Exercises - Pleasant Mood Contribution

In studying the “self”, the teaching says that we unconsciously seek non-disturbance or gratification of all the senses; and thereby are mechanical—not awake—not aware.  One purpose was given to us as an experiment—that is to be what, to me, is being a good guest or making a little contribution to a pleasant mood.  This seemed pretty easy and a worthwhile activity; but I discovered can sure get twisted.  I have worked with this idea for years.  To begin with, I didn’t recognize the “little” and tried to “make” the pleasant mood for everyone whom I eventually found was quite egotistical and not possible.  I also began to see that I twisted it into “pleasing people”, “doing whatever they asked” or “helping people”.  I thought that’s what “making a little contribution” meant—it doesn’t.  I just ran across an excerpt in the vintage tapes that puts a little more light on the experiment.

Someone in the audience says:

(I established my purpose to be a good guest and contribute to a pleasant mood, but does that always mean to somebody else's pleasant mood instead of mine?)

Now there's no such thing as another person's pleasant mood and my pleasant mood--there's only a pleasant mood. I think we have repeatedly said--If you were in a car going down the road all by yourself, you'd want a pleasant mood in the car. So the pleasant mood is being made for you. If you're somewhere else and you're contributing to a pleasant mood, it is for you and it is for everybody around you. I can hardly conceive that you would be in a foul mood and be contributing to somebody else's pleasant mood--it flat doesn't make sense. There's no way you could do that.

So when I contribute to a pleasant mood, the mood covers everybody around including me. In other words, if I'm in a room with eight people, and I have a pleasant mood, it covers nine people. If I'm in a room with only one person in it, that's #1, then that pleasant mood only covers one. Mood is something we live in like a fish lives in water--it is not something I'm doing for another person or doing for myself. It is a state I'm setting up all around me. You might say the only light you will ever live in is that which you generate for yourself. So if I generate a pleasant harmonious mood, I'm in that mood as well as everybody else around because the mood is the environment; and we're all in the environment-- so it is not  just for me or for another person.