Answer: How much resistance do you have when invited to participate in one of your favorite activities? Hardly any when the interest level is high. So, work to develop more and more enthusiasm for living a life of true command and not one of surrender to the impression of the moment. One day it can dawn on you that resistance in the spiritual realm is literally the choice between light and darkness. More and more you can learn that being asleep is dangerous and that you feel much better when being alert, aware and awake. When refusing a morose, apathetic sleep state, you can have the experience of being a much happier, lighter human being.
     Where New Life classes and banquets come in is to bring the choice between right and wrong into much sharper focus. Truth says it is your life and it is your choice, but also makes it clear that the rewards of choosing the higher are so refreshing and so renewing, why would you ever go back to the old, lazy way?

Answer: Truth only gives you what it knows you can handle. Through your studies, you are absorbing true spiritual wisdom, which develops your ability to see and hear in new ways. In the New Testament it says “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” By accumulating as many spiritual facts as you can, you give the Spirit more to work with, more to resonate within you. You begin to see more deeply and to understand more. Revisiting something said or written by Vernon always yields new insights. When the dark curtains of a window are pulled aside, light can come in, making everything in the room visible.

Answer: When taken all the way, sincere and intense self-study will provide you with the life you really yearn for. But most people prefer to remain where they are, believing they already know and that they know who they are. This is one of the most solid defenses of the Old Nature. It is imperative to see that a mere idea about life is not real life. How in the world can we learn anything new when we’re clinging to the false premise that we already know? What is really fascinating is that there is a part deep inside that senses it does not know. It feels the emptiness in all of the activities and distractions and it is definitely aware that nothing in this world has ever brought permanent contentment and peacefulness to daily life. You’re not running toward senseless distractions; you’re running away from the emptiness you sense and from the fear that nothing else exists. Something Else does exist. Try very hard to be silent and to receive its message.

Answer: Use your time on this earth to wake up. Only a spiritual solution is capable of permanently vanquishing fear and every other negativity that hounds and torments human beings. Fear is the constant companion of the false nature. And people filled with fear are very easy to manipulate.   Here’s an example: Vernon has told us many times, “You are not your body.” Yet, people falsely  identify with the body and fear for its continuance. People know intellectually that the body will leave this earth at some point in time, but there is a gigantic wall of denial that blocks full cognizance of this fact.If we understood that this life is temporary, we would be way more grateful for the life we have been given and would be striving to learn how to live consciously while here in a physical form. We would make good use of our time on the planet to wake up. We would be more rightly serious with these studies. We wouldn’t be afraid of the body’s inevitable demise, because we would understand that the spirit lives eternally. As Vernon states, “The spirit wants nothing from this world. Why should it? It has everything already from God.”

Answer: I’m very glad you asked that question. People actually think that Truth ― including what Vernon teaches ― is out to hurt them but it is only out to expose what has been hurting us. Can that be negative? But to begin to sense this, an individual needs more insight into himself. A part of him must begin to suspect that he simply does not understand what is going on inside, though the false nature will try to convince him that he does. As Vernon puts it, “The healthy information you must acquire, the right information, at first seems to be the enemy.” The part of us that resists these teachings is the real enemy and knows it will be defeated at the hands of Truth so it desperately fights to hold on to us. It doesn’t want to lose a single soul. But anyone who continues to listen with an open mind will sooner or later be ever grateful for persisting in these studies despite everything.
      Vernon Howard was fierce against the wrong parts of us but a conscious man cannot be negative. His strength was coming from a higher place. You could feel it in his presence during his lifetime and you can feel it now on films and recordings of his lectures. He is fighting for the essence within ― for who we really are. But Truth does not and cannot force itself on anyone. It is up to the individual to choose between the old life and the new and bright life that awaits us if we will love what we’re hearing.

Answer: Though it’s called esoteric knowledge, it’s not really hidden at all. It most definitely is available, but to acquire it there must be a desire in a person to understand the real answers to life beyond the senseless and contradictory rantings of society. People are very reticent to leave the familiar and that is why the pure truth is accepted by very few. Most people prefer to remain where they are, while believing they already know all about life and that they know who they are. They go on blaming the exterior world for their difficulties instead of learning to do the right thing which is to change the inner. This is the cause of all earthly woes, including war, but most will stubbornly and persistently fight anyone who tries to disturb this fantasy life. They will never know what they could have had. We can be different. We can choose to go all the way with this.

Answer: Truth has endless flexibilities, and it is good to understand that the ability to be light and cheerful also plays an important role in waking up. Vernon once said in a talk, “Your heavy seriousness is killing you.” Of course, it’s understood that this is an absolutely essential endeavor, but grimness and gloom are not part of authentic earnestness, as some would like to believe. If the seriousness is accompanied by an ability to laugh at ourselves and to be happily grateful to have found this Work, a right balance is created in the effort. In this respect, all New Life banquets offer a perfect atmosphere for growth, from learning and being inspired by the talks to being lifted out of any heaviness of spirit by watching and perhaps being a part of the wholesome and fun entertainment.

Answer: Relaxation is actually painful to the average human being. To relax and to let go of the problem is viewed by the unnatural personality as an enemy state. We are perpetual motion machines, if not physically then certainly in our thought lives. Vernon Howard often said things like “Be real honest now — what do you really love? Do you love peace and quiet or do you love your noisy mind and your dramatic feelings?” The artificial nature urges us to never stop, to keep going the way we have been for all these years. Go against that bad advice by relaxing right now as you are reading these lines. One of the astonishing things you’ll see is that when letting go is welcomed by the small seed of rightness within, tension has nowhere to go.

Answer: There is no such thing as instant salvation. To use a worldly example, would you expect to become a medical doctor in a matter of weeks or days? Of course you wouldn’t. You would know that to gain a certain level of expertise in this field would require a long period of study. It is the same in the spiritual world. We’ve been under the spell of our own habitual nature for so long that it will take an extraordinary effort to begin to truly ask God to help us break out. We must do this over and over again. But as we go along, it becomes our great pleasure to rid ourselves of delusion and to get ourselves out of our own way so we are in a position to receive heavenly impressions all day long.

Answer: Truth has given us its complete assurance that there is nothing to be afraid of, but we’re convinced that if we explore these subjects too thoroughly, it will be too much for us. Of course, it is going to overwhelm the unreal self, but it can never be too much for who we really are. That’s really one of the biggest and brightest revelations of these teachings. There is a seed of rightness, decency and strength within, which we were created to live from, though we don’t live from it now. All the buffers, pillows and blockages in the world can’t and won’t change this reality. Letting go of the false to make way for the true is the purpose of life.

Answer: Vernon went a billion miles above and beyond the conventional credentials of this world. His book The Mystic Masters Speak reveals how widely he explored men of true wisdom, but his own awakening lifted him out of the world of words (though he was a supreme master there too) into a world of direct perception. Thus he inspires us to break free of the burden of memorized thought and to receive Truth directly.

Answer:  Vernon once said that people are more stimulated by crowds than they are attracted by Truth. He further explained that these teachings will never appeal to the masses of humanity and will never attract a huge following. These astounding truths coming down from on high are for those men and women who are sick and tired of giving their lives over to psychological suffering and who want to risk all to find “the pearl of great price.”

Answer: Because our psychological walls are so very thick. Only strong talk will begin to break down the buffers and barriers we have erected around ourselves and our PDF’s (Precious Darling Feelings, as Vernon Howard called them). What distinguishes a true teacher from the many charlatans is whether or not the teacher forcefully exposes our wrongness. If you are never urged to turn the light of attention onto your own behavior, you will never change. False teachers blither and blab with high-sounding words like “harmony” and “love”, but Vernon Howard actually taught us how to reach those states.

Answer: Courage is proceeding without any courage. If I am in a nightmare — as Vernon Howard explains we are — the greatest of dragons poses no real threat as I expose it as an illusion that my mind fell for. Don’t try to be unafraid but keep going while being afraid. Vernon said to take one small area where you’re afraid to act, maybe to speak up in a certain situation, but to do it anyway. It will feel right and will encourage efforts to go against the fear more often.

Answer: Truth doesn’t care one bit about someone’s accomplishments in this world. It makes no difference if you’re the CEO or the janitor. In fact, Vernon once said that if the head of the company and the man working down in the basement of the company were both awakened, they would have no wish to trade places with one another. Looking for security in a fickle and unstable world is a wrong move. All Truth cares about is whether you are moving toward it or away from it.

Answer: Then get very serious and honestly ask yourself, “Do I really want to continue to be controlled by these underground fears and shakings or do I want to calmly command every situation I’m faced with?” One problem is that the reaction is lightning-fast, isn’t it? It comes up in a nanosecond. But do you know what? Because Truth doesn’t exist in time, it is quicker than the downward pressure of the familiar response. Slowing down the freight train of clattering thoughts and feelings is an effective way of inviting something higher in that can handle what the old nature can’t handle. A deliberate effort to slow down creates self-awareness which puts distance between the challenge and the self-defeating reply. This is how spiritual memory, the ability to remember these lessons in the moment, is developed.

Answer: Our bodies live here, but Truth is trying to wake us up to a much broader perception of Reality. God does not want us to be earthbound! There exists an all-powerful force that created human beings, all of nature on this planet, in fact the entire universe. This power is a million miles above where we now reside, but we were meant to live within its protection and guidance.Our purpose is to “unite with the Cosmic Whole,” as Vernon puts it. But our obstinacy and the buffers it creates are blocking its healing power from reaching us. There is a secret world of safety we can live in right now, but it will not be revealed to an obstinate, hostile fighter. All the defensive weapons we employ to keep the facade in place must be let go of. It’s not too much for us to understand this if we really want to. We must simply admit we don’t know the answers to life, but that Something Else does.

Answer: Sooner or later you must decide for yourself whether that person really lives what he teaches or is just another one of the many examples of "the blind leading the blind and both fall into the ditch." Wrongness is not going to announce itself as wrongness. False teachers are very clever at leading us astray and will often even include a few truths in with the “weed seeds,” so question everything. Here is a general principle to follow when evaluating any teacher or teaching: the teacher or teaching must challenge you to see what is wrong first. It will never work if you first try to focus on your own “goodness.” Only when self-work is put in this sequence will the right eventually be revealed to you.

Answer: A number of New Life students have remarked that New Testament teachings took on new meaning for them once they came into contact with Vernon Howard’s works. Put in another way, these principles you’re studying will help you to see something in spiritual literature you never saw before; that all true teachings have the same essence no matter where or when they’re delivered to sleeping humanity. The language and style are different but the message is the same. For example, you’ll realize sayings from the Bible like “The truth shall set you free,” “No man can serve two masters” and “The things which are not seen are eternal” are vital principles that can provide powerful insight and fresh inspiration in your daily life right now.

Answer: Mr. Howard’s classic book is considered to be The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power but all of his writings and talks are jam-packed with messages that will both inspire and challenge any sincere seeker. If you give a friend our catalogue, they’ll often come across something that they’re personally drawn to. Vernon himself said a person wouldn’t go wrong if they start with the book or books whose titles and descriptions are most appealing to them.

Answer: Suppose you make an aim to get up early to study your spiritual lessons. You set the alarm for 5:30 am with every intention of getting up and doing something right for yourself. But when the alarm goes off  at that early morning hour, you don’t get up but turn over and go back to sleep, forgetting the aim entirely. Why? Because the person who made the aim and the one who turned the alarm off are not the same person. The truth is that any unawakened man or woman lives from a very fragmented, scattered, contradictory and changeable nature.
     One of the hallmarks of genuine spiritual work is to begin to observe our own internal life. Even a small bit of work in this area can lead to the shocking realization that we are being pushed this way and pulled that way by internal forces beyond our command. Living in this way tears us up inside. This insight should not be frightening, it should be immensely encouraging and freeing because at last we’re becoming acquainted with the enemy.

Answer: Here’s something helpful given to us by Vernon. He said to view human nature in two ways at the same time. You must see that mankind suffers terribly, but simultaneously see that human nature is a fierce resister of God, Truth, Reality. You’ll go wrong if you only focus on one or the other. They must be seen together. To observe only the suffering side leads to false sympathy and sentimentality but becoming aware of how vehemently we object to what could get rid of the sufferer creates a balanced viewpoint and encourages the wish to be more welcoming and receptive to higher facts.

Answer: Vernon explained that you can give people the basics, but you cannot force them to be interested. Once they know a little, the rest is up to them to either pursue or turn away. The best way to encourage others in your life is to work on yourself and show them by example the massive benefits of trying to be more conscious.
     However, we have to remember that people are very resistant to even beginning to question their current way of living. Their egotism springs up and says, “I am already working on myself and what makes you think that these teachings will help any more than what I’m currently pursuing?” That’s why there must be more than idle curiosity there when an introduction to Truth is given. A person has to be able to admit that their present ways aren’t leading them to what they may even feel in their heart is possible. It could be just a faint feeling, but if you have felt it, then you cannot ignore the energy behind it which is trying to lead you home.

Answer: Depending upon the circumstances, wisdom can reside in either approaching or cutting off contact with the neighbor, but the crucial point is the strength of your wish to be free from your own cringing reaction to the encounter. How much do you really want to stop vibrating to your own loss of control and to someone else’s negative atmosphere?

Answer: Just because a hundred false paths haven’t worked doesn’t mean the authentic one doesn’t exist. You’re reading about it right here.

Answer: You are capable of breaking the pattern. Wanting others’ approval creates a lot of personal strain. And always being preoccupied with their opinion of you and “giving in to get along” is a form of psychological slavery. Start by reflecting from your own experience how fickle and changeable people are; they’re your friend one minute and ignore you the next. But there is a way to leave all this uncertainty behind.
     In this work you will learn to develop a type of inner integrity that will never compromise itself. Vernon said, “Trust only your own integrity,” which is developed by embracing the old-fashioned virtues of self-responsibility and self-reliance. When you catch yourself angling for that smile or that bit of praise and you are able to immediately snap the spell and come back to impartial awareness, you are building up the needed strength to refuse to bow down to an aggressive, demanding person and indeed, to an aggressive, demanding world.

Answer: It is said in these teachings that Truth is the only real friend you’ll ever have so consider yourself very fortunate! Truth continuously calls everyone but only a few can hear. Just about everyone’s peace and quiet is drowned out by the loud noise of society making its silly and dangerous demands, not to mention our own inner voices that add to the cacophony. Vernon Howard once said, ‘Truth is the most unpopular product on earth’ but of course what is right and what is godly is the only true liberator. People say they yearn to be free but almost everybody would rather stay shackled to their fear and their suffering. It’s their idea of security and they don’t want to give it up. They don’t want to learn about the keys that could open the prison door and teach them how to live a happy life with real meaning. Keep walking your own path and don’t worry about doing it alone. Ultimately, you will learn a great deal about your friends and you’ll be thankful for the insights. There is great significance to the saying “And the truth shall set you free.”

Answer: In order for our true nature to be liberated from the chains of the false personality’s demands, we need to make an unshakeable inner resolution and commitment to understand all of these things. In reality, we are in dire need of Truth’s help. To ever be different, to change our nature, we have to give up something. What we are now must vacate the premises to make room for the new. The beauty of Truth is that it can go wherever we do. This work is not just something we must take time out for in our busy day from a sense of drudgery. As a matter of fact, once we begin to fully realize what we’ve made contact with here, the real adventure starts. The tendency is to live a divided life in which there is ‘my life’ and then there is Truth. Working when we don’t want to work provides the chance to put our petty little life and concerns aside to  gain something of real value. Start to use every opportunity to apply these spiritual teachings as you go about your everyday affairs and the division will start to fade. When you walk into that business meeting, for example, vow that you will use it as an opportunity to learn everything you can about yourself by alertly watching what goes on. Perhaps you’ll remember the higher principle of not being concerned with results and that will make all the difference in your feeling toward the meeting’s outcome. The false nature will feel threatened that it’s under scrutiny but do it anyway. This is the path to real self-wholeness.

Answer: There is a genuine solution to the stress problem, but it begins with individual choice. Do you want to continue feeling tense and stressed or do you want to understand what’s really going on?
     We’ve discussed the nature of the False Self from which we presently live many times. It is the cause of every trouble we have. This imposter entity loves to feel more of itself, so it grips onto nervousness, tension and other stressful states more and more tightly to increase its “false feeling of life.” Strangely, this provides both uneasiness and a sense of excitement because it seems as though the unnatural self is being validated.
     But this emotional agitation is not real life. Catch it trying to enter the mind sometime and suddenly let it go, relax from it. Practicing this exercise consistently starts the process of freeing you from the domination of the old nature and strengthening the True Self within. Vernon once said something like, “You can relax yourself all the way to Heaven.”

Answer: Most people are afraid to even bring this question up to consciousness for fear that there is no answer. But if we are ever to make it out, we’ll have to honestly ask ourselves “What in the world is going on?” And what is going on is that there really is a destructive force, which wants to ruin every individual’s chance to reach the higher. Don’t fall for it when you’re urged to take the path of least resistance, to just go along with crowd thinking, like believing the falsehood that things in this world are actually getting better. Don’t listen when it insists that you will be safer staying in the confinement of your mental prison than to begin to ‘Question Everything’.
     This force operates in this world through human beings. Have you ever been excited about a spiritual principle you’ve learned about in these teachings and have tried to relay the excitement of that new insight to someone else? For example, the dawning of awareness of how easily we fall into negativity. And you’ve been met either with the assurance that they live with no negativity or that any exploration of our own confusion and torment would be too scary? You need not be affected or discouraged by others’ lack of interest because you can make the vow right now to go all the way in spite of everything.
     Simply know that we must stop fighting the world and stop trying to save it. We need only leave it, psychologically, spiritually in order to rise to a higher level that is a million miles above this warring world. Really understand what runs this planet and the confusion and torment will end. God has not left us here without an escape route. Understanding the truth protects us from all worldly chaos and evil because “When you understand you do not fear.”