School Talk 38 - Recalling vs Remembering

Today we're going to talk about recall and remembering. Now most people confuse the two and think that recall and remembering is all one in the same. Recall is a mechanical thing that happens whenever there is something about to make an association comes by. I hadn't thought of Baraga Springs, California in a number of days--in fact, maybe weeks or possibly years. But today several people that I used to see at Baraga are in the room, and so Baraga came up. Now that's recall, and recall is as mechanical as that recording machine sitting there. It's a mechanical thing; and the fact that we have a recall going on practically all the time, doesn't mean at all that we remember.

Now remembering is remembering what our purpose is; or, as we say sometimes, "What can I do"? We can carry out the thing of the newsletter, which always says, "What can I do."? Well, one of the things I can do, of course, is to remember what my purpose is, and what my method is of keeping myself awake.

Now recalling has nothing to do with being awake-but remembering does. So, I can remember that my purpose is to be what, to me, is a good guest. I don't know what anybody else's purpose is, but that happens to be mine; and that's the way I can express being a good guest, is contribute to a pleasant harmonious mood wherever I may be--whether I'm on the street in traffic, or whether I'm here with all the folks coming in today. If I get out there, I might as well contribute to a good mood and let it be.

Now whenever we are remembering to carry out our purpose, we are not involved in self. We have our attention turned outwardly. Now if all my attention is turned inwardly, obviously we don't feel so hot. Anytime, when I'm totally involved with "I", I'm in a certain amount of turmoil; and when I'm involved with paying attention to what's going on outside and contributing to a good mood, spontaneously, I'm feeling very well because I'm not checking up on me. You know you do have to check up on yourself to see how you're feeling every now and then, is that right Mary? You have to check up; and if you do check up, you can find more creaks and squeaks and troubles and chaos. Is that right Mary? You have to check up; and if you do check up, you can find more creaks and squeaks and troubles and chaos.

Now some of the things that we can remember is that we can usually only do about two possible things to any situation I find myself in. I can find fault with it, or I can do something about it. Now I walk into some place; and I pick up a feeling-we sometimes use the slang, the vibes of the place or the people that I'm around. So I go in some stores, and it doesn't feel very nice in there. Well, I want to know and remember that I didn't feel bad because I went in there; but I'm just picking up the vibrations or the feelings of the majority of the people in that place. I want to recall-remember as well-that that is not my feeling, that is yours or theirs. So if the thing is feeling pretty miserable, I can do one of two things. I can curse it, or I can feed it a little bit. So if I find fault with it and blame it for making me feel bad, I'm putting a curse on it and that curse returns to me. All curses have a way of rebounding and causing you considerable difficulty. Now the other one is that I can feed it. I can say, you can have a little better feeling in here, so I will contribute to a pleasant mood one way or the other. I can usually just feel better, and it will make the thing turn around a wee bit. You can go in a restaurant and some restaurants, in fact, quite a number of them have a heavy feeling in them. Well, that doesn't tell me that now I'm feeling heavy--now what have I done wrong, etc. etc. I don't start picking on me. I know that's the feeling that is in the restaurant that I walked into. If I turn around and run out because it has that horrible feeling in it or unpleasant feeling-maybe it's not horrible, but it's just a wee bit unpleasant. If I turn around and run out, I'm cursing it; and it will rebound on me. Now if I go and say; "Well, I can do something, at least, to get a better feeling in here," and I sit down there and have a nice feeling. I can see a joke in some of the things-well, sometimes I have a hard time telling a joke in the food.

I went in a place yesterday and ordered a little omelet; and I asked for it to be cooked just barely hanging together. I don't want the eggs all dried up. Well, they came out well-dried about the consistency of the top of this table. I made a notch in it and sent it back; and the girl came back with it in a few minutes and wanted to know if it was all right. The cook was a very brilliant character back there; and he'd smeared a little beaten egg over the top of that thing and hadn't quite cooked it. It looked a little raw on top. I said fine, I'll take it. So, it was the same one I had cut the notch out of; and the notch was still in there, but he had covered it over with this wet egg. So he thought he was very bright which was fine. So you might want to see the joke in it rather than get all upset about it because it's not going to change. Obviously you're not even going to get a different omelet by sending it back. You're going to get the same one patched.

So you might as well see the joke in it. I might as well feed the place because I don't have to go back anymore-that's one thing I've noticed. I don't have to return; but I can feed the place a little bit rather than cursing it which would rebound on me.

So it's not that I'm so concerned with the place, but the fact that I don't want the thing to rebound on me. If I let it determine my inner feeling or the feeling that was already going on in there affect my inner feeling, then I'm in a bad shape; and it hasn't hurt them any. They were in a mess when I got there, so I haven't done anything to them, and I have done something very unpleasant to myself.

So it is possible that we could remember that we would prefer to feed a place that has an unpleasant feeling in it rather than to curse it. The curse is any time that we find fault with it and run out-we have condemned it-put it down-said "it's no good", etc. So we have in one form or another put a curse on it. I doubt if we can make it any worse much, but it would make me much more uncomfortable, and I'm uncomfortable enough without having any switches on those-just the years took care of that. So I can do something to feed it.

Now if we want anything to go well around us, we can do something. If you have a cat, you feed it. I have a hummingbird I feed. It eats like a lot of other people I know that eat like hummingbirds-you know the little fellow eats eight times his body weight a day. He does real well with it' but the point is that you feed things. So you feed a hummingbird. If you have a garden, you feed it a little bit. If you have a potted plant in the house, you feed it. If you have animals around, you feed them.

And when we are really interested in feeding our well being, shall we say, I cannot afford to curse anything because I am detracting from my well being.

Now it's very easy to go out and find fault. I know there is plenty of it out there. Is that right, John? There's plenty of it out there. So I can go out and find fault with the greatest of ease; but all I'm doing in the faultfinding is cursing it; and the curse reflects on me. I don't know what affect it has on that out there. I really don't care. But I do know what affect it would have on me, and I kind of like me; and I don't want to tear me up, so I'm not going to curse anything. But when you feed things; that is an expression of caring; and I guess if you used a pretty word, it would be loving it to some degree; and anything that you are expressing love to whether we're feeding a cat or whether we're feeding a bird or whether we're feeding a business or whether we're feeding a building we walk into, or a home, because every place you walk in has a feeling, does it not? Have you ever noticed that-every place you walk in has some kind of feeling there?

Now the easiest way, of course, if it has an unpleasant feeling is to leave right quick, and say, "I don't want to go in there anymore." "It makes me feel terrible every time I go there." That's true of many stores, many restaurants, many buildings you walk into, many offices you walk into and everything. It can, if you accept it, that you are having the feeling rather than you are experiencing somebody else's feeling or the feeling that is ordinarily generated there.

Now most of the time when I go to somebody's house, I'm going to one that either somebody there is troubled or they are ill one way or another…so there's always a feeling that's not real beautiful there. But I think that when I walk in, the first thing I can do is raise the level of that feeling. Then if I get the feeling up, everybody feels better in there; and so I've accomplished my task. I'm not very technical, but, then, I don't know any technical skills to make people feel better too much. But I do know how to raise the vibration level of having people feel a little bit better than they did before I got there. When they come to see me about their problems, I, also, do likewise

Many years ago I had a doctor's office over in New Mexico and a gentlemen came in one day. The reception room was full of people, about fourteen or so; and the receptionist was telling jokes and everybody was laughing and having a good time. The gentleman got caught up in it and was laughing; and so when I got to him and asked him to come in--he walked in and said, "I thought this was a doctor's office when I came in here." I said, "Well, it passes for that." He said, "I've never been in a doctor's office where everybody was sitting laughing and feeling good when they're sick." I said, "Well, do you want to leave?" He said, "No, I feel a lot better than I did when I came in here." I said, "Well, that's the method here." And he said, "I don't know, do I pay for it." I said, "You better believe it."

(Laughter from the audience)

Good feelings cost money, that's all there is to it.

But if you stop to think of it, isn't it what you go to a doctor for is to feel good? So shall we say that we can recall that feelings that we experience, or something I'm experiencing is not something I'm having--now that's remembering. You can do a little remembering on that Mary. Sometimes you go to a table and there's a cruddy feeling there, is that right? And you would rather not be there, maybe?

(Sometimes that's true.)

But the point is, you don't curse them, you remember that you can do what? You can contribute to a pleasant mood. Now you're going to experience their feeling. When we say you contribute to a pleasant mood, we're not talking about you MAKING ONE; we're talking about you CONTRIBUTING. A contribution is putting a little bit in the pot anyway.

Now if you decided that you were responsible to have a good feeling everywhere you go, it would be very frustrating pretty fast, is that right? But you can always contribute a little bit; and sometimes that contribution gets very contagious and other people pick it up and start contributing too; and then it's very wonderful; and the place begins to feel "up", happy, enthusiastic or what-have-you

I'm sure most of us here have had the experience of going in a restaurant somewhere; and maybe one other table of people is beside you, maybe more, maybe none. So, you sit there and have a good feeling--you are feeding the place a little bit with good feelings--making your little contribution; and pretty soon the place is full. You've had that happen--the place fills up. I've had that happen many times-it's the same in gas stations, the same in stores, the same in shoe stores, the same wherever you might walk in-you can have that very thing happen.

Now if you should happen to be running the business yourself, it's very easy to complain because there's not enough people come in; or they don't appreciate us, which is cursing your own place of business; but you can also sit or move about and contribute to a good feeling. If you got only one, why you might as well raise that feeling; and if you raise it, there's somebody else will come in. If you raise that feeling, pretty soon you have a whole slew of people in there. It's probably the greatest bit of advertising that you could ever know to do. You probably could have more results than you would if you used a whole-page ad in the newspaper. We've run some full-pages here in Mesa, and nobody showed--so I don't think they read the newspaper.

But if you could put out a good mood, then something's going to show. Somebody, somehow or other, is going to begin to pick it up; and if there is anything that increases your business and gets people into where you want them to be, the easiest an the most appropriate thing is that you could feed it.

Now what are you going to feed it with? Obviously whatever your product of service is; but the next thing, you're going to feed it with is good feelings-that is what you can produce at any time. All you got to do is remember what your job is. So if we don't remember, we only start recalling-I would say that we will mechanically start cursing our own places--pretty surely--sometimes. You ever think you did that Linda?

(Yes.)

Unknowingly--but that's what is going on. If somebody said I'm going to put a curse on your business, you would be all ticked off, wouldn't you? But if you sit there and complain about this, the customers, or the owners, or the building, or this, or that, or the other, what are you doing? You're putting a curse on it. But you would sure holler if somebody else came along and said they were going to put a curse on it, is that right? Do you do that at all?

(Uh huh.)

John, would you do that?

(Yes.)

You get real upset, and it's awful easy to put a curse on situations you find yourself in, is that right?.

So possibly unknowing to ourselves--very mechanically--purely by a little recall of something didn't go to suit me, we're all going around putting curses on our own places of business, or our own occupations, or maybe our own places of residence, you know. It's awful easy to find fault with those sometimes, isn't it? It's awful easy. Oh, this didn't go right, that didn't go right and so forth.

So if we can today decide that we see the absolute necessity of remembering.

Now you don't have to do anything about recalling, that's just as mechanical as the day is long. You're going to recall by association or by who knows whatever else-so you're going to recall. That's going on all the time.

But remembering is a very rare thing amongst human beings. I've found out that it takes what is called esoteric teaching or higher consciousness teaching to even become acquainted that there's something besides recall. It is a mental activity other than recall in the area within you, and we call that remembering or being awake.

Now, no doubt, New Year's Day is coming up here real soon and a lot of people will make resolutions-I haven't heard any from the people I know in many years; but some will do it. And you know something? They won't remember it in three days-not-a-one.

(Or even recall it.)

No, because they have nothing to recall; they have no association with it.

(The resolution has gone bye bye.)

It's bye bye, over the hill, just like 1984 is going pretty soon, it's gone. Didn't last long either, I'll tell you. It's only about six weeks long I think. That's what it feels like to me. You can always tell how old people are. Short years belong to the old people; and long years belong to the young folks. I've probably been around longer than any of you--so it was about six weeks long for me. Just a few days ago I got the last tax return off; and now it's time to start on another one. See, the years are going awfully fast--it's not even worth buying a calendar for.

So, let's see if we can see the necessity of remembering. Now unless you see the necessity of something, you simply will not do it. You simply will not do it. Now, let's see if we can see the necessity of remembering so that we can feed, but more especially (even than the feeding) that we can cease cursing our businesses, our associates, our friends, the highways we're on, whatever, wherever and whenever. Everywhere we find ourselves, there's very frequently something that is a wee bit on the frustrating side to say the least, right John? Something's a little frustrating; and it is very easy to start cursing because the way we curse it is finding fault, blaming it, putting bad touches on it. So then we're cursing it and usually it gets worse.

I always like to have a front man, so John is here, I'll use him. I've known John for more years than either he or I like to recall or remember. I've known John since he was young, believe it or not; and back in those days, the world that John lived in was populated with a brand of humans called "stupid bastards"--every one of them was a "stupid bastard" with no exceptions. John always wondered why he had so many misfortunes; and of course, he's finally caught on to that. Now he lives in a world of pretty nice people, is that right? Now every once in a while a couple of the "stupid bastards" show up; and then John goes out and indulges in unusual behavior and comes in with unusual cellular activity, unusual sensation; and if you keep it up long enough, John, you experience tissue cell alteration and breakdown, right? So John has a bit of a reminder, at the moment, that it is absolutely necessary-absolutely essential to remember. If you don't, you can have some severe reactions, which are not at all pleasant, are they John? They are not nice at all.

So the world, regardless of what you would ordinarily consider through recall; you might reconsider, and we could see the world is populated with wonderful people. They are all nice. They are just lost and befuddled; and the least I can do is feed them, a little bit, with a nice feeling somewhere along the way. I don't know whether my observations about them are going to change that a whole lot; but it sure makes my life a lot less painful and miserable; and, in addition, I don't have all these misfortunes that come everybody's way.

Now if I walked up to somebody and said, you are always cursing everything around you, you would probably call me a "dirty fibber" or "bop" me, or tell me what a "jerk" I was. But if you look at it for a little bit, every time you are contributing to an unpleasant mood wherever you are--whether it's by temper, by worry, by anxiety, by fretting, by stewing or whatever else it is that one does, by fault finding, by self pity, what are you doing? You are cursing whatever you're having that fit about. And I've read in many places that the person that dishes out curses is in a very unpleasant situation because they all come back tenfold. One fold is enough to come back; but tenfold-that gets wearisome. So, I would say that it is probably a matter of life and death-and that gets it down to about as far as we know to go with it-so it is essential that we remember.

Remembering that I'm doing one of two things. I'm feeding or cursing every situation that I come up with a feeling about. Now there's sometimes that you're going someplace and you have a wonderful feeling and you talk about how wonderful it was-you're feeding that one. But for every one you feed, probably; how many do you curse-come to think of it.

Mary, would you like to make an observation on that one please?

(Yes.)

Percentage-wise.

(Percentage-wise, well, some days there is a…)

High percentage on the cursing.

(Some days.)

Well, if there's nice vibes around, why you do pretty good; but it wasn't because you remembered in either case. Do you see it was merely a reaction on your part; and if you have to depend upon a reaction instead of remembering for yourself, the average over the year would put probably a much higher rate on the cursing side rather than on the feeding side? Is that possibly right?

Ok, I've talked long enough, now let's have comments. Ok, Miss Judy, come up with it.

(What restaurant was that so I don't go there.)?

I won't advertise that dear.

(Ok, so then it's up to me. So necessity means that we get back everything that we give out.)

Well, that's somewhere approximately close to correct; but somebody said you got the curses back tenfold and the others only one. The feeding you get back elevenfold and the cursing you get back tenfold.

(I figured that out.)

You figured that out already-good, I'm glad.

Ok, next comment, question. Mary, you got anything to disturb this with? Jan, you got anything?

(Well, this has brought me some awareness.)

Well good, you got something out of it.

(I've been cursing that business I've been in for six months.)

And then wondering why your business didn't go.

(That's right.)

It's not a matter that you enjoy the building; but that you had some building which is better than having none, is that right?

(Yes, that's what I kept trying to say to myself.)

Well, I know; but what you're really trying to say is "dirty dog". You tried to be a Pollyanna; but it wasn't because you were trying to feed it or anything, it wasn't done on a real remembering level-it was on a reaction level.
Tom, you got anything to go on yet?

(All that I can say is that it seems to work. If you make a small proposition, things go much further.)

It works, doesn't it? You can go radiate an "Up Mood" even though things are not going so good? If you go out there and add a good feeling, it goes better than if you go out there and kick and scream, is that right?

(That's true.)

I've been in that shop a few times; and I know that's how it works.

Ok Carolyn?

(I'm going to say what you said to me a long, long time ago that stuck with me a lot, is that Carolyn was none of my business.)

Right. Carolyn is none of your damn business.

(Whenever I make "me" my business, we get in trouble.)

You got troubles right quick.

Sam?

(You said something about making a distinction between experiencing a feeling and having a feeling.)

You're having your own feeling when you go in a place; but the place has a feeling also. So you say that is this place's feeling, you don't say, "Oh my God, I have a terrible feeling."

(So you're experiencing that place instead of saying I'm having it, I got the feeling.)

You don't have the feeling at all, you're just experiencing it from something on the outside. Remember to see those feelings outside-you didn't catch it because you walked in there. You experience it like if you walk into some place and they have a certain odor there. You can smell it. If you go in a theater, you can smell popcorn, but that doesn't mean you're popcorn. You can smell the stuff, right? So you're experiencing it from the outside. You are not having it, ok? So when you go in a place-every place has some kind of a feeling, right?

(Right.)

But that's not giving you a feeling, you're just experiencing it, huh?

(Ok.)

You see that all right.

(Oh, yeah.)

You go in a house-anybody's house-you're going to pick up a feeling. So you're experiencing it, but you're not having that feeling-you're experiencing it. If you go into a movie theater, you don't necessarily have popcorn, but you sure smell the stuff, is that right? That doesn't make you popcorn.

(I usually have it after I smell it.)

Well I know, that's a normal reaction; but its not absolutely essential, ok?

Ok, we will manage some way or other to have a meeting next week. Thank you very much and have a lovely day.