Sydney Banks
The 19 Questions
Real questions people brought Syd — and how he answered them.
1
Does everything look beautiful to you all the time?
No, I also have a choice to see other than love and beauty. When I do see negative, you feel negative. The beauty is that I know I have come down a few levels of conscious state into a negative space. So, I very quickly jump back up to the level of love and understanding.
I take with me no negative memory of what happened neither to whomever I blamed for ‘my’ anger nor to myself. I REALIZE we are both truly one! We are both ‘myself’ so why compete and fight? It’s like standing in front of a mirror and punching yourself on the nose.
IT IS TOTALLY BIZARRE!
2
What is this fear I feel and how can I rid myself of it?
Fear is the lack of faith! Where there is fear, there is no love. Love and faith go hand-in-hand to conquer that which stops us from entering the gates of Heaven. When one finally enters the divine gates, one realizes there never was anything to fear but fear itself.
3
Are you saying that all our fears are fictitious? What if I were in danger of my life, wouldn’t I have a right to feel fear?
The fear of one’s life being in danger is intelligence. This is why God created the ‘feeling’ of fear. To create fear of oneself is sickness of the mind put there by thought to stop you from meeting yourself in God’s name!
As one prepares oneself to enter a higher state of consciousness, one encounters the fear of the unknown. This is a spiritual upheaval which everyone on earth must go through to find the secret of Heaven, God, Enlightenment, or whatever you wish to call it.
This unknown, as we call it, isn’t really unknown. We are always fully aware of ourselves, only don’t believe this to be true.
When one first enters into higher conscious levels, the pattern of life changes. One begins to see things differently. It is a question of the physical and the spiritual selves separating.
4
What do you mean ‘separation between physical and spiritual selves?’ Aren’t they always separate?
You really don’t definitely know there is a separation, nor do you really believe there are physical and spiritual selves! Your ego won’t allow this. “You are too damned important!” Now when you begin to drop this ego you will experience an inner game going on; one which you were totally aware of! This is what I call entering INSIDE to find the truth.
Then a real paradox takes place, because the deeper you go into yourself, the closer you are to the realization there never was any separation at all. INSIDE and OUTSIDE are ONE!
5
I have heard you say we must drop our ego before we can see life clearly. Surely it is important to keep my image of me?
The ego I refer to when I say “start to drop ego” is self-importance. As you begin to drop this self-importance, it will lead you to higher levels of consciousness. This always leads to a more positive happy life with a clearer understanding of what-is.
What I have said is true on one level. On another level you must realize there is nothing to give up! The whole show is nothing but thought. It is here you will come face to face with your maker!
Seeing truth is realizing there is nothing but thought! Even the original thought of life was thought. The truth is, there isn’t even an original thought. There is only NOTHING, yet the same nothing is everything!
6
Why is self-importance so detrimental in our growth towards self-realization?
Self-importance is God’s way of hiding truth. We use God’s power to hide the fact that WE ARE GOD. This is the game we call life.
Self-importance is necessary to keep up the pretence that you are who you are; ego, or “an image of importance.” The negative games you have to play on yourself and others to hold this self-importance image is what stops you from SEEING TRUTH, or realizing God, Satori, or whatever you wish to call it.
One always fears the loss of self-importance, yet as it begins to recede, one feels more beautiful and content with life, picking up love on every step of the way.
7
What comes first, feelings or thought?
I’ve told you many times, EVERYTHING is thought! Therefore, thought must create feelings. There must be a thought before anything can come into this brain of ours. It doesn’t matter if the thought was conscious or sub-conscious, you must have a thought to create motion of feelings. If you ever realize SELF, the tables turn and you can think without thinking due to the fact YOU KNOW YOU ARE THOUGHT. It gives an open channel to the other side of life! Then one uses conscious mind with its superficial thoughts to explain to others what one wishes to convey to others throughout life.
SELF is what everyone searches for whether it be the search for God of the awareness groups you go to in the hopes you may get to know yourself better. It all eventually leads to Enlightenment or Satori!
This is the place of Knowledge where it is a very simple thing to realize that psychologists and theologians are all searching for the very same thing. But they are unaware of this fact, otherwise they would join forces and search for this “Kingdom of Knowledge” of Kingdom of God together.
THEY ARE TRULY THE SAME PLACE.
As surely as Heaven and earth exists, they are inside us all! Get to know yourself and you will surely enter into God’s Kingdom here on earth.
8
You keep saying you are is what you see! A statement like this confuses me. Would you elaborate on this?
I have told you many times if you have hate or distrust in your heart, this is how you will see life. On the other hand, if you have love and faith in your heart, you will see a loving life!
9
I’m sorry, but I still don’t see the relationship between my thought and the outside world!
The trouble is you have no faith, nor do you believe there is a reality other than that which you perceive at the present moment. Let me try and put it this way:
If a cinema operator puts a gangster movie in his projector, you will see a picture full of hate, greed, dishonesty, etc. On the other hand, if he puts a film full of love and understanding on, this is what is projected, “Love and Understanding.”
YOUR MIND IS BOTH OPERATOR AND FILM
Faith makes you realize that EVERYTHING you see, feel or hear comes from the House of God via the universal mind via the conscious mind.
If one can bypass conscious mind which is usually a mixed-up mess due to our conditioning, THEN YOU WILL SEE TRUTH. This truth is what God intended us to see! But we mortals decided to eat the forbidden fruit, which led to greed, hate, envy, lust and the blindness of SELF!
The world we see is our world of thought and action. Our thoughts, therefore, our actions lead to desire, hate and jealousy, which create anger. Our actions correspond with our thoughts, bringing wars, class-distinction, poverty and self-abuse! If everyone would change their thoughts to positive it would be a beautiful, peaceful world.
SIMPLY CHANGE THOUGHT! Not all the pros and cons of why or how.
JUST CHANGE THOUGHT! It is so simple that the answer falls on deaf ears. We humans always prefer the hard way of doing everything. Finding out other people’s games does not add much value to your conscious state. On the other hand, finding your own games is extremely important. If you know yourself, you will also know others. This is a beautiful state to be in.
THE HIGHER CONSCIOUS STATE ONE IS IN THE MORE HIS LIFE IS FILLED WITH POSITIVITY.
In short, the more you know of yourself, the happier your outlook of life will become!
10
Surely if you can’t see other people’s games, you can spot them in yourself?
Believe me, the most difficult thing is to see your own games in comparison to seeing others. It is the looking at the so-called unknown games with takes courage and power! This is one of the secrets of life which everyone searches for.
11
What is this about a secret?
Anyone who is on his journey to find himself is looking for the secret of life. The secret of life is:
HAVING THE COURAGE AND POWER TO LOOK INTO YOURSELF AND TRULY ACCEPT WHAT YOU SEE!
Bit by bit or all at once, IT IS YOUR CHOICE! The more your truly look and accept yourself, the happier you will be as a person. This is simply seeing things clearer because you now see YOURSELF CLEARER! Everything you see comes from you, then is projected out, reviewed, and a conclusion arrived at, with you being judge and jury.
There are two types of BEING. First you have the ‘human being.’ We say to each other such statements as “just being yourself is a beautiful state.” The sage on the other hand, speaks of BEING but he speaks not as a human being but God Being.
This God Being I speak of is where Jesus spoke from. This kind of talk comes from beyond the human mind, from the
UNIVERSAL MIND.
That is, the mind of God where truth is always disclosed
WITHOUT THOUGHT.
This is what is meant by enlightenment:
A PERSON WHO HAS REALIZED GOD.
Not a person who believes in God. Before One realized God, he must stop all his beliefs and step into another reality. From then on it takes experience to go deeper into the
STATE OF BEING.
12
I have read that a self-realized person ‘knows.’ Does this knowing mean he knows everything about life?
Anyone who has experienced the knowing of Self will never say he knows all about life. There is no end to this knowledge. Everyday brings forth new experiences and therefore, new knowledge.
This new knowledge isn’t really new. It is simply being experienced and recognized for the first time, as that you have known all along.
Everyone is searching for God from the day of his birth whether he is aware of it or not.
God, for some may be in the shape of power, money, or popularity, for others, a belief in a divine being. It may be something an artist feels is missing from his canvas; the author feels is missing from his book.
We all KNOW what we are because WE ARE that thing, that Spirit, God or whatever. There is no escape from yourself, just the illusion of what-is.
Society has its own idea of what an enlightened man or guru is. If someone comes along who has knowledge, he is analyzed, judged and quite often, condemned through the ignorance of others. This same ignorance creates fear within those who are in high positions of church, university or any institution where so-called ‘wisdom’ is taught.
If the theologian believes in God, it is this same belief which stops him from knowing or realizing God! This belief is a trap which stops him from ‘seeing’ what-is. A person with strong belief is bogged down by his accumulated knowledge and experiences of the past. It is the loss of this belief that creates fear in us.
One must keep an open mind, go beyond belief where the truth lies.
If you ask a man of knowledge a question, then challenge his answer with logic to prove he is wrong, you are a fool. You will only confuse your own mind with thought.
One must have faith in what the knowledge one says,
after all, his answer comes from
BEYOND CONSCIOUS MIND
from the beautiful
UNIVERSAL MIND
It takes faith to hear his answer!
This hearing creates a brand-new experience toward the knowing of Self.
This HEARING always creates a beautiful positive feeling.
13
Why is it so much importance is put on the fact of whether a teacher is enlightened or not?
Surely you must see the more knowledge your guide has, the better the chance you have of reaching your destination. That is, of course if you are brave enough to walk hand-in-hand with him!
If you are lucky enough to meet such an enlightened teacher and recognize him as such, you are indeed lucky! This teacher will attract you to his bosom like a mother caring for her child.
His very presence and understanding will be the vessel by which love will flow from him to you, carrying the necessary wisdom to guide you to the Kingdom of Heaven where you will truly meet yourself IN GOD’S NAME.
Please understand, nobody can do anything for you except guide. It is up to you whether to look at truth or not. Truth can only come through your eyes.
If faith is lacking, words of wisdom are only words. They mean only what the listener wants to hear.
Faith opens the secret door which leads to the Kingdon of Heaven here on earth.
It makes the blind SEE and the deaf HEAR. It turns negative into positive. It makes the sun shine into your life.
FAITH CAN DO ANYTHING!
14
How would you describe nature?
One could say nature is a great open space where we put all of our thoughts. These thoughts are everything we hear, feel, and survey.
This is what we call Nature. It is the playground of life where children are born, grow old, and die. Yet they return in due course
(Re-incarnation)
to God’s playground, the playground of thought, that we call Nature!
15
I have heard you say there isn’t any death and now you say we grow old and die!
This death I speak of is merely disrobing of the body.
The true you, this Inner-Self, never dies. This Inner-Self returns once again to God’s playground with a new body.
The mystery of Death is unexplainable. It must be experienced. It is this very experience which lets you KNOW you are God and the very solution to the question we all seek.
The experience of premature death is what we call Satori, Enlightenment, the Great Awakening or meeting God. Hence the saying, “One must die to live.” The MOMENT one has such an experience he is thrust forward into another reality which brings forth wisdom beyond the human mind. From this moment on the key word to all of life’s mysteries is
SIMPLICITY!
It is so simple very few will listen, still less hear!
One should never become too involved in searching for God from the past. It cannot be done.
God can only be realized NOW!
All of the mystical writing from the past only causes analysing, judging and finally confusion.
Surely it is your mind that you judge these writings with. The very mind which has taken you away from God’s truth! Find someone who talks Beyond Mind, not a minister or a priest or anyone else who says he believes in God’s existence. Belief in God and truly knowing God are as far apart as day and night.
Someday, I hope from the bottom of my heart
You too will die a spiritual death.
Then you will live life to its fullest.
16
I really don’t see what is wrong with hanging on to the past!
To hang on to the past is preventing you from being NOW! We all hang on to the past we are what the past has created. When we hang on to the past it stops us from being now and makes us see what-isn’t instead of what-is.
Seeing this what-is is seeing the truth. It is breaking the control which the past has on your life, put there through society via ‘you.’
What you see and the total sum of all your conditioning had to come via you.
YOU SEE WHAT YOU ARE!
Believe me, let the past go. It is a burden around your neck.
As you begin to drop the past you will become stronger with more positive power. This power will help you to drop more and more of the past, picking up yet more power and the game keeps going on until you drop the whole damn thing!
17
But there is no way I would want to forget my past completely!
Don’t worry about that, it is impossible to forget your past, after all, ‘You are your past.’
I mean a totally different thing when I say drop your past. Don’t let your past control what you see and feel NOW!
18
Is there any prayer or chant I can say to myself that will help me on my journey to knowledge?
A simple little thing which may help is to say to yourself over and over again,
AT THE CENTER OF MY BEING LIES PERFECTION,
LOVE, UNDERSTANDING AND HAPPINESS IN ABUNDANCE.
THIS SAME CENTRE IS GOD.
To find this perfection one must travel inside oneself, beyond mind to God’s House. This is the Law of Nature. There is no other way.
Anyone who looks for the secret of happiness via outside influences is caught up in life’s illusion of what-isn’t instead of what-is.
As you begin to open the door which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven you will gain FAITH. Faith turns bad to good and hate to love. It is this same faith which moves mountains and makes you wake up every morning to a beautiful happy life, knowing everything is as it should be.
19
Syd, would you please speak to us of love and the importance you place on it?
Love overcomes all negativity. Love is the media which God works with. God, like any other artist has a pallet board, but instead of paint, his pallet is covered with love. If you use God’s pallet, you will spread love via yourself and others.
This love will be returned from whence it came.
The secret to the Kingdon of Heaven is love, and the understanding of
TRUE-SELF!
IT IS THE VASTNESS OF THE HUGE UNIVERSE
WHICH LEADS US TO BELIEVE
IT IS VERY COMPLICATED.
YET THE SAME VASTNESS COULD APPEAR AS A DREAM
AND APPEAR JUST AS ‘REAL.’
BELIEVE ME, BOTH ARE DREAMS.
WAKE UP AND FIND THE TRUTH!