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.

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 44

Sure footedness in an ever changing world:

Probably the number one pit-fall travelers experience walking awakened, is the illusion that awareness alone prevents discord. Awareness simply opens pathways to alternative outcomes. The awakened individual must choose to accept those alternate options and then act on them. This should bring us back to the triune principles we accepted at the beginning of this course, these will always be our constants, our grounding points , our built in early warning system. Remembering this though, when events arise, and our awareness is not always forthcoming is sometimes disconcerting. Not to worry, our goal is not perfection, our goal is first recovery then acceptance and then action.

It is not really that complex to figure out why our conditioning has led us to the belief that we will somehow, at some point in time, reach a plateau where we will finally be in control of all situations, circumstances and outcomes, the linear tracking of a life-cycle lends itself to that misinterpretation. The hidden jewel in all that is that we can reach a plateau where we will more consistently be realigned to the essence of the circumstance and the further realization that there are alternatives.

This leads us to another one of those pesky paradoxes that life is full of. The realization that (a) life has a beginning and an end, and one should keep that ever present in their reasoning. And (b) to always return your focus to the reality of the ever present moment. Which is it then? Both, because one of your feet are both the same, it all happens to depend on which one is the object of your focus, and the nature of the criteria. As an example, when a captain of a vessel is guiding that vessel to port, he can maintain that he will dock the ship safely, while in the interim be communicating the discharge of the passengers and unloading of the cargo.  Docking the ship is the paramount objective, for without it, the other criteria are impeded, but, the lesser duties in this example even though dependant on the outcome are operating seemingly independent of it. Life is like that too.

There are times in life when circumstances compound one another, but when we refocus on the ultimate goal we have established for ourselves, what ever that may be, we then rightly order the sequence of events that is occurring in our life at the moment, thus dethroning the article and re-establishing the primacy of our goal.

We all at one point or another in our lives, have fallen into this trap of over reacting to the moment, and then regretting it later. or even worse fallen into a perpetual loop of trying to justify our actions, over and over in our minds further exacerbating and prolonging the resulting situation. The only way to break this cycle, or minimize the probability of it occurring is to supplant in ones consciousness an equally viable alternative. And in the very essence of doing so, not only are you presenting an alternative option, you are changing the dynamics of the mechanisms that precipitate the action in the first place.

Most of the above is a reiteration of the core ideology behind the motivation to write these steps. It is just that simple. At each step of the game we are presented a scenario, how we respond establishes a routine on how we will respond to future events. It is not in how we respond, in as much as how many options we have to respond with. When we give ourselves the tools to respond to a multitude of situations with a multitude of alternatives. We are greatly increasing the odds of more favourable outcomes becoming the norm.                    

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 43

Entering the regenerate state of mind:

 The topic of personal bottoms, often discussed when a person has exited the matrix of illusions and distractions that are obtained through many avenues of use and abuse, often signal the awakening of the regenerate self from its hibernation.This state of being is often confused, often misinterpreted, and sometimes ill categorized.

Life is a series of lessons, lessons are learned, sometimes through hardship, and sometimes through joy. The personal bottom accepted not in a derogate  pretext but in an awakened realization, is the launch point for the journey onward to total self realization. Earlier on in this course you were asked to revisit your past. You did so, hopefully within the framework of a better understanding of the construction of the many attributes of your current self. What you need to do now, is take that assessment and understand in it, the mechanics of impersonal makeup not the mechanics of the self. The self is the author, not the story that he writes. What ever you have done, what ever accomplishments or misadventures, have been the story of life lessons unfolding, not of the self creating. The point at which you can accept this is the beginning of the regenerate self.

This like the previously discussed state of guiltless acceptance, is sometimes extremely difficult to accept. We have been conditioned to a sociological commitment to accountability. And rightly so. But, that ideal that we target now is not the punitive abeyance wrought from conditioning, but a willing abeyance that is a  cumulative result of an awakened personality through acceptance of awareness of the circumstances that were the antecedent actions that precipitated the state.

We are awake! We are accountable! We must now accept the role of author of our destiny. With specific focus on the term author. For the life we are experiencing is complete, beginning to end, we are simply here to experientially  document and at times dissect to understand the nature of the incredible journey we are on.

The regenerate self is the portion of the journey where the maturity of the individual will begin to outweigh the lower or baser natures of the self. These natures will not be eliminated not oppressively subjugated, but rightly ordered. It is indeed a crucial launching point for many, for a retrograde stance at this juncture usually spells annihilation for the probability of total self attainment. But the embracing of the positive and regenerative understanding that is the path forward will now lead the individual to an awakened state from which true understanding and peace can be cemented with certainty and assurance.