(Clearwisdom.net)
In May 2004, Teacher spoke to Falun Dafa practitioners in Chicago,
"We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence. We're fundamentally negating all of their things, and all of, and only, the things you do while negating and getting rid of them is mighty-virtue. It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference")
I had not really understood what Teacher had said in that paragraph. I was sometimes tired from work. When I sent righteous thoughts, I couldn't do it the way I wanted to. It seemed like I was just trying to get through sending righteous thoughts and could not really guarantee the results. The ineffectiveness of sending righteous thoughts then made me unable to behave and think righteously in my daily routine. Some problems I had could not be fundamentally solved and stayed the same way for a long time. Recently I was thinking about how to send righteous thoughts more effectively. I suddenly realized that besides needing to do better in studying the Fa and doing the exercises, my thoughts were mixed up with human notions on the issue of eliminating the old forces. I always felt, after all, that the old forces are gods. As long as we still practice in this human dimension, we will have various thoughts and won't be able to direct the supernormal abilities that belong to our consummated sides. As Teacher told us, however, "We're fundamentally negating all of their things" and "you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them." I came to realize that those thoughts of mine came from nowhere, that they were human notions, and that they were interfering with the three things I need to do well. Being a practitioner I understand, based on the Fa principles, that since Dafa negates the emergence and existence of the old forces and Teacher fundamentally negates them, how can Dafa practitioners acknowledge them? If we mistakenly see their existence as "natural," then we are still "cultivating amidst the ordeals they created."
The next time I sent righteous thoughts, I stopped feeling that I was not able to do it the way I wanted. Not only was I able to frankly face the interferences the old forces arranged for me and eliminate them, but I was also able to fundamentally eliminate the old forces, dark minions, and rotten demons. Hence, when I sent righteous thoughts, the feeling of not being able to fully utilize the supernormal powers disappeared. I became stronger and bigger. As a Dafa practitioner, I was simply fulfilling my sacred duty, and thus I had fewer human notions and was more in tune with the Fa. All the righteous elements could thus fully work.
Often when we aren't able to walk out of a tribulation or some sort of tough situation, it is because our way of thinking is restrained within that tribulation. Matter is the same as our thoughts. A restrained mind results in being unable to break through a situation. To catch up with the process of Fa rectification, we should break through our notions. It is my understanding that to dispense with our human notions is part of what Teacher is requesting.
It is the same with the persecution and clarifying the truth. If we think the persecution is unavoidable and that there is only so much 'one' (as an ordinary person) can do, or if we feel bad that we didn't do well, then no matter how hard we try, we are merely against the persecution amidst the persecution. Then there will only be very limited effects from our efforts. During Fa-rectification, not only do we need to have the xinxing of true practitioners and to spread the Fa to let more people know that Dafa is good, but every practitioner shoulders the mission of eliminating the evil to the greatest extent and clarifying the truth to save more sentient beings.
Many practitioners still cannot step forward and do the three things well because of the attachment of fear. A big part of this fear comes from being afraid of the Party's brutal persecution. As practitioners we should see that the old forces create this fear and that the Party challenges you with this fear. The Party is the number one expert in creating and spreading terror. During the Fa-rectification, the goal of this terror is to make those they consider "disqualified" practitioners fall, unable to fulfill their historic missions, and be destroyed. This is what they want. How can practitioners during the Fa-rectification period accept and follow this arrangement? We should do the three things well to negate the fear, but also send more righteous thoughts to eliminate it.
Currently, the "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party" are being published. These articles are good not only because they are trying to show people what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) really is in relation to the individual persecution cases. The articles are also good because they discuss the fundamental origin of the CCP, its historical development and how it operates. These articles will enable people to learn the real nature of the CCP. Individual cases are merely the outcome of the CCP's real nature. For half a century, the Chinese always looked at where the CCP had done wrong within the scope of the CCP's culture. This is exactly how the CCP has been able to fully utilize and expand its evil influence--until now. Just when one billion Chinese thought the painful "Cultural Revolution" could not happen again, the CCP started the persecution of "a small group" of Falun Gong practitioners. At the time that "small group" made up one-tenth of the total population. Through dozens of years of brainwashing and fear, the CCP's logic of "suppression is justified" has been drummed into the minds of the Chinese people. This logic causes people to think that as long as they, themselves, are not one of the "small group" being suppressed, it is okay to let the suppression happen. Good or evil, right or wrong, the laws of the universe or human nature - none of that matters. This is the "enslavement of people's minds" that is necessary for the CCP to maintain its dictatorship until today. It is also this "slavery" that is protecting the "right" of the CCP to persecute the people. To fundamentally understand the CCP itself, from outside of the "party culture," is the key to completely escaping the CCP's restraints and persecution.
To negate the actual arrangements of the old forces is an issue of different levels. To firmly eliminate the existence of the old forces is the more fundamental and better way to disintegrate their arrangements and manifestations.