99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 51

Reshaping the construct, reordering roles. Step #51

One of the biggest hurdles of normalizing life in an awakened state is the nagging and seemingly endless reflection on past experience. Too often we are in constant conflict between our awakened aspirations and the residual of living a life that was dominated by subservience to which ever nature state was affecting our life at the time. As mentioned in the previous step, life has conditioned us to believe that forward momentum negates or cleanses the mind of previous detrimental behavior, when the reality is that, we, if successful are not eliminating these behaviors, but are simply conditioning out, what was conditioned in.  And as always ever reminding ourselves that authorship is the only goal, is our pivotal resting point, and perceptions and ideals we held so dear were never wrong but simply out of tune and as our journey continues, the score will be written and rewritten a thousand times, but the song remains the same.

Another hurdle we must transcend is the perception of time.  Time is, for all intents and purposes an intrinsic overlord of our conscious experience in life. And with respect to the perception of the construct, one could see it as the polar extremes that define the boundaries of the construct. And to be free of the illusion of time and the chains that bind us to the confines of static existence, we must venture to reconsider our perception of time itself. One traveler once stated; "Time is,was, and now is no more". "Time is" is the unavoidable reality that our journey has a beginning and will have an end. This we could construe as the boundaries of the construct. "Time 'Was' " could also be construed as the substance and content we have personified within those confines, and finally "now is no more" could be viewed as the dimensionless expanse that extends beyond the confines of the construct. It can only be there that the author can reside.

Wisdom directs us to be in this world but not of it. A more succinct testament to individual authorship, could not be better stated. We indeed must be vigilantly involved in the world around us. It is our garden of experiential, existential and affirming avocation. I think in many, and through many ideologies, the error that caused many to falter, is in the premise that one must be in one or the other. One must deny limit or avoid the substance of one to gain mastery of the other.  wherein the truer approach is that one must be only author of the self and in claiming this gains mastery over both.

When we rightly order our roles as collectively, author, actor and observer, working in a triune  symmetry of fluid transparency, we feel a sense of ownership of our experience and less the perception of being subjugate to the illusion of external influence. And as also mentioned in previous discourse, we indeed do share this reality with many other selves, but when our trajectory is in sync with the harmony of space and time, collisions if any seem to be naturally avoided.          

Reality vs the endless loop of the construct. Step #50

Reality vs the endless loop of the construct.  Step #50

Often when individuals advance on their course of self awareness, expectation sometimes obscures the reality of the moment. To clarify, it is a common oversight to assume that forward motion forever transforms the actions and circumstances of life, and its pathways and pitfalls. Further, the fault, if one can refer to it as that, is not so much in the reality of the moment, but in the construct that our actions have conditioned us to act within. Early in the course we covered extensively how our actions created that construct, we then learned how we could manage navigating that construct, now we must insure that we forever remain cognizant of the differentiation, in situations, between the construct, and the reality of the moment. How to retain the balance and harmony in our lives between the two variables here is key in strengthening our individual identity, but not at the expense of our integrative social experience.

We also have covered how cumulative occurring events can often colour our perception of circumstances in a negative light, that is the reality, reacting to the cumulative prompt is reacting to the construct, and not the reality of the moment. We must be careful not to paint the construct in a solely negative light, but to see the construct for what it is, and that is, a set of defined, through experience, memories that have triggered a probability pathway intended to be used as a recognizance variable, but not as a course of action.

One facet of the construct is, as mentioned above, nothing more than life's experiences being played through a filter of assumed probable outcomes. When we err is when we allow or confuse the role of the construct as operating outside ourselves, when in reality it is an internal mechanism exclusively.  Simply put, it is a conditioned behavioral response that if imbibed with emotion can colour a response that is not consistent with the reality surrounding it.

Understanding the nature of the construct is a lot like understanding the nature of self. Just in the same way we can unknowingly build a self image that is destructive to our growth or quality of empowered being, the same error can be made with the construct. We can also by not distinguishing between the cumulative psychological elements of the construct that have been formed by our life experience and the external reality of the moment, unknowingly act in destructive ways. Again awareness is the key, is the solution.

A good way to see ourselves is as a universe within a universe. Many selves within a self, within a society of selves. Our goal is to have a quality life that expands and affirms our being and at the same time brings quality to the society we inhabit collectively. The construct is, in its simplest form, the arena of the many selves, the key is to separate noise in the halls, from the reality surrounding it.          

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 49

The perilous quest for change: #49

 Another of the great paradoxes on our journey to self , is our ceaseless struggle with striving for change, yet yearning for sameness. Its momentum, is like that of a pendulum, in that, when we exact the change we desire, then we soon long for the for the accustomed familiars we sought so desperately to be liberated from. This could become emotionally exhausting, but if approached in an observer state regiment, like we have been offered as an alternative to our old way of understanding, then we can better comprehend our motives and motivators.

For this step we have to look more closely at the antecedent not the act. Paradoxes deconstructed, represent what exactly? The logical acknowledgment that an act or action may be true or false at the same time, but credulous in their capacity to engage in a higher intensity of understanding. No greater acknowledgment for the usefulness and credibility of the observer state can be found, I'd say. Now armed with this understanding let us view our paradoxes with a clearer understanding.

It has been often opined that the path of least resistance is a nominal if not preferred choice for the masses. It's the old "bodies in motion tend to stay in motion and bodies at rest tend to stay at rest" parallel being played out on the psychic plane. Motivation on the other hand is a choice, and as is the case with all choices, all contain an element of risk. Risk demands ownership, and the the antithesis of risk ownership is denial or justification. So simplistically it is almost as if we are pseudo-wired for indecisiveness or second guessing our decisions. Simplistically that is, and individuals and our lives are seldom simplistic, but we must always remember that in between simplistic and complex is a wide margin, and it is in that margin wherein we will find our best capacity. We will make choices, those choices will meet with circumstance and will merit a result. we will sometimes control the variables, and at other times be in control of a variable and others variables will be out of our control. This is an observation, there is no indecisiveness to observing, but when the observer is paired to the individual making the decision, the decision making process takes on a whole new clarity, and with that clarity, risk is greatly diminished.

One more example of the value of observation, one step closer to the self we would wish to reclaim.

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99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 48

Freeing the self from time and space: #48

The perfected self is more a defining boundary than a goal. Our interactions in the routines of our daily life often pit us against ideals we inherently feel we must be achieving, and we often find ourselves gauging the success of our lives, based on how close we are to achieving those ideals. Make no mistake we need goals, they help us to rightly order our routines and priorities. But what we do not want in our lives is competition between the selves, and this often occurs as a result of trying to achieve the wholeness we mistakenly believe will be achieved if we can just reach the completion of the goal.

Harmony of the selves is a very elusive state, many throughout the ages have opined on how to accomplish it, and many have achieved it through the methods they outlined. There is no singular method to achieve this state. It is accomplished not by completion but more by surrender, when we surrender to the natural flow and order of the universe, the process can be seen as more an act of separation than submission. If we feel that we must propel the natures and the many selves towards our goal of wholeness through a perpetual action upon the selves, we are in essence becoming slave to the selves and not author of our destiny, which is the goal. It may appear to be self contradictory to espouse that one can be author of his destiny yet servant of it simultaneously, but in reality the former is a state of awareness, and as we have learned in earlier lessons we are inherently equipped to compensate for this paradox by simply evoking our observer state. When we transcend the linear plane of daily life by standing outside of it as an observer, we see the true motion of our lives as it is being played out. If we see discord then we can pinpoint its origins and make correction where it needs correcting, if we see harmony we can extend accolades upon the sum of our-"selves" thus promoting the sense of wholeness and continued harmony, one such teacher suggested to his followers that they should be "In this world but not of it".  We can easily obtain this state by invoking our observer state consciousness and thus analogously freeing ourselves from the strictures of time and space.

The greatest hurdle we will overcome is when we come to realize that control is in many respects like a heavily draped window dressing, when in fact the window is but a façade.  Sometimes the best way to control a situation is by just letting it play out. This of course has an equally detrimental possibility to be abused, but, seldom has this been the case when the person is doing this from the position of author or observer, and not unwitting participant in an exchange of disordered selves.

Another such observer once opined that "We do with out doing and everything will get done." When we see ourselves as we truly are, separate yet one, uniquely one, yet inseparable from the whole. When we can grasp this, we are closer to our goal yet with no urgency to achieve it.         

 

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 47

Balance, understanding the nature and role of division:

Understanding the nature of the concept of the many selves is a lot like an actor on a stage cycling through the many different roles in their own presentation of the "mono-play" me, myself and I.

Outwardly, we distinctly recognize the many different roles, evidenced by their particular natures, but inwardly we, for the most part, transition through them almost obscurely one to the other. Earlier in this course we identified them as "nature states", categorized them into "orders of personality",  emotional, physical, intellectual. Now we must attempt to understand the role of the division.

It is very easy to identify what particular mood we are in, equally with practice, we can learn to quickly identify what elements of our environment transitioned us into that mood or state. Until we learn to appreciate the nature of the necessity of the conscious act of the role of division, we seem to be complacently content with the knowledge of accepting certain things as triggers, and certain actions as re-balancers.

Truly communicating these refinements is a lot like an artisan try to explain their actions in enough detail to give you the assurance that in following their instruction you too can attain the craft to which they are demonstrating. In many instances like the proverbial "sound of one hand clapping" when you truly do finally grasp it, the instruction may have led you towards it, but the crafting and moulding of the instruction by your own reasoning and deduction, have led you to the full understanding.

With that in mind let us continue. How can one realistically adopt the regiment of dividing up their processing faculties into distinct deductive entities?  The truth is, we already do, but are we achieving the outcomes of rightly ordered division, or are these being siphoned into nature states that produce negative outcomes, or unnecessary emotional trauma. Like in earlier examples, when understanding the causality of the "nature states", we don't so much have to create these faculties, but identify their pre-antecedent origins. How is this accomplished? One word, "introspection" It is crucial that we, for a time, loose all pre-conceived notion of the self , and take on the role of the scientist. Notice, no where do we say dismiss, dismantle, alter or discard, but simply apply scientific analytical introspection, the subject being you.

The clearest example would be, isolate a trait in yourself that you wish to improve or simply understand better. Walk it backwards to its lowest common denominator. Now begin the dissection. What do you see as your observer? Now begin the division, is it psychological,emotional,physical,sexual,societal or spiritual. Can you act on it,or does it act on you. Is it obsessive or compulsive, is it limiting or does it limit you. You can answer any of these questions if you are an observer, because you have nothing vested in them. And as we have learned earlier in the course, our only goal is discovery, and the fact that we are an independent observer in our neutral state our focus is cemented on discovery and only discovery.

What we do with the results of our discovery has a two fold benefit to us. First and foremost, we have a deeper insight into to what we intended to address with our discovery. Secondly and equally important we have strengthened the independent nature of our observer, and we do so every-time we use this process. Finally when we incorporate this behavior, its repetitive use, as we learned early in the course is enjoined in much the same way as our other prevalent natures were, and becomes an effortless benefit to the quality of our lives. truly to divide and conquer.

                      

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 46

Observing is the paradigm shift:

If we could revisit a point made in the previous step and expand on it, maybe that would clarify more succinctly the framing of the term "Observer" as it pertains to our utilization of it as a marker in this course. In an unenlightened state we view the individual as an encapsulated manifestation of the self. And activities acting on it, (the self) as either external or internal. External being the sensory processing of stimuli, and internally the rationalizing of both the stimuli and the causal nature of it. When we process this information, the normative response is to use the sum combined faculty of the self, ignoring what we have established earlier on in the course as the many "natured" state of the self. The term "unenlightened" here should infer no derogation on the individual, or no deficit in faculty, but simply a state of unawareness as to the many causal natures at play that are being combined to present the synoptic analysis to the individual that is engaged in the process. It was necessary to revisit those previously discussed points, to bring our focus back to the key grounding points of this course, that we are the many in the one.

We hopefully have progressed so far thus, that this notion of the many selves is no longer an obscure or peculiar state of reasoning, but simply a concise way of framing the interactiveness of the machinations that produce the entity known as the individual, known as you. The Observer is the refined and incorporated aspect of the "neutral state" we were introduced to in step number five. It is the culmination of what was discussed in great detail back then as the point when a seeming quantum shift occurs, and the psyche manifests the observer consciousness as an integral part of our reasoning faculty.

The observer state adds quality to our lives and enriches our interactiveness with others because; just as no man is an island unto himself, when we incorporate the observer state in our own deductive reasoning, it also manifests itself in our interactive reasoning of others. How does it differ from our normal reasoning capacities you ask? When we reason for instance on the occurrence in our lives of a less than favourable outcome. We may ask ourselves: Why it failed, where the responsibility for the failure lies, was the failure preventable, and if so why was that not apparent to ourselves. The observer state on the other hand focuses not on the specific problems, not on justification or corrective behaviour, but on the nature behind them. Not on the failure, but on the value of dealing with failure in our lives. Not on the emotional support of, or justification for failure, or the correction for future events of failed engagements, but on the acknowledgement that it was an event, indifferent of its manifest impact on us emotionally or psychologically, not an arbiter of outcomes but an unbiased acknowledger of them.

To truly experience the benefit of the observer state, one must have experienced the occurrence of it in their lives, words or explanations do it little justice. It is like trying to explain the thrill of skydiving and somehow expecting the explanation to act as a surrogate for the experience itself. If you are starting to grasp the nature of this course, then you will have, or soon will have experienced in your life the shift in outcomes when you ponder the activity of the observer in your quest.       
            

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 45

Seeing the universe in a blade of grass: #45

Success and progression begin to subtly invade your life, not as a overly apparent change in character, but more in a deeper understanding of your individual character attributes. The necessity to alter ones character is being replaced by a realization that change can sometimes be a derogating distraction that replaces a residing trait with an equal or similar trait, and progress is inhibited. Transformation on the other hand acknowledges the sum value of the character, and fosters growth not displacement or adjustment.

This, in reality is not, or should not be taken as a eureka moment. It is simply the result of the domino effect of building in buffer zones, not consciously, but matter-of-factly, as a result of introducing the earlier steps of the course into ones life. Life as we see it now has been altered not forcefully, but juxtapositionally, the individual has not become the observer, the individual has merely accepted the addition of the faculty of observation into their conscious life.

Life is perpetual change, make no mistake about that. But the one constant that goes through it unchanged is the core individual  that is you. Success in achieving a quality of life that ensures the proper facilitation and functioning of the process of individual maturation, is in a persons ability to differentiate between the physical constants of change and the evolution and transformation of the individual psychically.  When this divide is both understood and accepted, then growth of the individual is assured.

So often we look for the answers to life's challenges, expecting to find the solutions nested in books, motivational speakers or spiritual advisers. The answers do indeed, in many cases lay in their raw state in these avenues, but the key to success is in understanding the truth, that we are the potters in this physical realm that must form the vessels of ultimate truth, growth and awareness. The physical realm provides the resources, we must be the builders of our individual advancement, using the tools of reflection, understanding and reason. When we accept these truths, then the conflict that so often arises towards animosities associated with the different realms of beliefs systems is readily dissipated.

Life, quality of life, is not in finding the right answers, but in finding the right answers for you. And certainly not in the sense of some anarchical reticence into self serving isolation, but in building a succinct understanding of the world around you by engendering a self fulfilling capacitance  that is able to approach life's complexity with confidence and understanding. The universe is vast, That is both a truism and a notion, the blade of grass by comparison is minute, that also is a truism and a notion. It is the observer that assigns the significance of the expanse or dimension. The observer sees them the same. When we become the observer in our own lives, all elements of that conscious existence can be reined in to become balanced and ordered. Never perfect, never absolute, but always with the ability to return to a state of normalcy, understanding our nature not being servants of it.