99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 44

Sure footedness in an ever changing world:

Probably the number one pit-fall travellers 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.       

    

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 42

The pendulum moment part two:

The courage to fail  has been a running challenge throughout the course. Accepting  guiltless self-forgiveness also is a crucial step. But it itself walks a razor's edge, and must not be taken for granted, for this would be not only self defeating but also grievously detrimental to our growth.

We must begin to approach life as though we are actors showing up for work on a weekly scheduled program. The script will be handed to us, and it will be our task to review it practice and rehearse it, then give our best performance of it, on stage, when the director yells "Action".  Who writes the script? "Life events", and how we respond is our role as the actor. We complicate and fabricate a plethora of emotional and intellectual window dressings to obfuscate this truth, but our victory comes when we simply agree to play the role. How is this even remotely individual in nature then? As confusing as it sounds, the path to individuality is in accepting the truth that we are all one. My individuality begins when I agree to fully acknowledge  yours, but also understand that what separates us is a life centered schooling, and we educate ourselves when we agree to interact with each other.

Reoccurring shortcomings, repeated behavior traits that constantly haunt us are very damaging to our progress. We solidify these encumbrances when we fail to immediately dismiss them and move on. And unless we resurrect an unconditional grace in this respect, we leave ourselves with no plausible escape mechanism. And this shroud of repetitive guilt soon becomes a ball and chain preventing us from moving upwards in evolutionary harmony.

Progressing past this step with earnest conviction is a paramount leap in evolutionary thinking. If you have mastered this then you are well on your way to achieving individual liberty. If you find yourself falling short of conviction when approaching the state of guiltless realignment, you should not let this impede you. simply accept the gift in full knowledge that at one point in your upcoming future you will fully grasp not only the paramount importance of this step, but also the conscious awakening of the energies that are here to educate our many selves when we are willing to acknowledge ourselves as the administrator of  them. Scene 42, take one... action!.          

 

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step# 41

The pendulum moment:

The hardest state to achieve is the state of guiltless realignment.And there is a distinct difference between realignment and what it could and often is confused with, when an individual feigns acknowledgement of culpability, as an re-integrative strategy. Guiltless realignment is the process by which we acknowledge the error in our current state through understanding the process by which we arrived at it. It is sad that the structure of our current society totally dismisses this process, and instead only focuses on the variables of effect and retribution. It is sad because, what in essence is being done here is that the effect, whatever its scenario, is solidified, given its own identity, and the entirety of the other elements of individuality are cast aside. But yet the full retributive weight of the circumstance is volleyed at the individual. This is a grievous error, but one that society welcomes for the sake of convenience.

When we grasp the true nature of being, we see the corruptible not as process of addition, but yet as a process of subtraction. Our natural state is ignorance (evil) the volatile catalyst by which we grow into full awareness is in first acknowledgement of that fact, and then subsequently the choice to evolutionarily advance beyond it. What is left behind is the base elements, and what is created is as a result of their casting off. Many philosophical and religious tenets are structured on such beliefs, sadly they too often fall prey to their own devices and most often impede the progression of the spirit, not advance it.

What we have to learn as evolutionary beings is to welcome these moments of awareness of our inadequate, inappropriate, or sometimes repetitive shortcomings as behaviour  necessary as the catalyst for our growth. With a stern caveat and caution not to justify detrimental behaviour under these auspices. We too often can fall prey to the latter, and stagnate our growth.

We live in a society that presents many challenges to advancement, simply because of the narrow focus of those that control it. Greed has become the new milestone to achieve. Material wealth, material acquisition and material amusement, the new main stays of our current culture. What in essence you are being asked to do is run counter to those ideals. And you can achieve this, not by an out-an-out rejection, but by paralel structuring. and the only way to overcome the guilt imbibed rhetoric of this age, is to counter it with knowledge. And the only way you can achieve that knowledgeable state is by not succumbing to the illusion that the self flagellating penance of guilt will somehow refine you into a better individual.

Knowledge is the key, acceptance is the door, and you have but to approach it confidently. And you will never achieve this with the burden of guilt hung around your neck like a milestone. And a further truth is, that your jailers have tarried long and studiously to ingrain this impediment into the very fabric of both society and culture. You will find little acknowledgement or encouragement in your new found display. But your liberation will in many ways be paving the road, leaving breadcrumbs of hope for those that share the road with you. A great challenge, but equally a greater reward. When we are illumined the light cannot be restrained from falling on others. This is our purpose this is our hope, we will reclaim it, for it is ours.        

     

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #40

The principle of awareness:

It is often pressed upon us to reject the reality of the moment, and replace it with the illusion. The illusion is that we have lived long, suffered long, experienced hardship long, and at each step of the way overcome the hardship and forged ahead. Time like the Ego is the master illusionist, and sadly for most, they leave the theatre impressed with the show and forever trapped in the illusion. It is not a terrible fate per-say, but for some we just cannot shake the inner calling that there must be more to it. If you are one such person, then it would be wise for you to continue your search, for you will find no peace in the illusion, only the uncomfortableness of knowing that this reality (the illusion) is not where you belong.

Throughout history individuals have reiterated this over and over again, through philosophy, religion, poetry, song, ritual. each enlightened-one, dutifully it would seem, trying to be the light bearer for the next generation. But what is this awareness and where can it be found one may ask?  The mistake is in the implication that it can be found in time, when it exists outside of time. And secondly, the truth that it can only be accepted never fully understood.  It has no language, no variables, no matter no substance, at least by standards we are accustomed to. How do we acquire an understanding of it then? In the simple truth that you must evolve into awareness of it. Well this sounds like a cycle of circular redundancy then, you can't identify it, you can't quantify it, it's not understandable, but yet it is the true reality, that makes absolutely no sense at all.  One would then have to ask, sense, by what standard?  If we use the illusion as the standard, what are we measuring against? (eg:) I stand in front of a mirror, I see a reflection of myself, is the reflection real? Yes! But it is only a refection, it is not really me? Yes! So how can it be real?  It is real in the context that it is a reflection of yourself, not real in the context that it is another manifestation of yourself.  Likewise when we approach true awareness, we understand that, the manifest exists , and the reflection exists, but we can only ever understand the latter when we approach the mirror.  Then what are we, the manifest or the reflection? Neither! We are the observer.  Well we are when we are awakened from the dream.

For some or many, it is not important to them, who they are. For others it is a painfully long search that more often than not leads to a dead end or deception. This is truly sad.  The problem is that we are too focused on the discovery and not in the context of the discovery. We don't look up in the air for a school of fish, neither do we go fishing for a flock of geese. When we approach matters of conscious awareness we have to put our approaches in the right context.

To be truly at peace with oneself, we must acquire a vigilant honesty. A willingness to accept everything and anything, as a possibility with the determination to equally undertake to question and challenge its validity, in the contest to which it is being expressed. We must be willing to challenge preconceived ideas and notions in ourselves, because we will never expose the illusion around us, if we continue to delude ourselves. It is only when we see clearly, that we will clearly see the illusion. We will not do this by intellect alone,  nor by  awareness alone, but by understanding that we are the dreamer dreaming the dream, and the longing we feel inside is the sound of the alarm clock prompting us to awake.  

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #39

Fearless discovery

If we were diligent in our exploration in the previous step, we should have indeed reawakened many long forgotten memories. Good, bad,happy, sad, whatever emotions they inspired, they all had one thing in common, we recorded them. We did this because we have the sensory capacity to do so. This sensory capacity has a common operating system in most of us. This primal encoded system helped us into awareness by establishing in that awareness basic responses that enabled us to begin the process of self-awareness.

Obviously we will not have had the capacity to regress to this point in our discovery. We are just not designed that way, More likely if we were earnestly diligent and dedicated we arrived back in various times during our childhood, during memorable times of learning lessons or having impressed on us social activities that caused in us dramatic points of emotional awakening, both pleasant and unpleasant. It was at these times, that the fabric of our existence was stretched. It was also at this time that those initial primal systems were disengaging from ourselves, and it was becoming incumbent on our-self to rationalize the activity. This was when we enlisted the help our our inner social circle (family) to establish norms and boundaries, and based on these we built our impressions and assertions.

If we were fortunate enough to regress to these times, then great accomplishments can be achieved, If not then where ever your retrograde journey landed will do just fine. Our main goal is to establish a base line. A point of reference we can use to add a set of pseudo boundary markers. When you can state with assurance that you held this belief, to this point in time, whether or not it actually was formed at that time, helps you to plot the natures progression up until the present. You now have a beginning and an end. Why is this important? Firstly it gives you the ability to stand outside of it and analyze it. Secondly it cements the status of the event definable in time, the notion of it operating anywhere but inside the realm of your control, has been extinguished. And when this occurs the ego's familiar litany of doubt, angst, or fear is diffused beforehand. All that is left now to do is assess whether this nature state's condition is acceptable to you, and if not, what needs correcting..

It really is that simple, but change will not occur overnight. discovery is only the beginning. The stages that follow will work on restoring you to full awareness, but you must be patient. Each step must be taken with the assurance that the fulfilled goal will be achieved, once we uncover the sum of it parts.

99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #38

Pathways to peace:

In our previous lesson, we were asked to begin the process of our awareness of what elements and interactions in our lives formed the majority of our character traits. We did this for two primary reasons. The first being an understanding of the causal forming of our natures, and secondly as an affirmation that it was indeed ourselves that formed the process, so there should be no doubt that we are capable of, understanding it, altering it if necessary, or transforming it into something far greater.

But before we continue we must be willing to lay aside our preconceived ideas of justification, association or accountability. But be certain we are in no-wise  attempting to grant ourselves grace from these attributes past or present, but are simply on a mission of discovery that does not include them as variables. And as you should be able to deduce by this proposition, we will be launching this discovery from within our neutral nature zone.

If we agreed to engage in an exercise regiment, we would be perfectly comfortable with knowing and accepting which positions we should place our bodies in to begin the exercise. With this same comfort and reasoning we should adopt the mental process of  acknowledging which nature state we should be in to engage in certain mental tasks. We will be in these states irregardless, just by the correlation they have been assigned by us, what we are doing here is making a conscious declaration, that we are indeed in this nature state, and from this declaration establishing our equally conscious authority.

One exercise we could engage in would be to take one common trait we have that defines us uniquely. Trace it back to its origin and assess its value to you. What commonalities does it share with other similar traits you have? How does it compare to similar traits you see in others.? What exactly defines it?  And finally what makes it either a positive trait or a negative trait, and why do you feel that way about it. Start off with any easily accomplished trait, and then progress to the more complex ones. Reemphasizing one again that this is discovery.

Once we can easily accept a challenge like this, we will slowly release the ego's throttling of our decision making process. And when we affirm boundaries to what activities are present in our defined realms of nature states, we will setup pathways unencumbered by doubt an uncertainty. These pathways will ensure quick resolves to our problems, assurance and confidence in our ability to overcome any challenge, and the comfort and security of knowing we have a place to retreat to grant us the peace required for reflection and resolution. Our own pathways to peace.