Chapter IV
https://pedrodesouzablog.wordpress.com/book-the-oceanfrog-chapter-4-english/

---

 

Chapter V

In the light of saying “yes” to life

 

The ocean-frog

Do not be like the frog in the fountain … There was once a frog from the ocean. He decided to make a short journey on land and ended up falling into a fountain. The fountain-frog welcomed him and wanted to know where he came from. “I’m from the ocean,” said the ocean-frog. “How big is the ocean?” the fountain-frog wanted to know. “Is it really so big?” and he jumped to show the size he was thinking of. “No, it’s a lot bigger,” said the frog from the ocean. The fountain-frog then jumped to the middle of the fountain. “Is the ocean that big?” “No,” said the guest, “it’s much, much bigger.” The fountain-frog then jumped to the other side of the fountain. “Is it about that big?” the fountain-frog asked a bit annoyed. “No, that isn’t big enough either,” the ocean-frog answered. Then the fountain-frog became angry, “You liar! How can something be bigger than my fountain?!”

You are the frog in the fountain, because you limit yourselves. In reality, you are ocean-frogs, but you limit yourselves by building a fountain in the ocean. Your potential is limitless. Endless possibilities are within you. How did you ever build the fountain to begin with? How are you limiting your unbelievable potential?

There are obstacles on the way to happiness. One obstacle is the past. You are always dragging your past around with you and not living in the present. Why do you get stuck in the past? Because you are familiar with the sufferings from the past, and therefore, comfortable with them. There is no risk. But who knows what the future has to offer? The uncertainty of the future fills you with fear, while the sufferings from the past give you a sense of security. You are use to them, and think that is an advantage. If that were not the case, you would have already let go of your suffering. But it is easier to lie on the psychiatrist’s couch and talk about the past than to live in the present—and meet the future. There are two paths to happiness, and you have to decide which one to take.

Two hunters were on safari in Africa. A lion approached them from behind, circled around them from a distance, and disappeared into the bushes. One hunter said to the other, “Go ahead and see where the lion has disappeared to. I’ll go back and see where he came from.”

Many people blame their parents and the way they were raised for their sufferings today. But they cannot free themselves from their problems by doing this. Only once they realize that they can create their lives the way they want, can they begin to change something.

 

Your self-image

Dr. Maltz, a famous plastic surgeon, recognized the importance of self-image. He once operated on a beautiful girl who had an ugly scar on her face from a burn accident. The operation was a success and the girl looked beautiful again. But she was not satisfied. She still felt like she was ugly. At that moment, the doctor realized it is not enough to perform cosmetic surgery on the outside scars, but that the cosmetic surgery also has to happen in the head—on the self-image. If you believe you are beautiful, then you will act that way. If you believe you are ugly, then you will also act that way, and as a result, the feeling of ugliness will either be generated or strengthened. Every one has a self-image—a picture of who he is, if he is a good person, for example, with confidence or a good-for-nothing. And he will behave according to this self-image. Only once you have corrected your self-image, can see everything correctly and have a purpose in life.

 

Dialog

Participant: I often know how I should act in a situation, but still can’t manage to act that way. How can I change this?

de Souza: You can’t manage it, because your head is still programmed differently. You know how you should improve something, but your present thoughts and programming are stronger. To integrate the new behavior, you first have to re-program your self-image. In short, you have to abandon the old, restricting thoughts. You have to keep two things in mind: first, the thoughts you should abandon, and second, the new affirmations you should feed your spirit.

Participant: So it doesn’t happen by only being conscious? It’s not enough to simply be conscious of your mistakes?

de Souza: True, because the old thoughts are still controlling you. Even when you know what the problem is, the old self-image is still effective. Delete the old thoughts from your memory―and to do that you need to know which thoughts are wrong. It’s our goal to identify the wrong thoughts and replace them with new ones. It’s not enough to only identify the old, negative thoughts—you also have to know which thoughts you can replace them with. You can’t simply make your mind empty, otherwise any thoughts can come creeping in. Fill your head with good thoughts. You’ve involuntary and unknowingly programmed your mind with your old thoughts. Now you’ve recognized your mistake and are determined to not make them again. But you always fall into the same mistake unconsciously, because you haven’t deleted the old programs. Now you can consciously re-program yourself.

 

Acting on instinct

God only supports what is good, noble, and grand. God does not support the bad. Of course, that does not seem to be the case. The bad seems to be successful. But in spite of that the eternal truth remains: God only supports the good. That is not just a pious sentence, but cosmic law! That is why it is so important to fill your spirit with grand thoughts. Intellectual progress is the result of thoughts that strive for knowledge and good, true, beautiful things. If you want to be closer to God, you should put your effort into being good, true and beautiful. Strive for knowledge about the world. Fill your spirit with these things. Your spiritual development will continue when you strive for more valuable thoughts; when you are ready to sacrifice your belittling thoughts. We only want to befriend ourselves with high, spiritual thoughts, and that’s why we fill our intellect with good knowledge.

Certainly you have already heard the notion that spiritual people should not be intellectual. “What you’re saying is too intellectual!” Have you also heard that? It means someone is telling you that you should act on instinct. But then your brain is turned off. That’s what any animal does. Of course, you should speak from the heart. But the heart is not separate from the mind.

Heart and mind are one. Without a mind, you cannot work, plan or organize. Your heart feels the thoughts that come from your mind. That is why you should also use your mind.

 

Dialog

 Participant: But Christ said we should be mentally poor.

de Souza: He meant mentally poor with negative thoughts. Not completely without thoughts, but rich with positive thoughts. Here’s a question: Mr. S says to you, “You are too intellectual. You have to act more on instinct!” How can you respond?

Participant: How can our heart be independent from our mind? In our bodies, everything is always dependent on and works with each other. Our hearts depend on our mind and vice versa.

de Souza: That’s right, because your heart is controlled by your thoughts. There’s a connection between thoughts and heart: your thoughts control your feelings. But Mr. S is not convinced. He thinks you should leave more room for the heart.

Participant: When I want to let my anger out, then that also hasn’t been thought through, but rather comes from the heart.

de Souza: Exactly. Do you think he would find that good? When I have negative feelings, where do they come from if not from the heart? Is that what he means when he says that my thoughts should come from the heart and that I should express my feelings? Or when I have the feeling that I want to hit him, should I do it?

What Mr. S means by “a heart” is love. But love requires consciousness, which means that it’s necessary to turn on the thoughts for it. Think of the bear who wanted to save the fish from drowning. Use the right thoughts, the positive thoughts. Then feelings of love can also rise in your heart―then it will be beautiful when you talk from the heart. But use your head, too.

 

Give in order to receive

There are two directions that we could go in. One direction says, “The people around me should behave the way I want them to.” The other direction says, “I’ll behave toward other people the way I want them to behave toward me.”

The husband says, “My wife should be more loving,” but he did not ask what his wife wants. The work colleague says, “My boss should be more reasonable,” but he did not ask what the boss expects of him. The child says, “My parents should let me decide things for myself,” but the child does not ask what the parents want. The student says, “The teacher should give me an A,” but she do not ask what the teacher wants. And that is the mistake we make. We place conditions and expectations on others about what they should do to make us happy: the others should love us. Having these expectations on others is our mistake. The other people should always conform to our wishes. When they do not do that, then we are angry. The wife becomes cold toward her husband, or she punishes him by using the silent treatment, because he is not fulfilling her wishes. That is why there are so many divorces, so many job changes, so much unhappiness, etc.―because you are trying to manipulate others. I am speaking of giving and not receiving. Give to others what they want and others will give to you what you want.

You have your negativity. Your weapons are hate, expectations, jealousy, fear, revenge, and so on. With these weapons you make war. Virgil said, “Anger supplies the weapons.” If there are not any weapons available, anger turns to sticks, stones or intrigues, and creates its weapons on its own. We should begin to disarm ourselves by changing our negative thoughts (anger, rage, etc.)

 

The first one

If you want to solve all your problems, all you have to do is change the direction of your thoughts: give other people what they would like to have. There is just one catch: be the first to give! Make the first move and be the first to give to others what they want. But you say, “Why me? Why should I make the first move? The other one should begin!” That is the tragedy of this world. Everyone says, “The other one should begin!” The husband says, “I would give my wife chocolate pralines if she were a bit more warm-hearted.” The child says, “I would love my parents more if they gave me more freedoms.” The teacher says, “I would appreciate my students more if they did their homework more diligently.” Everyone says, “If the others were friendlier then I’d also be friendlier.” But it is wrong to expect more from others. Begin with yourself. Bring your wife pralines first even if she is not warm-hearted. And then—mirabile dictum—she will become warm-hearted. Trust your child and she will live up to your trust. Expect your students to be intelligent and they will succeed in school.

At one time there were some students who were moved to another school, because their grades were so bad. But the new teachers were told that these students had been the most intelligent students in the whole school. The teachers prepared themselves for working together with very intelligent students. And the students received only As and Bs.

If you expect children to be smart, then they will be. If you expect to be successful, then you will be. Why? Because you will begin to act according to your expectations.

Give your child the trust and support which you would otherwise hold back. Because then you are giving yourself the attention and love which you would otherwise deny yourself.

 

Everyone wants love

Maybe you do not know what other people need. How could you know? But you most certainly know what you want, don’t you? Now you could assume that the others also want what you want.

 

Dialog

de Souza: Does that make sense to you?

Participant: Yes, because mentally everyone wants the same thing as us. The only difference is our every-day wishes—if you want to climb a mountain or would rather go swimming.

Participant: I know that I want love. So I can assume that others also want love.

de Souza: That’s it! What do you want to have? Think about when you were in school. You wanted to be accepted by your classmates. If you weren’t accepted, then you were sad. And you were willing to do anything the classmates wanted so they would accept you. Whenever the teacher praised you, you immediately grew a foot taller. Whenever the teacher scolded you, you crawled into your snail shell and became very small.

How can you make sure that your children are loving? By being a role model and loving yourself. But it’s easier to lie on the bed of nails and be above them or uninvolved (to meditate) or flip out and rant when your children make mistakes.

Participant: I can tell my children what I want them to do, but they only do what I do anyways.

de Souza: Exactly. The children do what you do and not what you say. When your children act up and are impossible for you to deal with, then you yourself are most likely acting up and behaving terribly. The children are your reflection. If you want diligent children, then be diligent yourself.

Love is food for the soul. Not only do our bodies and spirit need food—we also have to feed our soul. Love makes us grand. We grow with love and come closer to god. With ill-will, we wither away. Our wish is to bring love into the world and replace ill-will with love. People say that ill-will and anger are real. I ask you: Isn’t love also real? Or is love hypocritical and only hate real?

You are only true when you show love—even if it is hypocritical! It is real anyways. And your hate, even if it is real, is not your true nature, but maya, your false nature.

Hate is fake. Love, even if it is “fake,” is always real when you do not have the intention of harming others. Even when you just pretend to be loving, then you are actually real, because you are with God. That is the first step. You are strengthening your engery in the direction of love. You are trying to acquire love. And in this way, you are rejecting ill-will and anger. Many people say that they have to act with their feelings and experience them. The result is that they live a life of hate and cannot free themselves from it.

 

Dialog

 Participant: But when I don’t live the thoughts that I’m thinking, the emotions just don’t fit.

de Souza: If you act as if you were loving, then you’ll be so as time goes on. You’ll change your programming with your new behavior and thoughts. If you act as if you were happy, then with time you really will be happy. You’ve programmed your spirit with your thoughts, which have recalled negative emotions from the past. Now you can replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. Then your feelings will also become more positive with time.

Participant: But it’s also the case that you give and give, and then comes the expectation that you get something in return.

de Souza: You say, “Ungratefulness is the world’s pay. I’m soooo good and everybody just gets angry with me.” Most people are angry with you not because you’re good, but because you’re angry with yourself. That’s the law. People are angry at you, because you’ve treated them aggressively. People are jealous of you, not because you’re good, but because you’re jealous of them. Help others to be happy, or earn money and become wealthy. Help others! If you notice that you’ve gotten onto the wrong train, don’t activate the emergency brakes, but rather wait until the train arrives at the next station and get off.

Participant: I have another question: at work as well as in the family, you often have to deal with people who are negative and attack you. Haven’t you attracted them under the law “Like people attract one another?”

de Souza: No, not always. When someone attacks me, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ve earned it. It isn’t karma. I always have free-will. I can send love or I can consider myself a victim. Don’t fall into the nego’s trap. It’s important that you free yourself from the victim-mentality. In general, we have everything in the palm of our hands and can have a strong influence on the situation by forming our interpretations in a friendly way. But when we practice violence, we are being violent against ourselves the most—with our thoughts. We’re only harming ourselves in the end. But we can control our thoughts. Does this law become invalid only because there are people who attack and insult you, although you were friendly to them? No! You don’t need to feel effected! You don’t need to accept the insult. There are people, for example, who see you as a good-for-nothing. That’s their decision. But see yourself as a child of God. That changes everything.

Participant: It can happen that someone’s in a bad mood. By chance, you cross paths with him and experience his anger.

de Souza: But when you show love, you can overcome hate. Anger, rage, ill-will, and fear can all be overcome with love. Hate can only beget more hate. But love can neutralize hate.

 

All of us long for love. What happens when you go shopping and the saleswoman smiles at you? You smile back. Love is a rarity and threatened with extinction. Let us protect it. Anger, ill-will, guilt, and fear are the biggest environment polluters there are. But you only think of the material dirt. That is just like renunciation. You’ve been told that you should renounce your material possessions—what is meant are your negative thoughts, such as ill-will, etc. Bring the pollution in your spirit to an end. Save the positive thoughts and the positive emotions that are threatened with extinction. Show yourself love first. When you show your neighbor love, then you will receive it in return. But when you do not show your neighbor love, because you expect him to do it first, then that is backwards and will not work. You are trying to manipulate him―and when it does not work, you become angry.

The solution is very easy. Give your partner what he wants FIRST. Then he will give you what you want. That is the eternal law, the eternal truth. Chris said, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you!” Others will love you when you love yourself. As a result, everything will be different. There are only two directions to go. Until now you have only gone in the wrong direction—that is, that others should love you first. Now go in the other direction—that is, give others love first! I will help others fulfill their legitimate wishes. I will begin! And not expect others to help me fulfill my wishes.

 

The sun and the shade

You can do it when you begin to love yourself. When you hate yourself, you cannot love others. But you say, “I’m not intelligent, I’m ugly, I’m not worthy of love.” That is your internal program that is constantly playing. Change this program! Whenever you say, “I’m worthless,” this affirmation will be fulfilled—by yourself, because you will then behave according to this belief. When you say, “I’m beautiful, I’m intelligent,” then you will be beautiful and intelligent. That is why you should praise yourself! Look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I love you. You can count on me!” Do not criticize yourself! Or do you want to overcome your posego instead of your nego by saying, “You’re stupid!”? The nego likes that!

Everything you do is ego. Whenever you act lovingly, then it is your positive ego coming forth. But whenever you act out of fear or ill-will, then it is your negative ego leading the way. Unfortunately, we use one word for both egos. Sometimes we mean the negative ego, sometimes we mean the positive ego. When I say to you, “Look at yourself in the mirror and praise yourself by saying, ‘I’m the greatest!’” then I mean that you should strengthen your positive ego. I can think of myself as the greatest as long as I do not hurt you in doing so.

Sometimes you will also build up your negative ego. Watch out for that. It is very important, that you put more energy into your positive ego than your negative ego.

When there is more light than shade, then everything is all right. Light does not fear shade. It is completely all right when there is a little bit of shade. Do not try to alienate all shade completely. Enjoy the light of life. Do not flee from the shade of life, but rather do not let it control your life.

 

Love your neighbor first the way she should love you

When the positive ego is there, the negative ego will disappear on its own. So do not fear the negative ego. Build up your positive ego. Your positive ego is love and insight. A wise person has a positive ego. “Your ego should be crushed,” states the Holy Scriptures. But they are always only talking about the negative ego. The positive ego, on the other hand, has to be strengthened.

When you long for love, then you can conclude that others also long for it. That is why you can very well imagine how other people feel. You know your own feelings and can assume that others have similar feelings. Start from there. You know, “I need love. I’m glad when others do what I want them to do.” Therefore, you can conclude that others are also glad when you fulfill their wishes―when you love them. And it really is so! The law says, however, that you have to begin to love first. That is the catch. When you use the law properly, you can change your whole life and the entire world! A completely different perspective will prevail.

Everything I have just said is what Christ said, “Love your neighbor as you would yourself.” There is nothing more important in this world to practice than this sentence from God, “You should love your neighbor as you would yourself.” That is the way to overcome your negative ego which we have been talking about this entire time. It defends itself and thinks secretly, “There are other ways, no doubt.” Because it is not easy to abandon your negative ego.

But begin anyways! I hope that you will begin to be loving. You will notice that others will also be loving. Others will no longer be angry with you. It cannot be that you are loving and that others are angry with you.

 

Dialog

 Participant: And even when someone attacks you—continue to be loving?

de Souza: Continue to be loving! Because you decide for yourself if you want to be loving and happy. Don’t let others influence you! Your thoughts are your thoughts! Your happiness is your happiness! Your decision is important to being happy. You decide to be strong!

Don’t let others bring you down! But don’t be loving blindly! Think about what the other person wants so he can be happy.

 

“I” and “you”

It is also important not to let others belittle you. What happens when you criticize someone? You criticize yourself. When you say, “You idiot!” then you are one yourself. What you say is like a program you are fulfilling. When you say, “I’m an idiot!” you will be an idiot. When you say, “I’m intelligent!” you will be intelligent. It is the same when you say, “You’re intelligent” or “You’re an idiot.” You are also targeting yourself. In this case, the spirit does not differentiate between “you” and “I.” The victim is not an “idiot;” you are an idiot.

Therefore pray to God, “Oh, God, you’re all mighty, you’re all knowing, you’re all merciful!” What does that mean? “I’m merciful, I’m all knowing, I’m all mighty, I’m good.” God does not need your praise, but you benefit from its vibrations and are closer to God. So continue to pray to and praise God—and as a result you will gain faith in yourself.

 

Dictated—but not corrected

Do not criticize yourself or others! Remember: even the biggest gangster in the world believes he is a good person. No one believes of himself that he is bad.

And it does no good to criticize others. We try to make others virtuous by criticizing them. That never works—quite the opposite. Others will never become virtuous by hearing criticism. The children will never become well-behaved by hearing criticism—just the opposite. They will become rebellious. Criticism just makes everyone bitter.

Dale Carnegie once received a letter. At the end of the letter, it stated, “Dictated, but not read.” The sender was a great man who dictated the letter, but had not read it through at all. Dale Carnegie replied with a letter, too, (he was young and not yet famous) and wrote at the end, “Dictated, but not re-read.” The man receiving the letter was very mad at Dale Carnegie, who learned that you can create enemies by giving criticism. The man ended up becoming one of Dale Carnegie’s greatest competitors. If you want to collect honey, do not disturb the bees’ nest. Otherwise you may get stung instead of the honey. Try to collect honey in life and not bee stings.

 

Dialog

de Souza: How do you collect honey?

Participant: By giving honey.

de Souza: Right, be loving and then collect the honey.

Participant: But when you’re loving three times and the fourth time you still don’t get anything in return, then you have the feeling that you’re just getting stung.

de Souza: When collecting honey, there’s always the risk of getting stung. Just follow the law. You can’t just collect honey.

Participant: The nego is taking a shortcut.

de Souza: Right. If you want to be loving, the law is such that other people will be loving in return. Maybe there are a few tough cases, but don’t let yourself be discouraged. Re-program yourself and be loving. It’s simple, but seems difficult. Your program is still negative. Whenever a tough situation comes along, you think, “You see? Told you so.” That’s the negative ego. But you can also re-program yourself and say, “Everyone is loving.” Now when someone is loving to you in return, you can say, “You see? I knew it!” That’s how you can re-program yourself. Count the 90% of your positive experiences and not the 10% of the difficult onces. That’s what Dale Carnegie said. Don’t look at the thorns, but concentrate on the roses. As Sleeping Beauty was slumbering, almost all the princes just saw the thorns―but one prince saw the roses, and found his way to the princess.

 

The eagle’s eye

Many relationships go astray because the partners are always bickering and criticizing. Why is that? Their heads of full of little things. If they were filled with thoughts of Homer, Goethe, or Shakespeare, that would never happen. An eagle does not capture flies. Why not? Because flies do not interest him. The small quarrels with your partner are the flies. Therefore, do not quarrel with your partner! Because you are an eagle! And how can you get the feeling that you are an eagle? By filling your head with good thoughts.

 

Affirmations

If you play sports, you have to follow certain rules. Games, too, have certain rules. Life is also a game and has rules to follow.

Life has laws. These laws are reliable. If you let go of a ball, it falls to the ground. It will always do that. The laws are valid for everyone—whether young or old, man or woman. The energy that permeates the universe is neutral. Everyone has this energy and controls it.

There is an eternal law in life. That is the law of causality. Everything has a cause.

Whether you are happy or not depends on your affirmations. Your belief causes your mood. Belief has the same effect on all people—like the sunshine. The sun shines on you, no matter if you are smart or stupid. It shines on everyone. It is not the sun’s fault if you avoid it and go sit under a tree.

 

Dialog

de Souza: Now you’re asking: why do good people suffer?

Participant: Because they haven’t understood the law of causality.

de Souza: Yes. The law of causality is neutral. Gravitation isn’t against you. If you throw your good porcelain out of the window, it’s going to break. That’s the law. It’s nothing against your good porcelain.

If you are unhappy, then there are good reasons for that: you haven’t paid any attention to the law of causality.

 

Barrel or cup?

Energy is flowing everywhere. It can make our life happy, when we realize that we can take some of it. Energy is like a river. You can take some water from it using a cup or a barrel. The river has nothing against you. It is there for everyone. But you only take a little water from it with a cup. And then you are sad, because you always seem to have bad luck—and complain that you have only received a cup full of happiness in life. Others are so happy, because they have full barrels. Do the other people have more potential than you? No, potential is the same. No one is favored over another. But you go to God with a cup and therefore, only receive a cup of energy. The cup is limiting you. But you prefer to produce a cup. You could just as well produce a barrel.

What are these vessels that you produce? They are your affirmations. All of your experiences are part of your beliefs. Your affirmations are like your seeds. When you sew beans, you will get beans and not sticks of asparagus. Our outlook is formed by certain experiences and events. These experiences determine our beliefs. We have beliefs in all areas, for example, about politics, health, child-rearing, and religion. Many of these beliefs are not true. But they are true to you! Your false beliefs are making you unhappy. If you want to be happy, you have to change them. The problem is, how can you change them?

 

Reflection

You can recognize a false belief whenever you are unhappy. Does that mean you would give up your false beliefs if someone were to show you the right beliefs? Unfortunately, that is not so easy. You will end up struggling fiercely for your beliefs. You are scared to change something. You identify with your beliefs.

When we have problems and are unhappy, we either blame others or ourselves. Whenever the children misbehave, you think you are a bad mother. Whenever his wife is unhappy, the husband thinks he is to blame. It is just as wrong to blame yourself as it is to blame others. We look for the infamous scapegoat. Often we bring in our parents. You go to therapy, and your accusations toward others are validated. Women, for example, continue to blame men for their unhappiness. But what really makes them unhappy? Not the men, but their own beliefs. Not karma, not the mistakes in the past, and not God make you unhappy. You make yourself unhappy now, in this moment, with your thoughts!

You are spiritual people seeking the truth. Why is it so difficult to accept the truth? It goes against our grain. The Holy Spirit knows everything. You can learn everything that is wrong and right from him. Without the Holy Spirit’s help, we create self-ruining thoughts. Or should I call it self-sabotage? That is our main problem. People are sabotaging themselves. We want to see how we can stop that.

 

We believe that our suffering is caused by events beyond our control. That is why we seek solutions from the outside. But the problem does not come from the outside. The solution comes from the inside, not the outside. You have to go from the inside to the outside. The outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Our thoughts are reflected in the outer world. Therefore, the outer world is a way for us to see inside ourselves—but in a different manner.

 

And the world is good after all!

Our spirit only attracts what it knows. If you are scared, then you will attract scary events. If you are confused, then you will attract experiences that make you even more confused.

If you believe that you cannot be, that you cannot have, or that you cannot do, then you will attract the conditions that confirm you cannot be, have, or do.

If you believe, for example, that you are shy, then you will be shy. You will avoid situations where you have to show courage (for example, giving a speech in front of a group of people.) If you are fat, then you believe that you will always be fat. If you believe that everything is terrible and is going wrong, then everything will be terrible and go wrong. If you believe that your business will go down the drain, then in your sub-conscious you will create the situations that allow for your business to go down the drain—and avoid the situations that allow for your business to grow. That is how your sub-conscious proves that you are right.

Once upon a time there was a king who had a small son. To protect his son from the enemy during the war, the king gave him to another family. In the confusion of the war, the child suddenly was alone in the world and had no one anymore who could care for him. The young boy became a beggar. In the meantime, the king had won back his empire. One day the young beggar went to the king’s palace to ask for a small contribution. The servant looked at him and said, “You look like the queen.” The king came and looked at the little necklace that the had hung around his sons neck many years before. “My son, why are you begging?” he called out, “Stay with me in the palace. You are the prince of the empire!”

You are all God’s children, but you do not behave as such! The energy, the godly conscious, is there and available to us for choosing. You can trust Him! Do not look at all the bad things in the world, at all the crime and violence, and do not say, “How can I have any trust?”

 

Dialog

de Souza: Why do some people suffer so much and others are so successful?

Participant: God has give people free-will. The people make their own decisions.

de Souza: Yes, they have the right to choose. The sub-conscious is neutral. You can use it negatively or positively. According to the same law, you can make yourself unhappy or you can make yourself happy. Whenever you’re depressed, your sub-conscious supports you in your depression. Then you attract things to you that confirm your depression and strengthen it. If you are successful, then you attract situations that strengthen your success. The sub-conscious is completely neutral. You have this power! Everyone has it! Everyone is God’s child. The energy is enormous. You only need to direct the power! How can you do this? With thoughts! The thoughts direct your power―and your potential is unlimited.

 

The lamp and the power plant

The light bulbs that burn here are about 60 Watts. They are connected to the power plant that has thousands of Watts and which runs with much more volts than our 110. The voltage has to be transformed to a smaller amount—and the same goes for us humans.

We are not separate from God, but our bodies cannot handle the godly energy in all its power. There are 25, 40, 60, 75, and 100 Watt bulbs. A wise bulb would be 1,000 Watts! You can also be wise if you take a barrel full of water from God’s river of energy, instead of only a cup full. But the filament in the 100 Watt bulb has to be stronger than in the 25 Watt bulb—and so we, too, have to make the channel for the Holy Spirit in us stronger. That means we have to raise our consciousness, expand our thoughts, and correct them. The more our affirmations contain the right knowledge, the stronger our filament is.

If you want to take more water from the river of energy, you need a barrel. The river is always there, but you have to build your barrel first. You can do that by expanding and raising your consciousness. That means: change what you think of yourself. Develop the right ideas about yourself—the right self-image—a self-image that is appropriate for a child of God, and develop the right ideas about reality. Illusions and self-deceit are not your real nature.

 

Dialog

Participant: I have to put everything aside that makes me unhappy and let joy in to raise my sub-conscious.

de Souza: Yes, you have to change the images you have of yourself. You have your characteristics, because you believe that you have them. You’ve developed this belief in yourself unconsciously. Your task is to make it conscious—you’re unhappy and feel validated by all the sufferings and poverty in the world. The reason for this is that the people don’t pay any heed to the law that I just described. They limit and restrict their potential with their beliefs. You can develop your potential by changing your thoughts and forming your beliefs correctly. That means, by having the right thoughts you can set your potential free.

 

I just said that

Everyone has their “games”: some play “unhappy,” others play “poor,” while still others play “happy.” Why do so many play “suffering?” They receive an odd gratification by seeing themselves as victims and not making any decisions. If they do not decide, then they cannot make any mistakes. They want to be happy, but not right now. They want to have better relationships, but do not want to start working on them just now. They wait for help from others, from the outside. They believe that others can give them what they want, and they believe that others can fulfill their wishes. That is how they try to make a better society. Everyone has the perfect plan. But no plan can make society better, because you cannot do anything that is higher than your consciousness.

If you want to make changes now, then do not look outside, but inside yourself. You are your own leader, because you are God’s child. You cannot control the circumstances, but you have the power to control your thoughts! When you are confused, you feel frightened, and thus, limit your potential.

If you are unhappy, then you can solve this problem by getting up the courage to change your thoughts.

Take a look at your life, your circumstances, your outlook, your beliefs. Something odd happens. You feel threatened when you should change your beliefs. If I, for example, attack your beliefs by saying something else is right, then you feel threatened. Or you are changing every sentence from me now and fitting them into your system of beliefs. Now you are certain that I am saying exactly that what you are thinking, or that you thought the same thing as what I am saying anyway. It is odd, but that is how our sub-conscious works.

 

Dominating thoughts

You long to be happy in the world and you have the right to happiness! You do not need to apologize for being happy. It is God’s wish that you are happy. He does not want you to suffer! But you do not believe that, because you sill have a long face. Who is responsible for making you happy? Everyone is responsible for him and herself! You act—but how often do you act according to your potential? Your potential is unlimited. But how you act does not correspond to your potential, but to your beliefs. You can only do what you believe you can do. Where did you get this belief from? You had feelings when you were a child, and these feelings created images. The images are then represented by words. When we are adults, then it is the other way around: we use words. They call up images which are associated with feelings. In this sequence: words, images, feelings.

When we have a strong, dominating thought, then we defend it against a contradictory thought. We will collect all the facts needed just to prove that our main thought is right. We will only read books that confirm this main thought. You do not act according to the truth, but how you perceive the truth. Thus, you have many opinions and beliefs that do not correspond to the truth. Therefore, you need courage if you want to make any changes. Why do you not want to face the truth? You are seeking the truth and run from seminar to seminar! You say you are seeking the truth.

 

Dialog

 Participant: The question is: what is the truth?

de Souza: Whatever makes you happy and free! Whatever confirms your relationship with God: that you are His child.

Participant: And I can only experience it in myself. Then I’ll be convinced that it’s the truth. But generally speaking, I can’t define the truth.

de Souza: Yes you can’t define it. You can’t describe the truth with words.

 

Words, images, feelings

We live our beliefs with the help of affirmations. We create our self-image with affirmations. If you want to change your self-image, you have to change your affirmations. Your affirmations create images, and images create emotions, and the emotions in turn strengthen your self-image―or what we call your “ego.” What is your self-image made of? It is made of your outlook, beliefs, and opinions. All of your experiences, which effect your beliefs, are saved in your sub-conscious. The experiences that are strong and memorable are in your sub-conscious, and you have to do your best to replace these false images with new ones.

If you want to change yourself or your actions, where do you begin? With your thoughts! Sometimes people tell you you, what they think of you. But how you deal with their opinion depends on and determines your self-image. Your sub-conscious does not know the difference between real and imaged experiences. The sub-conscious believes its beliefs are true, even if they are not. If someone calls you an “idiot,” that only bothers you if you take it in your sub-conscious as the truth―and not because he has said that. First, if you accept that the other person’s opinion has power over you. Then your sub-conscious tries to make you an idiot. Because your sub-conscious has the task of giving to you what you ask for with your beliefs.

We are not the victims of others. Only we ourselves accept the thoughts of others. (But we could also leave them be.) And then we act according to these thoughts, which we have accepted from others and which make us their “slaves.”

You have the power to be happy

You have an image of yourself and act according to it. It is made up of your experiences and outlook. Your self-image determines your actions. If you say, “I am this and this type of person,” then this affirmation is written in your self-image, and you will act according to this self-image. It happens automatically. After you have acted according to it, you say, “I’m always like this,” and strengthen the image you have of yourself with this affirmation. “My memory is so full of holes.” “I’m always clumsy.” “I always make these mistakes.” “Oh, I’m so stupid!” With such affirmations it is no wonder you are unhappy. If someone calls you “stupid,” are you then stupid? No! Only if you believe that you are! Others do not have the power to change your sub-conscious. Only you can do that! God has protected you.

No one can influence your sub-conscious unless you let them.

 

Dialog

 Participant: I like that! Then nothing can ever happen to you. God has protected us. Only we can choose what happens to us. Beginning now, I’m the greatest—from morning till evening.

de Souza: You’re completely right! Beginning now, everyone is the greatest! That’s how you can create your affirmations. What do you do when others get angry with you?

Participant: I create a positive affirmation.

de Souza: Exactly. You label yourself with positive thoughts. You can say, “I’m desirable, I’m a good mother, I’m intelligent, I can remember everything, I’m learning more and more everyday.” Et voila, you really are learning more and more everyday! Your neighbor says to you, “You moron!” What do you say to yourself?

Participant: “Your remark doesn’t bother me. I know who I am. But you have the right to think what you want.”

de Souza: Great! Create a positive affirmation about yourself. The neighbor is allowed to say what she wants. Don’t correct her! Don’t argue with her! Don’t let your neighbor’s opinion in your sub-conscious. It’s not a part of your self-image. Only what you think of yourself belongs in your self-image and is part of your sub-conscious.

Participant: You said that God has protected us by not allowing anyone to have access to our sub-conscious except for ourselves. I feed my sub-conscious myself.

de Souza: Yes, but you often also limit your potential as a result—by “eating” the “wrong food.”

 

 Changing your behavior

Your self-image determines your behavior. If you believe you are incapable of giving a speech now, then my request for you to come forward and do just that will shock you. What should we do then to change our behavior? If you force yourself to give a speech now, then you will be scared. Your self-image tries to protect you. “Be clever. Don’t show how stupid you are. Stay seated!” If you really do want to give a speech, then it is the first step toward changing your self-image. You cannot change your behavior by simply forcing yourself to come forward. You cannot give a speech, because your self-image says, “You can’t do that, my child!” Because you act according to your self-image.

What does self-image mean? Self-image is what you believe you could do NOW―what you trust yourself to do or not to do. You have a certain environment that corresponds to your self-image. You have the tendency to always revert back to your familiar surroundings. If you were to live in Buckingham Palace right now, would you feel comfortable there? Absolutely not, although everything there is much more luxurious than at your own home.

The fisherwoman who sold her fish at the market was friends with the lady who sold flowers at the market. One day, the flower-lady invited her friend to come to her home. It got late and the fish-lady was no longer able to drive home. “You can sleep at my home,” the flower-lady said and led her friend to a room where she always dried her flowers. The room was full of the flowers’ scent. The fish-lady had a very restless sleep and was tossing and turning in bed. The unfamiliar scent bothered her. Then she got up, fetched her basket of fish and put it next to her pillow on the bed. Finally, she was able to get her much-longed-for sleep.

A person from the slums does not feel comfortable in a new apartment. But you could get use to Buckingham Palace if you just change your self-image. If you do not like your behavior and want to change it, then you have to do more than simply change your behavior. It will not work. Change your self-image first. Ask yourself, “What do I expect of myself?” The answer gives you information about your self-image. “Where do I feel comfortable? At a party with a lot of people or alone at home?” If you see yourself as poor, then you will arrange everything so that you really are poor. When the “philosophers of denying life” say that poverty is the greatest virtue, then they have the image of poverty as a way to God, and as a result are poor. But they are not necessarily closer to God. Where did they get this belief? Maybe they want to comfort all the poor people, “It doesn’t matter that you’re poor. That’s the quickest way to God.” They did not know how to get out of their poverty. “God especially loves you,” was a way to comfort them.

 

Homo teleologicos

You are teleological, which means you are goal-oriented beings. Whenever you set a goal, your spirit, your body, and all your energy leads you toward it. Therefore, it is important to set the right goals, because you will inevitably go in their direction.

When you set goals, prepare yourself for the fact that you may not reach them right away. Sometimes there are difficulties and hurdles. Even when you drive a car, you often have to stop at a red light and wait for it to turn green. That is normal. Confucius said, “A man’s glory does come from him never falling. His glory comes from picking himself up again.”

A young student wanted to learn how to become a master chef in a hotel. He was a competent student and very interested in the art of cooking. But he found it difficult to get up early every morning and go to the hotel. A few times he came, but then he did not come, and a few times he came in late. His boss confronted him about his behavior. “The shift begins too early for me. A few times I overslept and then didn’t have any desire to come in at all. Couldn’t you start to cook in the afternoon?” “That’s not possible!” the boss said. —The young man was not willing to pay the price for a good education. But many people are willing to change their self-image and take the first step to reach their goals.

A goal needs to mean something to you. You cannot just simply choose something random to strive for. But you also do not need some sort of special intelligence or talent. Everyone can be happy. Dr. Maltz always saw the cleaning lady who worked for him for many years only now and then. Now she stood next to him in the elevator, and went with him into his apartment to do her work. Dr. Maltz had forgotten about her until he heard how she was singing in a beautiful voice. He went to her. “You seem to be very happy today?” the doctor asked her with curiosity. “Not more than usual,” the woman answered. They started to talk. The doctor learned that the woman had a daughter, had lost her husband when her daughter was nine year’s old, and that since then she has worked as a cleaning lady to earn money to live on. Now her daughter is studying at the university, the woman told, with diligence and success. That is her entire joy. —This woman’s goal had a purpose in her life.

 

Never satisfied—what a Godsend

Someone who follows the “philosophy of denying life” says that you should not set goals, because the mind or the ego will never be satisfied with reaching the goal. Whenever you reach a goal, the ego sets the next goal. Just when it has gotten something, it begins to wish something new. Wishes are limitless, and people are running and running―and living constantly in stress as a result which, in turn, leads to other problems, for example, to aggression toward others. That is why you should not have any goals, because goals do not make you happy in the long run. That sounds nice, but it is not true.

 

Dialog

 Participant: By reaching my goals, I’m saying “yes” to God in me. When I deny myself my goals, then I’m denying that God is in me.

de Souza: It’s true that we’re only temporarily happy once we’ve reached a goal. But then are we supposed to be satisfied with that the rest of our lives? Is a sportsman supposed to be satisfied with winning, for example, a sports competition the rest of his life? The sportsman wouldn’t train anymore if that were the case. Everyone would stop working after they’ve reached their first goal. If Edison had been satisfied with inventing the light bulb, then he would never have invented the gramophone, and we wouldn’t be able to enjoy music so comfortably today. It’s an advantage that we can’t always be happy once we’ve reached a goal.

If we don’t do anything, for example, on vacation, then we are only happy temporarily. At some point we become bored and long to be able to do something challenging. Because just working on reaching a goal makes us happy. Goals give our life meaning.

 

Reaching your goals means raising your consciousness

Of course, there is also an uncomfortable side to reaching goals―like when you are overwhelmed by them. Then there is hectic and stress. You are completely burnt out and become unhappy. But the solution is not to stop setting goals; instead, you have to learn to work with the right outlook and organization. A stress-plagued workaholic who works without taking a break probably finds it attractive when the Yogi who denies life invites her to live a life of nothing in a cave. At first, during the relaxation phase, she will feel happy. But then the boredom will make her unhappy and unsatisfied. Personally, I have yet to meet a person who has denied life and is happy, too.

It is not possible to set goals that will make you happy for your entire life. If someone said, “I’ll be a famous author and write ten bestsellers,” it would not help him to take the first step to reaching this goal. First he has to write a book and see if others are interested. Then he can set new goals. We are challenged again and again to create new goals. That is how we give meaning to our lives. You increase your self-esteem and become happy every time you reach a goal. Your self-image shows how much self-esteem you have. If you want to develop a positive self-image, you can only manage it once you have raised your self-esteem. That is why it is so important to follow your goals.

 

Beyond the horizon

Sad people feel attracted to the idea of denying the world. Misery attracts misery! But you are happy people. You find the idea of denying the world unattractive. Reaching goals is spoken about in spiritual circles, and thus, has been discredited―because goals are reached in the world by cheating and taking other people for a ride. Spiritual people do not want that and decide to give up goals all together. As a result, they throw the baby out with the bath water.

Another reason why goals seem problematic to you is because you are scared of failing again. You have already failed once and are scared of failing again. The solution seems to be to deny the world completely. If you have been humbled because of a failure, then you can withdraw for a short period of time until the wounds have healed. But only for a short time. Then you can begin again, carry on, and set new goals. Because when you reach your goals, you will be happy. And happiness is what you are seeking. You cannot raise your consciousness directly, but indirectly by being happy. And you can achieve that by setting goals. Set goals, but do not cheat others at the same time! If others set wrong goals, that does not mean that you have to as well. Set the right goals. A person who denies life says that wishes are like the horizon—you never reach them. If you have a million dollars, then you will want two million. Man is never satisfied. That is why he should abandon all wishes.

A person who says “yes” to life says, “Man is also not satisfied when he abandons all his wishes. I want to have goals, otherwise I won’t be motivated, and life will have no meaning. It’ll have no direction. I can’t be happy when I don’t have any goals. If I’m not happy, I can’t be wise and loving and can’t reach God—I can’t say that I’m a child of God. I want to have goals. When I’ve reached them, I’m happy. And I don’t want to rest on my laurels. If I don’t do anything, then I’ll be depressed. But when I take my life in my own hands and give it direction and meaning, then I’m walking together with God.”

If you want to set goals, then ask yourself, “What do I want? What is in my heart? What do I want to accomplish in life?” God wants that you do something and that you set goals—the goals which you long to reach, the goals which will fill you with joy and pride once you have reached them.

 

Dialog

de Souza: The “philosophy of denying life” says, “Once you’ve reached your goals, you’re not happy. There are so many rich people who always want more and more, because they’re still not happy.” Your old self-image says, “Poverty is the way to God. By suffering we learn and are especially loved by God. Renunciation is the way to wisdom.” These outlooks are deep in our minds.

Participant: God’s desire to create is unlimited. He’s constantly creating. Because love extends to everyone and everything.

de Souza: That’s right! You can also always create something and no longer have to hang onto your old affirmations of renouncing the world. That’s how you can realize your godly potential.

 

Unlimited joy

Someone says, “Don’t set any goals, but rather renounce the world. Because once you’ve reached your goals, you’re only temporarily happy. After a short time you’ll be unhappy again. Even if you’ve reached a lot of goals—you’ll never be satisfied! Once you’ve earned the first $100,000, you’ll want the next $100,000. And once you have that, you’ll want a third $100,000.” How can you respond to this?

You can say, “Once I’ve successfully baked a cake, then I’m full of joy. But that doesn’t mean that I’m happy for the rest of my life. Just like I won’t always be happy if I win at the Olympics. But I can repeat this joy by gaining another victory. Also, if I could be happy for forever by reaching a goal, for example, by making a beautiful Ikebana flower arrangement, then my joy would be very limited. There are so many chances to be happy, for example, by writing a book, learning a language, going for a walk, chatting with friends, etc. The joy is different every time. Should joy then be over with just one joy? How can I be happy when I don’t do anything and don’t set any goals? How can I be a child of God in this way?” No one has ever been happy by not having a goal and doing nothing.

 

 Dialog

 Participant: But can I also set the wrong goals?

de Souza: Yes, of course! There are no guarantees. That’s another point: you can set the wrong goals or goals that are too high. But no teacher can make this decision for you. You have to know what you want. No one can decide for you. God wants you to learn to make your own decisions! Collect your experiences―and you can learn by trying and making mistakes, so you can make better decisions in the future.

 

The journey is fun

All of you want to be happy. You will be happy once you have reached the right goals. You have to do something to have something. But you also have to be. How often has it happened that once you have gotten what you want, you suddenly do not know what you should do with it?

A woman becomes very worried, “Take a look at that! The dog’s chasing that car!” “Calm down,” her husband says, “he’ll catch the car, but then we won’t know what to do with it.”

It is important to have goals in life, but it is just as important to be satisfied with them! Wealth alone does not make for happiness. Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe committed suicide, even though they were rich and famous. When you come, in turn, to the conclusion that poverty makes for happiness, then that is just as wrong. You have no idea how many poor people have committed suicide. You do not hear about it in the newspapers. Many people commit suicide because of problems in their relationships. Does that mean you should no longer have any relationships? Poverty does not make you happy.

Strive for a goal. Your goals will, of course, be reached in the future, but you can be happy NOW. It is like balancing on a tightrope: to be happy now and still have goals and wishes for the future. What characterizes a spiritual person? That he is always happy! The idea is, therefore, to be satisfied with what you have―and still strive for something better. That means you have to think of the goals, but also enjoy the journey. The way you reach your goal should be connected with joy. Joy is not when you have reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but when you are on the journey for the gold. That means, a goal may never be reached, but the journey is still fun. That is spirituality.

 

Know what you want

Decide what you want to achieve. How can I be happy when I do not know what I want? But you are scared to decide. Why? You do not want to make any mistakes. When you decide, you are also scared to give something up. When you decide to fly to Paris, then you cannot fly to Hawaii. Or you are scared to make others unhappy with your decision, because they have not made the same decision. That is why you think it is easiest to not make any decisions. First, no one will be insulted; second, you cannot make any mistakes; and third, you do not have to make the conscious decision to do without. You have to acknowledge these hurdles first. Then you can change something. What do you want? What are your wishes?

If you do not know what goals you should set, then ask yourself what has given you joy in the past. You are free to choose. What interests you? No daydreams, no wishes, just goals! Goals are always connect with the plan of how you can reach them. Plan, otherwise you will not live up to your full potential.

 

How you can reach your goals

First you have to know what you want. Write down your goals! Also take note of the advantages that go along with reaching your goal. Your goals should not be too high. If you cannot reach them, then you will be disappointed and your self-esteem will plummet. When you are full of joy and your self-esteem is high, then set your goals even higher―and set the world on fire! But first, set small goals that can be reached in a few days. Then you will have a good feeling, and your self-esteem will improve so that you can set even more challenging goals. Now you will have the confidence that you can reach them.

Write down the possible hurdles, too. Then when they arise, you will not be surprised. You will be prepared and can overcome them faster. If you do not encounter any hurdles, then even better!

The next step is to begin! And immediately! Do not say, “I’ll start after my vacation.” Start now. The plan should not be rigid. It can be changed, depending on the experiences you have.

You also need a deadline for reaching your goal. It will not work without a deadline. Otherwise your plans will stretch endlessly into the future. Of course, this deadline is not holy. It can also be changed depending on the circumstances. But set a deadline first! Every time you have reached a goal, write it down. When you are in a bad mood or depressed, then you can read about your success and begin to build yourself up again―because you forget your successes when you are depressed.

You also have to work to reach your goals, but you do not have to work when you do not set any goals.

You can reach your goals step by step. You will be amazed—and realize that even hard work can be sweet!

You have beliefs in your sub-conscious and are a prisoner of your view of the world. Your view of the world dictates your actions. If you are not satisfied with your behavior, then change your beliefs! That is easier said than done. Only reading a book will not change anything―you also have to do something. And only you can do something to change yourself! Your beliefs either make you happy or unhappy. You suffer or you have fun in life. It depends on your beliefs. Which beliefs do you want to have? That joy, happiness, and love are the ways to God, or suffering and denial? You decide.

 

Changing your beliefs

How can you change your false beliefs? Surround yourself with good thoughts. Seek the company of thoughts that support your goals. Your thoughts are your spiritual environment.

How can you make your spirit positive? By not letting your thoughts reflect upon your current, unsatisfying circumstances, but rather the circumstances you would like to achieve.

If you have negative thoughts, you will act negatively. With positive thoughts, your mind will be positive. You become what you think! That is why you should make affirmations. Write down the affirmations first. Second, check which thoughts are especially effective. It will be the ones that are associated with emotions. The number of thoughts is not important, but rather their intensity. Intensity arises through the feelings which are associated with the thoughts. Third, visualize your goals. That means, keep the thoughts in your head and let images arise. Emotions will then be created. An image in your mind creates an emotion. The longer the image stays in your head, the more intense the emotion will be.

You can change your life with positive thoughts. It is not important if these positive affirmations apply or not. Simply repeat them and develop images and feelings to associate with them. With these affirmations, you will raise your self-esteem and change your self-image. And your self-image determines what you do. Always ask, “Is this thought good for me? Will my spiritual environment improve because of it?” Say the affirmations every morning and evening. And do not sabotage your affirmations with negative thoughts. Be careful the thoughts you have!

Every thought is an image. Affirmations are thoughts. You keep these thoughts with you until an image appears. You look at the image for so long until an emotion arises. You develop your memory and outlook by visualizing. When your sub-conscious accepts the image, then all your experiences are filtered through this image. You have, for example, an image of a certain person. Now you only accept experiences that confirm this image. When an experience does not fit in with this image, you do not change your outlook. You have a certain feeling associated with this person. These feelings will defend your sub-conscious.

That is the sub-conscious’ trick—it only accepts what agrees with its emotions.

The thoughts that you are constantly repeating are images in your sub-conscious and they influence your actions. But not all thoughts do that. When you look ahead, then you see exactly and clearly down the middle. But you still see what is to the right and left, because they are in your peripheral sight. In the same way, you have many thoughts, but some thoughts are dominant while others are on the edges. Only the dominating thoughts influence your actions.

 

Producing feelings

We want to see how you, for example, produce the feeling of fear. You worry and imagine everything that could go wrong. “I’ll lose my job. I won’t have any money. My child will become sick. My husband will have an affaire with another woman.” How often do you have such thoughts? They are the mantras through which an image arises. Case I: “My wife has gone to another man today. I’m shocked. I feel insecure and abandoned. I’m scared.” Case II: “I have the suspicion that my wife is together with another man. I image how she’s with him.” The husband’s image created the same emotions as if his wife really were together with another man. Although this has never happened, the fears are just as strong as if it had happened.

You have produced these feelings yourself with your thoughts and by visualizing the situation. That is the secret to affirmations, which are the thoughts that constantly go through your head. These thoughts are powerful! When you become conscious of your old beliefs, then you can steer them in another direction by constantly repeating new affirmations in your head. You just have to activate the steering wheel. That is the solution!

You are not the victim of your fears or any other past experiences! Your melancholy, your depression, your fear is not karma, because you have done “something bad in your past life.” Not because you were “‘evil’ in your past life,” but because you have negative thoughts running through your head now in this life! In this life! Now! Your current thoughts are the key to joy or suffering. What you think and do makes you unhappy—or happy! God does not make you unhappy. God is not joyful when you are unhappy and not having any fun in life. God is unhappy when you are unhappy. Laughing does not cost you anything. And it is also not forbidden. Who is the only one who can forbid it? Only you!

 

Dialog

 Participant: But people who aren’t doing so well become angry when others laugh, and they then want to keep the other people from laughing.

de Souza: There are also people who would be happy to see you laughing.

Participant: But the ones suffering then have the impression that you aren’t being loving. The one is suffering and the other one is harmonious and happy. The one suffering thinks that isn’t being loving.

de Souza: Yes. When others are unhappy that doesn’t mean you also have to be unhappy just to show them you sympathize. And you can always laugh on the inside. You have to bring the other person out of her hole so that there aren’t two people, who are stuck in suffering. When you suffer, I don’t have to suffer too. I’m compassionate. I know how you’re feeling, but I keep my happiness. Then, and only then, can I pull you out of your suffering. Everyone tells their sob stories, and you cry along with them.

Participant: You once said that we’re like the sun.

de Souza: Yes, be like the sun, not like the moon. Even when you’re completely surrounded by the moon. Shine anyways! The sun shines and doesn’t let sad people keep it from doing so.

Participant: Whenever someone is talking very loudly and aggressively around me, I feel physically stressed. How can I stop that from happening?

de Souza: That has to do with your thoughts. Your thought (“I can’t stand that”) makes you stressed. This image you’ve made creates your emotions. You can destroy this image and replace it with another one. (For example, “The poor thing has had a bad day today. How can I cheer him up?) The image in your head doesn’t come from outside. No one can give you this image. Only you yourself. Only you yourself make this image. Unconsciously! Now make good images—and consciously! Recognize that this loudness and aggressiveness is a cry for love.

 

Once again: dominating thoughts

Dominating thoughts determine your actions. You can replace these old dominating thoughts with new dominating thoughts by associating them with feelings. You can only develop new behavior with positive emotions. Because the old emotions are strong, they will always come back again and again. Create a new image of yourself. The beliefs you have now are taken from both your thoughts and feelings. Associate the new affirmations with new, positive emotions—otherwise these thoughts will not be effective. Thoughts are only effective when they are associated with emotions and images.

If you want your new thoughts to be dominating then repeat them and image them as an image for so long until emotions develop. How have you produced fear, depression and all these negative feelings? With the pictures of your imagination! With your belief that everything will go wrong. That does not mean you should not be careful. But it is important that you collect positive images in your consciousness. Why?

You only get what you expect. And you determine what you expect with your thoughts and emotions.

 

Changing your self-image

How do you want to behave in the future? Set positive goals for yourself and firmly associate them with emotions in your head. Then your sub-conscious will do everything to realize these goals. Imagine that they have already been reached. What are you aiming for with your affirmations and visualizations? You are creating images and emotions.

You cannot force a change in your behavior. Therefore, change your self-image first! Your actions cannot be any different than your self-image. That is why you should take a close look at your self-image. Maybe you are a smoker, but do not want to smoke anymore in the future. That is your new behavior. Even with a strong will, you cannot spontaneously change your behavior. First, you have to program a positive thought in your head: “I’m happy being a non-smoker.” Repeat this thought as often as possible. Then create an image in your head of you as a non-smoker—how beautiful you will look, how healthy you will feel, how freely you will be able to breathe—until emotions arise. Imagine these feelings in situations when you would normally smoke, for example, after eating. You meet with friends and do not smoke. You have a problem, but do not smoke. Make as many intense images as possible in this way. Work constantly on changing your self-image. You will automatically and gradually come to the conclusion that you do not want to smoke any more. Because you are acting according to your self-image.

Change the image you have of yourself! Your anger will not go away with a sermon. You have to change your self-image. First, once you have changed your self-image, your actions will change to coincide with your new self-image. What happens when you cannot create an image of yourself? Concentrate on the feelings and repeat the affirmations.

 

Father, son, and the Holy Spirit

I have said a lot about the Holy Spirit and the sub-conscious. There is the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. The father is the sub-conscious, the son is the conscious, and above them is the super-conscious, the Holy Spirit. They are not separate, but they do have different functions. I have used the image of a river from which you can use either a cup or a barrel to scoop out water. In addition to that, I have given you the image of a power plant and light bulb which are connected. The light bulb is the body. It is short-lived. But the electricity is always there. Only the light bulb needs to be changed to give you light again. You have an eternal part of you which is your essence. This essence is to be a child of God.

On the one hand, your sub-conscious is connected to your conscious, and on the other, hand to the super-conscious. They are not separate, but unified. They are only separate in their functions. The Holy Spirit is an endless, godly energy. It is the super-conscious that knows everything and is godly joy. The conscious (the son) is connected to it by means of a channel, so that a part of the Holy Spirit can flow in. The amount of godly energy that flows in depends on the resistance. Every conscious has a different resistance, so that there are various light “bulbs.” What is the resistance made of? The son’s (the conscious’) negative thoughts. With positive thoughts the channel widens and the flow of godly energy increases (love, wisdom, and joy.) The valve that regulates the flow is the sub-conscious (the father.) It is neutral and carries out the son’s thoughts without placing a value on them.

Positive thoughts mean “valve open,” and negative thoughts mean “valve closed.”

On the one hand, there is the Holy Spirit’s entire creative power, and on the other hand, the individual human consciousness. If it were designed without resistance, then it would not have free-will and individuality. But God did not want to create any machines. That is why he gave the son (the conscious) free-will. Because he has free-will, he cannot also have complete power. But when he thinks positively and directs his conscious willingly towards God, then he can tap into the Holy Spirit’s energy. The more the son gets rid of the resistance (the negative thoughts), the more he is like God. The son has the free-will to raise his conscious and go his way together with God—which means tapping into the godly energy more and more. He can, however, also block the energy with negative thoughts―or with thoughts that do not coincide with reality or that block love. Until now you have unconsciously blocked your connection to the Holy Spirit with your negative thoughts. Now you can consciously open up your connection to the Holy Spirit with positive thoughts and work creatively with his endless energy. That is what Christ, what God, wants.

You alone are responsible for your suffering or happiness―with your thoughts. God does not want to teach you a lesson or punish you with suffering. That is nonsense! In reality God loves you. He has simply given you free-will.

The father (the sub-conscious) is open to both sides. He possesses the power of the Holy Spirit and carries out thoughts that come from the son (the conscious.) He can do what he wants. When he thinks that he is poor, then he will be poor. When he thinks that he is a smoker, then he will be a smoker. When he thinks that he is shy, then he will be shy. When he thinks that he can give a speech, then he will be able to give a speech. The father carries out all the son’s (the conscious’) commands without judgment. He is neutral. If the son is a criminal or a hold person depends on the son’s thoughts.

 

Dialog

 Participant: So you’re saying my negative thoughts and feelings will come true just as much as positive ones. When I think I’m stupid, then I’ll be stupid.

de Souza: The father will make it happen. Both the positive as well as the negative thoughts will come true. The latter, however, without creating a connection to the Holy Spirit. The result is that you then feel abandoned by God. The Holy Spirit only comes to you under certain conditions. Because you have free-will, you have to ask for him to come. The son asks for positive or negative things with thoughts and emotions. The emotions go into the sub-conscious and are realized by the father. When they are negative, they block access to the Holy Spirit. When they are positive, they open up access to the Holy Spirit. That allows you to be inspired. The father does what the son wants. When the son’s negative, he’s so without the help of the Holy Spirit. The negative thoughts block access to the Holy Spirit. When you think something good, then it will also be realized, and the Holy Spirit will flow through you. So remember: it isn’t enough to ask with words for success, happiness, or love. Praying means letting your wishes move into your thoughts, your imagination, and your feelings—thus, making them your outlook. In this way, your prayer is a request that will be fulfilled.

Participant: When the son has positive wishes, he attracts love and finds support to immediately fulfill his wishes

de Souza: Yes, and the love is the Holy Spirit. That is the explanation for the Trinity. Father, son, and Holy Spirit are one. Wisdom means having access to the Holy Spirit. The godly energy will then flow to you with full force. You can reach the state of wisdom by being positive and saying “yes” to life, not by being in a state of trance and withdrawing from the world.

 

In truth’s light

Stay in truth’s light! If you want to have joy in life, then change your thoughts and associate them with good feelings. Meditate only shortly to relax your thoughts.

Your reality (image of the world) is made up of your thoughts which are, in turn, associated with images and emotions. That is the key to wisdom. You can change your thoughts now and step into the light of truth and love. And now you are on your way—together with God.