I’m sure that we can all agree that no intelligent, conscious man or woman would ever intentionally hurt him or herself. No one would choose to ache. Yet the fact remains that all of us do hurt ourselves every day with bursts of anger or fits of depression or anxiety. There can be no doubt, beginning with the physical level and on up, that fear and worry exact a definite toll on all levels of our health and well-being. Intelligent, conscious beings would never intentionally hurt themselves, but we somehow manage to do just that in one way or another almost every day. So how do we reconcile this contradiction? There is only one possible conclusion that we can draw from these facts, and it is imperative that we paint this picture clearly to ourselves.

We must be unconscious while thinking that we are awake! In other words, during those times of self-betrayal when we are hurting ourselves or others with negative inner states, even though our eyes are open and all kinds of sensations are coursing through us, we must be asleep to what we are doing to ourselves or we wouldn’t be doing it. Somehow, we have become separated from the real Intelligence within us that knows better than to punish itself. There is never, I repeat, never any intelligent reason to feel bad. If you will only let these truthful ideas prove this astonishing fact to you, one day this new understanding will go before you and defeat all that has been defeating you.

You may not be able to think your way out, but you can see your way clear. This special kind of inner seeing is safety. Waking up to yourself is the same as letting go of all those self-defeating thoughts and feelings that have been telling you how to win.