Absolute Reality
FOREWORD
During recent months there has been an increasing urge on the part of those attending the Lectures and Forums, as well as those who are familiar with my published works, to make the Lectures available to all in printed form. Of late, tapes, books, and letters can be obtained on order, yet the requests for printed Lectures have continued undiminished. This book is the answer.
We have chosen eight Lectures, very much at random, as the first in a possible series of books of Lectures. We feel that the choice, consistent with the premise of Absolute Reality, is varied, covering a wide range of important topics and application.
These Lectures have been taken directly from the master tapes. There has been editing, and considerable new material added.
In reading these pages, read aloud when convenient. Give to each word the value you would give if you were voicing it to your dearest friend -- a loved one whom you were striving to awaken from a useless nightmare. And if the denouncement of the dream is sharp, emphatic, it is not to harm or hinder the awakening, but rather to epedite it; not to change the dream, but to arouse the slumbering one, perhaps shock him into laying aside the dream for the Real.
In all Lectures, we point out that we do not speak in accord with religious education. Our work is classified as philosophy, not metaphysics or religion. We do not view Life from within the narrow walls of morality, the hampering restrictions of human conduct and usage, as religious speakers are required to do. We are persistently consistent with our premise.
While we do not agree with any form of teaching, of learning, of human evolution or at-onement-with-God, we do not quarrel with those who do believe in such, or who are engaged in practicing what they preach. But we do have to be consistent with Truth as Being-what-is, and thus we frequently have to show wherein we differ from the general pattern, and why. This is never meant to be condemnatory or inflammatory. We speak plainly. Our hearers, our readers are free to go along with us, or not. We are not trying to convert anybody. Our sole interest is in Reality.
Our work has become known mainly by word-of-mouth. Those who have found it to be the Truth they have been looking for, have told their friends, or sent them the books, and they in turn have done likewise. Thus more and more have become familiar with the work.
Our first book, The Unchallenged Self, was published in 1954, less than four short years ago, yet the work is now known on every continent. Such widespread acceptance suggests its value. It is not a flowery language that captivates, not promises of a faraway future filled with all that the human mind considers desirable, not a promise of healing, not a cult or organization one can join that prompts the reader to recommend these books to others. They contain Unadulterated Truth only. Reality does not improve personality, does not make lavish promises, is not a system or formula that enables a human to lay hold on things, or to outwit and escape evil. Reality is Single Omnipresent Simple Truth.
To readers, friends who wholeheartedly desire Truth, it is a joy and privilege to dedicate these pages.
The Author
New York, N.Y.
January 2, 1959