“You know, Eric, perhaps some day you may have the good fortune to realize on your own, bit by bit, or all in a flash, what within really means. Then you will find out for yourself just how impossible a task it is to explain what it means.
“As a matter of fact, both of you have already looked within and failed to see the connection to what you call an insight and looking within.”
Janet, puzzled, asked, “What do you mean when you say that both of us have already looked within?”
Spreading his hands in a gesture of frustration he asked Janet, “Where do you think all this newness in your personal and professional life is coming from?”
“Well of course, Andy, some of the credit must go to you for telling us about the principles,” she answered.
“Nonsense, I only told you about them. You had the courage to look within and jump the boundaries of time—to see for yourself. In more simple terms, you have jumped ahead of your time.”
As he spoke, Andy had become more animated, then forming a tent with his fingertips and raising it toward his chin, he said, “What would you say if I told you both that you have discovered something just as important for your own profession as Einstein did when he realized something that changed the science of physics for ever?”
Janet and I couldn’t believe our ears and thought that Andy had gone a bit too far. His last statement struck us as outrageous exaggeration.
He stared sternly at me. “Why do you think you are having such a difficult time trying to explain all this newness to some of your old associates? What is it that is helping you in your life and in your work?”
As most of his statements did, his questions took me off guard for a few seconds, then I heard myself answering, “I guess it’s because we are using the principles as well as we can.”
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Perhaps we had found something of value, maybe not quite as spectacular as Einstein’s discovery, but at least something that could well help a lot of people. But it was frustrating that neither Janet nor I knew very much about how it all works. I asked, “Andy, why is it that my friends Tom and Peter heard you and Emily just as we did and they just didn’t get the connection between their thoughts and their actions? I still can’t understand why they can’t recognize plain common sense.”
Andy raised his hand and pointing a finger at Janet, then at me, said, “Please listen to me carefully. Your friends Tom and Peter did not hear a word I was saying because they were concentrating on my words with their intellect, trying to meld whatever they knew with what I was saying, whereas you heard beyond my words to another dimension and found new knowledge to assist you through life.
“At the moment I’m afraid Tom and Peter have their own way of searching for whatever they think they are looking for. I can tell you, though, at the present moment the thought of three principle elements is rather frightening to them.”
“Why do you call them elements, Andy?” Janet asked.
“For the simple reason that like any other element, they cannot be broken down into lesser components. All three are spiritual gifts that lie before time, space and matter, and we are all blessed with the ability to use these gifts as we choose, foolishly or wisely.”
Janet asked Andy to give us an example. He thought for a short while, then replied. “You know how in chemistry it takes two or more elements to create a compound?”
“Yes,” Janet replied, “but what has that got to do with the Three Principles?"
“Look at it like this Janet. Mind, Consciousness and Thought are spiritual elements that when mixed together create what I would call psychological compounds.”
Janet looked to be just as surprised by his words as I was, but she forged on. “OK, Andy. What is a psychological compound?”
Andy smiled at Janet’s persistence and replied, “What I am calling a psychological compound is literally anything that the human mind can conceive.” It was difficult for me to believe what the old gardener was saying and I felt I needed more time to try to comprehend his far-out philosophical beliefs. I knew deep in my gut that he was trying to tell me something important but it was certainly eluding me at the moment. Yet it was exciting to think we really may have discovered something to help in our work.
“Andy, please be patient with me—and try again, would you explain the Three Principles in another way? And could you tell me one more time why you place so much importance on them?”
“Eric, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the Three Principles. These Three Principles contain the foundation of all human experience here on earth. Literally, they are the three cosmic elements that we use to create our entire reality here on earth.”
To me, his answer was spellbinding. I had absolutely no way to reply to such a statement so I said nothing. After a lengthy silence, Andy said, “Never forget that we human beings are thinking creatures who think our way through life every second of every day. We walk through life as thinking creatures with our thoughts painting a picture of the world we live in.”
Neither of us knew how to react. Janet nodded her agreement when I said, “Andy, I find your concepts and ideas incredible.”
“Eric, I want you to know that what I say is not a belief or a concept but an elemental fact that is beyond a belief or a concept. What I say to you is before the contamination of human thought and comes from another dimension of Thought altogether.”
I was astounded by what I thought to be an outlandish answer. Janet looked over at me and rolled her eyes, indicating that she too was mystified by Andy’s statement.
Andy just sat there in silence as if he were waiting for Janet or me to reply to what he had just said. Janet continued to roll her eyes dramatically and exclaimed, “Wow, Andy you’re blowing my mind again.”
After a long silence I told him I still didn’t follow his logic regarding what he was calling psychological compounds. “I hate to ask you again but I wonder if you could elaborate a little more? Would you explain how the principles can possibly relate to some of the issues we face on a day-to-day basis?”
“All I can do, Eric, is repeat, literally anything that the human mind can conceive of, is a psychological compound.
“I’m sure you can see the negative results of mixing the Three Principles together to create compounds such as greed, hate, jealousy, insecurity or fear. With such feelings you are going to suffer and live in mental torment.
“Now, I ask you to mix the three elements differently and create feelings of love, happiness, contentment, caring and empathy for others. These are but a few of the positive compounds that will help bring you peace of mind.”
Janet couldn’t resist asking Andy to explain such a phenomenon. Tilting his head and looking down his nose as if he were wearing spectacles, he asked sternly, “Janet, are all therapists born to question and cross-question?” Then he added jokingly, “I had always thought that was a lawyer’s job.
“Let me try to explain it this way. Your thoughts create your perception of the world you live in. Let’s use an example. Suppose a person had a problem being too ambitious or greedy and these ambitions were creating a lot of stress in the work environment, then spilling over into family life. Then, suddenly one day, that person realized that his or her over- ambitious and greedy egotistical desires were the biggest creator of these problems. Such an insight would allow that person to see that he or she was missing a lot in life. This insight would be the stepping-stone to finding his or her long-lost happiness and contentment.”