Who Needs Need? The Eleventh Pathway

Who Needs Need? The Eleventh Pathway

By Gregg Sanderson

According to the Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr., The Centers of Consciousness are different ways we experience Life. From the bottom up, they are Security, Sensation, Power, and Love. We’re happier when we use the higher centers. There are three more beyond the Love Center, and also beyond the scope of this article. Suffering—the unpleasant emotions—are in the lower three, and the goal is to live as much as possible in the Love Center. Unconscious beliefs (Programming) of what you need to be happy trigger them. Think of the “Centers” as lenses in front of the telescope of your consciousness. You can mentally change them when you change the unconscious belief. The dominant emotion in the Security Center is fear whenever you feel insecure. The Sensation Center is a place of “never enough” and anxiety in the search for gratification. In the Power Center, anger rules when faced with a threat to control, power, or prestige. None are pleasant places to be, and you can view any situation from all three. Generally fear is underneath. From Security, move to Sensation to try to escape the fear. Move to Power to mask it. Fear dissipates when you view it from Love—the unconditional acceptance of “what is.” At the risk of over-simplification, you move to the Love Center by means of what you tell yourself when you’re emotional. Emotions are the power that makes the change, whether positive or negative. When you perceive a situation your programming tells you if it’s OK or not OK. If it’s OK, you feel fine. If not OK, you suffer. Since, at any moment, you can’t change the situation, your only alternative to “not OK” is to change the programming. When you “make it OK” you don’t suffer. I know this seems abstract—It IS abstract, so let’s take an example of a scene experienced in the different Centers. Here is what your programming might tell you, and how you can counter it. The scene: Bernice ate the last piece of cake. From the Security Center: Fear. “OMG, Bernice ate the cake. She doesn’t love me. She’s going to leave me. What did I do to make her hate me? I’m gonna die without her.” Counter with, “I’m OK— even if Bernice finished the cake.” From the Sensation Center: Anxiety. “The cake is all gone. How can I get more? That wasn’t enough. I gotta have more cake” Counter with, “It’s OK if Bernice finished the cake.” From the Power Center: Anger. “Bernice doesn’t respect me. How dare she eat that cake! She’s out of control. I have to get even. After all, I’m the boss.” Counter with, “It’s OK if Bernice finished the cake.” From the Love Center: “Oh, I see Bernice finished the cake.” You have no negative emotional reaction. “But what if it really is not OK?” you ask. The beauty of this system is that it doesn’t make any difference. We’re about changing reaction, not reality. The subconscious mind has no critical faculty, and accepts anything you tell it. You might as well tell it something that feels good. Since you want to view the scene from the Love Center, “It’s OK if...” and “I’m OK even if...” will do the job. Repeat those mantras with emotion, and you’ll feel your “...energy, perceptiveness, love, and inner peace growing...” Move into your Love Center, then if you don’t like the situation, you can take action to change it. Everything works better when you feel good. Remember, The cake doesn’t care who eats it.

Happiness is BS

with Gregg Sanderson

Gregg Sanderson, one of our long-time contributors, passed to spirit in September 2021, and we are continuing the 12 Pathways Series in his honor. He also authored Spirit with a Smile and The World According to BOB. During his life, he was a licensed practitioner in the Centers for Spiritual Living and a Certified Trainer for Infinite Possibilities. His earlier books include What Ever Happened to Happily Ever After? and Split Happens—Easing the Pain of Divorce.

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