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OVERVIEW
Who Are You, Really? – Rev. Roderick Norton
Sometimes life requires us to re-learn ourselves or make ourselves aware again of who we really are. How we have defined ourselves or how others have defined us, might not be the spiritual truth about ourselves. Don’t allow false identities to weigh you down. Know who you were prior to whom you are identifying yourself with now.
TRANSCRIPTION
This transcription was auto-generated, please excuse typos, errors and omissions.
Rev. Roderick Norton (00:11):
Well good morning, Cityside. Good morning. How are you doing? Those that are here in person, those that are watching us live stream. It is. This is a fantastic day. I’m happy to be here to share with you on this morning. It’s been a minute since I’ve been here and lemme just introduce myself. I think I’ve been introduced already, Reverend Rod Norton. So those that don’t know me, looking forward to speaking on this morning to you. I said, you have a different setup. I’m loving it. I’m loving it with the screen and the PowerPoints and everything else, I’m loving it. So it is beautiful. It is beautiful. Oh wow.
(00:54):
We are in the month of March right now. We’re in the city of Chicago. We 70 degrees outside, right. And who can ask for anything better? Who asked for anything better? No need to travel to Florida, right? Just stay right here and get your sunshine and your heat right. So this morning we are working with a new series and it deals with Byron Katie’s book, A Mind at Home with Itself, A Mind at Home with Itself. I have really enjoyed exploring this particular book and getting some of the nuggets out of it. It’s a very fascinating read, and I think as you are working with this subject over the course of this month, I think you’ll have some spiritual revelations that will occur for you.
(02:00):
The book itself is structured around the Buddhist texts, diamond Sutra and the Sutra is an extended meditation on selflessness, on selflessness. And to be selfless as is described in the Buddhist tradition, is actually to be generous, generous with yourself and generous with others. And it is described that the more your sense of self dissolves in the light of awareness, the more generous you naturally become. So the more I allow myself to dissolve in everything that I have attached to self, I actually get back to more of a what of a natural state of being. So it’s really a mindset that I have learned that nothing really belongs to me. Everything that is here is for my use is part of this whole concept of selfless. Nothing really belongs to you, nothing really belongs to me. Everything that is here is really here for my use. It’s really here for your use. And once we begin to attach ourselves to things, we begin to allow those things to really define us. But nothing is here for me. I’m just here to use it. And I think the universe, that the universe has allowed me the opportunity to use it.
(03:50):
So the book itself is based on what Katie calls the work. The work consists of four questions and also what she calls a turnaround that we will explore over the course of this month. She says, anyone who does the work can free themselves from suffering. The work involves four questions. Number one, is it true? Number two, can you absolutely know it’s true? Number three, what happens when you believe the thought? And number four, who would you be without the thought? So those are the four questions that will be explored over the course of this month and that you will find in the book. But this morning I will be exploring really for the first two questions. Is it true? And can you absolutely know it’s true? And that leads me to my lesson title for this morning. Who are you really? Who are you really? Do you know yourself? How well do you know yourself? There might be some questions that we need to ask ourselves so that we can dive a little bit deeper in the knowing of ourselves. Katie says, every time you do the work, you are becoming enlightened to who and what you are. She says, the true nature of being says to question what you believe is an amazing gift to yourself, and you can have it all the days of your life. The answers are always inside of you just waiting to be heard.
(05:31):
So questioning is important when we are trying to really figure out who we are questioning is important. When we are really trying to find out who we are and we begin, we begin to question ourselves, we begin to find that it is actually an amazing gift. The ability to question ourselves and get the question of ourselves as I’ll get to further in the lesson this morning, the question of ourselves is not our ego self. It’s not necessarily our human self, but we want to go what? We want to go a little bit deeper than that because we really want to go into a state of meditation during the questioning. So the questioning of ourselves is moving beyond our self self to our true self, to our true self. So she says this about the work. She says, the work is about discovering what is true from the deepest part of yourself. You are listening for your answers now, not other people’s and not anything you have been taught. This can be very unsettling at first because you’re entering the unknown. She says, as you continue to dive deeper, allow the truth within you to rise and meet the question.
(06:46):
Allow the truth within you to rise and meet the question. Have you ever had any questions about life? Have you ever had any questions about yourself? Have you ever had any questions about why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What exactly is this calling that I have? Whatever the calling might be? Have you ever had any questions? So our work is actually to answer the questions that we have honestly and allow the questions and the answers to come alive. We hold a lot of thoughts in our minds about what we think are true without us really questioning where did that thought come from and how was it formed?
(07:58):
We hold a lot of thoughts in our mind about where did that thought really come from? How was that thought that I’m holding in mind? How was it really formed? Because thoughts just don’t come from anywhere, do they? One of my favorite teachers says, I am the thinker who thinks the thoughts that makes the things. So thoughts just don’t come from anywhere. We actually do what we actually form the thoughts. So do you ever question why do I think what I think? Why do I hold on to this particular thought? Where did it come from? Because many of the thoughts that we have, many of the thoughts that we hold on to those thoughts were formed through cultural experiences. Those thoughts were formed through educational experiences. Those thoughts were formed through our relationship with our peers. Those thoughts were formed through family experiences. A lot of the thoughts that we hold onto, we hold onto those thoughts.
(08:59):
Those thoughts were formed and developed by our relationships in life. And sometimes we just move along in life with these thoughts holding on these onto thoughts and we think they are true. And why do we think they are true? Because we have never questioned the thoughts before I came into this particular type of teaching. And even like I say, even in this particular type of teaching, I’ve met a lot of people along the way and one of the conversations I have with people who come from different religious or different denominations or different spiritual backgrounds is a lot of times when they get into this particular type of teaching, they will say that when I came to Cityside, when I came to the empowerment or when I came to Agape or when I came to wherever these type of teachings are taught, they’ll say something like, when I got there, it hit home.
(10:15):
I’ve always had this feeling and inside that this is what I believe. But at the other places I was at, I was there because I grew up there. I was there because family took me there. I was there because I thought I was supposed to be there because this is what I was told. But while I was there, wherever there might’ve been while I was there, I never felt like the message was necessarily resonating with me. I always felt a level of discomfort. But when I heard this message, it hit home. Have you personally ever might’ve had that experience? Because the thing is, the thing is they never question the thought. They never question the belief. They never question, why am I here? Why do I believe this? Do I really believe this? They never question it because why? Because they have always been told that this is what you’re supposed to believe. This is the way you’re supposed to present yourself. These are the thoughts you’re supposed to have, and this is how you are supposed to move through life. So Katie, it’s challenging us to question some of the thoughts that we hold to question.
(11:54):
Why do I believe what I believe? Katie says, when I believe my thoughts, I suffered. But when I questioned my thoughts, I didn’t suffer. She felt like she felt like she began to free herself and she began to question her thoughts. See, get this. As long as you hold onto a thought that I’m supposed to suffer, then guess what? You’ll suffer. As long as you hold onto a thought that I’m supposed to hurt, then guess what? You’ll hurt. As long as you hold onto a thought that I’m supposed to hate because that’s what I’m told, then guess what you’ll hate. But when you begin to question the thoughts of why do I hate? Do I feel I’m supposed to suffer in life? Why do I have these thoughts? Do I hold onto these? When you begin to question, you begin to do what? Free yourself. Because now you can get some answers, but guess what? The answers don’t come from those that gave you the information previously. The answers now come from a different place and a different source. It comes from you turning within, becoming quiet, being still and asking the higher self within you, asking the spiritual self within you
(13:29):
The questions and allowing yourself to receive the answers from that place as opposed to external places. Okay? In many ways, it reminds me in many ways, it reminds me of the four agreements. One of the four agreements is don’t make any assumptions, right? And because a lot of times we’ll go through life, hold it on particular particular thoughts, hold it on to particular opinions and hold on. And we make assumptions about things. We make assumptions about ourselves. We make assumptions about people. We make assumptions about life. So we go through life, hold on to these assumptions. And therefore, of the four agree says, don’t, don’t make no assumptions about anything. Because when we’re full of assumptions and we’re full of opinions and we’re full of information that other people have fed us, whether good, bad, or indifferent, we don’t necessarily know if this is true. So we must begin to do what? Ask questions.
(14:48):
So the work that Katie wants us to do deals with us doing some work in the underworld. So what’s the underworld? Don’t be afraid of that particular term as we use it right now. She’s just simply saying that these questions to question the unquestioned thoughts and assumptions, that’s all, is that it is just a place where we go. So we can question those thoughts and assumptions that previously had been unquestioned. I like to look at it this way. I like to look at it from the subconscious mind level because the subconscious mind level is that level where we begin to store all the information, where we begin to store our history, where we begin to store our beliefs, where we begin to store our opinions, we begin to store a whole bunch of stuff right there, and we leave it there and we don’t question what’s in the subconscious mind and eventually the stuff that just simply plays out in life because that’s a job of the subconscious mind that is a storehouse.
(16:01):
And eventually, eventually the stuff that’s in the storehouse begins to play out in life. This is what I believe about the subconscious mind and the things that are there is that sometimes we need to begin to question the stuff that’s in the subconscious mind and do this as a good mentor. And friend of mine will say, we need to begin to bring the stuff to the table and stop pressing the stuff back into the subconscious mind. Go ahead and question why am I doing the things that I’m doing? Why are certain things showing up in life? Because it’s just simply playing out of the subconscious. So begin to bring the stuff up that’s in the subconscious, begin to bring it up and place it on the table and begin to deal with the stuff in the subconscious mind. Just bring it up and deal with it on the table.
(16:49):
Bring it to the table. Bring it to the table. What is it I need to deal with? Let me bring it to the table. As I bring it to the table, I can begin to address this because as long as I don’t bring it to the table, I cannot address it. So once I bring it to the table, I can address, why do I have this belief about anger? Why do I have this belief about hate? Why do I have this belief about prosperity? Why do I have this belief about I am love? Why do I have these beliefs? It’s okay to bring it on to the table so that as I move through life, I have a better understanding of my place in life.
(17:30):
I cannot make right that which I’m unaware of. So I must ask questions. Why do I feel this way? What life events might’ve led me to this point is okay to ask questions. Sometimes that individuals might be afraid to ask questions. Maybe, and this might get this. This might have something to do with something that’s in the subconscious mind because maybe throughout life when you were younger, you were discouraged from asking questions you might’ve been told by your parents. Oh, stop asking so many questions. Just sit and listen or just obey or just do as I say. So it could be something from a very subconscious level as far as why some folks are afraid to ask questions. Why do I believe what I believe? Why do I do what I do? Because in the subconscious, there might be a suppression that’s going on from childhood where I was always told to stay in my place. Don’t ask questions, do as you’re told. But it’s okay. We need to be okay with it right now. We need to be okay with it right now that it is okay for me to ask questions. And the questions once again that I need answered are not necessarily coming from outside of me, but the questions or the answers to the questions are coming from within me.
(19:30):
Who are you really? So the first point that Katie says, or the first question she says is that we need to ask is, is it true? Is it true? And she says, the answer should be one syllable. That’s that’s hard for some folks because a lot of times we want to add a lot of stuff onto it. But she says the answer should be one syllable, yes or no. She said, don’t get to the point where you begin to add yes but or no because no, the answer should be one syllable, yes or no. And she says, after you ask the question, spend some time contemplating the answer. After I ask the question, now it’s time for me to spend some time contemplating the answer. So that means that as I ask the question, remember I’m asking the question to myself and to my higher self so that I can receive answer from the depths of my own soul. That’s where I want the answer to come from. When we spend time contemplating the answer, we’ll receive an answer. Get this when we question a stressful thought. And what is a stressful thought? A stressful thought could be a thought of fear. It could be a thought of hate. It could be a thought of unlove. It could be a thought of worry. That’s a stressful thought. But when we question a stressful thought, we see ourselves. We see ourselves that it is untrue for as we begin to look at the stressful thought and question, the stressful thought,
(21:44):
Unloved, why am I unloved? We think about that. We contemplate that and we look for the answer to that. Are you really unloved? So as you contemplate that, the higher part of yourself will eventually answer that, and the truth of it shall be revealed to you. And I’m only using this as an example. So the truth that will be revealed to me is that no, I am not unloved. I was actually birthed out of love. Maybe the experiences I had in life, maybe those experiences helped to influence my attitude, my beliefs, my opinions. But as I began to ask the questions that begin to contemplate the answers, then my higher self will give me the answer that I need. And I can answer the question, am I on love? I can answer that question. No, I’m not, but I just use that as an example for me. But as you look at any so-called stressful thoughts as you look at anything that you might need an answer for, it’s the way that I look at myself. Is it true? I might say because I’m black, the odds of me becoming a success is harder or double.
(23:31):
That might be the question as I state that question to me. Does my race affect my success level? As I ask that question, I have to answer that question. No.
(23:59):
After contemplation, because there is something greater inside of me that can overcome anything that might have appeared outside of me. Get this. And there’s also something greater inside of me that is also greater than the thoughts Get this greater than the thoughts that I have been holding onto about myself that might have been limiting my own advancement in life, that might have been limiting my own socialization, that might have been limiting the things that I thought I could do. So we have to begin to do what, ask the questions and begin to contemplate the answers and get this, I need to move. Let me hit the second point. And then if I hit the second point, I would’ve fulfilled my mission. So whoever, so whoever up here next week, they can do what they have to do. So number two, can you absolutely know it’s true? That’s the second question under the works. Number one, is it true? And number two, can you absolutely know it’s true? Katie says, I don’t let go of my thoughts. I meet them with understanding. Then they let me go. I thought that was so powerful.
(25:26):
You see, once we have deeply questioned a thought, it begins to lose its power to make us suffer. And eventually it ceases to even arise. So when you are presented truth to an error, when you present truth to an error, when you present truth to a stressful thought, they have to go packing. They have to go back to their nothingness because a stressful thought cannot remain there if it is not based on what? If it is not based on truth. So I must begin working with that second, second question, which is, can you absolutely know it’s truth? So after I have received my answer from the first question, then I begin to go into an even deeper dive and I began to ask myself, can I absolutely know this is true? So when I begin to ask that question, I begin to go even a little bit deeper so that I can make sure that the answer that I receive from the first question is the answer that I need.
(26:34):
So how do I absolutely know that it’s true?
(26:38):
So I continue to work with the question so that I can be fortified in my answer. I’m going to close with this. Pay attention to your feelings and your emotions, your feelings and your emotions. They tell you something about your thoughts. So as I pay attention to my feelings and my emotions,
(27:09):
I can then begin to ask other questions concerning my thoughts. Why am I feeling this sort of way? What kind of thoughts am I holding onto that’s making me continue to feel this way or act out this way or have these certain kind of emotions so I can go back to begin to question my thoughts? Is this emotion I have? Is it true or the situation that produced this particular emotion? Is it true? Is it true? So sometimes we just have to become still with ourselves and get this, become patient with ourselves. Because if we can become patient with ourselves, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to receive some new answers. We will give ourselves an opportunity to also receive some new thoughts. And if I can receive a new thought from the inner realm as opposed to the outer round, I’m in a better place in life. Let’s turn with them right now for a meditative moment. Father, mother, God, we give thanks right now. We give thanks for the opportunity that we are able to come and ask questions. We’re thankful the opportunity to be able to come to the one power, the one presence, the one source of all good,
(28:57):
To come to that which we call omniscience, all knowing the wisdom of spirit and knowing that as we come to omniscience, omniscience answers and provides everything that we need right now, right where you are, I just simply want you to feel the very power and the very presence of omniscience, whether you want to call it God, source beginning. It is right there providing for you. You are never separated from the omniscience of God. You’re never separated from this all knowing. It is part of you. You always have the answer. The answer is always within you. You always have the answer. Just listen and allow it to speak to you. Allow it to reveal itself to you. Allow it to be everything that you need it to be to you, is there for you, is a present help all the time. Thank you, father, mother, God, for this awareness. Thank you for allowing us to be able to ask you questions and be still enough to receive your answers. Thank you, God. And so it is, amen. And God bless you.
Typhanie Monique Collier (31:02):
And so it is. Thank you so much, Reverend Rod. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.