Peny and Michaell Prestini, together with Jach Pursel, are the founders of the Synergy Foundation [200-P Aspen Bluff, Roswell, GA 30075, (404) 993-8224]. Its work includes private consultations, a tape series, seminars, hypnotic therapy, astrological services — all designed to increase awareness of how we create our own reality.
All three are graduates of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Michaell was a professional film maker, and Peny and Jach had been accepted at law school when, as they say, they were “snagged by metaphysics.” Their path wound through Transcendental Meditation, Silva Mind Control, Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship, Alice Bailey, Theosophy, the Brotherhood of the White Temple, several hundred occult books and “several psychics and mediums of varying shades of integrity. . . . The magic catalyst has been that each of us, and Lazaris, enjoys him/herself, the work and each other: the fun and the joy of it all is the alchemy.”
In this article, we reprint excerpts from Lazaris: A Spark of Love, published by the Foundation in 1978. Lazaris first “spoke through” Jach in 1974, while he was asleep. He is described by the Foundation as a “non-physical entity” who has “never been human. His spark, his essence, originates far beyond the mental and causal planes. Explaining what Lazaris ‘is’ is like trying to draw a picture of your own mind.”
There is much talk these days about being in the last quarter of the century, long prophesied to be the time of cataclysmic upheaval and universal distress. Those of us seriously involved in metaphysics are bombarded with gurus, masters, courses, automatically channeled bibles and mail-order pamphlets that all proclaim they have the one answer, the one way out, the one spiritual ointment for your psychic pain. Too often these paths, especially the guru/master/anointed leader cults, are a sad psychological substitute for the all-loving, all-knowing fathers we have each subconsciously craved at some point in our development.
Erich Fromm, in The Art of Loving, says that to understand the type of god worshipped by any society or individual, you must first analyze the character structure of the person who worships the god. For one society this might mean a god of nature or the sun; for a more sophisticated society, god takes on either matriarchal or patriarchal qualities. With further personal evolution, God becomes more of a symbol, representing truth, love, justice, beauty, . . . cosmic unity and unfoldment. When one reaches this point of development, no longer looking to God as a substitute father or spiritual Santa Claus or severe karma dispenser, it becomes apparent that we are each responsible for ourselves, that we must each turn to our own selves to learn the skills and understanding necessary to create our own growth and be responsible for our own reality.
The concept of creating one’s own reality is not new. Indeed, it is an extension of what the yogis have been demonstrating for centuries as they produced oranges out of thin air and levitated above their threadbare blankets. But creating your own reality is more than a siddhi. Seth, writing through Jane Roberts, speaks at great length about this cosmic truth. He’s not the first to teach it but the easy accessibility of his books makes him a convenient reference for exploring a deeper discussion of it. We do create our own reality. Every smidgen of it. Every aspect of our health, psychological well-being, financial flexibility and creative potential. We are totally responsible for ourselves.
At first this doctrine sounds immensely threatening. Too much accountability for every thought and action, no more comfortable scapegoats to blame everything on. But in metaphysics we are all too well aware that thoughts are things and we know the impact of negative thinking.
At this juncture of switching from a childish need to see god as our ultimate father-figure to seeing ourselves as responsible for our realities and God as a cosmic force (not a bellboy), it is tempting to slip into self-pity about the enormity of our task. We forget that since thoughts are things, we can visualize and “program” and create very positive manifestations into our reality, as well as being aware of monitoring latent negativism. It works for us rather than against us.
We’ve always known we can create reality but we’ve usually protected ourselves a bit from the full acceptance of that power by using rituals to summon deities or elementals to achieve our goals, rather than admitting that we were really speaking to other dimensions of our own minds, often the subconscious. The ancient Hunas of Hawaii were much more honest about the actual process, teaching that we can manifest changes in the physical world by achieving unity and flowing communication with the Low Self, the Middle Self, and the High Self.
Modern psychology plays with this idea of creating your own reality in the sense that it acknowledges that we can control our response to any given situation and therefore control its effect on us. As we understand another’s true motivation and analyze our own psychological memory bank that produces our semi-automatic responses, we are able to liberate the robot-like, Skinnerian predictability of our moods and attitudes. This is all very valuable and helpful, but the truth of metaphysics goes far beyond controlling our psychological responses.
As we accept the fact that we each write, usually subconsciously, our own scripts for how much happiness and success we will allot ourselves, how much frustration we figure we need to motivate our own growth, etc., a strong sense of personal freedom develops. You are not simply a product of every experience you’ve had to date, totally formed by how your parents treated you between age zero and six. You create yourself and it is never too late to rewrite the entire script!
There are absolutely no limitations to personal growth and development. The only so-called limitations are self-imposed. As much of a cliche as it is, you cannot achieve more than you can perceive for yourself. The biggest villain here is lack of self-worth, low quotients of self-esteem. Many of us have never had the opportunity to clear away the debris and negative programming we have been recording in the neuronal cells of our brains since we were in the womb. There is now conclusive evidence that people can be hypnotically regressed to remembering conversations they eavesdropped on as fetuses! Yes, clearing away negative programming can be a massive task, but we really have no choice if we want to achieve the self-love we need to allow success into our lives, consistently and without negative side-effects.
This is a very exciting time to be experiencing an incarnation because there is so much research being done and so many people discovering effective ways to teach us how to gain conscious control of our lives and create our future realities as we desire them to be. We have found that one of the most complete and creative avenues is the synthesis of the self into the full potentialities of the Self. There are seven levels of “consciousness” for each of us: 1) the Lower Consciousness, 2) the Middle Consciousness, 3) the Higher Consciousness or Supraconsciousness, 4) the field of Consciousness, 5) the Conscious self or “I”, 6) the Higher Self, and 7) the Collective Unconscious. There are effective techniques and exercises designed to achieve a synthesis, to open effective and regular communication between these seven aspects. The result is a tremendous evolutionary gain for the individual. He/she becomes capable of experiencing the fullest expression, the total potentiality of the particular entity that is currently exposed to this incarnation.
Admittedly the highest aims and possibilities of this on-going synergistic process are geared to spiritual development and evolutionary growth. But the side-effects are interesting, too. People who learn and experience this process gain a control of their physical reality. One client of ours decided she wanted $5,000 and “programmed” for $8,000 (“to be sure”) and then amazed herself with getting the $8,000 effortlessly and without any negative side effects. Others quit smoking painlessly, get the job they want, greatly increase their talents for painting, music, sewing, parenting, etc.
The underlying key to successfully creating your own reality, whether the goal is spiritual enlightenment, astral travel, better interpersonal relationships, losing weight, anything, is to allow yourself to succeed. If, at a very deep, subconscious level you don’t honestly believe you are worthy of significant amounts of success, there is absolutely nothing you can do to trick your mind into letting you succeed. You must first re-evaluate the stored personal history of your subconscious and clear out all the negativity, whether it has been programmed into you by yourself or others.
This process of metaphysical self-analysis is achieved very effectively through deep, directed meditations and in-depth journal keeping, involving analysis of dreams, meditations and your personal relationships with yourself, others, and your life-work. As you begin to interpret your personal history with objectivity, understanding the underlying causes of your actions, however negative they may seem to be, you realize that you can begin to view yourself with compassionate detachment.
When you have honestly achieved the quality of healthy, balanced self-esteem, your entire life changes radically because you are flowing harmoniously with all the aspects of your beingness, including your Higher Self. You develop a trust in yourself that eliminates the stress and anxiety that previously eroded your energy and enthusiasm for living. You establish a consistent and immensely valuable communication with all levels of your mind, working with your subconscious mind and your Higher Self for effective problem solving, inspirational and creative ideas, and techniques for manifesting physical changes in your life, in short, working with the synthesis of all aspects of your entity to facilitate your spiritual evolution.
Self-esteem can only be authentically achieved through adequate self-analysis and the resultant self-acceptance. This is universally a quality you must earn for yourself. One of the most self-destructive but common methods used to try to achieve self-esteem is the repression of certain “negative” thoughts, emotions, desires, etc. These repressions cut people off from spontaneity and self-acceptance by creating self-alienation. We try to pretend that we never experience these “negative” thoughts but we know we’re lying and end up disliking ourselves still more.
The alternative to the self-alienation caused by the attempt to repress undesirable thoughts is to stop disowning these parts of your mind and simply observe them, understanding what motivated them and realizing you have total control of their potential impact in your life. You may well decide to work actively at changing several of these traits or tendencies but you first must allow yourself to accept that they exist at all. You learn to watch your life flow by with compassionate detachment, observing both the positive and the negative with an objectivity, a control of your emotional response. This control provides the clear thinking and energy necessary to either increase a positive occurrence or diminish the effects of something negative.
Enlightenment is less like a quiet, deep breath of serenity than a dynamic, on-going process of growth, joy, increased self-awareness and “cosmic” awareness. It is important to see yourself as a flowing process. We have been programmed to accept that we are a sum total of whatever sensory data we’ve experienced and that this static, dead (in the sense that anything that is history is dead) psychological profile will totally determine our future responses to life. This is only true to the extent that we buy into it. On the contrary, every metaphysical precept suggests that it is never too late to decide to re-write your personal blueprint for your current incarnation. We create our own reality and there are absolutely no limits to personal potentialities. Each of us is truly the only source we need to guide our spiritual growth; the extended dimensions of our mind, including those aspects that allow contact with guides, counsellors, etc., can easily and safely chart the most beneficial path for each of us. But first we must clear out our personal negativity and learn to flow harmoniously and with self-love.
Becoming a process rather than a static “product” is the most challenging but exciting and joyous decision we can make.
Lazaris: A Spark of Love
Understanding and expressing your emotions is the basis of true growth . . . the basis of true spiritual evolution. The way you communicate with someone is to allow your mutually individual and independent realities to overlap. Further, communication can occur only in these areas of overlapping. The same is true with communication from one plane of reality to another. The only quality that exists among all people . . . the only quality that transcends all planes of existence is: LOVE. Love is the ultimate emotion and to experience it, you must be willing to experience all the others. There is no right or wrong; only intent, honest or false. There is no duty or obligation; only responsibility . . . your own. The key to personal freedom is responsibility. Responsibility for everything in your life. Don’t give your freedom away. Don’t let anyone else take your responsibility . . . no matter how sweetly and lovingly they offer to imprison you. One must be ever diligent, for, more often than not, you will gladly abandon freedom by forfeiting responsibility or by placing blame. Further, those who say they care will often gladly take responsibility for you. Can they really care if they graciously offer to imprison you?
Worth is a quality, not a quantity. You can neither add to nor diminish your worth. When you act or react in Reality to become more worthy, you will always fail. Stop trying to become worthy and start seeing your own worth.
Beware of the person who says they like everyone for they probably love no one. Be cautious of the person who says they are not worthy of your friendship or your love for they are probably telling you: “You are not worthy of my friendship or love.” Blockages are like steam on the bathroom mirror . . . they keep you from seeing yourself. Through the blurred image your foggy shape becomes a scary monster and you run rather than clean the mirror. Do you hate yourself for a steamy mirror? Then, why do you hate yourself for your mental fog? You clean the mirror; you discover yourself.
What you call Reality is but manifested thought, frozen by intent. Steamy ideas become liquid; liquid thoughts. Liquid thoughts become frozen; become Reality. It is no accident that water symbolizes emotions. What percentage of your earth is water? What percentage your body?
The most common and simple form of water is liquid. You must exert lots of complex energy to make it steam . . . or ice. It’s not necessary to cut and chisel your way out of your icy cages of limitations. Allow them to melt with the warmth of compassion and self-love. Allowing is not being apathetic or blind, for when melting the dungeons, take care not to destroy the turrets. From the turrets of your ice castle you see beyond the horizon.
Houdini’s greatest trick was to be chained, locked, tied, enveloped in the darkness of a securely locked bag, and then submerged in a tank of water. The trick: to get free. When trying to find the causes of distress, the solution lies in common denominators. The singular common denominator to all the traumas and tragedies in your life is: you were there when it happened.
Give yourself permission to fail. When you give this permission, you allow yourself to succeed. The more often you permit yourself to be wrong, the more often you will be right. The key to decision making is not what you decide, but that you decide. What you call past or future lifetimes are only influences upon your present point of power. They do not control you, they only influence. They only provide opportunities that you may accept, deny, or alter. If your back is sunburned and someone slaps you sharply it will sting intensely. If your back is not sunburned and someone slaps you sharply, it will still hurt. The sunburn does not cause the pain . . . it only influences the intensity. Other lifetimes are like sunburn.
