99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #36

Accepting the rule of the gaps:

Early in our schooling we are taught basic principles of research and discovery.  We learn them through the sciences, and through academic disciplines. Cause and effect are understood through experiment, and as our learning progresses we are well cemented into the belief that every cause has its effect, and every effect can be traced back to its cause. This paramount truism of the material realm has its intrinsic dualist nature on this plain, but when it is brought into the realm of the psyche its path and pathos is not always so dualistic in nature.

We must keep this ever in mind when trying to exercise control over moods, emotions, or impulsive behaviors. For many have root causes buried deep within a matrix of learned behaviors. Even conscious awareness of their proximal origins, sometimes, is not enough for their natures to escape our grasp when trying to control them. This is true of everyone, so we should not stress over this to a great deal. What we need to do is establish perimeter warning alarms, so as to bring us to a point of neutrality before situations evade us and assume authority over us.

It is not so much that we have to become expert analysts of ourselves, though the more we earnestly apply ourselves this will become our natural state. What we have to learn to accept is, that on occasion we will be operating in relative unawareness, and outcomes, will, for the most part run smoothly. An example of this would be when one is driving a vehicle for a long distance. We can be preoccupied with thoughts and contemplations, but still be very conscious of the road in front of us, and be quite functionally in control of the vehicle. The same is true in our dealings with everyday life. We can be constructively analyzing situations, but still be in control of our surroundings. Our goal is not to become analytical automatons, but to accept the fruits of authoritative control of our nature states.

Over the course of time, and in countless disciplines and sciences, this principle of the gaps has been an accepted norm and necessity of the path to understanding. Just because we can't explicitly define it, does not prevent us from accepting its role in achieving our goals. The road to understanding our natures, our character makeup and our perceived individuality is dependent sometimes on just accepting our powerlessness in certain scenarios, in order to gain mastery over them. Accepting what you do not know, triggers the desire if sought to find the solution or answer. When we are in that state, the inquisitive state, we eagerly search out this knowledge, do we now see the importance of honoring the free movement between states..