Lester Levenson on "Demonstration"

Release Newsletter
Lester: Speaking on
"Demonstration"

Why is it that some people seem to get everything they want with very little effort, and yet others find themselves struggling day in and day out just to make ends meet? If you've every wondered about this and thought that there must be an explanation, then you'll be happy to know there is.

Below is a partial transcript of a talk that Lester Levenson gave on "demonstration"—on bringing what we focus on into existence. It is transcribed from the tape titled "Lester on Will Power," and is one of the bonus tapes included with the Abundance Course:

"Whether we are aware of it or not, everyone is controlling matter all of the time. Whether one wants to be a 'demonstrator' or not, he is. It is impossible to not be a creator all the time. Everyone is creating every day.

"We're not aware of it because we just don't look at it. Every single thought materializes in the material world. It is impossible to have a thought that will not materialize, except that we reverse it. If we say the opposite right after we have a thought, with equal strength, we just neutralize it. But any thought not reversed or neutralized, will materialize in the future, if not immediately. So this thing of demonstration that we're all trying so hard to do, we're doing all the time, unaware of the fact that we're doing it. All we need to do is to consciously direct it, and that we call demonstration.

"Everything that everyone has in life is a demonstration. It couldn't come into your experience had you not had a thought of it sometime prior. If you want to know what your sum total thinkingness is, it is exactly determined by what's around you—what you have—that's your demonstration. If you like it, you may hold it. If you don't, start changing your thinking. Concentrate it in the direction that you really want, until those thoughts become predominant. And whatever those thoughts are will materialize in the world. And when you begin to demonstrate consciously—small things—you may then realize that the only reason they are small is because you don't dare to think big—that the same exact principle or rule applies to demonstrating a penny that applies to demonstrating a billion dollars. The mind sets the size.

"Anyone who can demonstrate a dollar can demonstrate a million dollars... businessmen. Become aware of the way you're demonstrating the one dollar bill and just put six zeros after it next time. Take on the consciousness of the million, rather than the one dollar bill.

"This relates to what I'm saying that there's no difference between the material and the spiritual when you see it. The material being just an outprojecting of our minds into what we call the universe and the world and many bodies. And when we see that it's just an out-projecting of our minds—that it's just a picture that we have created—we can very easily change it...instantly.

"So, to repeat, everyone is demonstrating—creating—every moment that he or she is thinking. You have no choice. You are a creator, so long as you have a mind and think."

Lester goes on to talk about how if we only thought of the things we want, that that is all we would get. However, this is not so easy. Our thoughts are usually habitually negative, and therefore it is often difficult or nearly impossible to focus on what we want without countering it with a negative thought in the opposite direction of what we want just a few seconds later.

Lester knew this, and so he gave us the Release Technique as the solution. With the Release Technique, one can easily release the negative programs from the mind that keep us habitually focused—both consciously and subconsciously—on the things we do not want.

When we release these negative programs, our minds become quiet and focussed, like a laser beam, on what we DO want. From there, it becomes effortless to have what we want. There is no need to struggle for it.

The belief that we need to "work hard" or "struggle" to have what we want is just another program, which is fostered very much by society. But, this is just a myth. In truth, if we believed that all we needed to do was to crow like a rooster twice a day in order to have abundance, then we'd crow like a rooster twice a day, and we'd have abundance.

But, this is so unbelievable to most, because we've been so conditioned to believe that we must work hard to have what we want. Many have apparently seen, in their own lives, that if they work harder they seem to get more (sometimes). And so, they end up attributing their receiving of more abundance to the hard work, when in reality it is due to their acceptance of more, which they have actually predicated upon their "hard work."

Many people feel they must work hard to "deserve" abundance, or that "money won't come if I'm just sitting on my butt." But, we must challenge this assumption. If it was hard work that brought abundance, than the ditch-digger would be the wealthiest.

We challenge you to spend some time doing nothing but sitting on your butt Releasing all the negativity that you've suppressed (we'll show you how), and tell us how your week went. You'll likely tell us it was an absolutely incredible week, where everything worked out perfectly---effortlessly.

We don't expect you to believe anything we say here. But rather, "take it for checking." It other words, try it out in your own life and prove or disprove it for yourself.

The law of the universe says that likes attract. So, if you are positive, you will attract more positive. And, conversely, if you are negative and feeing lacking, you will attract more lack. Hence, the saying, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." It is completely in our thinking—in what we are focussing on—rather than in how much effort we put into trying and struggling, which determines what we get.

If you haven't yet taken the Abundance Course, we invite you to try it out and put it to the test. Prove it or disprove it for yourself, rather than make assumptions from your past societal or parental conditioning.

You have nothing to lose—except your limitations, and you have everything to gain. How would your life be if you no longer had to scratch for a living like a slave? How would it feel if you knew that you were 100% in charge of your own thinking, instead of your thinking and programming running you all over the place? What is something like that worth, if you could even put a price tag on it?

If you've already taken the Abundance Course, then we invite you to read further to learn about the Goals & Resistance Course, designed by Lester.

Really Going For It: The Goals & Resistance Course—An Advanced Course for Graduates

If you are an Abundance Course graduate and are ready to supercharge your Releasing, then the next step is to take the Goals & Resistance Course.

This course was designed by Lester to corner our resistance and help us see where we run and distract ourselves from our feelings. It will show you exactly where you are sabotaging your success. And then it will give you the tools to dismantle this resistance. It's not always easy to face down subconscious resistance, which is why we pair you up with a Releasing partner who will help you stay on track and help you get the most out of the course.

If you don't have abundance after taking the Abundance Course, it's only because you are still holding onto wanting and there is still subconscious resistance to having.

Lester knew that we all had a lot of subconscious resistance. If we didn't, then we'd have everything we want in life. It's the subconscious resistance that's sabotaging even some who have taken the Abundance Course. Lester knew about resistance, so he designed the Goals & Resistance Course to corner your resistance so you can see it, and then knock it out.

Speaking with graduates who are in the middle of this six-week advanced course is always inspiring. They are usually flying high as a kite and feeling very open, free and unlimited. They tell us they have never felt so free in their entire lives. We know what they mean—we've done the course, too.

We receive many testimonials from graduates of the Goals & Resistance Course as they begin achieving their goals with an even greater ease. One goal that is given in the Goals & Resistance Course, which you can get to work on right now is, "I allow myself to have $100 or more by Releasing only." If $100 is too little, then move the decimal point and make it $1,000 or $10,000. Start with something your mind can reasonably accept, and then keep moving the decimal point over after you reach each goal.

As you read the goal statement, use the Release Technique as you learned in the Abundance Course to knock out any attachments or aversions to having the goal drop into your lap without any effort on your part. Then, let us know how it went.

We don't know anyone who the Goals & Resistance Course has ever cost any money. It gets more into the "butt system." Graduates start learning how the mind works and that it's only creative, so that if you are holding in mind wanting, which is lack, you are creating lack for yourself. When you let go of wanting, you move into having. There is no suffering in having.

Learn more about the Goals & Resistance Course.

How To Break Out Of Prison

How To Break Out Of Prison
In Three Easy Steps
"Lester's Secret To Freedom"
by Peter Michel

All of us have our comfort zone. This is the prison set for us by our ego. In fact, one way to describe the ego is the "prison guard" who keeps us confined to our comfort zone.

Your comfort zone is where you feel most comfortable and where there's little resistance. Some have a larger comfort zone than others. The larger your comfort zone, the greater your freedom and latitude, and the greater your success and happiness in life.

Many of us are actually more comfortable in lack than in abundance; more comfortable in turmoil than in peace; more comfortable in unhappiness than in joy. Where have you set your comfort zone?

The moment you try to push past your comfort zone, you experience resistance. That's the ego-mind and its programs (feelings) keeping you imprisoned.

Most of us are unaware of the bars of our self-imposed prison, which are invisible and impenetrable, except by those with extraordinary will, and then often only for a very short while before willpower collapses under the weight of ego resistance.

In order to escape from this prison, you first have to recognize that you're in a prison. If you don't know you're in one, then you'll remain ever bound and unaware of the true freedom that lies outside the prison walls.

How to escape from prison

A daily exercise that will help us escape from our mental prison is "stretching." As often as possible, we should give ourselves a mental stretch past our comfort zone. And, a stretch is just that, a stretch. It should not break us.

You will know you are properly stretching yourself when it feels like you are trying to drive with the brakes on. The moment you take your foot off the gas and stop exerting willpower, the car will come to a grinding halt. It might also feel like you are pushing up against a wall or a clutch shows up in your stomach or chest.

If you are not actively stretching yourself and feeling resistance, then you are stuck in ego. You won't usually experience resistance when watching TV shows or partaking in other distractions, because you aren't challening the limits of your ego's prison bars.

The moment you stretch yourself, you should fully expect the resistance to come up so you are prepared for it. This way it is easier to welcome it fully.

Once you welcome it, simply allow it to release either directly or through the three "wants." Each time you do this, you will be actively dismantling your ego programs that form the bars of your invisible prison.

Where have you set your comfort zone?

• In your relationships?
  Are they emotionally distant or loving?
  
• In your finances?
  Are you thriving or barely surviving?
  
• In your overall level of happiness?
  Are you happy or relatively unhappy?
  
• In your health?
  Are you healthy or sick?
  
• In your degree of inner peace?
  Are you peaceful or disturbed?
  
• In the overall balance in your life?
  Are you balanced or out of control?
  
• In your living situation?
  Is it ideal or merely tolerable?
  
• In your exercise program?
  Do you exercise or are you a couch potato?

Rarely do we deliberately stretch ourselves past our comfortable mental climate to see if we can make ourselves comfortable in other climates. In other words---we like our lives to be lukewarm and are stuck living a "room temperature" existence.

A tropical life

Perhaps this is why many of us envision the idyllic life in a tropical environment with a warm sun and cool breeze swinging on a hammock under a palm tree and blue skies. Step outside of that comfort zone and we go, "Brrrrr, it's cold!" or "Wow! It sure is hot!" and then quickly return to the comfort of what is most familiar to us. This would explain the popularity of tropical cruises. But, you can't escape from your prison this way. It just reinforces it. Many of us have become quite adept at attempting to escape our mental prisons by taking vacations. I guess that's why we often call a vacation "an escape" but it really isn't. It's just a distraction.

What if, instead of mindlessly remaining in your preset comfort zone, you actively sought out a little bit of discomfort in order to expand your freedom? What if you actively stretched yourself to spend some time in the hot or cold areas of your life where your resistance is the greatest, and allow yourself to become comfortable there, too, by releasing your resistance to it?

When you do this, you are increasing your freedom. You are, in essence, saying "NO!" to your prison bars and "YES!" to a greater freedom of expression as you begin to reclaim your Infinite nature.

The prison bars will remain until you face them and dissolve them through releasing. Until then, you take those prison bars with you everywhere you go---even on vacation, to the mall, to the movies, food shopping, watching TV, reading a book, while having sex, while eating, while working, while sleeping, etc.

You can't escape the prison you cannot see. Avoiding it and pretending it isn't there is like having a virus in your computer and moving it from room to room thinking that will get rid of it. But, this does nothing to delete the virus, and the virus certainly won't delete itself.

To fully experience the freedom and happiness that Lester knew, you need to be willing to ACTIVELY stretch yourself---to look for where you are comfortable and then consciously stretch out past that comfort zone until you feel some resistance. And then, welcome the resistance fully, let go of wanting to change or control it, and then let it go. Each time you do this, you knock out one of your prison bars. Eventually, there are none left and you are completely free to roam in any direction you choose without resistance or fear of being beaten by the prison guard (your ego).

What are some ways you can stretch yourself?

1. Set goals and achieve them by releasing only.

2. Notice situations or people that make you feel uncomfortable and release your resistance and discomfort until the situation or person no longer bothers
you.

3. Set the temperature of your bath or shower a little hotter or colder than you're used to and let go of any resistance this stirs up.

4. Exercise. If you're not currently exercising, start with at least 15 min/day and use it as an opportunity to release your resistance.

5. Feel more love and happiness. Notice how much you can handle before it becomes uncomfortable.

Let us expand on these a little:

To expand on the first method, goals were the primary method Lester suggested we use to overcome our resistance. The Goals & Resistance Course explores this method in depth. The Goals & Resistance Course is a 6-week intensive course done with the support of a releasing partner assigned by Larry Crane. Lester recognized that we all have resistance and so he prescribed releasing on goals as the best way to corner our resistance so we can move beyond it.

The second method can be used throughout your day. As you go through your day, look for situations or people that make you feel uncomfortable. And then, instead of shying back into your comfort zone, dare to reach beyond it. If you feel scared or shy or anxious, decide to be courageous and release your resistance until the situation no longer bothers you. If someone is annoying or upsetting you, see them as doing you a huge favor. Use the opportunity to become imperturbable with them instead of blaming them for your negative feelings. A great way to dissolve our resistance to others is to simply say to them silently, "I love you, I love you," no matter what the other one says or does. This love will bring them your way and melt your prison bars. No need to resist anyone, even ourself, just love. It's the ultimate resistance dissolver.

The third method is a simple way of overcoming resistance by putting our physical body in a little bit of temporary mild discomfort. No need to go to extremes with this. Just stretch yourself a little bit outside your comfort zone. If you normally like your bath water warm, try it a little cooler. If you like it cool, then try it a little warmer. Don't scorch or freeze yourself. Just stretch yourself a little. Notice the resistance this stirs up and let it go. Feel the clutch in your stomach or chest and let it go until it becomes just as comfortable to be in the new temperature as it was at your usual "comfort zone" temperature. No need to use extremes in any of these exercises. That will only tend to increase our resistance to a point where we find it difficult to release. Just take small steps outside your comfort zone and let go of the resistance bit by bit.

The fourth method, exercise, is another way to use our relative level of body comfort to overcome resistance. Are you clutching as you read this and consider the possibility of getting some exercise? Good. That's a prison bar you are ready to break through. You don't need to stretch yourself too far with this either. Just some walking is fine if you spend your day behind a desk. Or, if you are already exercising, perhaps increase your intensity or duration a bit. Notice the resistance and release it. This isn't advice, just an example. Check with your doctor first to make sure it won't strain your body too much and use your common sense. For example, don't run a marathon if you have a heart condition until you first heal the heart condition and get your doctor's okay.

The fifth method is wonderful for increasing our overall happiness and freedom. Most of us have a preset level of happiness and love, just as we have a preset level for everything else. The only way to increase our level of happiness is to push beyond these limits by stretching ourselves. Notice your interactions with people. How loving are you? Could you increase this feeling of love? Notice any resistance that arises and allow it to come up to release. Could you love even more? Could you allow yourself to be even happier? How much happiness and love can you stand? Keep releasing your resistance to find out. Stop settling for mediocre levels of love and happiness. Go for extremes here, stretching yourself to love more and more. Find out how unlimited your happiness and love are. As you do this, your whole life will improve in every way.

Bars that can be seen or felt… are bars that can be broken.

By now, some of your prison bars should be quite obvious, as is the method of escape from them.

To recap, the 3 easy steps to break out of prison are:

1. Recognize that you are in a prison of your own making called your "comfort zone"

2. Gently stretch yourself past your comfort zone daily and welcome the resistance instead of fighting with it.

3. Release the feelings of resistance using the Release Technique.

If you get stuck, just let go of wanting to change or control the stuck feeling. That will get you moving again.

Enjoy your freedom!