Chapter XIV

Chapter XIV. Forward to the Past

You cannot move back in time, but you can return to a lifeline you once stood on, and "transaction" lets you notice the shift as a change in the scenery's shade. The Guardian's riddle is answered: end the battle.

In one paragraph

Zeland keeps the foreword's promise. You cannot go back in time, but you can return to a lifeline you once stood on, and with it the feelings of hope and freshness you lost. His exercise, "transaction", is meant to let you notice your layer of the world shifting between sectors. It has three parts: turn the key, run the target slide, look with clear sight. A faint change in the "shade" of the scenery is the sign. The chapter then closes the book's main thread. The Guardian's riddle is answered (freedom comes from ending the battle), followed by warnings about arrogance, boasting and harming others.

Key ideas

  1. Nostalgia seems to point at moments lost for good. Zeland says you cannot move backward within one lifeline, but you can move between lifelines, and some are ones you have been on before. [0:00:13], [0:22:35], [0:25:09]
  2. His analogy is flat beings who cannot see a third dimension. "Impossible" depends on viewpoint. [0:01:02]
  3. Ordinary time is your material realization moving along lifelines, like film through a projector. Real time travel would mean moving against that flow faster than the flow. He admits Transurfing has no answer for how. [0:21:47], [0:22:57]
  4. Outer intention normally works slowly and unseen. Transaction is offered as a "porthole" for watching it work at once. [0:03:00], [0:16:03]
  5. What you see is a change in shade, not in objects: a mood or aftertaste of the scene, often like déjà vu. It shows best outdoors in varied views. A bed or cupboard shows nothing. [0:08:23], [0:20:32]
  6. Why the past "bleeds through": as a child your heart was still on lines toward your goals. Pendulums and negative branches pulled you off them. Moving toward your goal brings back the flavor of those lines, later in time. [0:23:09], [0:24:11]
  7. No shade change means your current line already matches your slide, so the goal lies ahead on it. [0:27:52]
  8. Desire for a result and a sense of necessity are excess potential. They drain the energy of intention, so no "gust of wind" arises. If you strain, stop and return later. [0:13:53], [0:14:54]
  9. Other signs of a shift: people treat you better, small problems vanish, a dead clock restarts. Chronically off-balance people are said to live on "muddy" lines where sensitive equipment fails. [0:29:16], [0:30:09]
  10. The Guardian's riddle: pendulums declare you free, then let you choose only how to fight. You get free by dropping importance and ending the battle, without fighting yourself. [0:33:29], [0:35:09], [0:37:35]
  11. Drop importance you can drop consciously. Transform the rest through action: turn the slide, take a calm step. Refusing the game counts as action. [0:39:07]
  12. You direct your own fate, not others'. Hostile intent, boasting of future success and euphoria after success all create excess potential, which balanced forces remove. Inner confidence replaces announcements. [0:41:26], [0:42:58], [0:44:50]
  13. Choose to treat life as a celebration. By coordination, it becomes one. The closing image is a boat with a sail (unity of heart and mind) and a helm (your choice). [0:46:03], [0:47:27]

Terms

  • Transaction — the exercise: turn the key, visualize the target slide, look with clear sight. Spelling as heard; check against the audio. First appears [0:03:42]
  • Turning the key — a quick arrow visualization that releases muscle tension. First appears [0:04:33]
  • Target slide — a mental picture of the goal achieved, seen from inside. First appears [0:06:40]
  • Clear sight — a calm, non-analytical gaze at the scene, near and far. First appears [0:08:23]
  • Shades of the scenery — subtle tonal differences between lifelines. First appears [0:10:26]
  • Alternatives space / sector — the field of possible world variants, divided into sectors with their own scripts and scenery. First appears [0:10:26]
  • Material realization — the movement of your layer of the world through that space. First appears [0:10:26]
  • Lifeline — a chain of sectors of similar quality. First appears [0:11:18]
  • Wind of outer intention — the force that moves your realization; excess potential cuts it off. First appears [0:11:18]
  • Excess potential — an energy charge that disturbs balance. Here it covers wanting a fast result and pressuring yourself. First appears [0:13:53]
  • Strings of importance — attachments that hold you in the pendulums' game; they drop off when you stop fighting. First appears [0:35:09]
  • Box of conditioning — the world view and role the pendulums install. First appears [0:06:40]
  • Principle of coordination — your attitude shapes how events unfold. First appears [0:39:59]
  • Balanced forces — forces that remove excess potential, unpleasantly for whoever carries it. First appears [0:40:46]
  • Intention of celebration — a standing choice to treat present life as a festival. First appears [0:46:03]

Practices

Turning the key

  1. Scan your body and relax tense muscles.
  2. Picture two arrows from the body's center, one forward, one backward, 20 to 30 centimeters or more long. [0:04:33]
  3. Turn them together: front arrow up, back arrow down, until both are vertical to the spine.
  4. Imagine being permeated by the energy flow. Feeling it is not required at first. [0:05:13]
  5. Repeat many times a day, standing or walking, especially when troubled. [0:06:00]

Transaction

  1. Turn the key. [0:03:42]
  2. Visualize the target slide with yourself inside it. Add touch, sound, smell. Hold it a minute or more, ideally walking in a familiar place, gaze on the ground just ahead. [0:06:40], [0:07:32]
  3. Lift your gaze and look ahead with clear sight, without thinking. [0:08:23]
  4. Watch for a faint new or familiar tone in the scene. [0:09:26]
  5. Stay casual: odd moments, no demands. Stop when you catch desire or strain. [0:13:12], [0:14:54]

Dropping importance

  1. Drop what you can drop consciously. Do not try to remove the rest; that starts a new battle. [0:38:15]
  2. Turn the target slide and take a calm step toward the goal. [0:39:07]
  3. Let yourself and others be as they are.

Treating life as a celebration

  1. Choose to see present life, even the part you dislike, as a celebration. [0:46:03]
  2. Keep your thoughts tuned to the target line. [0:46:38]

Watch out for

  • His photo-album argument (compare faces across years) is weak evidence. Faces vary with light, lens and mood. He sets some of these aside without a test. [0:18:18], [0:18:59]
  • The test cannot fail. A shade change means you moved lines. No change means you are already on the right one. Failure is blamed on straining. [0:27:52], [0:26:57]
  • He says results appear at once and "you will definitely feel it," yet also that it may not work straight away. Chapter VII. Intention called outer intention slow. [0:03:00], [0:12:19], [0:29:03]
  • The clock and "muddy lifeline" claims have no evidence. The ordinary explanation (dirt, wear) is mentioned and set aside. [0:30:09]
  • The Atlantis claim and the "warning, then punishment" threat are stated as fact and cannot be checked. [0:43:20], [0:44:03]
  • He says repeating the exercise speeds things up, then says not to push yourself to do it. [0:13:53], [0:48:38]

Review questions

Try each one cold, then open the answer.

  1. Why can you not move back in time along one lifeline, and what does Zeland say is possible?
    Show answer
    It would contradict cause and effect. Theoretically, moving between different lifelines is possible.
  2. What are the three elements of transaction?
    Show answer
    Turning the key, visualizing the target slide from inside, and looking with clear sight.
  3. What is clear sight, and what is it for?
    Show answer
    A calm look at the scene without thinking. It lets you catch the brief change in shade when your realization shifts.
  4. What does it mean if you notice no change of shade?
    Show answer
    Your current line already fits the quality of your slide, so your goal lies ahead on it.
  5. Why do desire and necessity ruin the exercise?
    Show answer
    They are excess potential and drain the energy of intention, so no gust of wind arises.
  6. How does he explain feelings from the past appearing during transaction?
    Show answer
    Your heart steered you toward your goals early on. Pendulums and negative branches moved you away. Moving toward the goal returns you to those lines, later in time, and you sense their shade.
  7. What is the answer to the Guardian's riddle?
    Show answer
    Freedom comes from ending the battle. It could not be given at the start because the reader would not yet understand how bondage arises.
  8. Name three things he warns against once you start using Transurfing.
    Show answer
    Any three of: arrogance, hostile intent, boasting about future success, euphoria after success, imagining yourself as puppeteer.
  9. What are the sail and helm in the closing image?
    Show answer
    The sail is unity of heart and mind. The helm is your choice.

Desk work

  1. Describe a feeling you once had, such as hope or lightness, that you rarely have now. Which goal was it tied to?
  2. Choose a place you walk often. Write how you would run transaction there, and how you would know you were straining.
  3. Pick something you treat as very important. Write how you could drop the importance without fighting yourself, and what small step you could take instead.
  4. Write two other explanations for faces looking different across photographs, and a test that would separate them from Zeland's.

Connections

Mastery checklist

Tick an objective when the evidence is on the page. Ticks stay in this browser. The same list, with the terms to own, is on itsown page.

Objectives

0 of 12 ticked

  • explain Evidence: write three sentences using the film-roll image; add what he admits Transurfing cannot explain. [0:21:47] [0:22:35] [0:22:57]

  • recall Evidence: answer review question 2 in the guide; include that you stand inside the slide and add touch, sound and smell. [0:03:42] [0:06:40] [0:08:23]

  • recall Evidence: write the steps, then do them while walking; note one troubling moment today where you could use it. [0:04:33] [0:05:13] [0:06:00]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 3; give two words he uses for the feeling, and say how it differs from a déjà vu memory. [0:08:23] [0:09:16] [0:10:11]

  • explain Evidence: use the minute-hand image, then say what the slide and the key each add to the wind of outer intention. [0:10:26] [0:11:18] [0:12:19]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 5; name the two excess potentials and write one rule for stopping. [0:13:53] [0:14:54] [0:26:57]

  • explain Evidence: answer review questions 4 and 6 in the guide; say when he expects a return to old lifelines to be rare. [0:23:09] [0:24:11] [0:25:50] [0:27:52]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 7; then list what you drop consciously and what you transform through action. [0:33:29] [0:36:50] [0:37:35] [0:39:07]

  • explain Evidence: write two sentences, then name what the sail and the helm stand for (review question 9). [0:46:03] [0:46:38] [0:47:27]

  • apply Evidence: answer review question 8, then give one boasting or arrogant remark you could make this week and rewrite it as inner confidence. [0:40:46] [0:41:26] [0:42:58] [0:44:50] [0:45:39]

  • apply Evidence: do Desk work 2 in the guide. [0:07:32] [0:13:12] [0:20:32]

  • analyse Evidence: do Desk work 4; state why "no shade" and "shade" both count as success, and mark the clock claim as untested. [0:18:18] [0:27:52] [0:30:09]

Readiness check

Answer these without looking anything up.

  1. Why can you not move backward within one lifeline, and what does he say is possible?
  2. What are the three elements of transaction, and what is the point of each?
  3. How do you turn the key, and what should you feel?
  4. What do you notice when you use clear sight, and what is not a shade?
  5. Why do desire and necessity stop the exercise?
  6. Why does a feeling from the past return, and what does "no change" tell you?
  7. What is the answer to the Guardian's riddle, and why does trying hard to drop importance fail?
  8. What does the intention of celebration ask you to choose?

The next chapter assumes you hold one idea: freedom comes from ending the battle and dropping importance, and your attitude toward events selects the branch of the lifeline you follow.