Excerpts from The Reclaiming of Power by Harvey Jackins

In the essay “Who’s in Charge?” we reached the concept that if one doesn’t assume responsibility for the farthest atom in the farthest star in the farthest galaxy, one has put oneself inside inhibiting limits. Once the concept was projected, people tried it in their thinking and, lo and behold, total responsibility turned out not to be a chore but a great liberation idea. We had drilled a hole all through the pseudo-reality and there was sunshine and fresh air on the other side.


(Would you explain what you mean by total responsibility for the farthest atom? I don’t understand.)


I mean that one must not shut that atom out from one’s awareness or concern. If one knows about something, that something is taken into account in one’s thinking. It doesn’t mean that we pretend that we can reach instantaneously to the other side of the star and manipulate that atom or anything like that, but it means that we assume responsibility for including that knowledge in our thinking, that we do not put up a barrier and say, “I will not think beyond this point because I can only handle this much”… 


Wherever we drilled a test hole in the pseudo-reality by challenging it and wherever we dared punch the hole deep enough, sunshine, fresh air, bright colors, flowers, and good sense drifted through. There was apparently something different on the other side. It was much better than the globby guck we were used to living with. 


Any of the non-benign appearances of the pseudo-reality that hides reality, including the most threatening, the most horrifying, can be faced clearly, can be contradicted, can be discharged on, and can be eliminated. We do not have to wall off from our attention or thinking any of the negative concepts or the negative appearances of the pseudo- reality even though we have been trained or conditioned to avoid them. 


I think this is quite important. Consider death. We have already done some work towards challenging this. The phenomenon of death can be faced clearly, and the fears of death can be discharged. Of course, we have always had examples from the wide world of people whose professions place them up against death repeatedly and who necessarily discharge to the point where they can look death in the eye with contempt. 


For a long time in RC this was difficult until we got some concepts out in the open to support us. It was difficult for people to work on death, difficult to face the death of a loved one. People were too horrified as they tried to think about the possibility of their own death, and at best escaped to pretense. “I am not going to die,” I had an early client tell me. I asked, “Why do you think so?” and he said, “The proof is all around you; I haven’t died yet.” (Group laughter)