Life is a pain factory and human beings work in it. That is a Work teaching that escapes notice by the majority of human beings. That is why nothing ever changes.

That is why you seethe with resentment, hostility and self-pity. As Vernon Howard would say, “You can’t tell me you’re not suffering!” He even had a sign over the entrance to the hall that said “When the pain gets too bad, come back.”

It is not enough to proclaim that you love people when you examine your thoughts and discover that you actually don’t. You have bought into the world of desire and suffering along with everyone else.

The job of a teacher is to uncover the parts that keep you asleep. Jesus said simply, “Wake, thou that sleepeth.”

Spiritual students really want to leave the pain factory but they are lazy and programmed to stay asleep. A good teacher does whatever it takes to wake them up. Vernon Howard was not gentle. He had no personal relationships with his students and they knew better than to try and get on his good side. He was far above that.

It has been many years now that I have gone on without a teacher. I still work in the pain factory but now I am more of a temp. I have hours where I find myself feeling gratitude for the fact that there is a way out of suffering and that I have found it. Yet it is easy for me to fall asleep again.

Wordsworth said, “The world is too much with us late or soon. Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.” How true that is.

I write about life as I experience it and I am a bare beginner, but light shows me again and again that the truth is the only thing that will heal me.

The world is getting darker and human intelligence is not strong enough to keep all of the plates spinning. It will take another flood to cover up the land and those that survive will start the world all over again. Hope springs eternal.

Vicki Woodyard