Q: As I study counselling and read various theories on child development, I almost see that nature hardwires the bodymind for survival and it seems that what we really are is so opposite, that from the very beginning, nature is encouraging us to distort, and I wonder why.
John: It encourages distortion when you leave your heart. It encourages what you know in your heart when you stay in your heart.
Q: So all these theories and this particular way of seeing things, does that just come from people not seeing the whole picture?
John: Yes.
Q: That’s a relief.
John: If a child is born into an unfortunate environment for the development of a self, that compression translates directly into the awareness within the self. When awareness remains at home within the compression, awareness evolves. If it remains in its innocence in the midst of that kind of compression, the awareness that is present in that child will evolve in a most uncommon way. It can thrive in its evolution, even in horrifying circumstances. That real compression on the self cannot separate awareness from what it knows and from what it really is.
Q: It doesn’t happen very often though, does it, that it doesn’t distort?
John: If it doesn’t distort, it can come into its own evolution in a short period of time. The greater the compression, the less time it takes.
Q: So I wonder what would a true kind of counsellor look like?
John: From any counsellor who has first returned to innocence it won’t require any study, but getting back to your studying and your prospective career, your work, it doesn’t really matter much what you do.
Q: It’s how you’re being with the people, isn’t it? Being unconditional.
John: Even more basic than that, it’s how you are being with what you know. It is only from within that that everything else that does matter can beautifully come into place.
