This is probably the belief that caused me the most suffering.
One of the things that we are taught in the early years of our lives are absolutes and to discourage abstract thinking. This means that there is only one way to do things, only one path to God, only one way to go about living, only one way to achieve success, and so on through a plethora of subects. In this point of view only one religion can be correct. This also allows for only one person to be right in an argument. Yet, as I will discuss in a future post regarding Personal Rulebooks, we know for a fact that ANY situation can be viewed in multiple ways with a multitude of interpertations. This goes far deeper, but this is why eye witness testimony is questionable. Even watching a video of a crime can be interperted multiple ways depending on the angle and duration of the video. Does the video show the entire event, for example? There are always at least two sides to every event, often times the "reality" of it is somewhere in the middle. After all, as I said before, life is more or less subjective (entirely interperted by the observer) and not absolute in it's form. That is why each of us have our own individual realities and when we compare/contrast that reality with others we create a third reality that is shared. We, during this process, effectively create our reality as we interpert the data we perceive. Absolutes Don't Exist The problem is that absolutes don't really exist. We find the solution for this apparent paradox when we consider the nature of what God must be. God, in my best interpertation, is best described as All-That-Is. Now there are people who will absolutely reject this, they prefer that there is a man riding a cloud in the sky in another dimension looking down upon all of us, judging all of us and punishing all of us accordingly because guilt has automatically been assigned to us as human existence is a punishment for the misdeeds of our ancestors. I can't really help you if that's what you prefer to believe and I find that to promote a great deal of self-hatred and dischord within the minds and hearts of human beings. How can someone who hates themselves, who is at war with themselves, ever find peace? After all, your mind will be in a constant state of war, self-hatred, self-judgement and condenmnation...the opposite state of peace. All by choice. You give power to what you choose to believe and each belief must be examined...does this really reflect how I feel? Does this promote love within my heart? Does this belief bring me peace when I think it? If it does not...it is not serving you. Your mind, your consciousness was created by God to serve you. All-That-Is created you in his image. Nothing is Permanent Nothing in our life is permanent, nothing stays with us very long- not our friends, even family cross over at some point, not objects and not even the very cells within your body remain the same. The cells in our body are constantly being replaced. Nothing in this world is permanent. On a level of the atom everything is a bunch of paticles, floating loosely together (with space in between no less) and yet somehow a piece of wooden furntiure appears to have cohesion and solidity to our human eye. We can run our hand along it and if we punch it our bones may break while our skin cracks and bleeds. Yet, five years from now you might not have that piece of furniture. You might punch it every day...and yet, one day you decide you don't like it and you sell it or give it away. That piece of furniture then ceases to be in your reality. As far as you are concerned it ceases to exist. Thoughts Are Not Solid While the above reference with the piece of furniture represents a solid thing we can touch...thoughts are not solid. Thoughts are not solid within the mind of a person unless they choose it to be so...and I'm not talking about emotions. Emotions are temporary states that serve us as instinctive warning signals to help guide us to make the right decisions. Thoughts, what we believe to be true and use to interpert reality last far longer then emotional states. We hold onto thoughts, we nourish them, we return to them polishing them up and adapting them as we revisit them time and time again. We beahve a certain way in our interactions with others because of that thought. That which we hold as "truth" impacts the way that we view and interact with the world. Yet, they are not real. They are as phantom in their existence as the Northern Lights. You can see the play of the Northern Lights up in the sky but if you flew up there to touch them...you would find that they are not solid. You cannot take a bit of the Northern Lights home with you. The Northern Lights interplay of light and shadow change each time that they occur. They are never fixed...they are born and die every night giving a new display. Paradigm There is a natural human process where we create a "house" out of our thoughts. In this "house" the world is defined by very set paramaters. This little box that we make for ourselves encompasses beleifs and ideas that we have been taught by other people and interwoven with our own experiences. For those that are not exposed to diversitity, that are surrounded by people who are in agreement and think the same way...this "house" can be very one dimensional. There might not be many rooms or many doors or even yards...it is a simple structure. This type of pardigm isn't very creative and it takes the world very literally naturally placing ideas into ROOM A and ROOM B. A Paradigm is the way that people approach life, the thoughts that they project onto reality set an expectation for a set of experiences. When that paradigm is challenged it can cause a lot of pain and suffering. Here is the definition of paradigm: A typical pattern or example of something, a model. All of us start creating our little model "Thought House" when we are kids. As kids we take everything as absolutes and literally. We are only able to think in more abstract terms when we are adults and as adults it's important for us to examine this "House of Thoughts", question the buidling materials and the very nature of the way we perceive reality...or we can choose not to do so and remain in our Childhood Paradigm. Thanks to Free Will the choice is ours...remain in the childhood paradigm or examine it as an adult to create something new. Most follow the easy road of holding to their childhood "House of Thoughts" refusing to examine themselves (for fear of what they might see and fear of experiecing unpleasent emotions) and few seek the inner path of self-examination. This was the way even in Jesus time as he said in Matthew 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it." Experiecing Disannonce Disannonce can be your best spiritual teacher. If you choose to move through this uncomfortable feeling, to expose yourselve to what is not known or ideas that are not familar...your paradigm, your "thought house" will expand....to the point where you realize it won't even be neccesary anymore. There is absolutely no need for seperation between you, via a "thought house" or "paradigm" and all of creation but that is a more advanced teaching I don't want to get into here. But first, what is disannonce? The problem is when we try to make our thoughts solid. When we say this is the truth and the only absolute Truth....and worse yet- is when we decide that a certain bundle of Truths is all that exists then compare it to someone who believes differently. The idea of "My Way or the Highway" is extraordinarly dangerious and painful both for the person unwilling to bend their mind in a new way and for the person they are trying to force into compliance with their paradigm. Nothing has been more destructive in the human experience then this self-limiting methodologial approach to life. Since Beliefs are not solid, you cannot show them to another human being nor can they expereience the exact same set of experiences you've had in your life that cause you to believe they are solid...you can't make someone believe the same exact way you do. That is impossible and anyone who claims to think exactly as you do is a liar...to you and themselves. If someone challenges your belief, and you have built your house on the sand that there is only one truth and one way, the house you have built within your own mind experiences an earthquake leading to pain and suffering. People don't understand you! How horrible! You must make them understand, you say in youthful insistence. By words or by fist you must make them see what is so 'obvious' to you. Psychologists call this inability to listen to another person truth that is very different from your own: Dissannonce. When you hear a point of view so radically different from what you consider to be Truth or your Paradigm (thought house) you cannot place it within this house. You hae no context in which to place it and so your mind cannot process the information. You will, literally, not be able to hear or comprehend this "truth" that is outside of your paradigm. Their words literally sound like incomprehensible noise. Disannonce Example Take for example someone who grew up listening only to the oldies...just the oldies and believes all other form of music is inferior. They won't even consider listening to other music. Then you play System of a Down for them. First, they will only hear bits and pieces of the song because they are not used to following this type of music. They will hear mostly noise. Based on appearances they will judge the band is singing about people committing suicide and that it's over all a negative song. Well, this was done with a group of older people who watched Chop Suey by System of a Down (one of my favorite bands). Those unfamilar with the band latched onto certain things they thought indicated what the song was about and decided it was negative. They missed the symbolic meaning of the lyrics by reacting fearfully to the way the band looks and the few words they can follow. Beacuse they were experiecing diasannonce they didn't consider that there might be a deeper meaning which is about spiritual searching and profound...if you have the ears to hear. (If the video doesn't pop up below click here to see this example: https://youtu.be/KTX5PruTHkE. ​ Labels Are Make-Believe Things are not always what they appear based on our first knee-jerk reaction to them. Labels, often are one of the walls people put up between themselves and the rest of the world. They define themselves by that label and assign themselves to a group that seems to think or behave like them. If you entered their paradigm, and looked into their "Thought House" the name of their label would be in big bold word across their door. Proudly, they exclaim, "I am this," without truly identifying themselves as an individual identity. This excuses them from the idea of being a mere "human." This differentiate them from other groups them but at the same time removes their need to be an individual. Do you think that Bluebird knows that it's a bluebird and thus different from all other birds it encounters? Probably not. Birds have no use for names or labels. Do you think a lily in the field knows you call it a lily? Do you think that causes that flower to perform the functions of growth and decay any differently? Probably not. The bird just goes about doing what it does to meet it's basic needs with little worry to the title that mankind has given it and the flower continues to grow into the best flower it can be regardless of what we call it. This is how I see labels. They mean absolutely nothing. They are a made up concept that we have created to divide ourselves from others and they are absolutely unnecessary. Do they provide any significant positive role in our society? Do dividing ourselves into groups with labels bring love, unity and peace on an individual level? "A house divided upon itself will fall," such is the Fate of Mankind unless we can drop the need for labels. I believe labels dehumanize people. We are one people, we are not divided into predator and prey in the Evolutionary Theory paradigm...nor are we different in any other way. We each are capable of producing the same amount of abundance and well being if we choose to do so but we pick "our battles" when we chan choose the path of Acceptance. We stop seeing the unique individual faucets of humanity when we assign a group label to people, suddenly they are not unique but a member of a group. They are a faceless robot assigned to the Label they or society has chosen for them. Labels, much like the rest of human existence is just make believe...a rule we have agreed to that we can change at any time if the majority of us so wish. Yes, there might be people who cling to the old definitions but if the majority moves with that idea they will soon be swept along with the current of thinking. Let the "Thought House" of labels disintegrate as you realize that even within groups there are individuals, unique, beautiful prisims that reflect the divine light of All-That-Is. Instead, when you look at those cliniging to labels and group identities you see can see people who are divided in their own hearts painfully rejecting their uniquness and individuality. Thinking In Absolutes Produce Limitations When we set absolutes, when we insist on the way we will accept things, we limit the breadth an depth of our experiences. This naturally constricts the way that the Creator and the Matrix of the Creation can interact with the individual. We have a two bedroom "House of Thoughts" while the universe is infinite and unlimited. If you absolutely refuse to accept anything but one outcome...you become blind to other outcomes that might be even better. You actually limit yourself and become trapped in your own expectation. When you practice being open to all possibilities you invite a multitude of opportunities into your "thought house." Eventually, as your "thought house" continues to expand you become aware that it is not neccesary. That all "thought houses" are valid in unique individual situations and neccesary for the individual to retain their identity while they learn and until they choose to work to expand themselves. Conclusion - Plenty of Room We must release the idea of holding onto absolutes and narrow "thought houses" (paradigms). These limiting beliefs constrict our spirit which is the same infinite source from which all of Creation emanantes. Until we release these "thought houses" through a self-exploratory expansion we will be at war with ourselves and the world. If you choose to be at war within yourself and the world you are, in effect, arguing with Creation and the Creator. When you try to force your view of the world on others, to bend creation to your will, you are defying the Creator and demonstrating a lack of trust with the Creator. This has been, for me a very long process to reach the point where my paradigm has effectively dissolved. This is a far advanced point of view then what most people are capable of perceiving. That's understandable. The best way to describe all of this from my point of view, is that their is plenty of room in infinite creation in this moment for everyone to have individual unique beliefs, thoughts, and ideas. There is no reason to judge these individual unique thoughts or ideas when you reach the point where the need for a "house of thoughts" to categorize creation is dissolved. Things simply are, they arise into your perspective, and then they fade away when you have learned from them. There is no need to hold onto ideas, thoughts or even memory. Most are so trapped within their "Thought houses" they inflict pain as they travel through the world and when you're own "thought house" is dissolved you can see that, assess what beliefs are most likely causing them pain, but out of deep respect for the learning process they have chosen to go through you don't intervene or provide aid unless asked directly. Sometimes, in the desire to present relief without invitation, mistakes happen. Concepts too advanced for their level of learning are introduced and they suffer more because of the confusion and disannonce. The reason I have reached a place of non-judgement is because I understand that each step of the process is neccesary and just important as the level I have reached (in truth there are no "levels" or "steps" but that's how we tend to relate things so it is easily to visualize it this way). The amount of pain people need to reach in order to "Wake Up" to the nature of Creation is up to the indivual, the path and the routes they take is up to the individual...which is entirely beautiful and fantastic in every way. I didn't think non-judgement was possible, when I started this journey. I didn't think that was a possibility, my paradigm was very narrow, but now that we earch chart a course to be reunited with the Creator/God/All-That-Is in whatever way we wish...and that all of us that choose to be Seekers and turn to the Inner Path of self-knowledge fall off that path at some point. We are not "perfect"by design. I just want to explain, that if you are not there yet, keep going but it is possible. There is still discernment, "I do not want to be around this or around this person," but it's not judgement and no desire to change others or affect others. ​ Post Script Here is one that I saw recently. Here is a kid who believes that he will be disowned by his friends...that he will be treated differently. He owns it by putting a seperation between him and others by wearing the Storm Trooper helmet. They, however, decide to accept him for his uniquness and then emulate him. Most of us are doing this, we use our fandoms to create a wall between us and the rest of the universe. Within our fandom we feel safe with people who think like us who are delighted by concepts that we enjoy. Yet, again, this is a way we misplace our identities by hiding it behind this fandom....because we are afraid of our unique flaws, differences, struggles and gifts.
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You'll be reading this the day before the election October 7th 2016
Today I'm going to write about a theme that I've encountered. That theme is reclaiming Hope. I could go through the entire process where I've seen this over and over again...but that trail doesn't matter. There is a pattern where we bring ourselves to the bring over and over again almost to stare down our mortality...and how that it is possible for us to overcome this self-destructive narrative we have created. The Spiritual Google All of us have a concept of how Karma works...these days it's part of our every day vernacular...strangely it wasn't prior to the 1930's. There was this whole Eastern meets Western Philosophy Spiritual movement that changed how we approach the world...but you can look up those details on your own. The energy we put out into the world is what we get back. What we think becomes our reality. I've explained how this is reflected in the Psychological concept of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Our subconscious works to makes sure that the reality we perceive reflects our beliefs and feelings that we hold in our mind. I have another way to explain this and it's like a Spiritual Google. We are constantly sending out energy with our thoughts and it's like a google search. If we are dreading something happening we sit there and dwell on it but then we are surprised when it does happen. Yet, the energy we are adrift within can't distinguish what we do or do not want to happen. That's why when we resist something it persists. This is like going home and googling every day about the candidate you like least for this presidential election. You dig up all of this dirt on them and you can feel the fear coalescing inside about what might happen if that candidate wins. What you don't do is convey to google the reason you keep looking up this information. That you don't want this to happen. The service then starts suggesting ads and links to websites that only cause your anxiety to grow because politics excites you (which on a basic level it does but it's an undesirable excitement). That's a little how the universe works. Too often we focus on what we don't want to happen. We dwell on the negative things that have happened, perhaps hoping to prevent them, and we inevitably get what we are thinking about. Then we see that as proof that how we were thinking was right and it reinforces a negative cycle of lessons. The important thing is to bring this to the forefront of our conscious. To start to work with this idea and send different signals to the universe. Instead of constantly searching for our greatest fears we start to dream again about our greatest Hope. The Hope of the 1980's There was a lot of Optimism in the 1980's. Back then if you went into Tomorrow Land at Disneyland you could go on a space mission to Mars, or Star Tours, or experience Tron. You would even go on a circular ride called America sings that depicted different groups and time periods singing together in unity. Watch an episode of the Jefferson's you will see that there was an idea of positivism. Our homes would be in the sky, we would have flying cars and robot maids that would make our life a little bit easier by doing all of the chores we don't want to do. When did that Hope fade? The eighties also produced movies like Terminator (which came out in the eighties as well) where creating artificial intelligence triggers the Apocalypse but it was rare back then. Now there are numerous movies and shows out now where people describe humanity as a plague that needs to be washed away...whether through a robotic apocalypse, a virus or some other means that we create ore unleash. Where did we lose Hope? When did a post-apocalyptic future of gloom capture the imagination of humanity? Finding Hope Again Overwhelmingly, it is clear that humanity goes through cycles. The cycles have been acknowledged in Fashion but not so much in history or other areas of human experience. Although, as I pointed out they have been talked about a lot in Spiritual Teachings and many of them have that cycle ending now. Many attributed it to a certain year, 2012, but that's not how humanity works. If everything interesting happened in a year it wouldn't be much of a process. We have been led, consciously or unconsciously, by people to give into these dooms day scenarios. By focusing on the very small fragment of humanity that is vile...we don't feel safe. This leads to people giving up their freedom in exchange for promised security by people with negative selfish agendas. Yet, there are far more people who are honest and good working in the light then those who bow to darkness. I have met a small handful of people who were entirely evil and dark...but I've met several hundreds who are amazingly awesome wonderful people. I cannot help but believe based on my personal experience in my small pocket of reality...that we, the positive ones, overwhelmingly out number the negative. We just have to remember that and how this works. We need to stop focusing on the "Bad Guys" paraded across our television screens. We need to focus on all of the people who are blessings in our lives, they might disappoint from time to time, but they do have good intentions in their hearts. If you were to place four people against a hundred in a fighting ring...I'd say you're safe to say the hundred would win...as long as they tried and were not pacifists. Avoid Group Labels Whenever we give ourselves a label we dehumanize ourselves. When we label someone else we also dehumanize those people. Categorization helps us to comprehend the world but it doesn't capture the diversity and unique nature of each and every person on this planet. No one is more valuable then another. All of us have to work together with our individual truths to create a better world. That means not trying to force a universal truth and vision on everyone. Truth My truth is different then your truth. The set of situations I have overcome and achieved are different from yours. Truth is not necessarily universal in nature and nor should it be. As individual expressions of All-That-IS it is our duty to be unique...to distinguish ourselves from the masses to be greater more interesting companions. Our truths might change and evolve, that's an aspect of this impermeable world...but as we reach each new level of experience we need to give voice to it. We need to start working with those ideas and sharing them with others even if they are in error. Too often in our society we think someone is an "expert" and, consequently, our truth does not matter. We are too afraid to voice opinion for fear of someone tearing it down. That someone might know more than we do and because we don't have a certain education our opinion is not valuable. We need to learn to respect each others truths even if they are different from our own. Accepting that is a very important lesson. Too often in school we were taught that the teachers ideas were the only ones that were valid. Teachers and parents too often set themselves up as these all knowing perfect beings...but when we become adults we learn that they were not. We are taught that our world is one dimensional. Everything has been discovered, experienced, that life is black and white, that there are solid rules that cannot be broken and everything is known. No amount of education makes someone smarter than anyone else. Sure, a surgeon might understand how to do a heart transplant better than me. Yet I bet he would have no clue how to make a Medicine Ball Tea. We all learn about our chosen fields of interests in an evolving manner throughout the course of our lives. We can't give all of our power over to our doctors, our leaders or even our mechanics. Rules are constantly being broken. Boundaries are constantly being pushed. Yet, the common citizen is told that they cannot do this...that only certain groups, that only certain organizations and people are allowed to push those boundaries. Everything we know as rules of society, of how people should act, of how groups are expected to act...have been taught to us. They are not solid, they are not tangible...I can't pick up these social rules and ideas as I can a rock...they are abstract constructs of boxes that we choose to create and remain within. They are infinitely mutable. Our society is built on the skeleton of ideas that worked for past societies. The purpose has always been to create a network that makes it possible for everyone to achieve their desires if they do not harm others. Yet, there are people who have divorced themselves from their compassionate human nature. They think our society consists of predator and prey. They see no issue with snuffing out a life to gain their agenda. They want to "work the system" to benefit them and take from someone else. As an adult you must question everyone's motives. You cannot believe what they say, but must judge others based on their actions. When it comes to ourselves, we are the only expert that exists that truly understands us. Not our spouse, not our doctors, and certainly not some remote president is an expert on us or can provide for us. We can only trust ourselves to know what is best for us on an individual level and work to achieve what we want for ourselves. We cannot expect others to give it to us somehow because that is the definition of powerless. That is an insult to our very nature. We have vast knowledge at our finger tips, yes a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous, but we have the option of educating ourselves very easily these days. Degrees are not the only way to learn and there are plenty of people who are wise beyond their years that have never stepped foot in a college.The human mind can achieve amazing things. People in ages before could never comprehend the power and knowledge that we can access through the internet. Rejoice that you live in an age that we have such possibility. Self-Perception Epiphany Once you realize that you are an immortal multi-dimensional being having a human experience and that a part of you cannot be hurt by what happens here...it's very hard to be scared. The world becomes your playground when you realize that you are drawing to yourself all that you need to fulfill your dreams simply by positive thinking. Of course, to truly manifest what you want you have to take action. That's why I voted for a candidate that is unlikely to win my state...as a prayer request for a better system to be created. Circular logic dictates that it will not matter, I have been told that by so many...but that's a self-perpetuating act of self-defeat. Nor do I believe that the system will have to be changed by Bloody Revolution. I completely reject that in this time where we can so easily organize. Sure, they might not take us seriously at first but if it is the overwhelming percentage of the population it will not be stopped. That's why it doesn't scare me that the Republican Party from this moment will not be able to go forward the same. That's why the idea of a Nuclear War with Russia doesn't frighten me either... The Power of Action I have faith and I know that if a million people out of the billions on this planet are acting on positive hopes and goals it will have a ripple effect. If Chaos Theory is true and a butterfly flapping it's wings can cause a Hurricane in Florida....then think the affect of a million people thinking and acting positively with one another...the harmony that it will create. If each of us gives off an invisible signal and we could perceive it as a musical note...imagine the symphony that would create from a million people working to achieve positive harmony. That will easily be picked out of a discordant symphony. I believe that this critical mass of people who are aware of this has been reached. As long as they work to better the world in whatever method they can...whether it is to do the best at sweeping...or cutting wood and carrying water...the intention is what is not important and not the act. When all of us do what we can in the spirit of Hope miracles can happen....despite all of the curses in the world (Congrats Cubs!). Conclusion I have Hope. The Doom and Gloom people look like nothing but empty ineffective wraiths when you find that little spark within yourself. There are far more people working for a positive world then a negative one. Just one example is the Thousands of Starbucks Barristas who get the Unity Cup that Starbucks put out. They won't be paraded on the news unless they have some sort of disability...but each and every 'normal' person is just as important and their journey as unlikely as anyone that is labeled abnormal. We work within a nexus of energy that seeks to buttress what we want....and once we realize we are the architects of our own world...at a very deep soul level...it becomes clear we have the power to create the future that we want. I know, and I have faith, in my common fellow human beings. That's Hope and I know it can change the world. We've all come across people who are going through a Dark Night of the Soul. The level of what they are experiencing can be a broad range of terrible tragedies. The one common factor is that their life is left in shambles. They question their very existence and even their reality.
For some, a small issue such as their car breaking down might throw a wrench in their lives causing them to have a breakdown. Sometimes it's facing the void of ending a relationship. Sometimes it's the death of a family member. Yet, we have the choice to remain in that powerless victim state or we can rise from the ashes of our lives to create something new and better than we can imagine. I believe that Spirit reduces our lives to ashes regurarly when we ignore wake up calls because Spirit knows there is something better and greater then we can imagine awaiting us. We just get stuck in our comfortable ways, I call it the Unpleasant but Predictable Familiar that we can predict instead of facing the unknown. So, God, knowing that something better is out there, tears down all that we have built up to make way for something new. Not out of spitefulness, not out of negativity, but out of the deepest form of love. The Silver Lining When in the darkest of night people will try to point out the silver lining. "Yes," they say to you, "but focus on what you do have." I don't think that this is the best approach. When bad things happen to us, it is our job to have that experience fully. Some people take a long time to recover from mourning. For example, in my case it took me two years to fully recover from the loss of my daughter. Bureaucracy says I only had six months, but three months is preferential. Telling me to look on the bright side was not an option. There is no bright side to the loss of an infant. Let alone watching her struggle to live in an incubator. Every time they opened it to give her a test or to insert a needle her vital signs would drop and she would writhe in pain. For me it was pure torture. For nights I had dreams that I was back in that room watching her suffer trying to find a way to prevent it from happening. Clearly those thinking there was as bright side to the situation was out of touch with my reality. So, the idea of being thankful for what I have fell on deaf ears and I muddled through the darkness. Lost, and seeking some sort of way to make the pain I was experiencing stop. What I wish someone had told me is what I have told people going through terrible experiences since then. "You don't see it now, but this, which you think is such a weakness- the pain that you are seeking to escape- can be the ultimate form of empowerment when you embrace it. Maybe, you are experiencing this so you can help other people who are suffering like you." Everyone Fails, Hurts, Fears In a previous post I covered a meditation I had on people being addicted to darkness and suffering. The Soul might come to this planet to experience a range of emotions and situations. Suffering might be the one you desired to experience in this life time. I truly believe that we choose the life we are going to live before incarnating. We choose our parents. We choose the varied situations. We choose certain weaknesses to overcome, or choose lives where we experience bad things that we had (perhaps unintentionally) inflicted on others in previous lives. We come here to learn. In our current culture we want to surround everyone with a plastic bubble wrap: No one should have to fear, people say. No one should hurt. No one should be uncomfortable. Everyone should have the same exact opportunities, lives and possessions. Sure, no one actively seeks pain in life...but strangely our souls came here for a wide range of experiences. We came here exactly because this realm can experience pain on such a level, that we can be hurt, that we can experience fear, doubt, that we can struggle and experience the sense of separation from the Creator. By trying to protect people from some of the most humbling human experiences... we actually harm society and work against Spirit. We cripple them by telling them they 'deserve' certain things instead of telling them how earn things. Yet, this philosophy that life should not be painful, that we shouldn't fail, that we shouldn't hurt, we shouldn't face adversity...that we have a right to a life free of the most basic human experiences just because of the country we live in is harmful psychologically. Those who suffer, who hurt, who fear...think that their state of being is unnatural. We fight against it, hating ourselves for having the experience as though it somehow makes us weak or less than others. When it is the natural state of humanity. Pain, fear, and suffering contains one of the greatest gifts. Within that Dark Night of the Soul we have the largest opportunity for change. Embracing The Pain Fear serves as a fantastic catalyst when a person doesn't listen to Spirit. Every person has come to this Earth for a reason, they have something to offer everyone else who has come here. Each person just has to find the alignment with the purpose that the Creator put them on this planet. That doesn't mean the person has to have a certain career. Sometimes it is as simple as sharing your own personal truth with others (such as I do in this blog). There is no right way, no one way, no one gift they can offer everyone else and there are thousands of methods to share that gift. Every vocation can be perceived as filling that gift as well. All that matters is a person is sharing and growing freely. For me, the Highest Purpose, a person can have is to serve as a beacon of hope to others. No matter what type of situation a person finds themselves in they are not the only ones who experienced it. Often times, hundreds, thousands or even millions have had that same experience. Yet, we don't share the story of our darkest nights with people. Usually, it becomes the family secret that is whispered during family get together's or funerals. For example, we don't go up to a woman and ask them how many miscarriages they had before they had their child. That's just not common practice but it is a very common for a woman to have at least one miscarriage. Yet, there are very few books or movies out there covering that story. There are thousands of untold stories where people have overcome their Dark Night of the Soul that we never hear about. I came across a book called Faithful by Christine Weisman when I lost my daughter. That woman embraced what she had experienced and she created something magical out of it that can help other people. If more people put their hearts into helping others when they experienced something terrible...to let others know they are not alone...this world would be a far psychologically healthier place. People wouldn't feel so alone. They would know that someone else had navigated their way out of that Dark Night and then forge their own path into the unknown. Instead, we tend to bury the darker stories in our lives... instead of embracing and transforming that pain into hope for others. We focus on love stories as though falling love with someone will solve all of our problems (I guarantee you that it doesn't) or we think that overcoming obstacles in our career will solve all of our problems (again it doesn't). There are a million things we think we need that will give us that edge everyone else has that makes them healthy, happy and whole...that allowed them to buy a house in a safe neighborhood where as we are living in an apartment...but guess what...that "thing" Doesn't Exist. Everything we need to obtain those feelings are within us...looking outside to others or to inanimate objects to fill that void is not going to work. Resist The Labels In our society it is so easy to put a label on ourselves. When I was younger I was labeled as Dyslexic. I switch numbers (not often letters) and words. Where others might see 1234, I would see 2314. When using the numbers that I had written down on the page...the work was correct. The problem was that I transcribed the numbers from the page of the book to my homework wrong. Because of this I was punished and held back in my math classes. I could have accepted the title of dyslexic. I could have accepted the crutch that the schools gave me with Special Education classes. Yet, no one told me I wasn't supposed to be able to read. So I read, read and read...and actually tested into Advanced English classes. If I had simply accepted the supposed limitations that a Dyslexic person is supposed to experience I would never have written this blog. Too often people accept the labels that are given to them and act accordingly. I reject all labels. I do not act according to the expectations of any label anyone tries to give me. I am simply human...nothing more. I am a mixed blood, I do not fit in with any "race". So I reject all racial titles, after all, science has proven that beneath the skin we are all the same. Labels...too often...become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once a person is given a label we are expected to behave a certain way. A dyslexic person is not supposed to ever live up to very much. They are channeled into community colleges and told they have a limited option on jobs. They are not supposed to write blogs, write books, become a published writer, exceed in their careers, and they certainly not supposed to earn a Masters Degree. Yet, I achieved all of those things. Never accept a label, ever, please. Don't punish other people for labeling you either, that just shows that they limit themselves that way, and they should be duly ignored. Being A Light To Others Every time we find ourselves in darkness we should look at it as a blessing...an opportunity to learn and help others. Once we find a way to navigate that Dark Moment...we can then reach out to other people and say, "Here, there is hope, there is light and there is a way! If I can do this so can you." The only way to truly do this is to dedicate yourself to the service of others. Which is one of the most noble acts we can under take. Only when we are in service do these situations become blessings because then we realize... "Oh! I have learned so that I might help and uplift others who are suffering!" Be A Phoenix These situations where our lives fall apart, especially when we are self serving, can seem so depressing. We might have to start our lives over from scratch. Yet, the most beautiful thing is that with change there is always unlimited opportunity. When you have a blank page you can draw whatever you wish. Our lives, when turned to issues, is like that blank page. Our minds are the person drawing the picture. If our minds are filled with darkness and we are drawing in depression or the negative...then the images we create will be negative. We will perceive the world as a dark and negative place. We must be very careful what we take in, what type of information we take in and the type of people that we are spending our time with...because that is the food for our mind. At the end of the day we can only affect the page that is before us. We choose what we draw in our lives. I may look at my neighbors page and see that they have more or less or decide by the images on their page that they threaten me in some way...yet, that does not matter because I don't have to place that on my blank page. I don't have to accept them into my life in any way shape or form. Yet, sometimes challenges come, Dark Nights of the Soul arrive, and in that darkness we can find the spark of something divine...the hope...the opportunity to help and serve others in some small way. Then we are transformed, rising from the ashes that destroyed us...as a Phoenix. The Phoenix has long been the symbol of hope and rebirth to people around the world. Often it is depicted as being on fire, because its from the embers of it's previous life that it arises...and it shines forth that light so others may do the same. Reject labels, reject seeing yourself as a victim...and choose to be a Phoenix! |
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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