by Richard Wooldridge

     Carelessness is simply a lack of awareness. We make mistakes, forget things, lose things, drop things, break things, get into accidents, etc. because our mind is somewhere else and not in the present moment. Vernon once gave a talk which he entitled, “Awareness Is Everything.” It’s all about becoming aware of something inside of you that has been trying to get through our defenses for years and years and that is the understanding that, “This is not it.” You have been tricking yourself into thinking and believing “that mere activity is productivity, which it is not.”
     We think that the more possessions we accumulate, the more memories we make, the more money we acquire, the more experiences we have, the more accomplishments we produce, the happier and more fulfilled we will be. These beliefs are all lies. God did not make human beings to “succeed” on a worldly level. We’re not wired like that. The only thing which will make us happy or feel truly satisfied or be content is to fulfill the reason we were put here on this earth.
     As we are now conditioned, our mind is running the show when our spirit should be in charge. The mind must be subservient to essence for things to start to flow in the right direction. “The power of being interested in something right” can and must be developed in us.
     If we are careless on an everyday level, we are also careless with everything else in life. You were taught as a young boy or girl to clean up your room, to keep things neat and orderly. That was a preliminary lesson in doing things in a natural way; to start being responsible for yourself; to not be a burden to other people. This is carefulness, the opposite of being careless.
     It feels right to do things right. We’ve all heard the expression that “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” This is a popular saying used to promote hygiene, order, and spiritual purity. An interesting note is that the entire universe is based on order. Also, evil would like you to believe or think that order can come out of chaos, but it cannot. That is a blatant falsehood.
     When I moved to Boulder City in the late 1970’s, Vernon used to have business meetings which started at 5 AM and I was invited to attend. There were about 8 people of varying ages and backgrounds who were there, and the meetings were held in one of the students’ homes. It was a plain small home. Vernon would lead the meetings, the purpose of which was to find more ways to tell people about these marvelous truths. Sometimes spiritual matters were brought up and discussed, there were teaching moments, there were light moments, there were hilarious moments and there were very serious moments. The Truth is very tough at times, but it is only tough on those things inside of human beings which are negative or wrong for their own well-being. The problem is never the truth itself; it is always one’s reactions to the truth.
     There was a pause at one of the meetings when nothing overtly was going on and Vernon picked up a piece of paper, wadded it up and carefully, and with the right amount of force, perfect velocity and accuracy, threw it at me. I instinctively caught it without thinking about it. Though I had never said anything about it to him, he knew that I had played baseball. It was a teaching moment, letting me know that he was there to help me even though at times it may not seem like it. Truth is the only true friend any human being can ever have. It is the greatest gift ever given to mankind. Most people are not aware of that though. Their lives prove otherwise.
     It would behoove us to not be so careless with our lives and throw them away on idiotic beliefs, bad habits, dumb pursuits, negative thoughts and emotions. We can start to catch the next time we are careless and inattentive, when we blurt out angrily toward ourselves or another person, when we have a negative reaction to an unexpected occurrence. God intended for us to grow up, to rise above the insanity of the average person on this earth and to become sane and decent human beings. With a lot of hard work and a willingness to see things as they are and God’s help, it can be done.