Elias often mentions the three terms exposure, vulnerability (synonymous with openness) and receiving in the same breath because they depend on each other.
**Session #392:**
ELIAS: For now you move into deeper layers, and what are you expressing as you move into deeper layers? You are expressing more vulnerability, more openness. And what do you expose in these areas? Yourself, and this creates fear, and this creates an element of protection that you view is needed. Therefore, you create guardedness.
You shall be willing to be opening and widening your awareness to a point, but be remembering, I have expressed to you and to other individuals, you may express the terms of vulnerability and openness to be synonymous. They are the same.
In this, as you move more into the expression of widening your awareness, you are creating in actuality more of an openness or exposedness of yourself to yourself and to other individuals, to your world, and in this expression, you are creating vulnerability, and this is an area that you all view, within some point, to be unacceptable and needing of guardedness.
Therefore, you may not necessarily be expressing this in the objective manner of protection or defensiveness, but you SHALL place up your barrier, that this is far enough, that you shall be creating a point in which you observe a change, a difference, an uncomfortability. This uncomfortableness is the approaching that you are allowing of more of your own exposure, and this becomes uncomfortable in your focus, for you hold fearfulness that other individuals shall be hurtful to you.
These are all very, very strong aspects of belief systems, of which we have spoken many times.
**Session #1466:**
ELIAS: Also, recognize that in order to be expressing your freedom, you also must generate an openness in receiving. To generate an openness in receiving, there is almost a prerequisite to that expression of expressing a vulnerability or exposure. As you allow yourself to expose yourself as you are, you also generate an openness to receiving. You cannot receive if you are not exposing, for if you are not expressing that vulnerability, you block and you do not allow reception. Reception is important, for it is your allowance to receive from other individuals and to allow yourself an openness to yourself. In this, that generates the freedom for you to be expressing yourself more fully and generating that expression of freedom.