99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #32

The linear highway:

When we think of emotional responses, if we had to use an analogy, how would we best describe the event? I will attempt to do that using the example of a highway. On the average multi-lane highway, there are usually several lanes of traffic going in one direction, and several in the opposite direction. There are many different types of vehicles, traveling at different rates of speed, and for different types of utility. There are lanes that are intended for entering and exiting the highway, and lanes that are express lanes and also lanes designed for passing or giving priority to faster moving traffic. In each vehicle there is a driver , and also in some vehicles there are passengers, and further some vehicles are filled with passengers that have agreed to travel as a group or collectively in the same vehicle. I think that is enough for now. Now if I were to put forward to you that the emotions interacted very much in the same way in the non-tangible realm of our consciousness; what imaginings would you derive from that?  What kind of vehicle would anger be driving? What would happy drive? If you answered VW beetle for happy, then I think you've got this. But seriously our emotions do travel in such ways. And each of our emotions interacts in our consciousness in very much the same way as is played out on your average highway. Also, when you are not the driver, then the commotion that can occur, and the same inconsideration's, wrecklessness, and confusion that we can experience on a highway in rush-hour, or in bad weather, can occur in our emotional lives.

As previously asserted  nature states (emotions) have no conscious awareness of each other. Anger does not spoil Happy's fun deliberately, empathy does not try to cheer up sadness, and lust is not flaunting itself in front of modesty trying to embarrass it. As silly a notion as these assertions bring to the imagination, they are, in fact true with respect to the collective interaction of the emotions. We over the course of our lives have created vehicles for our emotions. We did this in many ways both consciously and unconsciously. But in some cases and again consciously and unconsciously, we created drivers (justifications) for them, and for some of us, this spread to the full spectrum of our emotions. At this point, to some, it felt like we became a pedestrian trying to cross the busy highway of our emotions, ending up exhausted just by the effort not to be hit by one.

I would like to reiterate at this time we are not trying in any way, shape or form, to criticize,assign blame, or demand correction here. If we have indeed, fallen into a state of lapse authorship, we are here at this point just to identify it. And in many cases the correction will occur independent of our resolve to change, often just by the mere willingness to do so. This is, unless of course we deliberately choose not to, and to that we would only ask, why?

As was pointed out in the previous step, it is a very difficult exercise to try to layout a meaningful example of how concisely, emotions interact with us, when each individual has woven the matrix of actions, interactions, intertwined alliances and levels of extremes through personal life events and circumstances. What we can do is layout a map to the doorstep, give the general dynamics of the vehicle and offer the assurance that there is a commonality to them, and a common approach to attaining authorship over them.

Let us for a moment recap the three primary groupings in this course. The first "the inquisitive states"  is seldom problematic, even by the nature of its name we can see that it implies a willing curiosity. Nature states (emotions) in this grouping are usually always acknowledged and authored by ourselves effortlessly, so in the schedule of the course they will seldom be scrutinized,.not that they are not important to embrace, but simply, as stated they are seldom problematic.

The most problematic are those that are assigned to the "Hesitant states". Again by their name, they neither are accepted easily, released easily, or embraced easily. but are essential to our growth, survival and integration.

The last grouping is the "neutral states". This is our refuge, this is our vantage point, this is our quiet place of contemplation. These guardian states (emotions) will bring us into new elevated heights as individuals. Here we will rejoice and celebrate our times through the inquisitive states. Here we will console, nurture, and council and encourage our hesitant states. In here we will reflect, find rest, and acknowledgment as infinite individuals, and we will transcend the boundaries of the material realms.

We must learn to experience each nature state (emotion) grounded in its causal state first, then experientially. We will begin to acknowledge this consciously, which will feel abnormal, silly, or at times agitated or frustrated. The latter occurring when old habits will try to assert their authority. What we must do at these times is return to a neutral position, assert the absolutes we agreed to adopt, identify the singularity of the state (emotion), give it audience, and then determine the resolve. When we do this often enough, soon the conscious activity will become an autonomous response, and our individuality will be returned, or realized and you will begin to see the world through newly awakened eyes.