the Elias forum Newsletter, December, 2002 
November - Over 2,500 Visitors!
Newsletters since March 2002 are available online in the Library, under the letter “N” at: http://www.eliasforum.org/library.html#N
Since opening our cyberdoors in February 2002, we have served over (213,700) webpages to more than (15,200) users in over 40 countries. Many thanks to all of you who continue to provide us with tremendous support, constructive suggestions, and email feedback!
Joanne and I are looking forward to the upcoming January 18, 2003 group session in Castaic, CA, hosted by Pat Betzhold (supported by the usual suspects :-). We hope to see you there.
Also, Lynda Symans is hosting a March 15th, 2003 group session in Brattleboro, VT. For group and private session info, there is more info below and permanent links at the bottom of our homepage:
http://www.eliasforum.org/public_sessions.html
Thanks to the many suggestions and submissions to our website, we have a growing list of things we plan to add in the coming months to complement the regular features, including, a Glossary of terms, a photo Gallery of various group sessions, and other goodies.
Last but not least, if you use this newsletter and website, please take a minute to let us know what you think. Your feedback helps us to make them easier to use.
Best Wishes,
Paul & Jo Helfrich
Castaic, California, USA
helfrich@eliasforum.org
Gem of the Month
The Gem of the Month is a regular feature that provides an excerpt from a recent transcript that captures a snapshot of essential Elias.
This month’s Gem comes from the recent Fresno, California group session:
ELIAS: “... this is an exercise that we are engaging, and it is purposeful. The beginning of the exercise has been to identify your most automatic response. This allows you the opportunity to examine an element of yourself, to familiarize yourself with what you DO, for you CHOOSE what you DO, but you do not recognize that you choose what you do.
“The next step in this exercise is to identify what motivates those automatic responses, which allows you the opportunity to become more familiar with yourself and to identify the process in how you become familiar with yourselves. This requires specifics, not generalities. Your most significant question that you ask yourselves is ‘why,’ and your least answered question is ‘why.’ For you are not specific with yourselves, you do not allow yourselves the opportunity to pay attention to what you are actually doing, what motivates what you are doing, and what is influencing what you are doing.
“... I am understanding what you are expressing, but the why is insignificant...”
KATHLEEN: “You said it was significant.”
ELIAS: “No, I have expressed that this is what YOU express most often. This is YOUR most significant question. For within your evaluations, this is your largest question: Why?”
WENDY: “But it’s insignificant?”
ELIAS: “Yes.”
FRAN: “We’re supposed to be asking ‘how’?”
ELIAS: “And ‘what.’ Not necessarily why, for this question, as I have stated, you do not answer; and you present the question to myself once again, ‘Explain to myself how to answer this question ‘why,’ for I am experiencing difficulty in answering this question ‘why.’ For you ALL experience difficulty answering this question ‘why,’ for this question ‘why’ does not move your attention to you in evaluation of yourself.
“Whereas, if you are expressing to yourself ‘WHAT am I doing’ first, you move your attention to now, which is extremely significant. Once you move your attention to now in asking yourself ‘what am I DOING,’ you begin evaluating. You may be expressing to yourself this very moment, ‘I am listening to Elias. I am sitting in a room. I am paying attention.’ Where is your attention in relation to yourself? What is your motivation? Your motivation in your presence in this room and your participation in conversation with myself is to become more familiar with you.
“Now; where is your attention, each of you, in relation to yourselves? This is significant, for most of the individuals that are present within this room incorporate the orientation of common, and the most unfamiliar action to you is to be paying attention to what is occurring outside of yourself and paying attention to what is occurring within you simultaneously, being aware of your own presence, being aware of your own manifestation.
“Do you feel your feet?”
PAT: “Now I do!” (Laughter)
ELIAS: (Chuckles) “Are you aware of your hair?”
KATHLEEN: “So is that another variety of discounting of one’s self, being common and paying more attention outwardly rather than...”
ELIAS: “Not necessarily. But you are shifting, and what is your choice in your shifting, to be shifting in difficulty or to be shifting in ease? And the METHOD (laughter) to be shifting in ease is to be paying attention to self.
“I am quite aware that I have been expressing this statement from the onset of this forum, and I am also aware that most of the individuals within this forum do not understand what I am expressing. And you listen to myself express this to you, and you leave after our discussions and you discuss with each other and you ponder, how do I pay attention to me?
“And I am offering you the method: to be paying attention to what you are actually doing in the moment, inquiring of yourself – especially within time frameworks in which you are expressing conflict or discounting of yourselves or the all-general fear – and offering yourselves the opportunity to inquire specifically, what is my fear now, in this moment? What am I DOING in this moment?
“Those of you that incorporate the orientation of soft shall be receptive to this language of ‘doing’ much more easily than those of you that may be common or intermediate, for this is incorporated in the language of soft – not ‘what am I creating’; ‘what am I doing?’ Soft individuals are presented with the statement or the question ‘what are you creating’ and their response may be ‘I do not know.’ (Laughter) Whereas, if you are presenting the question ‘what are you doing,’ they shall be quite obliged to be explaining to you.
“Now; it is significant to offer this question to those of you that are common and intermediate, for you are also doing, and this terminology of ‘what are you creating’ has become so mundane in your language that you are not paying attention. It is [a] concept.
“... Were I to inquire of any of you in this forum presently, ‘What do you want? What is your most valuable expression that you want,’ I shall say to you, each of you shall respond to me that you want joy and love and happiness; and you offer yourselves fleeting moments, and you know not how to sustain this. But you are quite accomplished at sustaining conflict or discounting of yourselves or worry or guilt.
“Now; once you move your attention to the now in inquiring of yourself ‘what am I doing,’ you may move your attention further to yourself in inquiring within yourself what is your motivation for DOING what you are doing in the moment. As you inquire of yourself what your motivation is, this shall move your attention to evaluation, and evaluation shall offer you information concerning your beliefs that influence you and your associations with triggers, which are past experiences that you have solidified in absolutes. This is the manner in which you become familiar with yourselves, and you allow yourselves to choose.
“Now; before we break, I also shall be reminding each of you, as I have many times previously, belief systems and beliefs are not to be eliminated. They are an intricate aspect of this reality; they shall not disappear. But you incorporate choice.
“Now; the wondrousness of this is that you incorporate ALL of the beliefs that are incorporated in ALL the belief systems. Therefore, you also incorporate the choice of which beliefs you shall express. Every belief that is expressed within the entirety of your world you also incorporate. You merely do not express them all.
“You express those that you prefer, even those that are uncomfortable; they are preferred. But you may alter your preferences, or you may continue with your preferences and recognize that you also incorporate choice, and you may choose which beliefs shall be expressed.” [session 1167, Saturday, October 26, 2002]
Digests: find out more about orientations of common, intermediate, and soft:
http://www.eliasforum.org/digests/gender_orientation_preference.html
Resources for Newcomers
New to the information? Want to share it with someone else? Here are some great pages to read and/or print out to share with friends and family:
Introduction & Overview
http://www.eliasforum.org/intro/introduction_overview.html
Acceptance 101
http://www.eliasforum.org/library/acceptance101R.html
Acceptance 102
http://www.eliasforum.org/library/acceptance102R.html
“the straight little sapling”
http://www.eliasforum.org/digests/sapling.html
“the secret of life”
http://www.eliasforum.org/digests/secret_of_life.html
About Elias
http://www.eliasforum.org/digests/About_Elias.html
A Seth, Elias Comparative Overview
http://www.paulhelfrich.com/library/Helfrich_P_A_Seth_Elias_Comparative_Overview.pdf
Recent Digests & Exercises
The website is a work in progress! New transcripts come out almost every week that further expand the information offered to date by Elias. New excerpts are added to various Digests every month, and new Digests and Exercises, too, when new material is offered.
Many of you have written to see if there’s an easy way for us to show what Digests have received updates each month. Unfortunately, there is no easy way, as managing the website is almost a full time job already, and that would require expensive database software and programming. So we’re open to any suggestions, but for now the best way is to check the file size listed in the Digests table of contents page (available as a link in the left-hand navigation column).
Tip: print out the Digests Table of Contents page and use that as a reference:
http://www.eliasforum.org/digests.html.
The Digests TOC page also serves as a comprehensive listing of all the main terms and concepts used by Elias to date.
Exercises
Recently Published Transcripts: November 2002
Thanks to Bobbi Houle, Paul Tews, Margot Reed, Daryl Horton, and Fran Wing, new transcripts are published weekly. Also, if you or someone you know wants to get ON or OFF the email list to receive new transcripts, contact Bobbi H. at momcat28@sti.net. Please specify a preference, either MS Word or Plain Text.
Session 875, Sunday, August 05, 2001
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E875_080501.html
“Listening to Elias’ Subjective Interaction”
Session 876, Tuesday, August 07, 2001
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E876_080701.html
“Defining ‘Abstract Objective Imagery’”
Session 877, Wednesday, August 08, 2001
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E877_080801.html
“Channeling”
“Dramatic – and Amusing – Physical Imagery”
Session 878, Friday, August 10, 2001
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E878_081001.html
“Money”
“Examining Physical Imagery”
“A ‘Crazy’ Neighbor”
Session 879, Friday, August 10, 2001
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E879_081001.html
“Looking for Meaning”
“Trusting Your Creations”
“Control Issues in Creating”
Session 1167, Saturday, October 26, 2002
http://www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/E1167_102602.html
“Exercise: What Is Your Most Familiar Automatic Response?”
“What You Are DOING”
Please Send Us Any Mistakes!
Another special thank you to those of you who continue to send us reports of typos or suspected errors. We greatly appreciate your efforts in helping to keep this HUGE online encyclopedia free of mistakes! It is an ongoing effort and we appreciate you taking the time to let us know when you find something odd.
Power Users Tip of the Month - eBooks!
Last month we took a look at how to get the most out of the Gems. And we said we were going to talk about email lists this month but decided to wait until next month in order to explore the world of Elias on eBooks.
Several of you have written and asked about using eBooks software along with the Elias forum website (thanks Geoff and Arthur!). We checked it out, and here’s what we discovered. First and foremost, our website has been carefully designed using simple state of the art techniques to make the information freely available to the widest audience possible. So we employ what’s called a browser neutral style of HTML. This way the website looks the same on almost every browser (over 200!), on every operating system (over 80!), while affording the user control of page size and fonts. Therefore, you can customize your browser settings to size the windows, and set the font type and page size to suit your tastes. This also affects how it will look when you print it out.
For our printing recommendations, see Site Features: Read Me First! at:
http://www.eliasforum.org/intro/site_features.html
Second, we’ve been very careful to include hyperlinks to all of the original transcripts to make it easy to find the original context in which the information was offered. So every excerpt in the Digests, Exercises, Library, and Gems have these links. And though Elias mandates very little, he has made it very clear that we’re responsible for keeping his words in their original context and not changing any of them. His intent, and ours, is to offer the information with as little distortion as possible.
Third, we use colored fonts where applicable to enhance certain ideas, for example, the essence families, energy centers, and thought/emotional/reglious/political focuses. We also use simple tables to graph many of these concepts.
So the above are what we see as the strengths in the design of the website (which is also available to text-only browsers, and compliant with standard speech readers, too.).
Having said all that, it would still be cool to read the website on a PC, PDA (personal digital assistant), or Palm Pilot, etc., with software that makes it look more like a book. So we tested several of the best FREE eBook readers out there:
1. Bookshelf 2.72
http://www.text-reader.com
2. Mobi Pocket Reader Emulator 4.5
http://software.informer.com/getfree-mobipocket-reader-4.5-prc/
3. yBook Reader 1.2.60
http://members.iinet.net.au/~simonh/spacejock/yBook.html
Here’s what we found. For the transcripts, all you lose are the hyperlinks to the endnotes, Digests, and other transcripts. For the Exercises and Digests, you’ll lose all the hyperlinks, font colors, font sizes, and table formats. While these features help convey the subtleties in the information, if you still prefer the eBooks format, then just download the above shareware, and save and convert the Elias forum files on your computer.
We’re keeping an eye on developments, so hopefully these free readers will eventually include all the hyperlinks, font colors, font sizes, and table formats that don’t get translated right now. And this isn’t the final word, so if you have other suggestions, or know of other readers, shareware, or freeware, please send your comments and we’ll pass them along.
Speak to Elias: Hold Your Own Private or Group Session
Mary Ennis holds private and group sessions. Rates are:
Private: approx. one hour phone or in person - $140 (includes audio tape)
Group: approx. two hours - $1,500 plus travel expenses
Email: helfroz1@aol.com
Phone: 802-258-6574
Order Video and Audio Tapes
Group sessions are available to everyone, and individual private sessions are available to the participant, or with the participant’s expressed permission. The proceeds go toward converting the existing videotape archive into a more stable DVD format, and other forum-related projects.
Now available from Ron Churchman:
$25 per session/video or DVD
$10 per session/audio
$25 current transcripts on CD-R. Available in MS-Word or text formats.
Email: JCRonboy@msn.com
Upcoming Elias Group Sessions - 2003 Schedule and Updates
Saturday, January 18, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. Cost is $50.00
Hosted by Pat Betzhold
(at Paul & Jo’s Castaic Clubhouse)
Please send snail mail check to:
Pat Betzhold
23751 Burbank Blvd.
Woodland Hills, Ca 91367
Email: Manitoufs@aol.com
(818) 999-2465
Saturday, March 15th, 2003 at 1:00 p.m. Cost is $50.00
Hosted by Lynda Symans
(at the Holiday Inn Express, Brattleboro, Vermont)
Make checks payable to: Lynda Symans. She’d like to have everyone’s group session fee by February 1st 2003.
Lynda Symans
39 Williston Street
Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
(802) 257-9443
Email: LRSymans@aol.com
Public Email Lists
Check out the Elias List on Yahoo! Groups, moderated by Gerhard Fuchs <gfuchs@eliasweb.at>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elias
Check out the NewWorldView Discussion Forums, moderated by Paul Helfrich <helfrich@newworldview.com> and Ellen Gilbert <egilbert18@comcast.net>
http://www.newworldview.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi
Explore the Elias forum webring
Are you interested in other websites that incorporate the teachings of Elias? There is a link at the bottom of our homepage, or just go to:
http://X.webring.com/hub?ring=eliasforum
Do you have a webpage that explores the information offered by Elias? If so, then you may wish to join the webring to help promote it. To join, go to:
http://X.webring.com/wrman?ring=eliasforum&addsite
Send any questions to the ringmeister at: helfrich@eliasforum.org
Please forward (email or print) this Newsletter to anyone you think may be interested.
To receive this newsletter, transcripts, other news, by email, or update your personal info, go to:
http://www.eliasforum.org/registration_form.html
To stop receiving transcripts contact Bobbi H. at momcat28@sti.net.
www.eliasforum.org/library/news/newsletter1202.html