David Hawkins writes about innocence…from "Healing and Recovery" and perhaps this is the whole journey of life…healing and recovering your innocence.
"To safely do spiritual work and avoid crises, it is necessary to reaffirm, look within, and discover one's own innocence. It really is not safe to do spiritual work unless one has a glimpse of that innate naive innocence and keeps one eye on it at all times, because that innocence is the gateway back to the Truth so one does not get lost in the swamp."
"How do we see that innocence and know its presence? We know that enlightened beings say that all are one with God, and consequently, that which is intrinsically innocent is within us at all times. The knowingness can occur as a matter of revelation or understanding."
"It we look at the consciousness of the child, we see the child's innocence. Everyone agrees on the innocence of the child whose consciousness is not devious. It hasn't learned to lie; it hasn't learned the values of judgment and criticism. The child is openly trusting and innocent, and out of this innocence and trustingness, paradoxically, it begins to learn that which is not the truth. He or she hears the parents say, "We don't play with certain children because they are the wrong race, creed, or color; they belong to the wrong religion," and so hatred is taught to the child. In order for the child to be loyal to the family to honor and love its mother and father, the child has to adopt that teaching."
"As a result, the innocence of the child is exploited by that which is not the truth, and that which is not the truth innocently comes through generation after generation, via the parents, grandparents, other family members, friends, teachers, television, storybooks, and novels. So that which is intrinsically innocent now begins to take unto itself programs and beliefs that are not the truth."
"We can compare the consciousness of the child to the hardware of the computer, and the programming coming in from the social consciousness of the world itself is the software. We see that the computer, the hardware, which is intrinsically innocent, is uncontaminated by the software. You can run any kind of ignorance of negativity or falsehood through a computer, and the computer itself is uncontaminated. You put in the next CD, and the computer's capacity is unimpaired."
"Likewise, that intrinsic innocence within consciousness itself is unimpaired, and that intrinsic innocence is reading these words right now. It is the intrinsic innocence of one's consciousness that is listening and reading, trying to find the truth, trying to tune itself in to what is real."
"That childlike innocence is unchanged throughout one's entire life; it never leaves."
"When looking at what the world calls ego, or what spiritual work calls ego, instead of condemning it, we can see, out of innocence, that is what we believed at the time. What we did was appropriate if that software program had been correct. Therefore, we do not ever really make a 'mistake' in our spiritual work. Everything is on purpose once we set our intention to achieve an understanding of the truth and be open to Grace so that the truth may be revealed in whatever way we wish to hold in mind, in whatever expression is most appropriate. It is important to remember that we have asked for all that is in error (i.e.,ignorance) to be brought up for recognition. It is all right to do that if we realize our innate innocence at the same time."
"We again ask, The innocence of what? It is the innocence not of us as a person but the innocence of consciousness itself because, as a person, we are merely reflecting that which is universal as consciousness itself. What has gone on has happened as a result of the nature of consciousness; therefore, there is no point going into personal self-condemnation about it nor, on the opposite side of the coin, going into personal pride about it."
"Discovering the nature of consciousness itself and looking into the nature of consciousness in our own introspection reveals that everything we have believed in during our whole life has happened out of innocence. Compassion and understanding develop and because of that compassion, we can now see that through our own innocence, we have come to believe what we believe. The willingness to forgive then allows us to see into the hearts of others. Out of our own compassion, we can see the innocence of the child over and over. No matter what the age of the body, the consciousness has remained unchanged. We can still hear the heart of the child within the adult saying "won't," "don't" and so forth; it is the innocence of the child still speaking. We need to keep an eye on that to prevent spiritual crises. It heals conflicts as they arise."
"The reaffirmation of our innocence consists of never buying that anything is 'just' ego; there is no such thing as 'just' ego. Ego, the software, social consciousness, and the programming have been superimposed on that which is not ego but on truth itself and consciousness itself."
"All spiritual crises come from context, meaning, and the way in which a thing is held. If we think our diet is an unspiritual diet, or our lifestyle or what we do for a living are unspiritual, they are merely reflecting a certain level of consciousness."
"Those who have reached very high levels of consciousness condemn nothing. They will affirm, however, that certain levels of consciousness will have consequences, and that a certain lifestyle, one of selling out the truth, about one's self, will bring inner pain and grievance. It is left up to the individual to continue the process, and there is no attempt to control anyone."
"Certain behaviors or self-condemnation will activate energy fields that will be experienced as painful. Again, it is left to the individual to continue or not. However, it is then not seen as a threat but as merely a fact of human consciousness that inner agony can become greater than what it is already is if one violates certain principles. The teaching still holds up that it can be a very high teaching even thought it may warn us that very agonizing painful states of consciousness can come about as a result of certain behaviors."
"All the experience within human consciousness, including all spiritual work, represents a position, a way of being with, and a way of holding what we are always talking about. Even though we think we are talking about the external world, it is really an inner position as a consequence of a certain level of consciousness, of how we choose to be with something, and the pains and agonies that come about as a result of our clinging onto putting our survival on something that is not the truth. Pain tells us that we have put our survival onto something that is a violation of some principle of consciousness. That is really what spiritual work is about."
"The progressive pain of these positions tells us that they are far from the truth not what that they are 'wrong'. As we get closer to the experience of the Presence of God, the inner experience is one of increasing joy and happiness. As we get further from it, it tells us that we are far removed from the truth. Therefore, it is not a 'make wrong'. It is not a right or wrong, it is just that it is painful and does not work."
"The Buddha said that all pain and suffering are based on attachment and desire. " David Hawkings,
If you look at your journey as going from hot to cold, cold meaning away from truth and hot meaning walking with it, you will see life without the right and wrong doing, but instead like a graph or scale.
And your life will be dramatically affected by the closeness to the truth or by how far away you are from it.
What I know for certain it is harder to find the truth, if the truth was not taught to you. In fact to find the truth, you have to first discover what was taught that wasn't the truth…and to fully understand the malleability of our innocence.
It is because we were so innocent, so trusting and our survival depended upon the adults in our worlds, that we slurped up their softwear program.
I can visualize people now by where they are on the sliding scale of truth vs not truth…and the softwear they speak from can give you great insights to if they are hot or cold. And actually, their lives will clearly display how deeply buried is their innocence.
Discovering our innocence is the Spiritual Journey; we will then see what God sees. He only recognizes the hardware…
I M Perfect lady 