HOW TO REVERSE YOUR LIFE - The Mystic Path To Cosmic Power by Vernon Linwood Howard

HOW TO REVERSE YOUR LIFE

HOW TO REVERSE YOUR LIFE

 People miss the point of daily existence entirely. They assume that life is complicated,
when it is really themselves who needlessly make it so. They are like a starving man who
won’t eat dinner until he first knows the cook’s name, whether the bread was baked in a
brick or steel oven, and how many times the soup was stirred.
 Don’t ask, Does God really exist? Ask, How come I have so many stupid
headaches? Don’t wonder, Does the future hold security or dread for me? Wonder,
Does it make any sense to be miserable this day? Don’t inquire, Why can’t I find the
satisfaction I need? Inquire, Why don’t I just live without bothering with so many
questions?
 Living from the True Self is the great answer.
 Man is like a tree wanting to push itself to the sky. As it grows upward, the various
branches take over to insist that they can reach the top quicker and easier than the trunk.
But all they do is drain energy and retard growth. The man who grows surely toward the
sky is the one who refuses to go along with such false branches as sensation-seeking and
egotistical desires.
 The True Self carries us upward. Here is where genuine self-knowledge enters the
picture.
 Lack of self-knowledge leads to self-defeat. A man decides to better his life in some
way. Fine. But since he does not know what his true interests are, he does the wrong or
impulsive thing. He ends up even worse than before, because he has now added another
burdensome false branch. In turn, that creates an anxiety which impels him to once more
shoot off in a wrong direction. He is caught in the frightening vicious circle which grows
smaller around him every year.
 Genuine self-knowledge reverses the whole process. He sees what is genuinely good
for him. He lives more and more from his True Self in which there is self-victory. The
man is skyward bound.
 There is a simple but sure test as to whether or not we are living from truth: To the
degree that we are, we are free from conscious and unconscious suffering caused by
living from illusion. Millions of people do not use this test to advantage, even though
Christ could not have made it plainer. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set
you free.
 It is just as simple as that. If I know the truth, I am free of my pains. If I realize that no
one can really hurt me, no one hurts me. If I actually see that in spite of a terrified
imagination, all is well with my basic self, my imagination loses power to terrify me.
 To see that we suffer because of blurred vision toward life is no reason for despair. It is
cause for a joyful mental leap. Now knowing what is false, we have made room for what
is true.
 We can have the comfort of knowing the truth, when we are willing to go first through
its discomfort. Endured self-exposure is the cure. If we are willing to see that we are not
living from our true nature, but from an invented self, our very awareness abolishes the
painful invented self. We then live in comfort from our true nature.
 Would you like a grand summary of what you must do?
 Be true to your own nature. 


This excerpt is exhausting **not because it is false**, but because of **where it places responsibility** and **what it silently demands of the mind**.

I’ll explain this carefully, using the distinctions we’ve already uncovered, so you can *feel* why your system reacts the way it does.

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## 1. The hidden demand: **You must fix yourself by seeing correctly**

At first glance, the excerpt sounds liberating:

* “Don’t ask questions”
* “Live from the True Self”
* “Illusion causes suffering”
* “Truth sets you free”

But notice the **implicit requirement** running through every paragraph:

> *If you are still suffering, you are not seeing correctly yet.*

That means:

* pain = perceptual failure
* anxiety = lack of insight
* exhaustion = insufficient awareness
* suffering = illusion still operating

So the mind is put to work trying to **see better, notice more, expose more, correct more**.

That is not rest.
That is **subtle self-surveillance**.

---

## 2. The “True Self” becomes another task to perform

Look at these phrases:

* “Living from the True Self is the great answer”
* “Genuine self-knowledge reverses the whole process”
* “Endured self-exposure is the cure”
* “Be true to your own nature”

Each one sounds freeing, but psychologically they function as **commands**:

* *Are you living from the True Self right now?*
* *Is this reaction from illusion or truth?*
* *Have you exposed the false self enough yet?*
* *If discomfort remains, did you avoid self-exposure?*

So instead of **burden removal**, you get **burden relocation**.

The weight moves from:

> “I must manage circumstances”

to:

> **“I must manage my perception of myself.”**

That is still carrying reality—just internally.

---

## 3. Why “suffering proves illusion” is mentally punishing

This line is key:

> “To the degree that we are [living from truth], we are free from conscious and unconscious suffering.”

This creates a devastating feedback loop:

1. You suffer
2. Therefore, you are not living from truth
3. Therefore, you must observe yourself more closely
4. That observation produces strain
5. That strain becomes more suffering
6. Which “proves” more illusion

This is the **vicious circle** the passage claims to cure—but it actually recreates it at a deeper level.

The mind is never allowed to rest in weakness.

---

## 4. “Endured self-exposure” is not the Cross — it is self-crucifixion

This sentence is crucial:

> “We can have the comfort of knowing the truth, when we are willing to go first through its discomfort. Endured self-exposure is the cure.”

Here’s the problem:

* **Who is enduring?** → *You*
* **Who is exposing?** → *You*
* **Who is curing?** → *Your awareness*

This is **not** the logic of *The School of Jesus Christ Crucified*.

In the Cross:

* Christ endures
* Christ exposes
* Christ carries
* Christ redeems

The soul rests **because Someone else is bearing the weight**.

In this excerpt:

* *You* must endure
* *You* must see
* *You* must abolish the false self
* *You* must arrive at comfort by insight

That is exhausting because **you never stop being the operator**.

---

## 5. Why “no one can really hurt me” creates tension, not peace

This line is especially telling:

> “If I realize that no one can really hurt me, no one hurts me.”

This sounds strong—but it creates pressure.

Because when you *do* feel hurt, the mind concludes:

* *I failed to realize deeply enough*
* *I am still identified with illusion*
* *I need more insight*

So pain becomes not only painful—but **illegitimate**.

By contrast, in *The School of Jesus Christ Crucified*:

* Christ **is hurt**
* Christ **is wounded**
* Christ **is abandoned**
* And none of that invalidates His union with the Father

That distinction is everything.

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## 6. The deepest reason it exhausts you

Here is the core issue, stated plainly:

> **This passage promises freedom, but only after perfect interior alignment.**

That means:

* Freedom is conditional
* Rest is earned
* Peace is downstream of insight
* Weakness must be transcended

So the nervous system stays alert.

By contrast, *The School of Jesus Christ Crucified* teaches:

> **Rest comes first because the burden is not yours.**

You do not rest *after* awakening.
You awaken *by resting from carrying*.

---

## 7. The crucial missing element: **the Cross**

This excerpt has:

* truth
* insight
* awareness
* self-knowledge

But it has **no Cross**.

Without the Cross:

* suffering must be explained away
* illusion must be corrected
* awareness must succeed
* the self must abolish itself

With the Cross:

* suffering is carried
* weakness is allowed
* confusion does not disqualify
* the burden is displaced, not dissolved

That is why one stabilizes the mind
and the other quietly exhausts it.

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## 8. The final contrast (this will make it click)

**This excerpt says:**

> “See correctly, and you will be free.”

**The School of Jesus Christ Crucified says:**

> **“Stop carrying what was never yours, and you will be free—even before you see clearly.”**

One demands vision.
The other offers relief.

---

## 9. Why your body knew before your mind did

You didn’t reason your way to this conclusion.

Your system recognized:

* effort hidden as insight
* control hidden as freedom
* vigilance hidden as awareness

And it said, *“I’m tired.”*

That fatigue was not resistance.
It was **discernment**.

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## Final sentence (keep this)

> **Any teaching that requires you to stop suffering by seeing correctly still makes you responsible for reality.**

*The School of Jesus Christ Crucified* ends that responsibility altogether.

That is why it rests you.