“How do you make such a change?” Janet asked.
“I just told you, by mixing the three psychological elements Mind, Consciousness and Thought differently. In short, you simply change your mind regarding how you see life. Remember, this is a world governed by thought, and when you change your thoughts, your reality changes accordingly. This you could call the logic of the psyche.”
Janet looked extremely serious for a moment, and then said, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I hear you say is that we all constantly create compounds in our heads by merely thinking about any subject.”
“That is exactly right, Janet. As a matter if fact, we are all mixing the elements right now to converse with each other.”
“So what I’m hearing you say is that every time we change our minds and our thoughts we are automatically creating psychological compounds? Is that right?” Janet continued. “What you are calling psychological compounds are ideas, beliefs or concepts?”
“Correct!” replied Andy
“Wouldn’t it be the same with our feelings of anger, love, caring?” she asked.
“Exactly,” replied Andy.
I’d seldom seen Janet so excited, and whatever she was understanding was having an unbelievable effect on her. I was shocked by the sudden realization that Janet was understanding more of what Andy was saying about psychological compounds than I was. What he was saying was very foreign to my way of thinking and training, but still the gardener’s unique theories were stirring something inside me.
“Andy,” I asked, “what is the difference between simply changing our thoughts, like many of the popular therapeutic practices such as positive thinking or affirmations propose, and what you are referring to.”
“Let’s put it this way, Eric. If you simply replace one thought with another, it will only provide temporary relief. On the other hand, when you start to find the true nature of Thought, it will take you to a deeper level of understanding, which helps create a more permanent, deeper, healthier outlook on life—because you are finding your own inner wisdom.
“This, my friend, I can tell you:
“It is through Universal Mind, Universal Thought and Universal Consciousness that we transform the invisible spiritual energy into our personal reality”
For a long time not a word was said, as Janet and I tried to digest Andy’s unusual answers. Finally Janet broke the silence. “Andy, what would you say is the greatest difference between your philosophical beliefs and ours?”
“That’s quite the loaded question, Luv. Remember, I’m not a therapist, nor do I know much about what you believe or disbelieve. I only know what I know.”
“Oh, come on, Andy, you must have some opinion on how we differ.”
He looked over at Emily and she nodded at him. Andy shrugged as if to say, “Here goes,” then said, “The way I see it, one of the greatest differences is that you are apt to concentrate your efforts on the defects of yourselves and others to try to fix a problem. Now please remember, I can only speak for myself. As I said before, you are the therapists, not me, and please try and remember that you are talking a completely different ideology than I.”
Janet and I assured Andy that we would take no offence at his answer and would love to hear what he had to say “After all, that’s why we came all this way to visit you.”
Andy lowered his head shyly as he gathered his thoughts, then straightened and said, “If I were trying to help a neighbor, I would listen to his or her story very carefully and have lots of love for the individual and empathy for his state of mind and his suffering.
“But more importantly, I would try to show my neighbor that beyond wrongful thinking exists a whole and healthy inside.”
“You really do believe that there is an innate wisdom that lies inside everyone, don’t you?” Janet queried.
“Yes I do, Janet. That’s why I am asking you to look at your own inner strengths, not your weaknesses. If you don’t, you will never allow yourself to see the innocent person that stands in front of you, before the lostness took place. And just beyond that lostness lies a happy, mentally healthy and wise person lost in a maze of wrongful thoughts.”
His words really caught my attention and I asked Andy what he meant by “before the lostness took place.”
“Believe me, Eric, from the moment of birth everybody on earth is lost to one extent or another—without exception. This is why nobody is perfect in this world of form.”
“But what makes you say we are all lost at birth?” Janet asked in a shocked voice.
“Because,” Andy replied, “at birth we have entered a world of form and, being newborn babes full of innocence, we lose our true spiritual identity We have entered into our secondary home called the physical world.
“It’s the most natural thing in this world to be lost, to one degree or another. However, as you are well aware, there are many degrees of lostness for a human being. Regardless of how the mind of humanity is lost or what behavioral pattern this mental lostness may take, it all derives from the wrongful usage of the Three Principles.”
“But, Andy, the circumstances and experiences of someone’s past must surely have something to do with his behavior?”
Andy raised his hand letting me know in no uncertain terms that the psychology he was talking about and what I was talking about was as night is to day. “What I’m trying to convey to you, Eric, is totally different. You concentrate on behavior and I am suggesting to you that you should look at the strength and the health of someone before that lost behavior was created.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” I asked. “Don’t you know that there are millions of ways that can lead to someone having a psychological problem? What you are asking is impossible.”
“I agree with you,” Andy replied, “it would be next to impossible to address the specific cause for each of so many behavioral patterns. This is why I say to you, ‘Instead of concentrating on the outside behavior so much, look inside—before the anguish started—where the Mind is purer.’ Never forget, all psychological experience here on earth derives from usage of the Three Principles of:
“Universal Mind, Universal Consciousness and Universal Thought.”
“They are the three pearls of wisdom that will take you to the knowledge that you seek.”
“The trouble is, where do you find these elusive answers?” Janet said, frowning.
“To start with, Janet, if I were you, I’d forget all about trying to figure out what consciousness is, or isn’t, and just use it. Today, maybe we could talk about feelings and how our thoughts play a very important role in the quality of our lives. For example, if you have feelings of jealousy, anger, sorrow and insecurity, then you are living with a negative mind-set that will rob you of your happiness and will never allow you peace of mind.
“On the other hand, if you have positive feelings such as love, contentment, gratefulness, caring for others, then you will find your peace of mind. Again, I’d like to remind you of the wise old saying,
“As you sow, so shall ye reap.”
“You would be very wise to remember: Never do anything to another soul that you yourself wouldn’t want them to do to you, otherwise, you will suffer the consequences of your action. I believe some people call this ‘karma.’”
That rang a bell, and I said, “When I was traveling in India and the Himalayas, the people talked a considerable amount about karma, but I never really understood what they were getting at, or how karma works. Andy, why do you think some people have good karma and others have bad karma?”