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.
     


   

An interim reflection 

Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure. How many people would you say that applies to these days? I'd say that it applies to just about anyone faced with the pressure of providing for a family these days.

I never grew up in such a corrupt world, I never bore the burden of being pressured by circumstance to yield my liberty, my core beliefs, cross the boundaries of what I had determined to be my comfort zone. I grew up in a much better place. I grew up when ethical malfeasance was the murky waters where high rollers charted for high stakes, after all high seas were for high rollers.

Then the trickle down started, soon there was little that separated the high stakes players from the common man., except one variable the pay off. There is none for the common man. Asked now to participate in a culture of corruption, manipulation betrayal and deceit, and if loyalty to self is abandoned in favor of the system, you live marginally satisfied, marginally sustained and marginally compensated. I grew up in a much different world.

I think the challenge for today's culture is more of an introspective recovery than a societal one. Societies are built on the core ethics of what individuals believe to be the right thing to do. Until we return to those values, change will only ever be the superficial window dressing it is now. We need the change that liberates souls, we need the change that dominates an individual, not the one that placates them.

We are also conditioned that life has an ebb and flow, this too has been manipulated in today's culture to more reflect a macabre game of musical chairs. Where will you be when the music stops? What if you were in charge of the number of chairs there were? What if you reinvented the game, what if? I can say with out any reservation that the future can be radically altered if everyone is willing to participate in that alteration. But in order to do that you must first reestablish your connection with self, the self that knows inherently the right things to do. Be that manifestation and soon it will manifest itself in a future that your children can look forward to, not a burden placed on them to restore.

Just thoughts inspired by watching another great work of fiction, that's not very far from the truth.