Questioner: First of all, I want to ask if you could tell us why, you say this general condition exists where on the whole mankind has no godly love for himself, why? How did this come about?

The Council: How did it come about? Why does man constantly choose to look into the shadow that he casts from the Light? Why does he choose to look in that direction? Why does he not choose to turn around and look in the direction of the Light? Do you understand what we are saying?

Questioner: I understand the symbolism. As to why, I am not sure.

The Council: It is the nature of man, again, it is the nature of man. The nature of man chooses to see what he can create on his own, instead of choosing to create according to the Will of the Ultimate Creator, the Divine Creator. Instead of joining in with the orchestra, he chooses to play a solo. Unfortunately, he cannot read the musical score. Do you understand?

Questioner: Yes. And this leads to an inner dislike for yourself at a higher level?

The Council: Certainly, when you cannot accomplish what you choose to accomplish, then you begin to undermine your own confidence. If there were a simple answer to the situation, we would be more than happy to give it to you, but you are talking about an evolvement of a condition from the beginning of time, from your beginning, and it is not quite so simple even if you could draw a line and point to a particular direction. Each of you are unique individuals and you have walked your own path, so to speak. You have your own unique reason for disliking yourself, and one cannot say it is just one reason why you dislike yourself. It is an accumulation of lifetime after lifetime after lifetime of experiences, we will be kind in using that term, experiences. Do you see?

Questioner: Yes.

The Council: Now, if, if you can ever bring yourself up to the point, now, not just consciously, you cannot just positive think your way into correction, it takes that as the initial effort but it also takes a real belief deep down inside. Positive thinking is an attitude of affirmation, but you must allow that to go deep inside; you must allow that to go deep inside. So, one can say, "Yes, I am a child of God; I am a god; I do love because I love myself; I respect myself; I am good." You can say that consciously and you must say that consciously, but you must also drive that deep enough within the Subconscious Mind so that the Subconscious area is totally acceptant of that fact. And the Subconscious is not stupid. It may be neutral to some extent, but it is also very wise. It is a tester; it is a challenger. It is your battlefield of Armageddon. So what you must do at a soul level, you know that you are good, you know that you are made in the likeness of God, you may know that at a conscious level because you have heard it, what you then must do is drive that into the Subconscious level. So one of the ways that man evolves spiritually is to bring a certain conscious awareness to his mind and then work to bring that same awareness effectively into the Subconscious so that all activities of the Subconscious then is colored by that fact or governed by that fact, but in order to do this you must be able then to do loving things, not only physically but mentally. You must be able to think in terms of love, and when we use the term "love" we are talking about an unconditional love, a brotherly love, a love that is not restricted with judgment. Do you understand?

Questioner: Yes.

The Council: Now, some people may assume, "Well, if the real problem or the real hurdle is the Subconscious Mind, simple application of hypnosis should be able to make the job easier." Well, superficially, certainly, certainly, for a time, but even after that the real corrector or the real effector will be what you actually do with your own conscious mind and activities. Do you understand?

Questioner: Yes. Fix your own plumbing.

The Council: The question is: Why doesn't the plumber do that?

Next posting - We answer the question in Helping those in Need Part 4