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.