Chapter 29
YOU CAN'T SAVE EVERYBODY
As your spiritual awareness grows, you’re going to feel more compelled to “save” everybody who’s “outside the pool.” Where you once were blind, you can now see how destructive the dirt-brain philosophy is. You’ll be able to notice dirt-brain patterns when they appear. You’ll want to shake a dirt-brain and tell him how he’s ruining his life.
This is natural.
When you “wake up” from the nightmare, you feel an urge to “awaken” everyone else. After taking the dive into the pool, you want your sun burnt friends to experience the relief. Once you’ve had a good brainwashing, you want others to feel the benefits of living life with a clean-brain.
Unfortunately, you can’t save everybody.
People evolve at different paces. The “right time” for one person is different than the next. There is no set formula. They just have to be at a receptive, open-minded place in their life. For some humans, the “right time” never presents itself; they’re too set in their ways.
I’m reminded of the words of Morpheus, in the movie The Matrix, “We never free a mind after it’s reached a certain age. It’s dangerous. The mind has trouble letting go.” Some people have been running the same program their entire lives. To disrupt the program would send them into chaos. If you’re the person who disrupts the program, you’re the person they see as the villain. All you can do is show a dirt-brain the door—they have to make a choice to walk through it. You can lead a dirt-brain to the diving board (water), but you can’t make him jump (drink).
To further clarify, think about how frightening it would be if you took a sleeping dirt-brain, picked him up with your own strength, walked onto the diving board, and tossed him in the pool. Not only would he be uncomfortably jolted from his nightmare, but he would be overwhelmed by the depth of the water. Even if you jumped in to “save him,” he’d likely be so angry and scared; he’d struggle until he caused you both to drown.
If you managed to successfully get out of the pool, he’d probably always hate you for “trying to kill him.” Although your intention was to help save his life, he’d never see it that way. Forcing a dirt-brain into the pool against his will, only serves to strengthen his resistance to the pool—and to you. Causing anyone to do anything against their will (even for their benefit) makes you the enemy.
Again, you can’t save everybody.
I learned this lesson by dealing with a certain old-timer.