DEFINITIONS: WORDS NEW CONCEPTS SERIES

I AM GOING TO START A SERIES TODAY CALLED DEFINITIONS: OLD WORDS NEW CONCEPTS

It’s important to learn the vocabulary that will support and enhance your character study for your new role in The Magical Theatre, so I suggest you make an effort to add three new definitions to your point of view each week.

51% Solution: When we undertake a serious spiritual practice we often mistakenly equate making it with reaching “enlightenment.” This goal seems so remote; the feeling of being overwhelmed can stifle our efforts. Life actually changes in an extraordinary way long before we catch sight of the Bodhi Tree. Efforts toward self-mastery can be likened to fighting an uphill battle with the 51% mark of the journey just over the crest of the hill of a bell curve. The last part of the climb is the steepest; and as exhaustion sets in before too long and it requires a huge act of will to reach the very top. But, everything changes at the crest for those who have persevered. At the peak, there is more mastery than not, more peace than not. To reach the top we must have assumed responsibility for our experience of life. We are now willing to see things as they are. We are now pulled by love, not motivated by fear. When our experience is more than half acceptable, the majority of our life seems blessed. When we are happy, it is easier to become happier. Now we have gravity on our side. It is impossible to feel powerless. At 51%, it is easeful to grow without the need for obstacles or an inflated ego as a propeller. Over the crest it is easy to witness the myth of our imperfection for the lie it is. This is the doorway for harmony with the extraordinary energy that guides all the forces within the Great Mystery.

Abuse of Power: Power in this context is the aberration of power that is glorified within a fear-based society. “One up and one down,” and “winners and losers” characterize it. Playing people against each other went out of style with the Machiavellians, but the subtleties still exist many places. Fear-based power emits a glamorous lure with its important trappings, and for a while the thrill will hide the pain. Don’t be confused; it is easy to become addicted to the use of this power or association with “powerful” people. Without judgment, it is important to see the truth of what is, not the emperor’s new clothes and what is fashionable to believe. Power is used most appropriately when it is circulated not accumulated.

Acceptance: Acceptance is the key to self-mastery so it is vital to remember we are each born whole and perfect without need for improvement. We cannot be the arbiters of this perfection for it exists outside of a limited dualistic perception. When we discard our egocentric motivation for others/circumstances/ourselves to change in a way we judge as correct before we can accept them/it/ourselves, we realign with our authentic nature and no longer tether our happiness to judgments and circumstances beyond our control.

Gini - www.ginigentry.com

Paths to Awakening: Part Two

It was a tremendous unburdening to accept that I no longer needed to use judgment as the way to play out my role in The Magical Theatre. Further more, as I looked back over my life, I saw how the “unfair" world of my “reality” had simply reflected my beliefs back to me, not created them. As my perception changed, so did my experience of the world around me. I came to understand that the secret to my happiness had been attached to my perceptions all along. In other words, if I thought of myself as a victim when I was having a “bad” experience, I would be miserable. I came to understand my perception arose out of my unaware habits instead of my conscious choice. When I was able to simply observe my circumstances, I could also see my choices. I could then choose not to suffer; I could choose to use my experiences as opportunities to learn and I could choose to accept myself even if I made mistakes.

Importantly, as I made new conscious choices, I was still “me.” I had not become a parody of a boring saint in white robes. I still had my big personality, big earrings and big hair! But instead of rejecting myself because of who I thought I should be, instead, I accepted the truth of who I really was behind the image.

After a long and difficult journey, I did finally come to peaceful terms with my destiny. By eliminating my need to feel superior to the truth of who I feared I was/was not, I reached a détente in my war with judgment. I came to know the greater truth about myself and I was set free from my victimhood. And, perhaps more importantly, when it became OK to be me, it naturally followed that everyone and everything else was OK too.

Through acceptance I finally came to know love and it didn’t look at all like I had expected! The quality of love in this context was a radical departure from the conditional love I had known. To experience this love did not require a stimulus of “loveable attributes” or “lovable actions” occurring outside myself; in fact, this love without conditions required nothing more than my own willingness to simply allow everything to be exactly as it was.

Through the great clarity of hindsight I saw that there were a great many things I had misunderstood about my role in this grand passion play of the The Magical Theatre. I’d forgotten that I was not just the lead actor but also the playwright of my own dramatic production. Because of this, I had narrowly interpreted the fantasy, and created a life directed by fear and choreographed by the voices in my head.

Those voices, my supporting cast and critics, had been so influential that they had helped me create a myth about everything and everyone in my life. Everyone does this, but hardly anyone calls it by its proper name, “projection.” Without awareness of the truth, I got into the habit of blaming others for my pain. Casting responsibility for my painful emotions onto others gave me the false impression of relief, but I remained blind and not in charge. I was sitting under a spotlight in the middle of all Creation with my eyes tightly shut.
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You too may be sitting in the middle of the stage with your eyes closed but, I have no way of knowing where you are in your circumstances, or the degree to which you have unwittingly embraced your role in Maya’s Magical Theatre. If you have already figured out that everything you have purchased, every relationship you have pursued, every obstacle you have avoided, and every attempt you have made to find happiness from a source outside of yourself has failed, you are on the right track… but I am getting ahead of myself. To really unveil how the Magical Theatre is constructed and to learn how we’ve come to assume our roles in it, I must begin in the place of beginnings... DEFINITIONS: OLD WORDS NEW CONCEPTS

Paths to Awakening: Part One

There are as many paths to awakening as there are humans who follow them. This blog is about the path I have taken. Your Path will no doubt differ slightly, or terrifically, and it will be defined by its singularity. No matter the differences or contradictions, we are of the same essence. The differences that appear to distinguish us are only a reflection of the roles we have chosen to play in Maya's Magical Theatre that we call life. So I simply offer you my experience as a guide-not a new set of rules-to the choices that may still await you.

Your life is your play. It is your personal production, therefore, only you can decide in the deepest place of truth what is needed and what is not. To begin your discovery, you must honestly determine if you have cast yourself in a lesser role than the one you came to play. More than likely you have answered yes. This is not the time for despair, the truth is liberating! Knowing you are the power behind your choices, also means you have the ability to change it all any time you choose.

For a long time I was disconnected from my choices and I assumed that everyone—at least those that mattered—thought and felt as I did. I had no idea what projection meant, but if I had, I’d have been sure it had nothing to do with me. I was certain that reality was concrete and indisputable, unrelated to my personal point of view. I was proud to be a perfectionist, happy to maintain control over all situations, and delighted to rescue friends while ignoring or unaware of the part they played in creating their own dramatic predicaments.

As it has turned out, my idea of truth was a limited, sugarcoated version of my opinion, unconsciously contrived to keep me safe while supporting my favorite self-image. Politically, I was interested in human rights; socially, I railed against the injustices of my girlfriends’ romantic relationships. Personally, I saw bad luck and bad karma at the core of my discontent. Frankly, I was reactionary and entertaining perceptions tainted by my past experiences. I was proud to be a victim of life, for it implied that I lived in an unfair world and was not a bad person. I didn’t know I was living my life on autopilot. I was proud of what I called my discernment and mortified when I encountered the pain and fear that fed its existence.

I distinctly remember the first time I realized that my so-called powers of discernment were a cover up for the way I denied my judgment. I was walking through the local grocery store when I suddenly caught the voices in my head red-handed! They were busily engaged in their usual commentary concerning the dress code of my fellow shoppers, the size and look of their bodies and how their children were behaving. I was mortified when I saw the extent of the chatter in my mind.

I finally gave up when a particularly unclean woman with rollers in her hair stepped up to a nearby line. I had to drop my gaze to the floor to get a grip on my toxic reactions. For a long time after that, whenever I went to the grocery store I would have to look at my feet just to keep from judging. Strange as it may seem, that grocery store was where I drew my first line in the sand.

I spent many years with ever-increasing awareness trying to change my habits, grumbling about my judgments, judging my judgments and condemning myself for making what I judged at the time to be very slow progress. The one day, in fact years later, the most peculiar thing happened; I realized I had, for all intents and purposes stopped my judgments. My realization was not preceded by the sound of one single trumpet. There was nary an angel and no burning bushes. I was steady on my feet, not levitating, not in a state of bliss.

I was mystified. The voices that had dominated my mind throughout most of my life had somehow slipped away so quietly I had missed their exit. More than this, they were replaced with a growing awareness that things simply are. It was a great unburdening to accept that I no longer needed to measure events or people against the yardstick of what or how I wanted them to be. To be continued…