To Replace All Negative Attitudes…

TASK:

To replace all negative attitudes towards the existing world with a feeling of confidence and love towards the new world that is being born, towards the still unborn child that is the future humanity.

To arouse in oneself constantly this love for mankind. Every time one has a feeling of negativity, take this as a reminder that we human beings live on this earth to serve, particularly to serve the future. And to serve with love, with hope, with confidence, so that it is possible for mankind to be born again. Such a positive attitude could enter into our behavior, into our speech. But if this is to have some force for us we have to deprive ourselves of something else. That is, to acknowledge that one really can work against negativity. To take away energy which at present flows into negative thought, postures and feelings and transform them to the other.

This is a very hard thing that I am proposing to you because in all of us negative thinking is so ingrained. In the midst of feeling compassion one finds oneself judging, finding fault. This is a disease that has overcome humankind and we are all infected by it.

Some very lucky people have escaped this disease. It is very fortunate to know such people.  It is an extraordinary thing to see such healthy souls in the midst of so much disease. Very few have this robust love towards their enemies, but some have.

It is a technical matter. It is not a matter of thinking it would be nice to be like that. It is a matter of knowing how to bring oneself to that place where our attitudes are under our own control. Where it is possible for us to say: This, not That.

—J.G. Bennett, London, 1972