*The Key of Excitement*


Q:  Hello. Um, tomorrow I have to decide whether or not to quit acupuncture
school...

B:  One moment. One moment. One moment. Tomorrow you what - you /have/ to?
You have to nothing. Now, what do you /want/ to do tomorrow?

Q:  I'm not sure. I'm not sure what excites me the most in life.

B:  All right. What are your options?

Q:  Well, I can...

B:  Oh, let me phrase it this way: is there any one thing that excites you
the most that you are more capable of doing than any of the other things
that excite you the most? Or are there an equal number of things that
excite you that you are also equally capable of acting upon right now?

Q:  Well I...

B:  Which one is more accessible to you in terms of the tools that you
already have?

Q:  Um, I'm not... I don't know what I'm good at doing, really.

B:  That's not the question I asked you. You are good at doing whatever
excites you the most, or it wouldn't excite you. As we have said, when you
feel excited, it is the excitement that lets you know this is what you are
good at doing. That's what excitement is for. So when you say, "well, this
excites be, but I don't know if I'm any good at it," it's a contradiction,
it's an impossibility. The thing you are good at /is/ what excites you. If
you weren't, it wouldn't.

Q:  Well, nothing much excites me right now.

B:  This is another contradiction. You have just said there were several
things that excite you.

Q:  No, I didn't say that. I don't...

B:  Did she say that? ... (Audience mumbles) You said you had several
choices.

Q:  Well, I can quit school. I'm not sure what I'll do.

B:  What would you like to do?

Q:  The only thing I can think of is just to...

B:  Yes, yes, yes?

Q:  ... quit school and see what comes up.

B:  All right. If that's what you find exciting, do it!

Q:  I was just hoping that you could...

B:  Hoping. Hoping is not knowing: hoping is despairing. Hoping is, "I'd
like to, but I'm not sure." That's hope. Knowing: is knowing this is what
moves me; therefore, this is what I am; therefore, that is how I will act;
therefore, this is what I will do.

Now, even if you created in your life an unknowingness of the thing that
does excites you, if you at least know what does /not/ excite you, then you
can start there by ceasing to do that thing. And when you cease to do the
thing that doesn't excite you, you will then make room for the thing that
does. And then you will know what it is.

Q:  Okay. I think I'll try that.

B:  You will what?

Q:  Um, I'll change my vocabulary first.

B:  Understand: your vocabulary, many times, is an indication of the way
you believe. And it is no accident that you choose the words and phrases
that you do.

Q:  Yes.

B:  So either you will do that, or you will do trying. Which do you prefer?

Q:  Um, I think doing it.

B:  All right. Then you don't need to try. Do it - or do something else.

Q:  Okay. Well, thanks for the encouragement.

B:  Well, thank you. But you know, utterly, beyond the shallow of a doubt.
Because we /know/ you created your own reality - beyond the shadow of a
doubt. Therefore, it is no effort for us to encourage you - because that
encouragement is only a reflection of what we know you are already capable
of. You follow me?

Q: Yes.

B:  Thank you very much - to allow us to reflect back to you what you do
already know. Thank you.