religion that supports the existence of God, several things happen:

• They have a whole lot of expectations that they believe God can, and should, fulfil.
• They develop a sense of guilt as they wonder what it is they should do in order to appease God’s wrath and to merit His favour.
• They inevitably blame God for all the bad things that have happened in their life and continue to occur in the lives of other people.

The inevitable outcome of these convictions and expectations is:

• God becomes a tyrant who is impossible to please.
• The person feels that they are not good enough and that there is something they must do to please God. They feel a sense of hopelessness.
• They feel like the innocent victim of an unfair world.

This woman felt that she had caused the cancer, she said, “That’s what they say.” She does not say who “they” are – but I would suppose that it is this woman’s church members who said, or subtly implied this. When a person holds onto the thought that they have created their own illness, it causes a person to feel as if they are a bad person and that the illness is proof of that. The thought “I created cancer”, also gives a person the thought, “I created it – I can stop it.” People must realise that they did not choose to be ill.

The Secret to Physical Healing?

There has been a lot of Christian teaching on the subject of healing through faith. Kenneth E. Hagin is known by some as the “Father of Faith”. Hagin’s life story is rather remarkable: he was miraculously healed of an incurable heart condition and blood disease at the age of seventeen. Hagin had several near-death experiences – he even went to the very gates of hell itself – only to be snatched away at the last moment (see Hagin’s minibook “I Went to Hell”).

Kenneth E. Hagin used faith for finances, and particularly, faith for healing in all of his books on Christian faith. Hagin even wrote entire books just on the subject of healing by faith. Hagin would teach that Christians should confess that they are healed – because Christ has already healed them. There are numerous different verses of scripture from the Bible that Hagin used to support this notion, in particular, 1 Peter 2:24 - who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. Hagin would point out that this verse says that we are not going to be healed, but that we are already healed. Hagin recommended finding verse of scripture that say that our need is met – and then confess it, believing that we already have it.

It has only been during recent years that Bible teachers have been reflecting on Hagin’s teachings and establishing why his methods don’t appear to work for most people. Hagin, and similar faith teachers, would say that it is because people don’t believe enough, or because they don’t confess scripture enough. But the real reason is because:

• They don’t believe that God loves them the way they are
• They feel that they are not right with God.
• They believe they must do something to merit the blessing and favour of God.

Byron Katie related how people develop cancer: it is because they attach the thought that they have cancer. People, who have cancer, or another illness, can ask themselves, “I have cancer – is it true?” (You could substitute cancer with any other illness. The turnaround for this is simply, “I don’t have cancer.” Even though the doctor, the lab and medical science says that a person has cancer, they can still question the thought that says that they have cancer.

Without the story that a person has cancer, they would not worry about it. It is only when the thought arises that they have cancer or that God should heal them – that they experience stress. Katie related how she was diagnosed with cancer – she did inquiry and did not worry about it – this is what led to her remarkable recovery from this illness.

I cannot help but feel that this is the key to healing from any physical illness, in fact, healing from any issue in life. The key is questioning contraction around a stressful thought. When people try to use prayer, confession of scripture or affirmations to control their physical health or anything else in their life – they end-up losing the very control they are trying to attain. Whenever we try to control something in our lives we end-up becoming anxious. Our lives would be much better if we just simply relinquished control by questioning stressful thoughts - no matter what other people or established science may say.

Inquiry Based on Persistent Releases

Ever since combining releasing with inquiry – I have noticed some amazing ways that both methods facilitate the other. One example of this is the way that persistent releases provide an indication as to what belief needs to be question using inquiry.

One of the great things about releasing is that you are not encouraged to simply “guess” what the want is coming from. I have noticed that one of the most frequent questions that are raised on the releasing forums by inexperienced releasers is about what wants are behind a reaction or feeling in response to a particular situation. There are often replies to such questions on these forums – some of them sound very convincing, whilst some can be off-the-mark or just fanciful.

The only way that we can truly know what want is behind our reactions to a situation, is by quieting the mind and asking the question, “Does this come from a want for approval, control or security?” Then, wait for the answer to arise from the subconscious mind to the conscious mind; it might take several seconds, but it will come. It will come in words, pictures or feelings – but it will come. Sometimes more than one want arises. Sometimes the opposite want arises, e.g. a want to disapprove rather than a want for approval.

There are times when the basis of a want is rather obvious. For instance, when you are worrying over money-matters, it is obvious that it is want for security. When you are in a traffic jam and feeling impatient, waiting for the traffic to move, it will likely by a want for control. When someone does not seem to appreciate your efforts to please them – it will be a want for approval. But for those times when the want is not so obvious, it is useful to ask the question, “What want does this come from?”

I have found it very useful to regularly ask myself, when experiencing negative emotions or a sense of unease, “What does it want?” The answer will always come if I still my mind and wait for the answer.

We are not always certain if there is a want operating in a situation. If a man sees a woman he is attracted to and is in an emotional state of grief, but then rises to a state of lust, he might actually believe that he is experiencing love. It is only when he asks what want is present – that the truth is revealed. In this situation, there is a want for approval present. Perhaps love is also present, but if that man could release on the want for approval, then he knows that the want for approval was present to some degree. Perhaps the man is attracted to the woman in a way that is natural and in it comes from the higher self, in that case, there is nothing to release on.

We become trained through regular, recurring situations, to know what want is behind our reaction to a certain situation. 1 John 4:1 talks about testing a spirit. Perhaps this has something to do with testing the spirit, the essence of something, in order to determine whether it is genuine and of God?

I know that 1 John 4:1 has been applied in Christian spiritual warfare techniques to ask evil spirits to name themselves during deliverance sessions. In such deliverance sessions, the evil spirits will typically reply that they are a spirit of fear, lying or high-blood-pressure or whatever. But these techniques are really in the realm of the neurotic and the extreme. The secure minded Christians that I know of how no need or inclination to partake in such practices.

The Bible also talks about bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we ask what wants are present in a given moment – we are fulfilling, I believe, the requirements set-out in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We are also fulfilling the requirement of Romans 6:12 and Ephesians 4:22 – to name but a few. If we attempt to deal with sin, in the moment, without releasing, we will end-up moving into self-effort with people-pleasing, repression and behaviour modification programs in operation.

These wants, in given circumstances, can therefore become a means of establishing the wrong belief operating in that given situation. Byron Katie often talks about this subject: like when a person indulges in a bad habit of some kind, such as drinking, or they have an outburst of anger, there is always a wrong belief that they are attaching to in that moment. If a person gets into the practice of releasing when they feel stressful – they become more in-tune with their thoughts and feelings. This can only have a good affect on a person’s use of inquiry.

In relation to the example I gave above, about the man wanting a woman’s approval, we can articulate the underlying belief in a very simple way, as follows, “I need ________’s approval – is it true?”

So when we find that there are certain wants in operation in given circumstances, these should be an indication that we need to go deeper using inquiry in order to experience a more permanent relief from that wrong belief. In fact, I am of the opinion, and it is just an opinion, that releasing is a way of gaining a temporary relief from the wants established by wrong thinking. In order to establish permanent relief from those thoughts and wants – I believe that inquiry is the best means of doing this.

The Ticking Time bomb Analogy

I believe that stressful thoughts (wrong beliefs) can be likened to the ticking of a time bomb. Each time we experience a stressful thought, it is an indication that we need to go into inquiry so that we may question it. Over the years, society has learned to suppress emotions and block-out painful thoughts or those thoughts which are deemed to be unacceptable to our moral integrity. Each time we experience a particular stressful thought, or a related stressful thought, it can be likened to another tick of the time bomb.

Complexes

In actual fact, the analogy of a time bomb in the mind is better suited to what I see as being the source of wants: complexes. Complexes are clusters of related thoughts that become connected in the mind in order to facilitate retrieval later on. Anyone who is familiar with memory recall techniques will understand the power of association when it comes to developing a powerful memory. The mind stores information by determining a correlation between a new thought and existing thoughts. Eventually, through continuous anxiety, complexes can become strong and varied in terms of association between different thoughts.

The Time bomb will Eventually Explode

Eventually, time will run out and that time bomb will explode in some way. This might be experienced in the form of a sickness, nervous breakdown, marriage failure, criminal conviction or perhaps just an awkward, difficult or embarrassing situation which could have been simply avoided.

When we fail to heed the warnings that our mind and emotions give us – we are ignoring that ticking time bomb in our mind. In reality, there could be several of these veritable time bombs, waiting to go off when we least expect them to. This situation could take years and years of preparation to culminate in that one, devastating incident to take place. When I say “preparation”, I’m talking about wrong expectations (false hopes), poor decisions, and deceit and so on.

Eventually, the pressure of life will bear down on you and literally shock you into the realisation that the beliefs you held onto so tightly for so long – have brought nothing but pain and misery to yourself and perhaps to those around you. Life throws us “curve balls” in the form of events that show us that we were unprepared for the unexpected. There is something about suffering which seems to have the effect of forcing us to let go of certain long-held ideals – to the point that we are willing to relinquish our hold on the most deep-set and proud convictions.

Inquiry provides us with a means of “collapsing time” by listening to what our heart has been trying to tell us all along. Perhaps it enables us to avoid going through certain painful situations. I don’t believe that it is a means of avoiding so-called negative circumstances and is certainly not a tool by which we can assert complete control over our lives. This is not a quick affirmation we can make or an obligation to fulfil or a sentiment to embrace. No, this is a process that we need to go through: four questions and a turnaround. We need to ask if something is true, if it’s absolutely true, what life is like with the thought, and finally, what life would be like without the thought. This is then followed by the turnaround, which the four questions have prepared us for, so that it is as true as or truer than the thought we are questioning.

The Irony of Anxiety

The irony of anxiety is that anxious people develop an expectation for bad things to happen in their life. For this reason, they are more likely to anticipate negative circumstances arising from seemingly innocent occurrences. But rather than putting a person into a position of control, the desire to control circumstances results in worry, incessant planning and a desperate need for things to go a certain way. The more we worry about things – the less control we have over what happens in our life. So it seems that anticipating negative circumstances with a view of controlling the outcome – is an exhaustive and futile task. Rather than becoming responsible, worry simply makes us irresponsible. Byron Katie often says, “If you want to suffer on purpose – get a plan!” This message echoes the wisdom of Eckhart Tolle, the author of the bestselling book, The Power of Now.

Principles and Formulas

Religious and self-help teaching seeks to identify these ticking time bombs of the mind so that we can deal with them. But the problem is that the provision of principles and formulas does little in relation to our being able to defuse these potentially explosive and damaging thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and desires.

Releasing and Inquiry

Thankfully, through releasing and inquiry we have a means of being able to detect these wrong beliefs; we are then able to let go of the emotions and underlying wants, in the moment, so that we can experience peace. Then, if we are not able to question the wrong beliefs in that moment, we can write them down so that we can question them later.

Writing down Stressful Thoughts

Byron Katie says that when we write down our beliefs, it is like hitting the pause button on our minds. We are able to freeze time, in a sense, when we write down our stressful thoughts. Therefore, even if we forget to question our thoughts, if we have written them down, we can question our thoughts when we check our notes at a later time.

How to Know What Belief to Question – Part 2

Our Built-In Alert Mechanism

We have a built-in mechanism that tells us we are attaching to a belief: it is called pain. When we experience mental stress as the result of attaching to a wrong belief, we know we are to inquire into that belief in order to experience freedom from it. At the root of all of our emotions, I believe, is a stressful thought; without the thought - there would be no emotional response other than the love of God and the peace and joy that it brings. In reality, our stressful thoughts are likely to be the product of not just one, isolated thought, but a whole network of interrelated thoughts: what is known in Psychology as complexes.

The Work is not a Principle

Byron Katie says that The Work is not a principle to follow - she says that The Work is the mind: we are working with the way that the mind works in order to undo all of the thoughts that we attach to - the thoughts that cause our suffering. Byron Katie believes that all suffering in the world is due to our stressful thoughts. Without the beliefs that we attach to things - there would be no pain and no suffering. This concept elicits resistance in a lot of people - perhaps because they want to hold onto the myth that something good can come from attaching to harmful beliefs – as if people would go unpunished if we were to do so and that justice would not be done.

The Power of Unforgiveness

The mind believes that if forgives someone - that person will go unpunished. But we are the ones that experience the punishment when we refuse to let go of harmful thoughts. This concept of holding-up a sense of unfairness simply keeps a person in a painful world was they see themselves as victims and other people as perpetrators. But without the beliefs to hold-up the concept of what is fair and unfair - there would be no more separation, judgementalism and no more suffering.

Surrender to Love by Letting go of Fear

In this condition we are not completely defenceless: it just means that we substitute our own limited and painful fear for God's perfect love. When we surrender to love we experience peace and joy; we also find that love enables our life to flow more effortlessly and things tend to happen when and how they should. It is our own fear, caused by attaching to wrong beliefs, which simply get in the way of God.

How to Know What Belief to Question – Part 1

What Byron Katie’s says is that we should just work with whatever belief arises in that moment. There is no need to seek after beliefs to work with; there is no need to use complex forms of Psychoanalysis; no need to analyse painful experiences from the past. We don't need to read books which tell us what is right, wrong, good or bad; we don't need to read books to find the right principles that other people say we should live according to. In this way, we are able to do away with an entire bookcase full of books that attempt to tell us how we should live our lives. This gives us a great deal more independence and potentially saves us a lot of wasted time and money.

If people become self-empowered (more like God-empowered) they are no longer under the control of spiritual gurus, Psychologists, therapists, advisors and church pastors. There is a great deal of freedom and empowerment to be found by doing The Work.

The modus operandi of The Work is the concept that contraction around a thought is what causes negative thoughts and feelings, and in fact, suffering in general. Byron Katie says that confusion is the only suffering. Katie often says, “If I think you are the problem – I am insane”. This reminds me of a quote from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. The biggest criticisms of The Work is that it is too simple and that it condones wrong behaviour. But it is not about determining what is good, bad, right, wrong, fair or unfair. Inquiry is simply a means of questioning the attachment to a thought – knowing that it is this attachment to a thought that causes stress and overall dysfunction in life.

The Work – Four Questions and a Turnaround

The Work of Byron Katie^TM: Four Questions and a Turnaround:

1. Is it true?

2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?

3. How do you react when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?

* Turn the thought around (to the opposite, to the other, to yourself); is it as true or truer?

* Find three genuine examples of how this turnaround is true in your life now.

* Can you find another turnaround that feels as true or truer?

To learn more about The Work of Byron Katie, visit: http://www.thework.com/

Heart Meets Mind

The following is a quote of an MP3 of Byron Katie facilitating the Work, which is freely downloadable from the website www.everypathis.org – the session is entitled How to Do a Relationship. I am including it here because I feel that it is a profound explanation of how inquiry works.

“This Work is meditation; the heart gives the answer – not the intellect. What I experience is: the mind has been perceived as an enemy. So we write the mind down on paper and then we ask the questions. In that way, it’s the mind asking the questions. And then if it asks with intention and it really wants to know, if you’re a lover of truth, the mind asks and the heart, which has always been clouded over with all of this thinking, all of this chaos; the mind asks the questions, the four questions, and the heart will give the answer. Every time it will give it in pictures, it will give it in knowing, it will give it in thoughts. And if you wait it will just feed you and feed you and feed you. And the mind begins to just lose itself in that peace it’s always been seeking. It’s the mind finding a home in the heart. And the heart and the mind come to know in that space that they’re the same. There is no mind and heart, there is no separation – it’s merging.

We want to give our bodies a home – let’s give our mind a home. We want to give our sweet children a home – we want to give the homeless a home – focusing always on that so we don’t have to give the mind a home that is safe and that is the power of understanding and truth.

There is no mind and heart. There’s only, you know, the symbol of heart, the mind knows that that’s why it never goes out – it’s coming home to itself. It’s been out there a while. It’s a nice trip out – for me forty three years and its back. And that’s what this Work does, you know, we begin to look forward to it; like look forward to the worst that could happen, we may as well we’ve had a wonderful teacher here that shows us, you know, here it comes.

So this Work is, we go out and the Work is the way back now. So we begin to look forward to the trip and eventually there’s nothing that can stop the flow – it’s an in and out – I, I, I, I, I, I.

There’s no harm anywhere – our story about what is, is the harm we experience within us. And if you should feel the discomfort of that, then If you think this investigation would serve you – it’s an offering.”

Byron Katie on Confusion

I really like Katie’s perspective on the concept of confusion: Katie attributes confusion to a person holding onto wrong beliefs. This is what causes people to make wrong choices: they have fixed ideas of what should and should not happen; what other people should or should not do and how they ought to behave. These belief continue with how other people should treat them; what they deserve; a decision that they should have made in the past; and so on.

Basically, confusion is the product of arguing with reality. One of the ways in which we argue with reality is that we mentally get into other people’s business or we get into God’s business. Katie’s definition of “God” is “what is” or “reality” or “everything”. Therefore, when we mentally get into God’s business, we are trying to control what is outside of our responsibility.

Being a Christian, I believe in God as being a spirit, not only that, but the creator of the universe. I appreciate that not everyone in the releasing or inquiry communities does not see God the way others do: they see God in the same way as Byron Katie. I’m willing to accept that in the pursuit of finding common ground with those who practice releasing and inquiry. I cannot impose my spiritual beliefs on other people and I believe that we all have to be allowed to progress in our spiritual beliefs in our own way and at our own pace. Although I would like for everyone reading this blog to consider looking into the type of Christianity that I believe and follow - the purpose of this blog is to journal my experiences with releasing and inquiry and to convey my convictions of how all these belief systems relate to one another.

I have never heard the subject of confusion taught in this way before. But I must say, this concept of confusion is precisely how I have experienced it in my own life - which makes Katie’s teaching very refreshing for me. I found that I would become terribly confused whenever I felt stressed as a result of arguing with reality in my mind. Before I learned about inquiry, I suppose I just never knew how to put a stop to those thoughts. I just assumed that there was something wrong with me or that I needed to do or attain something that would bring me into a state of peace. I did not begin to think for one moment that it was these efforts to change my life that were most likely the main cause of the anxiety in my life.

One of my biggest struggles in life has been in the office workplace. A thought would come to me that would assert my right to be respected more by my managers and work-colleagues. I just thought that it was my right to believe that I deserved greater respect. But whenever I believed that thought, I would experience anger, frustration, a sense of worthlessness and a barrage of negative thoughts. I would then struggle to do my job because I would become so confused. I would start making silly mistakes and would even struggle to make the smallest of decisions. But what kept this stress and confusion alive for so long was the Christian and self-help message that asserted the “right” for people to claim, attract and control wealth and power in their life.

Byron Katie’s Attitude and Philosophy

I felt that Byron Katie had gained my trust and I was keen to find out more about The Work by listening to live session of Katie facilitating The Work with other people. I was amazed at this woman’s attitude and philosophy!

I discovered that Katie was not some sort of spiritual guru who had studied New Age and Eastern Religions for years. I found Katie to just be a normal woman who had suffered from the tyranny of her own thoughts for years and had decided that she wanted peace. This led her to totally accept “what is” – even to the point of risking being labelled by other people as uncaring or tolerating suffering and wrongdoing in this world.

Katie sometimes jokes with people who ask her if she had a religion before she discovered The Work, she answers, “Yes, my husband should pick-up his socks!” What she means by this is that she held onto the belief of what her husband should be like and how he should behave. These beliefs contributed towards her confusion, apathy and suffering – all the “teaching” that she needed in order to find freedom from her stressful thoughts and to find lasting inner peace. Katie is convinced that there is enough in our everyday life and our relationships to teach us about life and teach us about ourselves, so that we may find freedom from our anxious thoughts.

Listening to Katie facilitate The Work is poetry in motion; it exudes truth without the false promises that most self-help and spiritual practices make. There is no pretence and there is no manipulation. Inquiry offers peace of mind as the only reward rather than stirring-up the fantasies of neurotics. No stressful thought can stand against inquiry – not even your deepest convictions or your most terrifying fears.

Katie helps people to discover the truth that already exists within their heart, rather than trying to tell them what they should believe or how they should conduct their lives. Katie invites people to believe what they want to believe – what is true for them, nothing more and nothing less. You see, we know what is true for us when we look to how a belief makes us feel and how we treat ourselves and others, when we attach to it. Inquiry is not about determining what is right, wrong, good, bad, fair or unfair – inquiry is about questioning our attachment to a thought. Katie takes the time to listen to people as they freely express their beliefs and feelings. She then helps them to see that their strongest convictions are untrue – because of how those thoughts make them feel on the inside. In between this inquiry, Katie often comes out with the most wonderfully profound wisdom which I found blows me away with its profound truth, amazing relevance and beautiful simplicity.

Discovering More About Inquiry

I developed an insatiable thirst for Byron Katie’s philosophy and for inquiry. I downloaded as much material on the internet as I could find. I purchased and downloaded various different MP3s on iTunes of Katie facilitating inquiry with people. I downloaded the audio versions of the books: I Need Your Love – Is It True? and Loving What Is. The former is a study on the way we seek the approval of others; the latter could be considered the “official manual” on inquiry – a ”must have” for anyone serious about doing The Work for themselves. There are also many MP3s of Byron Katie doing The Work at http://www.everypathis.org. These MP3s are well-worth downloading but they do vary in audio quality. I would also advise visiting Byron Katie’s website: http://www.thework.com.

My Initial Experience with the Work

I will admit that as a Christian, I was rather tentative about studying Byron Katie’s teachings. I just assumed that Katie would be from a New Age background and would use all sorts of airy-fairy New Age terminology, such using the term “Infinite Intelligence” instead of God.

I was rather keen to try The Work for myself. I found that on Work website there was enough information to be able to try this method for myself and put it to the test. I just thought to myself that if I could get results from The Work, I could just ignore most of Byron Katie’s teaching and incorporate the very basics of Inquiry into my own belief system.

I was amazed that as soon as I started my first session of The Work – I was off like a rocket! Revelation just flowed from my heart as I asked the four questions. As predicted by users of The Work: I really took my time with question 3 – “Who are you with that thought?” When I asked that question, I really took the time to see who I was with that wrong belief. I then found myself approaching the turnaround in a way that felt natural and easy for me. I was keen to try this process with other beliefs, and found that I got the same astonishing results.

The Work and Christianity

Another remarkable thing I found about The Work was that I found that my Christian knowledge came into consciousness! For years I had been struggling with prayer: it seemed that even when I wanted to pray, my mind would just go blank.

I studied Christian Word of Faith teaching, namely Kenneth E. Hagin, for about ten years. I found that after struggling with Word of Faith for several years, I just could not seem to get it to work for me. Word of Faith teaching ascribes the positive confession of verses of scripture as a means of claiming blessings from God. For this reason, Word of Faith teaching is sometimes called by its critics, “Name It and Claim It”.

Not everything about Word of Faith is bad; in fact, I believe it has revolutionised modern Christianity by proving that the power of faith as experienced in the early church, is still available to us today.

What is not so favourable about Word of Faith teaching is that it puts an emphasis on healing, miracles, power and prosperity. Obviously, it is not a good idea for a neurotic Christian to get his hands on faith teaching as it will create a massive distraction to seeking peace through the assurance of righteousness with God through faith in Christ.

The Christian knowledge that came to me during The Work was partly from Word of Faith, but it was merely giving me the assurance that God was good and would meet my needs – not that He would make me rich and give me specific things that I mistakenly thought I needed. I also found that my grace teaching came to my awareness: I was reminded that I was right with God apart from my own efforts, conduct and external circumstances.

From this perspective: I could see that The Work was a valuable tool for me to use – even if I could use it only for the purpose of bringing the Word of God to my remembrance.

The 20 Minute “Rule”

My first inquiry sessions took about 20 minutes from first question to final turnaround. I have found that with most strong beliefs, I usually take about 20 minutes. I don’t know why this is and I certainly never plan it that way: I just seem to take around 20 minutes. I have also found that there are times when I take about 30 minutes, but that is usually when I get a bit stuck or my mind starts to drift a little. There are also times when I only take about 5 or 10 minutes with a Work session: this is usually when I am re-working a previously strong belief, or I am working with a mild belief.

CAP People – Part 2

Apathy vs. Peace

There is a huge difference between apathy and peace. Apathy has very little energy to it and it's incapable of doing even the simplest of things. Peace, on the other hand, although it maintains a state of rest, is actually very capable of achieving some great things; peace has a lot of energy and resources behind it.

High AGFLAP people often defend their wants and negative emotions because they seek to avoid an apathetic state. What these people fail to recognize is that just because a person is in a state of rest and they have peace of mind it does not necessarily mean that they are in a state of apathy: they could actually be in a state of peace.

CAP People are Attractive

I have found that the most attractive and affable people are those who are relatively free of the four wants, and therefore, spend most of their time in a state of CAP. CAP people do not invest a great deal of time trying to prove that they are right. Neither do CAP people seek to continuously gain the approval of others according to their efforts. I have found that I can relax around a CAP person because he is not trying to control me, persuade me, and get me to agree with him or acknowledge him.

CAP and Righteousness

This kind of person’s self-esteem and self-confidence is not strongly attached to his ability or achievements. In some way or another a CAP person knows that he is accepted the way that he is. The Biblical concept of righteousness is often seen as being acceptance to God according to a person's behaviour. But in actual fact, righteousness has much more to do with knowing that you are okay the way that you are. For a Christian, this sense of righteousness comes from knowing that God accepts you the way that you were because you believe in Jesus.

CAP and Trustworthiness

I always feel that I can relax around a CAP person because I don't feel as if I have to argue with him; I don't feel as if I need to win that person's approval or that the person is trying to trick me in any way. I always feel as if I can trust a CAP person, that they are reliable and that they will not cheat on me. It is always best to not try to judge the reliability and trustworthiness of another person according to how they look or behave. The way that you can know that you can trust another person is according to how you feel about them in the moment.

CAP and Humility

CAP people often have their own opinions about things just like anybody else. But they are inclined to listen to the opinions of others and are prepared to forsake their own opinions for those of others if they believe the other person is right. What makes these people distinctive from AGFLAP people is that they are humble and they don't feel the need to try to get other people to agree with them. It is this humble condition which makes CAP people highly influential. I find that I am often more inclined to agree with a CAP person, even when he is actually wrong, than an AGFLAP person who might actually be right.

CAP People – Part 1

The last emotional profile that we are going to examine is that of CAP people. CAP people are those who spend most of their time in a state of courageousness, acceptance or peace. We have only to look at the synonyms attributed to these high emotional states to understand that this is the best profile to belong to. These people are relatively free from the four wants of approval, control, security, separation and oneness. These people experience love, peace and joy as their normal state. The emotions of fear, lust, and anger and so on are not completely outside their experience but are definitely uncommon to them.

CAP people are able to rest in the integrity of who they are and they have a strong sense of self-esteem and self-confidence. Such people tend not to worry about things and they typically find that life just "does itself" and that they tend to make the right decisions in the right moment.

CAP people are not totally immune to things going wrong in their lives. However, when something bad or unexpected does happen in their life, they are in a much better state to be able to accept it, deal with it and move on from it, than those who spend most of their time in a state of AGFLAP.

The Concept of Intelligence

I think that most people in the world have distorted views on concepts such as intelligence and love. When it comes to intelligence we tend to think that if somebody is academic and has many qualifications then they are intelligent. I have found that people with qualifications can sometimes be the dumbest people on the planet! Rather than identifying a person's intelligence according to their education and their profession, we should look more towards their emotional state.

A person could have very few qualifications and not have a spectacular job, and yet, they could be calm, resourceful, confident, quick thinking and capable. Rather than looking to the concept of intelligence we should look more to the concept of wisdom or intuition. What marks a person as being capable, is how intuitive they are. Another word for intuitive could be common sense. If a person lacks common sense and they will tend to be ineffective in life. When it comes to the quality of a person's life I believe it comes down more to their ability to make good choices in life, rather than their job title and salary figure. But it is the concept of effort-and-reward, fuelled by the four wants, which causes a person to pursue things like job titles and salary figures, rather than peace of mind and the ability to make good choices.

The Concept of Love

The concept of love for many people is a very confusing one. Being a Christian I have seen the way that the institutional church has attempted to reduce love down to a set of principles. As a result, there are many Christians who have become like religious robots and follow a set of rules rather than living from their heart. Darin Hufford from the Free Believers Network says that some Christians have been trained to become like Mr Rogers or the Teletubbies.

People who are in low AGFLAP often pride themselves as being nice people. But the truth of the matter is that they are just soft - the AGFLAP chart enables us to identify this. I have found that people who are in low AGFLAP, although they might be quiet and keep themselves to themselves, they can harbour the most bitter and unpleasant thoughts and feelings. Even though a person commits himself to an act of charity, their motive could be all wrong. When a CAP person commits to an act of benevolence, it is most likely that it is done out of a genuine heart of love - free from ulterior motives.

"The Law" and Religious Pride

Religious people, who live according to a set of rules, can find themselves driven by the want for separation. When the Bible talks about "the law" it is typically talking about the Old Testament with its rules and rituals including the Ten Commandments. But the concept of "the law" goes beyond just keeping the Ten Commandments and the Jewish laws: in its broadest sense it is the concept of effort-and-reward.

My favourite grace preacher, Bertie Brits, says that "the law" can be defined as "by my efforts I will become". So "the law" as spoken of in the Bible is not just a means of being justified in the sight of God -- it is also a means by which a person can make himself acknowledged and respected by other people. "The law" is the concept of effort-and-reward.

In the four Gospels we read about the Pharisees who love to keep religious rules as a means of making themselves look important. In Matt. 6:5-6 Jesus said that the religious people love to pray publicly because it makes them look holy and spiritual. Jesus said that we should pray to God in private and not make it into a public thing. Here is how The Message translation renders verse 5: "And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?"

Jesus showed mercy to the woman who was caught in the act of adultery in John 8:10-11. But Jesus was always in conflict with the religious scribes and Pharisees; they were always trying to trick him by asking him awkward questions, like when they asked Him in Matt. 22:15-17, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?". Jesus called them "a brood of vipers" in Matt. 3:7.

High AGFLAP People

High AGFLAP people typically span the range of lust, anger and pride. It would appear that the emotion of lust seems to be the pivotal point between a high AGFLAP state and a low AGFLAP state; lust is something which is typically shared by both sets of people.

Typically, a high AGFLAP person will operate in a continuous want for separation. Such people look to what they do and what they have to give them a sense of identity and purpose. They are highly competitive people who judge other people and compare themselves with them. We see an example in the Bible in Luke 18:11 of a person with a want for separation who compares himself with someone else, as a means of making himself feel more distinctive and beyond reproach.

High AGFLAP people will tend to be dissatisfied a lot of the time. However, they will not spend a lot of time in apathy or grief. Such people will often complain when things don't go the way they want. But rather than feeling powerless to do anything about it they will often shift the blame onto external circumstances and other people for their dissatisfaction, such as the government, work colleagues, the economy and so on. So we can see that people who are in a state of high AGFLAP, with a want for separation, are constantly looking outside of themselves in order to blame something or someone for their frustration.

Such people will be highly opinionated and very competitive; they are driven heavily by the concept of effort-and-reward. These highly opinionated people will always want to be right; they will hardly ever humble themselves and are unwilling to see things from another person's perspective. They are controlling and if someone else disagrees with them, they are prepared to bitterly argue their case. It is amazing the lengths that such people will go to be able to argue their case: they are prepared to study and gather all the facts that they need in order to prove that they are right.

I find such people unpleasant to be around because I feel that I can never relax around them. I feel that I need to always be on my guard and have to be prepared to defend my viewpoint. As high AGFLAP people need the approval of others in order to boost their self-esteem, they will unceasingly search for the means of maintaining the approval of others according to their efforts, which is of course, exhausting.

The concept of being loved by God and getting their needs met by Him, even when they don't deserve it, will be completely alien to these people, this goes equally for Christians and non Christians. High-performance and intelligent people can be High AGFLAP people. In fact, high AGFLAP people are capable of great achievements and the attainment of wealth. However, without love these achievements and attainment of possessions will do little to appease the wants that compel them.

There is a temptation to justify these wants and to retain them with the belief that without them they would not be compelled to aspire to achieve anything. This is a complete misnomer because when a person has genuine love, it is that love which compels them to do the things that they do. True Christianity is all about knowing that you are loved by God through faith in Christ and resting your mind in the faithfulness of God.

Low AGFLAP People

I find the people who are in a low AGFLAP state will typically span the range of apathy, grief, fear and lust. Although, they will also experience moments of anger and pride, and to a lesser extent, courageousness, acceptance and peace. Low AGFLAP people will typically have all the four wants operating in their lives: approval, control, security, separation and oneness.

Such people will be anxious because they will typically feel powerless to change the circumstances of their lives. They will desire the approval of others, but feel that they have not got what it takes to merit their approval. I believe that the main want that is driving a person in low AGFLAP will be the want for security -- they will be very insecure people. This insecurity will also drive the want for control as they desperately seek to avoid further harm and loss.

Low AGFLAP people will have a low self-esteem, they will be unsure of themselves, and therefore, they will constantly seek the approval of others in order to know that they are okay the way they are.

It is interesting to note that low AGFLAP people tend to have both a want for separation, and its opposite, oneness: they will long for the power that they need in order to justify themselves and merit the approval and reward of other people, according to their ability and achievements. But they will typically slip back into a want for oneness when they realise that they don't have what it takes and they just want to blend in with the crowd and avoid getting noticed for the wrong reasons.

Low AGFLAP people will typically experience depression and anxiety. They will feel like the victims of an unfair world and will feel powerless to do anything about it -- which will result in apathy, grief and anger.

Low AGFLAP people will tend to be unpleasant people to be around, because they will always be feeling miserable and will always be complaining and will always have a "poor me" attitude. You will often find these people seeking your approval in one way or another. They will often cite something bad that happened to them in the past, or some unattainable goal, as being the reason why they are unhappy.

Either way, such a focus causes a person to look outside of themselves for their source of love, peace and joy. In truth, the source of love, peace and joy lies within each and every one of us – regardless of stories of the past, the way we look, the abilities we have or the material things we possess.

Such people tend to be hopeless dreamers and will share their latest aspirations and fantasies with the people that they feel close to. These people will tend not to achieve much in life unlike those who are in high AGFLAP or CAP.

The Four Wants in Personalities and Relationships

When a person has any of the four wants operating in his life, they will adversely affect every area of his life. It is no surprise therefore that the four wants have a major impact on relationships.

I have found that people tend to spend most of the time in particular emotional states. These emotional states can be identified using the AGFLAP-CAP chart of emotions, used by The Sedona Method and Release Technique. Generally speaking, people can be roughly divided into three main groups: low AGFLAP, high AGFLAP and CAP.

For those who are unfamiliar with releasing, AGFLAP is an acronym for apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger, pride. CAP is an acronym for courageousness, acceptance and peace. The further you go up the chart of emotions - the more energy each emotional state has - starting with apathy, which has the least energy, and ending with peace, which has the most energy.

In truth, it is difficult to establish a completely accurate model for anything to do with the mind and emotions. Although there have been some very brilliant psychologists throughout history who have established some very accurate psychological models -- it still remains very difficult to establish the anything which is more than just a guideline. In practice, most people will tend to experience one or more of the emotional states and any of the others. Despite this, they will also experience all the other emotions to a lesser extent. By making efforts to identify a person's emotional profile, locating them on the AGFLAP-CAP chart, we can roughly determine how effective and happy that person will be in life -- including their relationships.

We will now examine in detail, these different personality profiles: low AGFLAP, high AGFLAP and CAP.

The Want for Separation and the Want for Oneness

The want for separation and oneness do not feature in the Release Technique basic course. These wants do feature, however, in The Sedona Method basic course. The reason for this is that the wants for separation and oneness are rather advanced concepts. The original creator of releasing, Lester Levenson, believed that the want for separation was the main want.

The Want for Separation

Separation is when someone has the desire to make themselves separate and distinct from others. People who have a want for separation are typically highly competitive people and highly opinionated people. They seek a sense of purpose and identity through what they do and what they have. The emotions that typically accompany a want for separation are those of anger and pride. People who want to be separate will see themselves as being better than other the people; they will constantly judge others according to what they do and what they have; they will compare themselves with others and constantly put other people down.

Religious people can tend to operate in a want for separation as they look down on other people with a holier than thou kind of attitude. People with a want for separation tend to get angry with other people when they don't feel that they are recognized and rewarded for their hard work and achievements. They can also have a sense of self-righteous indignation, which explodes with anger, towards those people who they feel are unworthy of recognition and reward - basically, people who are not like them.

I think low AGFLAP people can manifest the want for separation in some rather weird ways. Please don't get me wrong, I love science fiction and I used to be heavily into fantasy novels -- I love Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and anything else in that genre. Yet I feel that people who are heavily into fantasy such as Dungeons & Dragons, tend to want to separate themselves from reality and step into a fantasy world -- a world in which they are portrayed as being a powerful wizard a mighty warlord or whatever. I think the "alternative" scene is full of people who cannot accept and live in normal life and choose to create their own alternative existence -- out of the want for separation.

Those who are in high AGFLAP will be close to courageousness. Therefore high AGFLAP people, who have a want for separation, will often have times of genuine confidence -- confidence which is born out of love, which is the higher nature. If someone is operating in courageousness, acceptance or peace -- what they do will tend to be accepted, appreciated and rewarded by others. Whereas, those who are operating out of one of the four wants, such as separation, will tend to have their efforts ignored, rejected or even mocked by other people. If a person looks to what they do and what they have as their sense of security, identity and purpose -- they can find themselves stuck in that position, because they will always feel that they have to redouble their efforts to please others.

Those who are in low AGFLAP will also tend to have a want for separation, which will manifest itself as an aspiration to achieve something which will bring them acceptance, distinction, fame or fortune. But these aspirations will be nothing more than a fantasy. Such people will always be on the lookout for some sort of formula or method that they can use that will enable them to change their life for the better and make themselves feel more secure and distinctive. It is for this reason that neurotics are typically drawn to self-help and spiritual practices which promise power, status, prosperity, healing, miracles and inner transformation.

The concept of programming the subconscious mind with positive thoughts has been around for a long time now. This concept seems to be constantly being reincarnated and repackaged in order to appeal to the masses. The latest incarnations of this concept seems to be The Secret and The Law of Attraction. Christianity has also sought to appeal to the masses by promising its followers power, status, prosperity, healing, miracles and inner transformation. I used to be engrossed with what came to be known as Word of Faith, particularly the teaching of Kenneth E. Hagin, which is basically a Christian equivalent of The Secret and The Law of Attraction.

I still believe that people can use spiritual and self-help methods, even Christianity, and get their needs met and find prosperity and healing. But as soon as these things become the main goal, the formulas that we use to pursue these things become a frustrating mind game. Grace Christianity, releasing and inquiry all share the same ultimate goal: inner peace. The attainment of peace is the best way in order to find healing, restoration and prosperity.

The Want for Oneness

The wants for oneness is the opposite of the want for separation. People will have a want for oneness typically when they feel that they do not have what it takes to make themselves separate and distinct through what they do and what they have. People who have a want for oneness want to blend in with the crowd; they do not want to be noticed because they don't feel secure in who they are.

People who have a want for oneness will usually go along with the rest of the crowd. They will adopt the traditions, fads and fashions of those in their peer group. Whereas, those who have a want for separation will typically do those things that will make them stand out from the crowd: they will seek to set trends, make bold fashion statements and so on. People who have a want for oneness will tend to avoid speaking-up for themselves; they will agree with other people, even when they think they are wrong, just to avoid having an argument, standing out from the crowd and potentially making a fool of themselves.

Are Releasing and Inquiry a Work of Self-Effort? – Part 2

The Old Testament law of observing religious rules and rituals can actually serve a useful purpose in that it brings a person to the end of themselves: it wears them out from seeking to justify themselves by their own efforts. The Apostle Paul says that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Gal. 3:24). The Bible says that we are justified by faith apart from deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28). “Deeds of the law” in this respect are the observance of religious rituals and duties as a means of being in right-standing with God. So it does seem that following rules does enable a person to fully comprehend and appreciate the true value of being saved by grace, without having to follow rules. It’s only when you have the contrast of grace and law that you can fully appreciate justification by faith.

There was a man who came to Jesus in Matt. 19:16 asking what he could do to have eternal life. Eternal life is similar, but not the same, to salvation. Eternal life is the Greek word zoe which means the life-giving power of God. This man was likely fed-up with keeping rules and wanted to experience the life-giving presence of God for himself. Jesus, knowing that the man was seeking after rules, gave him the Old Testament law in Matt. 19:17-18. This man said that he had kept these rules since his youth (Matt. 19:20). Jesus then gave the man some rules that he simply could not keep: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." (Matt. 19:21). The man went away sorrowful because he had many possession (Matt. 19:22). So you see, if you want to be justified by your own efforts, you will always experience frustration and disappointment because your efforts are never good enough.

I don’t suppose that releasing and inquiry has a lot to do with justification. But I used to wonder if releasing and inquiry were yet another set of formulas to use in order to seek fulfilment. The Bible says that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I used to wonder if by using releasing and inquiry, I am somehow taking a short-cut to peace and freedom instead of seeking Jesus. But I did focus and study the true Gospel message, the message of grace, but I still struggled with anxiety.

Releasing and inquiry are a means of being able to let go off the negative thoughts that limit our lives. Well actually, Byron Katie says that when we use The Work to inquire into a stressful thought, and you come to know that it is not true – the stressful thought lets go of you! Releasing could be seen as learning to drop a hot potato that you are holding onto, when you have been taught all your life to hold onto the hot potato; or perhaps you have had some sort of stiffness in your joints and have had to learn to open your hands again after contracting around the hot potato (which is hurting you) for so long.

I have found that releasing is by far the quickest, simplest and most effective means of relieving anxiety and stress “in the moment”. Releasing is effortless – it requires hardly any spiritual knowledge or adherence to religious, spiritual or moral law, rituals or traditions.

Releasing only becomes a “work”, a “mind game”, when you use it for purely for selfish gain, such as prosperity. It is quite possible to do all sorts of advanced techniques with releasing in the hope of finding power and prosperity, and yet, experience nothing but frustration.

The concept of some practice becoming a “work” in Christianity is an important one. The Pharisees, who were the religious elite during Jesus’ earthly ministry, accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Sabbath law in Matt. 12:1-2 because they ate some corn. So you see, religious people can make a “work” out of the pettiest things! I agree with Byron Katie in that The Work simply does itself without hardly any effort on the part of the person doing inquiry. I think that Christianity (or you could say “grace”), releasing, inquiry or any other self-help or spiritual pursuit can become a “work”, if you pursue them with any other motive than peace of mind and relationship with God. Any of these practices, just like Christians pursuing the Old Testament law, can become a “work” which frustrates us and brings us to the end of our own efforts for seeking justification and fulfilment.

Are Releasing and Inquiry a Work of Self-Effort? – Part 1

One of the issues I have had about releasing is that perhaps I'm using a man-made method to accomplish something that Jesus has already accomplished on the cross. As this is a method which seems to work for believers and unbelievers alike - it does make me wonder if I am somehow employing a method which replaces God. If the Sedona Method did not exist - perhaps more people would turn to Christianity as a means of seeking fulfilment in life? Is Christianity the answer to life's problems? Yes, I believe it is. The biggest problem with Christianity is that as soon as people come to the church to seek answers - they are let loose into a maze of perpetually keeping rules, doing good works and checking for hidden sins and selfish motives and agendas. What was meant to bring peace and answers to suffering humanity seems to have brought more unanswered questions, frustration and anxiety. It is little wonder that people have abandoned the concept of Christianity as being the answer and have turned to self-help and alternative spiritual approaches, such as the Sedona Method.

I am included in the list of Christians who have been frustrated with the church and have sought to include other methods from outside of the church. I’ll admit that I used to pursue New Age until about 1997 when I had a rather scary incident with Tarot Cards. I was sort of dabbling with Christianity during that time, but this incident caused me to abandon New Age entirely and to set my focus purely on Christianity. It was a year after that in 1998 when I was rather miraculously baptised in the Holy Spirit. If you don’t know what this means let me tell you that God became real to me at that moment: I felt His tangible presence in me. This spiritual encounter encouraged me to continue my pursuit in seeking God through a purely Christian means.

Thankfully, there is a revolution taking place in the church right now. People are leaving the institutional church in their droves and finally beginning to see that Christianity is about relationship with God and acceptance by Him through belief in Christ. The new wave of “Grace Preachers” as they are called, are spreading this message all over the world (see my Christian blog The Divine Nature for some links to some really good grace teaching). Basically, you can either read the Bible through the lens of trying to appease an angry God, or you can read the Bible through the lens of God’s love for humanity.

One of the biggest differences between the Old Testament law and New Testament grace is that the law is static and inflexible. As Joseph Prince from New Creation Church in Singapore says, “The law demands righteousness from spiritually bankrupt men”. The law demands holiness from people – without proving the power to do so.

The love of God, which is the grace of God, is dynamic and flexible in comparison to the law. The Bible tells us that God's laws are no longer written on tablets of stone but written on our hearts so that we will know them and do them (Jer. 31:33-34).

Principles, which could be seen as being a subtle manifestation of the Old Testament law, are static in that they are written by other people with the intention of providing guidelines for other people to live according to. But these principles do not provide, in themselves, the means of their fulfilment: they are devoid of life and power and only serve to put an obligation upon a person. Furthermore, these principles are very much open to interpretation and are very much the product of someone else's revelation, experience, or perhaps, their assumption.

Principles and formulas are static; they are endless; it is just like entering a huge maze in which you get completely lost; you feel as if you know where you are going - only to reach a dead-end and have to start all over again on another path. When you start on that path of following principles and formulas, it can be a never-ending pursuit that just leads to a combination of frustration, lust, fear, pride and guilt.

Releasing and inquiry are dynamic. Releasing and inquiry can replace an entire bookcase full of books on principles and formulas. The only concepts you really have to learn with releasing and inquiry are the concepts of the negative emotions that culminate in the four wants, which we can let go of by either welcoming or releasing; and the concept of using inquiry with the four questions and turnaround at the end, as a means of being set free from contraction around a stressful thought. Every other concept surrounding releasing and inquiry stems from these simple, core concepts. For me, I believe that this approach to self-transformation and seeking peace, greatly simplifies things, rather than complicating them.

SMaRT Releasing

This post assumes basic knowledge of releasing using both the Sedona Method and the Release Technique. The use of Holistic Releasing is also mentioned, which is explored in Hale Dwoskin’s course, Practical Freedom. The use of Holistic Releasing on resistance, mentioned here, is covered in the CD entitled “The Resistance Dissolver”.

Introduction

The founder of releasing, Lester Levenson, had two students whom he allowed to progress his technique. Hale Dwoskin went on to form Sedona Associates which teaches the Sedona Method. Larry Crane created the Release Technique which is also known as the Release Technique.

Both of these styles of releasing are very similar in their content. However, there are slight variations between the two methods, especially with the separate advanced modules which can be purchased separately to the basic courses.

I have found that different methods of releasing from both Hale and Larry’s courses can be combined to work together. This could be called SMaRT Releasing (Sedona Method and Release Technique).

SMaRT Releasing on Resistance

It seems that the want to think is ever-present. The mind is always vying for control by trying to figure things out. This is the want for control. Isn't it strange that hardly any self-help method discourages thinking? Other than meditation I suppose. Every other self-help method encourages thinking – particularly imagining yourself having something you want.

I was using holistic pairs on resisting thinking, swapping back and forth on both sides of the polarity, as per Hale Dwoskin’s CD Practical Freedom.

"Could you let go of resisting thinking?"

"Could you let go of resisting not thinking?"

But I suppose what got me doing this was when I listened to Larry Crane doing attachments and aversions on worrying in the Release Technique. Larry did likes/dislikes and/or advantages/disadvantages on worrying - so I thought I'd make them into holistic pairs. Worrying and thinking, of course, are pretty much synonymous. In the Release Technique, after working on likes/dislikes and/or advantages/disadvantages, Larry then asks if you could let go of your entire attachment/aversion.

So, after about 6 or so rounds of this pair – I would then ask:

"Could you let go of your entire attachment to thinking?"

"Could you let go of your entire aversion to thinking?"

I've only just started doing this and it works like magic!

I sometimes just jump to the "letting go of the entire" thing - without doing the pairs - that results in a strong chest release.

“Squeezing the Lemon”

Another good method from the Release Technique is something that Larry Crane calls Squeezing the Lemon. This is a technique of squeezing the last few drops of energy out of something, just when you thought you could not release anymore. This works by articulating two extreme opposite scenarios. A response should then arise from the subconscious mind, such as, “Oh no!” or “That would be wonderful!” Ask if this response is coming from wanting approval, control or security. Whatever want it is – ask if you could let it go.

"Imagine always thinking, no matter what you do, you can’t stop thinking..."

"Imagine never thinking again, no matter what you do, you can’t make yourself think..."

The squeezing the lemon questions ("Imagine never..." - "Imagine always...") can also be used as holistic pairs just by themselves.

There are other ways of applying the squeezing the lemon questions, for instance:

"Imagine always wanting..." (your goal, emotion, etc)

"Imagine always having..." (your goal, emotion, etc)

Other General Concepts to Release On

In the Release Technique Larry Crane uses generic, fundamental concepts - things that affect us all - such as money, guilt, worrying, relationships. I am convinced that if we worked with really important concepts such as these - we would be free quite quickly.

There are certain “programs” that are always running in the subconscious mind. Through releasing, we can switch-off these “programs” – for a period of time at least. I practiced this method with self-condemnation and self-justification, as these are things that affect everyone.

"Could I let go of resisting condemning/justifying myself..."

"Could I let go of resisting not condemning/justifying myself..."

Continue polarity back and forth until complete, then...

"Could you let go of your entire attachment to self-condemnation/self-justification..."

"Could you let go of your entire aversion to self-condemnation/self-justification..."

Now for the Squeezing the Lemon questions:

"Imagine always condemning/justifying myself..."

"Imagine never condemning/justifying myself again..."

And More…

Another wonderful technique that I learned from the Release Technique which I use all the time, is the statement “and more”. Larry Crane uses this almost all the time when he is doing a releasing exercise in the CD basic course. When we release, we don’t always let go of all of the energy of the emotion or want. Therefore, we need to ask the releasing question again, “Could I let go of…” However, when we follow a release with, “and more”, we release again – just as if we had asked the releasing question a second or third time. Repeat the “and more” statement until you feel you have fully released that want or emotion in that moment.

I still use this method from time to time – usually when I’m feeling stressed. I find it is a wonderfully effective “stress-buster”.

Does Releasing Really Work? – Part 2

How Do I Experience Emotions?

I have found that one of the most frequent questions asked on releasing forums is: how do I bring-up and feel emotions in relation to past events. Personally, when I release using Written Releasing techniques, I don’t feel any tension or emotion in relation to what I am about to release: I simply articulate the releasing question in the usual manner – then I experience a muscular contraction. If I release in response to stress I experience in the moment – I can usually experience a sense of lightness and relief as a result. However, with written releasing – I tend not to experience such a sense of relief.

I suppose I feel a little better after doing so, but I think it could be because I am experiencing, to some extent, a technique of relaxation called Progressive Muscular Relaxation.

Progressive Muscular Relaxation

P.M.R. is a means of relaxing by tensing-up a specific muscle group for, say, six seconds, before releasing that tension. Then, the process is repeated on another muscle group, until the whole body is relaxed. I have used this method myself and can say that it is rather effective.

Am I Releasing or Just Contracting?

So, if I just experience a muscular contraction when I “release” during “Written Releasing” sessions – how can I be certain that I am actually letting go of accumulated mental and emotional garbage? It could all be nothing more than a misnomer. I have been fooled in the past by my own mind when it comes to spiritual and self-help practices – so what makes this situation different?

If I could experience the requisite emotion before I released it – then I would know there is something worthwhile going on during these releasing sessions – but without the emotion – I cannot know for certain that I am releasing.

If I release in this way, intensely, for a period of time, and experience some sort of permanent mental and emotional shift for the better, or if my life circumstances improve in general – then I would know something has happened. But without any of these changes being made manifest – I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of this process. The creator of the Sedona Method, Lester Levenson, said that we should not believe what he says – but that we should take it for checking.

The “Ultimate” Releasing Experiment

I decided to do what I thought would be the ultimate releasing experiment. I got together all the likes/dislikes and advantages/disadvantages worksheets I had made. I then released on each want associated with and attachment or aversion that I had identified. I released each want in turn by articulating a releasing question, for example, “An advantage of having more money is that I would be able to do more with my life – could I let go of the want for control.” Then my chest or stomach muscles would contract as I released the want.

Using a pencil, I would draw a ring around each want that had a strong “charge” to it that gave me a strong contraction when I released. If I experienced a mild “charge” I would not mark the worksheet for that want. If I experienced no “charge” to a want – I would cross it off. I then focused on only releasing the wants that held a strong “charge”. Over a few weeks or so I noticed that strong wants would eventually weaken to a “mild” state – so I would erase the ring I had marked it with using a pencil. Eventually, those wants that used to produce a strong muscular contraction – produced no response in me at all, and I could cross them off.

I started this exercise with about twenty or so worksheets. After a few weeks I managed to work through all of the wants until they were all crossed-off. I expected something amazing to happen once I had completed this “ultimate” releasing experiment. However, I found that nothing changed in my life – not even my emotions – I was disappointed to say the least! I suppose you could say that this experience killed-off my desire to use written releasing. I might go back to it at some point – but I’m not inclined to yet.

Releasing “In the Moment”

I am convinced from personal experience that releasing can be used to release emotions and their underlying wants “in the moment” as a means of maintaining peace. I am uncertain, from experience, of releasing having any use beyond this scope. I am not saying that written releasing techniques don’t work or that releasing cannot be used to bring freedom. All I’m saying is that from personal experience – they have not worked for me.

I know there are many people who have wonderful testimonies of how releasing changed their lives - but I can only recommend something to someone if I know it has worked for me. I would also like to suggest that it is possible that the wonderful testimonies that these people encountered, might actually have happened if they did not use releasing – who can know for certain?

Perhaps Only the Basic Course is required?

If releasing is to be used for the purpose of maintaining peace in the moment - only the basic Sedona Method or Release Technique, is required. These courses can either on CD or in book format. Obviously, the book will be a lot cheaper than the CD set. But there is an advantage of being able to listen to the CDs and release interactively with it. Nevertheless, the basic course book should be all you’ll ever need with regards to releasing effectively…as far as I know at this moment. I could be wrong, of course. If someone tells me that they release in a certain way and it works for them – that’s fine with me.

Does Releasing Really Work? – Part 1

I am convinced that the best use for releasing is simply to establish and maintain peace – in the moment. I can absolutely say for certain that I have used releasing on many occasions to release negative emotions and their underlying wants. Whenever I have done so, I have felt lighter, calmer and freer in that moment.

The Instant Effect of Releasing Encourages Momentum

Once a person experiences his or her first, significant release with this technique, their life is changed for the better from that very moment, I believe. When you know that you can release emotions and their underlying wants, you feel encouraged straightaway to apply it to as many different areas of your life as you can. In this way, you can build-up momentum as you begin to discover new and better ways of releasing and new areas to apply releasing to.

The Wants Just Keep on Coming!

But after a while it becomes apparent that the emotions and wants just seem to keep on coming, as strong as ever. It seems like the four wants are like boomerangs that seem to come flying right back at you – even when you have just let the thing go. This can feel quite tiresome and it is this persistence of the wants that causes a person to hastily reach for the more advanced courses and to experiment so they can find more effective ways of releasing.

Advanced Releasing Techniques

There are releasing forums on the internet that host some experienced releasers who are always coming-up with new and improved ways of releasing. These are often based on more advanced courses, for instance, holistic pairs (based on the Sedona Method course Practical Freedom) and the Vortex (from the Sedona Method course Inner Circle 4). The people on these forums are very knowledgeable, experienced and helpful when it comes to releasing – which is wonderful.

But it just makes my mind boggle when I read some of the elaborate releasing methods that they come-up with. For instance, you know you are no longer keeping releasing simple when you ask, “Could I let go of resisting welcoming resistance?”

Keep it Simple!

After reading scores of self-help and Christian books – I am very keen to move beyond anything which seems overly fanciful and too much like hard work. I really do just want to keep things simple. However, I am encouraged when it comes to experimenting with new ways of releasing – because you get feedback straightaway from your body, mind and emotions, as to whether the technique worked for you. Basically, either you get a release or you don’t – it is that simple; also, some methods will bring a stronger release than others. The Squeezing the Lemon technique from the Release Technique, for instance, usually brings about a strong release with most people.

Personally, I would rather investigate new ways of releasing than read a book that promises all kinds of great things – books which just give principals or ineffective formulas – both of which are a work of self-effort, which have no ability to impart power or change circumstances or transform a person.

The Sedona Method and the Release Technique give you just the right amount of teaching on the theory, the concepts that make releasing work, but just enough to get a person releasing effectively for themselves.

“Written Releasing”

The basic course will cover what could be called “Written Releasing”. Written Releasing is when you sit-down and write lists in an effort to identify wants that are deeply repressed in the subconscious mind. This can mean identifying wants in relation past or present events, preferences, habits and so on. Written releasing involves making lists about a particular subject and establishing what want each list entry is coming from. This includes the Goal Process and Attachments and Aversions. I think the Goal Process rather speaks for itself: you list your goals and then identify the wants behind each one, before releasing them.

Attachments and Aversions

Attachments and Aversions exercises come in the form of likes/dislikes and advantages/disadvantages. Likes/Dislikes involve making a list of things that you like or dislike about a particular person, place or thing. Then, you identify what want or wants is behind each of those preferences, before releasing on them.

Advantages/Disadvantages is similar to Likes/Dislikes, but is applied in a different context: it relates to what you see as being an advantage or disadvantage to a given habit, decision, preference or other subject matter.

Kinaesthetic Releasing

I am a kinaesthetic releaser which means that my muscles contract when I release, this is usually in the stomach or chest area, although, I have also released from the neck or throat. I can usually tell the strength of a release by gauging the strength of the muscular contraction. The strongest releases, I find, are in the chest area.

Although I seem to get a release, in terms of muscle contraction, when I use attachments and aversions worksheets - I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of these techniques in relation to achieving the main goal of releasing, which is lasting freedom.

Formulas

A lot of the time I just find that spiritual teachers just write about what is happening in their life: what they are led to say or do and what seems to happen to them as a result of that. The idea is that by these spiritual teachers writing down their experiences – we can somehow learn from them.

Unfortunately, we can tend to make formulas out of the experiences of someone else. Someone might write about the way in which they were led to pray, back it up with scripture and write a wonderful testimony of an experience that seems to tie-in with that. We then assume that we can pray the same way they did as a means of getting blessed the same way they did. But it does not work like that.

An Example of a Formula

An example of a formula can be found in Kenneth E. Hagin’s book, Zoe. The God-Kind of Life. In this book, Hagin recounts the way in which he was unconsciously led (authors exact words) to pray according to Daniel 1:17. As a result of praying this prayer each morning on the way to school, Hagin was given supernatural ability. Hagin got straight A’s in tests from that moment on and he also developed a photographic memory. Now, we could all start praying that prayer with the same expectation.

But notice how Hagin was unconsciously led? I don’t believe it was just an idea that Hagin came up with himself, apart from God. In other words, it was the Holy Spirit who prompted him to pray that way. Who says that we can all be blessed like that if we pray that prayer? Sure, we can learn something from that experience I suppose. But we cannot make that experience into a formula to receive a blessing.

There are also many other formulas used in self-help practices. An example of this is the classic self-help book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy. Throughout his book, Dr. Murphy provides anecdotes, which may or may not be true-life incidents. In these anecdotes, a formula will be provided, describing what what affirmations they used, followed by positive experiences which followed.

Principles and the Old Testament Law

Many years of principle-teaching can become very frustrating and can harm a person's self-esteem because they are given standards to fulfil which they find they cannot reach. For this reason, the teaching of principles can be likened to the teaching of the law in that its only purpose was to show men how guilty they were and how futile their efforts were when it came to living an effective life:

19 Well then, why were the laws given? They were added after the promise was given, to show men how guilty they are of breaking God's laws. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of Christ, the Child to whom God's promise was made. (And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who then gave them to the people;

Galatians 3:19 TLB

Many Christians believe they have been given righteousness as a free gift by believing in Christ. But Christians tend to vary as to what that righteousness entails: some say that when a person is made righteous by faith, they no longer have to keep rules; but the majority of Christians believe that God has made them righteous by faith, but now they have to work towards maintaining various principles – which become another subtle form of rules, and therefore, futile self-effort.

It is often believed that if a Christian fails to maintain these principles, then God will withdraw His blessings from that person. Worse still, some Christians believe that a failure to live according to certain standards of holiness will actually cause them to come out of relationship with God and they will forfeit their right to enter into Heaven.

Righteousness - The Only Teaching a Christian Needs

Surely, the only teaching that Christians need is Christ crucified and whatever else it takes to make God real to us so we can know His love for us? Otherwise, we fall into the trap of working towards living the kind of life we ought to live, if we had the Holy Spirit moving freely in our lives. It is a massive task to try to take the place of God in every area of your life! There is no way that reading Christian books can take the place of the Holy Spirit.

Principles and formulas teaching basically tell Christians the kind of life they should be living, if they had the Holy Spirit leading them in all areas of their life. I suppose we get the idea that if we start living right for a while, perhaps just in certain areas of our life, then God will then take over for us. But this way of thinking is refuted in the Bible.

What Must I Do To Experience God?

In Mark 10:17, someone came to Jesus and asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Notice the emphasis on what he must do. Eternal life in this context is the life-giving presence of God in-dwelling the spirit and soul of man, in other words, the Holy Spirit and the divine nature. This man was living according to the law, in his own words, he said that he kept the Ten Commandments (Mark 10:19-20).

This man wanted another rule to live by, one that would bring him the power of God, instead of him having to make such efforts in his own strength to keep rules. Therefore, Jesus gave him a commandment to follow: sell all he had, give his money to the poor and follow Jesus (Mark 10:21). This is exactly that the law does: it invites a person to try to live right according to what they do, and then it puts an impossible burden on them. The temptation of keeping rules is that they often seem to appear do-able. But it is only when you try to do them that you realise that they are not as simple as you thought they would be.

Seek Righteousness First

Jesus Himself said that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then, everything we need, such as food and clothing, will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). Have you ever wondered how “these things” will be added to you? It is simple: knowing that you are right with God because of what Jesus has done and not because of what you have done. Knowing you’re right with God places you in a position whereby the Holy Spirit will move in your life.

This enables you to make all the right decisions that will make the attainment of material provision something that is easy for you to do. When we “seek” what we shall eat and what we shall wear – it usually means we worry about something; we think to ourselves, “I need such-and-such”; we panic, we wonder how we can get that thing, and we mentally picture what our life will be like if we don’t get what we need. When we don’t worry about something, we are better able to come up with a solution.

Jesus did not tell us to seek righteousness first, and then seek after material provision. No, according to Jesus, all the things that we need (God knows we need them) will be added to us. The kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). The kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit indwelling you – that is what we are to seek after first. Notice how righteousness (knowing we are right with God, not keeping rules) and the kingdom of God (the Holy Spirit living in you) – both go together?

Principles and Formulas Teaching

Principles teaching does a great job in highlighting right or wrong beliefs, attitudes and patterns of thinking. However, it serves only to highlight them and does nothing to resolve them. As such, teaching on principles could be potentially harmful in that it continually shows a person what is wrong with them and the good things they should do, but find they are unable to do.

It is just assumed that a person knows how to implement these principles in their life. But if a person could implement principles in their life as a means of living right, then they would not need God working in their life.

Most people, who try to follow a moral code, find that they do not have the ability to live like that in a way that is natural and effective. The result is that they end-up repressing desires and emotions to the point whereby they not being true to themselves and not living an honest life. Jesus used to call the Pharisees, who lived by religious rules, “hypocrites”, which means “play-actors”.

Fit For the Kingdom

A good example of Christian principles teaching is a CD box set by John Bevere called Fit for the Kingdom. In this teaching series, John Bevere explains the importance of honouring those in authority. He uses examples from his own experience in which people have respected those in authority and it has caused their life to go well. He also goes on to show that in every case were someone has argued against those in authority, they have suffered in their life in some way.

This is great teaching and it seems obvious how we can apply these principles in our life. Perhaps we don’t really have to do anything at all – just be mindful of these things and the subconscious mind will take over? That’s what I began to think. With this mindset, we don’t appear to be trying to live according to a set of rules.

But if God is guiding us and enabling us to make decisions that will affect our lives – why do we need to be told to honour those in authority? Or any other principle we can get from a book? If we have to have a book to cover an area of life in order to live effectively – we could end-up with a whole bookshelf full of books!

What I find is that when I read a book, I tend to only retain that information for a short period of time. I might even find that when I come to pick the book up the next day to read it again – I have forgotten what I read about the previous day! One could argue that the knowledge is retained subconsciously – but is it? And will it be easily accessible in a way that will benefit our lives?

How Releasing Shapes Spiritual Beliefs

Releasing does a great job of simplifying spiritual beliefs. Through regular releasing we become trained to understand that the only thing that is preventing us from living life to the full is our attachments and aversions to our thoughts. We create an attachment to a thought when we try to hold on to something so that we can draw it near to us. We create an aversion towards a thought when we take hold of it with the purpose of holding it away from us. Regular patterns of thinking become beliefs, and therefore, what we are working with is our attachments to beliefs.

Simplified Spiritual Beliefs

Our spiritual beliefs become transformed, and simplified, when we understand that our attachments and aversions give rise to one or more of a group of eight emotions. These emotions culminate in what is known as the four wants: approval, control, security and separation.

Most people do not know that they can let go of their attachments to an emotion or its underlying want or wants. Self-help and spiritual teaching, including Christianity, has for years presented a method of teaching which assumes that the practitioner is able to implement those principles and concepts with an effort of the will. For instance, Christian teaching may tell people to forgive others, with the assumption that forgiveness is a quick and simple thing to do.

However, for those people who are struggling with unforgiveness issues, they find that it is not quite as easy as some people may assume. It is the same with emotional problems: self-help teaching might tell people to be kind to others and not be angry towards them. But for people who struggle with anger issues, it is easier said than done.

Finally, through releasing, the means to be able to let go of emotions and their underlying wants - is available. Not only that, but people who experience releasing, come to understand how fast, simple and effective it really is.