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Friday, January 18, 2002

<  Session 983 (Private)  >

“Withdrawal in the Common and Soft Orientations”

“The Key: Pay Attention to What You Are Actually Choosing”


Participants: Mary (Michael), Sheri (Milde) and Sabrina (Stencett).

Elias arrives at 11:13 AM. (Arrival time is 36 seconds.)

ELIAS: Good morning!

SHERI: Good morning! How are you?

ELIAS: We meet again.

SHERI: Yes, we do! (Elias chuckles) And you’re as always, so I won’t ask!

ELIAS: Very well!

SHERI: (Laughs) Okay! My daughter is sitting in with us.

ELIAS: Welcome.

SHERI: I have a few questions. First of all, my male friend – his orientation, please?

ELIAS: Common.

SHERI: Not intermediate?

ELIAS: No.

SHERI: Well, that changes some of my questions! (Laughing) What is this cave thing he goes into, then? We thought he was intermediate, and he thought so because he goes into that inner space.

ELIAS: Which is not unusual.

SHERI: It’s a common thing?

ELIAS: Yes, in your terminology. Individuals that hold this orientation of common, as I have expressed previously, easily may express time frameworks in which they may be quite focused upon self.

Now; within these time frameworks, although they may be less interactive with other individuals, they continue to express outwardly in association with their orientation. In this, the expression is objective. It is an outward expression of energy. There is a direction which is natural to these individuals to be creating some type of productivity in a manner of speaking, an outward expression of themselves in objective imagery or in manifestation.

In this orientation, individuals, as they are quite objectively focused, project energy outwardly to allow them an objective viewing of what they are creating, through imagery or manifestations or even reflections of elements surrounding them within their environment or through other individuals.

SHERI: How is that different than when I do it as soft? Because it seems like I look at the objective and see how it’s reflecting what’s going on in me. Is that the same type of thing or...?

ELIAS: No. Individuals holding the orientation of soft interpret quite differently.

Now; let me qualify once again, this is not to say that individuals that incorporate the orientation of soft may not be interactive with individuals that are common and translate languages quite efficiently. Let me also express to you, individuals that hold the orientation of soft translate, in a manner of speaking, efficiently with the orientations of common or intermediate. (1) Individuals that are soft may be, figuratively speaking, viewed as the middle position and may efficiently translate languages of intermediate or common.

Now; individuals that incorporate this orientation of soft also incorporate more difficulty in interaction with another individual who is soft, for the mirroring is quite intense, and if the individual is not focusing their attention quite intently upon self, there may be fertile ground for conflict between two individuals of the soft orientation.

Now; in your orientation – which is quite coloring, so to speak, of your perception, as each orientation is – you may project outwardly at times and generate objective imagery to be creating a reflection of yourself that you may view and interpret, but you also generate subjective communication with self. Therefore, the actions that are occurring are quite different. An individual such as your friend may choose to be incorporating a time framework in what you term to be alone, but shall continue to manifest outwardly objectively and shall be interactive with the objective imagery to offer himself information.

Now; in time frameworks in which you, incorporating the soft orientation, choose to be removing yourself from interaction with other individuals, you may present some objective imagery to yourself, but that time framework in which you are creating the aloneness shall incorporate much more communication of a subjective nature. You, in your common vernacular, shall be introspective in a different manner, holding your attention objectively more in the direction of emotional communications, impressional communications, sense-data communications, impulses, intuition. You shall correlate your thought process – your translating mechanism – with your communications.

SHERI: Can you give me an example of that?

ELIAS: Offer to myself an example of your individual withdrawal, a time framework – it matters not – in which you recognize that you are creating less interaction with other individuals.

SHERI: A major one, I think, was when I lived in Washington. I didn’t work for a year and just had a few people I interacted with.

ELIAS: Correct, which is also quite commonly expressed with individuals of the soft orientation. You continue to interact with some individuals in limited capacity, for there is a recognition of this continuous natural flow of interactiveness. But you also view yourself to be withdrawing from interaction with many individuals or [from] environments in which you translate to yourself that you are forcing yourself to be interactive in a continuous manner.

Now; within that time framework, you may be generating some objective imagery that you may be paying attention to, but more so your attention moves to all of your emotional communications.

SHERI: That was when I was getting all those insights. I could read a TV Guide and give an insight.

ELIAS: Your feelings are more pronounced. Your attention is moving to emotional communications, the feelings that are generated, and incorporating the thought process to translate what you are expressing to yourself in the projection of these feelings. The intuition is expressed and paid attention to more closely; imagination is paid attention to. Expressions of sense data, visual, hearing, touch, smells, even tastes – these senses are not necessarily heightened, so to speak, but your attention is moved more to them, and you are more attentive to these types of expressions which move in the expression of the subjective awareness. They are translated objectively, but they are mechanisms of your physical expression that are directed by the subjective awareness.

The subjective awareness incorporates many avenues to communicate to the objective awareness. Be remembering, they are not separated and they are moving in harmony continuously, but they generate different types of imagery, so to speak. The objective imagery is much more abstract. The subjective imagery is quite concise. It does not incorporate the abstractness that the objective incorporates.

Therefore, as an example, within one moment you may generate an emotional communication, which is a subjective communication to the objective awareness, which may be expressing a signal of a feeling, and within that moment the subjective awareness may be expressing an acknowledgment precisely of what you are generating within that moment. It may be expressed with the signal of happiness or contentment, and the communication that is being expressed is an identification by the subjective awareness: “within this moment I am trusting and appreciating” – quite precise and simple. The objective awareness may incorporate many different types of imagery that shall reflect that simple message.

SHERI: I’m feeling like I’m getting it! (Laughs)

ELIAS: Within consecutive moments the objective imagery may change many times and in those changes it is reflecting the one message, but that may be translated in many different types of imagery, many different types of actions. You may be offering yourself that communication, and as you recognize the communication – for you have acknowledged the signal of the feeling – you may generate objective imagery in incorporating listening to music that reflects that feeling, and simultaneously you may be incorporating consuming chocolate. You may choose to be physically engaging another individual in an embrace, you may choose to be incorporating an action of dance, [or] you may express some creativity. There are many expressions that you may generate objectively, for the objective imagery is abstract.

Now; as I have stated, you, in what you term to be the “cave,” are quite attentive to the subjective communications. An individual that holds the orientation of common is also expressing subjective communications but is paying attention to the objective translations in objective imagery.

SHERI: This brings me to another question that I hope you’ll give me an answer on. Are he and I wanting to learn about each other, or about ... I guess more like just expand? Can you give me some insight as to what’s going on here with me and him? Another part that might be incorporated in that is the vacation we were going to take together, that we both thought we wanted subjectively and objectively. Somewhere along the way we didn’t create it. I’m trying to understand that.

ELIAS: Very well, we shall begin with this. (Pause) You do incorporate the orientation of soft, and you do allow yourself to be attentive to the objective displays of subjective communications. This is not to say that you automatically objectively understand or accurately translate what you are communicating.

Now; this is significant, especially within this time framework, for the movement within consciousness now, as you are aware, is escalating. As I have stated, you are objectively inserting this shift, and in that movement and the escalation of it individuals en masse, and yourselves also, are moving into an expansion of awareness of self. In this expansion of awareness of self, you are allowing yourselves to explore not merely what you are communicating to yourselves or what you generate or what you create – for you are aware and are paying attention enough to objectively recognize WHAT you are creating – you are now moving into the exploration of HOW.

SHERI: That’s my question. How did we do this? (Laughing)

ELIAS: And the key, which I am aware appears to be quite monotonous but is quite significant, is paying attention to self.

Now; what is meant in this term of “paying attention to self,” and “within the now”? Being objectively aware of what you are physically engaging – or what you think you are physically engaging – in the moment is one aspect, but allowing yourself to become aware of the different expressions of yourself and moving your attention to these different expressions to accurately interpret what you are creating and how you are creating is quite different. For in this, what you are familiar with is moving your attention to your thoughts. Therefore, your automatic assessment of your situation in any particular moment is whatever you are thinking.

As an example, you may be generating a thought process and you may express within that thought process, “I wish to be creating a limited time framework in which I shall incorporate a trip.” Let us express a specific time framework of two of your days. And you may incorporate this idea and express this with another individual, and you may exchange with each other and generate an objective agreement to be incorporating this trip of two days. You arrange to be incorporating this trip within a future time framework, but a brief future time framework, and as that time framework approaches you generate other imagery and you create other scenarios. The day approaches that you have agreed upon to be incorporating this trip, and you alter the choice and you do not incorporate this trip, and you incorporate disappointment. For you have been following in your attention your thoughts, and in following your thoughts with your attention, focusing your attention upon thoughts, you are not paying attention to other expressions that you are generating.

Now; this is the key in paying attention to yourself in the now, paying attention to what you are actually generating, what you are actually choosing. Choice requires no thought. Thought is reality, but it does not create your reality, and it does not precede the creation of your reality. You do not generate a thought and therefore then create. Thought is a mechanism which is incorporated quite efficiently in this physical dimension as a translator. It translates what you are communicating to yourself, what you are generating through your perception. It translates what you are doing, and what you are doing is displayed in what you are choosing, and what you choose moves in conjunction with your direction.

Now; you may not necessarily objectively be aware of your direction in any particular time framework. But what you are choosing objectively, as the objective and the subjective are in harmony, reflects your direction. Therefore, if you are paying attention to what you are choosing, you offer yourself much clearer information as to how you are creating and, in your terms, the infamous question, WHY you are creating.

SHERI: (Laughs) Part of that question really does incorporate the “how.” But a lot of it’s “WHY?”

ELIAS: Quite!

Now; as you turn your attention to what you are choosing in the moment, and you allow yourself to move your attention...

SHERI: Can we wait a second?

ELIAS: You may. (Pause, as Sheri flips her audio cassette)

As you allow yourself to move your attention from the thoughts to the choice, you may begin viewing differences.

SHERI: Have I done this at all? It feels like I’ve done little snatches of it.

ELIAS: At times, yes.

SHERI: The other question I have is those times when I’m sitting, being in the now, just here, just now, and I’m not thinking, is that more in line with what you’re saying?

ELIAS: Yes.

Now; let me clarify. You are always incorporating thought. Thought is a mechanism which is as physically intrinsic and functional to your physical expression as your breathing or your heartbeat. You need not concentrate your attention upon your breathing or your heart beating for it to function.

SHERI: So when I’m not aware of my thinking, it’s still going on.

ELIAS: Your attention is moved.

SHERI: And that’s closer to what you’re talking about.

ELIAS: Yes. Thought is continuously being generated, but your attention is not always focused upon thought. The snare that has been created in relation to this mechanism of thought is that your attention has moved intensely to thought, and in that, beliefs have been generated in relation to thought: If you concentrate your attention upon thought and what you are thinking, you shall create.

SHERI: Right, I haven’t noticed that to be true. (Laughs)

ELIAS: For it is not. For it matters not that your objective concentration is held upon thought, for this is not the concentration that creates movement that generates what you create. The subjective concentration in relation to beliefs and associations is what moves your direction and therefore generates your choices, which is not always translated accurately through thought.

Therefore within our scenario, as you recognize your disappointment for you have not created what you thought you wanted to create in your trip, as you turn your attention to your choosing within that time framework and your communications to yourself – which precisely express to you in any moment which beliefs are influencing your perception, whether you are allowing yourself certain choices or not, what issues are being expressed within the moment, for the subjective is quite precise and direct – in paying attention to THESE aspects of yourself, you begin to allow yourself a more accurate translation through thought. You allow the thought process to be incorporated in its genuine function, not to be generating your reality but to be translating your communications and what you are choosing. This is its function.

Now; in this, as you begin paying attention to what you are creating, your natural inclination is to be questioning yourself “why?” As you identify each “what” that you have created, you may pay attention to that expression of what you have chosen in each moment and what association is being generated with that choice. What is the influence of which beliefs that are influencing this particular choice? What is my genuine want?

Now; if I express to myself, “My genuine want is to be incorporating interaction with another individual,” and I am not creating that expression, what is the expression I am creating? In viewing what I AM creating – “I think I want this expression” – what is the distortion of the thinking? For the most part, your thought process shall not be entirely incorrect. But it may be distorted, for your attention is held on the thinking, therefore you are not allowing your attention to be moving in the directions of the communications, and if your attention is not in the direction of the communications or choices, it shall not be offering information to your thought process, and if the thought process is not being inputted with information through your attention, it shall inaccurately translate. It shall translate partially what you want, but it shall be vague. You THINK that it is specific: “I want to be interactive with this individual.” This seems quite precise. But in actuality this is the distorted translation, quite narrow. Where is the attention? Not upon you, but upon an outside expression of the other individual. This is key.

SHERI: And how do I get it ... because I’m wanting the interaction, so it feels like it’s on me.

ELIAS: No. What do YOU want, not in relation to the other individual? This is your key. In your thoughts, as you generate the thought concerning the other individual, you may recognize that you have incorporated the distortion.

SHERI: So what do I want? (Laughing)

ELIAS: Precisely. What is it that you are expressing to yourself that you want to be generating and expressing?

SHERI: Love and interaction.

ELIAS: Regardless of the individual.

SHERI: Right.

ELIAS: Now; as you continue in this questioning of yourself, as you eliminate the specific of the other individual and you turn your attention to you, you continue to explore and investigate more and more precisely what you want to be expressing and how you may generate that yourself. You may be incorporating another individual, but as you are projecting your attention to the other individual you are not allowing yourself to pay attention to you and offering yourself permission to generate the expression that YOU want.

For your attention becomes preoccupied with the other individual and what you perceive they want, what you perceive in expectation of yourself in relation to the other individual, and you also open the window for what you perceive the expectations of the other individual are in relation to yourself and therefore opening more windows to be discounting of yourself, to be limiting yourself, to be cautious, to be protective, and thus you spin the web. And thus, you do not create what you THINK you want. For what you genuinely want is to express the freedom within yourself to freely flow with your energy and express yourself in the manner that you want, unrestricted, without anticipation, without expectations, and without limitations.

SHERI: That sounds good! (Laughs) I like that!

Can I ask another question?

ELIAS: You may.

SHERI: My friend and I both, but him especially, this new back surgery he’s having, can you give us some insights into how, why, he created that one?

ELIAS: This, once again, is an objective expression, an outward expression of his energy that creates a productivity, a product, imagery that he may view. He has created this particular expression in physical affectingness in symbology of moments in which he is faltering within his support of himself, and therefore creating an association that he is requiring outside helpfulness to be supportive, for he is not being supportive of self.

There are many beliefs that are being incorporated within your friend’s expressions presently, that within certain expressions of emotional communications he is not paying attention to. I am not expressing right or wrong, good or bad. He is merely generating choices, but he is incorporating duplicity in relation to his choices and not allowing himself to pay attention to his communications. In the time frameworks in which he does not pay attention to his emotional communications he generates physical communications, for this is another clear avenue of the subjective communication to the objective awareness. If you are not paying attention to the emotional communications, the subjective awareness shall generate a manifestation that shall be quite obvious to the objective in a physical expression.

SHERI: The duplicity, is that with the wife and everything?

ELIAS: Both.

SHERI: Both? What do you mean both? Me?

ELIAS: You are quite aware!

SHERI: Me?

ELIAS: Yes, which is not to be incorporated by yourself as your responsibility, for it is not, and not to be incorporated as discounting of yourself. Hold your attention upon you and appreciate you. These are his communications and his expressions of beliefs that he is not paying attention to.

SHERI: Am I right in assuming that he’s bringing these things to his attention, whether he’s paying attention or not, because he wants to?

ELIAS: Yes.

SHERI: So I’m going to continue to be around?

ELIAS: Yes. He is offering himself an opportunity to pay attention and to address to these beliefs and recognize that he does incorporate beliefs concerning other individuals’ perceptions and their expectations. Although he expresses objectively that it matters not, this is quite incorrect, for within his beliefs it does matter. He may wish it not matter, but it does matter.

In this he is presenting himself with objective imagery to pay attention to self, and offer himself the opportunity to address to these beliefs and therefore genuinely recognize that it matters not, that you are merely incorporating choices, and each individual creates their reality – which I am quite aware within the expressions of you as individuals are words.

I may express to you all, each individual creates their reality and you are not creating their reality for them, and if they are incorporating anxiety or anger or any communication, it is their communication to themselves and it is concerning themselves; but this is not incorporated for the most part by you as individuals genuinely, but more in an expression of excuse in relation to your interactions with each other.

What I am expressing to you is the genuine knowing, and therefore incorporating the genuine expression of compassion which is defined in understanding and the recognition that each individual creates their reality. This is what your friend is presenting to himself to address to, to pull together the balance of a genuine recognition that each individual creates their own reality and that none of you are responsible for any other individual’s reality, but also incorporating the balance of the expression of essence in genuine compassion.

SHERI: Thank you.

ELIAS: You are quite welcome.

SHERI: He wanted me to tell you also, “Ha ha ha, he has your girl now,” referring to our flamboyant affair. (Laughing)

ELIAS: Ha ha ha! And you may express to him, or I may express to him, “Ha ha ha! I have incorporated many more!” (Chuckles)

SHERI: Oh yes! (Laughs)

He had a dream with you this past week that you guys were sitting in those Oxford chairs and talking, and one of the things that you said was the back thing had to do with wanting to slow himself down and something about his intent, but he wasn’t sure what that was. Was that accurate?

ELIAS: In relation to the slowing of movement, yes, to allow himself to genuinely examine these beliefs and choices that are being incorporated in relation to the beliefs. As to his intent, no.

SHERI: That wasn’t part of the dream or...?

ELIAS: This has been a translation that he has incorporated within this dream imagery concerning his movement, and in this you may assure him that he continues to follow his intent.

SHERI: Does he know what his intent is? He said that he didn’t.

ELIAS: Objectively he continues to be discovering of that, although it matters not for you continuously follow your intent throughout your entirety of your focus; in the moments that you choose not to be, you disengage.

SHERI: Can you tell me his intent, or is that something he’s still discovering on his own?

ELIAS: He may continue in his investigation.

SHERI: In the dream he said that he had thought that we had made a decision a long time ago somewhere to come together and all this, and I said, no, I think we’re choosing in the moment. He said in the dream you told him that it was not a choice from before, it was a choice now.

ELIAS: Correct. I may express to you both, within essence and within what you consider to be time frameworks, you have incorporated objective agreements previously, but in potential, not in an absoluteness; for the actual choice is generated in the moment, and that may be altered moment by moment.

SHERI: My friend, Chris, has a question. She was wondering: “Why does he choose the syntax he does and convoluted sentences? Is it a filtering system?”

ELIAS: Let me express to you, within this energy exchange and offering an objective expression through language, incorporating words and expressions that shall not be reinforcing of your beliefs requires creativity. (Chuckling)

SHERI: (Laughs) I told her it had something to do with not reinforcing our beliefs! (Elias laughs)

Okay, well, I think that’s pretty much it, unless you have something you want to add. I think we’ve got about three minutes.

ELIAS: (Chuckles) Be practicing paying attention to what you are choosing.

I hold an awareness of the potential – which wavers presently but is continuing to be expressed – in Michael’s objective expression in direction subsequent to our group meeting. In this, the potential that he is expressing is in association with what we have been discussing this day, and as I have expressed previously, it is worthy of individuals’ attentions to pay attention. For in his participation in this phenomenon, he has been chosen specifically as expressing an ability to be an objective physical example of the concepts that I express to you all, [and] therefore, in incorporating the concepts in action, may offer a physical objective example that may be viewed by other individuals to incorporate more of an objective understanding of these concepts. Therefore it may be beneficial to be offering yourself the opportunity to objectively participate in that forum. (2)

SHERI: I plan to be there. Are you speaking of asking questions myself, or just participating in the audience?

ELIAS: In Michael’s interaction, not within our group interaction.

SHERI: Okay, great, thank you.

ELIAS: You are quite welcome.

SHERI: It’s nice speaking with you again.

ELIAS: And you also!

SHERI: Thank you!

ELIAS: You may offer my greetings to your friend.

SHERI: Thank you, I will.

ELIAS: Very well. As always, I express my affection to you.

SHERI: Thank you. Mine goes to you, too.

ELIAS: I shall be anticipating our continued interaction.

SHERI: Good, me too!

ELIAS: (To Sabrina) And to you also, good day. To you both, au revoir.

SHERI: Au revoir.

Elias departs at 12:13 PM.


Endnotes:

(1) Originally expressed as: “Let me also express to you, individuals that hold the orientation of soft in a manner of speaking translate efficiently with the orientations of common or intermediate.”

(2) Elias is referring to Mary Ennis’ talk given on January 20, 2002, entitled “The Thinking, Feeling, and Choosing Pieces.” A transcript of that talk was released and is available at www.eliasforum.org/transcripts/M02_012002.html.


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