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“Unless we take a step back to see the bigger picture, we may often miss the missing pieces of the puzzle. Sometimes we see the smallest detail from the greatest distance.”
— Mickie Kent
Do you wonder why sometimes things seem to line up perfectly and other days it feels like you're banging your head against a wall? There's a "massive action" school of thought that encourages you to keep banging until that wall falls down. However, what if there was a way to know where a door of opportunity would open? Some suggest that would be a lot less pain and stress, and much more effective and efficient.
This seems especially true in relationships. You may encounter someone and feel drawn to him or her, and the depth or intensity of the attraction may cause you to delete other information about the person. Likewise as situations arise around you, whether they be social, political or religious, you may likewise find yourself drawn to these situations without other information that would be helpful in determining if a given situation was "right" for you or not.
The same holds true for repulsion. You may find yourself repulsed by someone, or a situation, and likewise, identify with the repulsion, thereby cutting yourself off from other information that might be helpful. If you were to imagine a triangle and on the left corner of the triangle was attraction and on the right side of the triangle was repulsion, then the point above these two extremes is what I call the Divine Perspective.
Many of us may feel queasy with Rihanna and Chris Brown resuming a relationship after he had been violent towards her. However, Rihanna's father Ronald Fenty has "no problem" with the man who was convicted of battering his daughter in 2009 getting back together with her, maybe because Fenty used to abuse Rihanna's mother.
Rihanna described her dad breaking her mother's nose in a 20/20 interview in 2009 and confessed as a girl she promised herself, "I'm never going to date somebody like my dad, never". Now that Rihanna may be falling back into a familiar relationship dynamic, her dad has come out with the comment that he "loves Chris" because "he's always shown me respect".
Aside from it seeming apparent that abusing his own flesh and blood is not seen as disrespectful to Fenty, this issue is good example of how we can sometimes be programmed into our relationships from childhood. If, for instance, you are attracted to a person and surrender to that attraction without allowing access to signs and information about that person then you have put yourself in a precarious position - as Rihanna seems to have done.
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However, some experts suggest that by not identifying with the attraction you can "float up" to what I term as the Divine Perspective and are free to observe behaviours that may signal the inappropriateness or dangerous nature of a relationship with that person.
Likewise, if you are repulsed by a person or situation the Divine Perspective allows you to "float above" and dis-identify with the repulsion, and while you are in this dis-identification you are free to see other levels involved. It could be that this person or situation is toxic to you, or it could be that this person or situation is a mirror reflecting back to you something you do not like in yourself.
Naturally, none of us can lecture the other (although I have learnt the wisest lessons from a few choice lectures!), and it's not our business what Rihanna does - but has she gone back into her relationship with open eyes? And what messages is she giving to other men and women stuck in abusive relationships?
Similarly, if you are repulsed by a person or a situation, pause for a moment and dis-identify with your distaste for the person or situation. Float above the situation or person, as it were, and engage the Divine Perspective to see more deeply - to sense with greater clarity - if this person or situation is toxic, or if it is a mirror for something in yourself that you need to transform.
If the astrologers are right and we are on the verge of entering more deeply into the polarisation phase of planetary ascent in the next week or so, then the Divine Perspective can greatly assist you as you pass through this difficult period of increased personal, interpersonal and collective conflict.
Learn to step beyond your self
The real value of a situation, like that of a priceless jewel, is best appreciated when seen from every angle. Just as it is the nature of such a rare jewel to reflect its inner brilliance in all directions, so is it the nature of the Divine Perspective to give you clarity. Sometimes things seem clearer from a distance.
There are two schools of thought about this. The first is that we must achieve self-mastery over our thoughts and emotions, and be able to use Divine Perspective as a tool when necessary to make a decision, or evaluate a current situation. The second school of thought believes that the key to the Divine Perspective is to realise that who you really are lives above the world of thoughts and feelings. The theory here is that the everyday mental process which naturally includes asking "how" has its practical place in the world of auto mechanics, building a house, running a computer, etc, but that we need to do something extra to deliver us outside of our mental processes so that we can think outside ourselves.
Living and working in this physical world, it is necessary to ask "how" in order to learn to "do". We need instructions on how to use things. Experts describe these kinds of tasks as being governed by your brain. However, when it comes to learning how to live above and outside of our self, the same mental processes that can safely deliver us into space can't easily deliver us outside of ourselves, those of the second school of thought say. In one sense, it's impossible to think yourself outside yourself. Our mental processes has inherent limitations - in other words a thought is never the thing of itself; it needs us to become a thing, and without us it is nothing.
The first school adheres to the belief that thoughts and emotions are an inherent, and powerful, part of us we can't be detached from, but we can gain mastery over them; the proponent of the second school think that we should sometimes act outside our thought processes (act without thinking in one sense) - but is this possible? Can we really step beyond ourselves?
Throughout time human beings have been mystified by the power of thought. The Buddha is quoted as having said, "All that we are is the result of all we have thought". Countless legends, myth and social explanations surround the topic of thought, but few of us understand how our thoughts impact our lives.
What if the world as we know it was significantly different from the way we've been taught to see it? What if human consciousness could affect the behaviour of subatomic particles? If the laws of physics were different, how might our lives be changed? For many years, unusual observations and experiences have been labelled bizarre, paranormal and sometimes were even considered unexplainable coincidences.
Initially, scientists believed that the foundation of the physical material reality was the Newtonian material universe. This changed when they realised that the universe is made out of energy. Matter is energy and it is linked to human consciousness. And recent studies seem to demonstrate that there appears to be a consistent connection between the mind and physical matter.
We have all heard it before, "Your thoughts create your reality". Dr William James is attributed as saying that the greatest discovery of his generation was that "human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. In looking at scientific approaches to explaining the power of thought, quantum physics studies seem to support this idea.
With the modern emphasis on science and the need for quantifiable evidence, many scientists have begun using this relatively new field of study known as quantum physics or quantum mechanics in research into how the mind can influence the behaviour of subatomic particles and physical matter, by examining the laws that apply at the atomic or microscopic scale.
Quantum physics has been described as the science of possibility, and it endeavours to describe many previously unexplained phenomenon, while accounting for the often overlooked energy patterns of human thought. This new science asserts that classic laws of physics do not always apply at the happenings observed at the quantum level. Some studies have shown that the actual position of matter changes continuously until a person gazes at it; where it temporarily takes a fixed position to the human eye that actually exists simultaneously in other locations.
This is called the law of superposition and it suggests that there is no such thing as an objective or universal reality. In other words our observation of reality changes reality. The experiment also implies that there are many uncertainties between the relationships of energy, time and space - and that the classical perspectives of certain mathematical theorems is incomplete. Socrates said, "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing" - a reminder that once we think we know something, we shouldn't be so narrow minded as to ignore the possibility what we knew was wrong, when knew data comes along to refute it.
For instance, physicists have discovered the "clearest evidence yet" that the Universe is a hologram. Latest calculations chime with a 1997 theory that reality is only perceived as 3-dimenisonal and is actually a 2-dimensional projection on the boundary of the universe. The new research could help reconcile one of modern physics' most enduring problems: the apparent inconsistencies between the different models of the universe as explained by quantum physics and Albert Einstein's theory of gravity.
In other fields of perception some researchers, such as Dr Masaru Emoto, have observed that energy, especially thought energy, can impact the physical properties of matter - like water. Early experiments showed that water reacted consistently to various stimuli including thought and music as it was being frozen. Water frozen next to classical music such as Mozart froze in the shape of a snowflake, when frozen next to heavy metal music it froze in a shattered image.
When thoughts and prayer were applied in a similar fashion, there were again consistent photographed results - where negative thoughts caused the water to freeze in a shattered-like state, while positive thoughts resulted in the water freezing in complex, snowflake patterns. This would suggest that the first school of thought of gaining ascendancy of over our thoughts - not by going outside of them, but rather mastering them - is backed up by this research.
Many people struggle to believe what they can't see and even though a lot of controversy surrounds his work, Dr Emoto hopes that his extensive research and photographs will give people physical evidence that there may be more intriguing forces at work in the universe then many of us know about, and that we may use these forces by embracing positive thoughts and exhibiting high levels of emotion, such as love and gratitude. Other experiments have also shown that where more people concentrate on the same thought, the outcome is strengthened.
What to do in uncertainty
So what do the experts say we must do when we are unsure about a decision we need to make? Well, the second school of thought says that if we want to know "how" to proceed with our inner-journey, we must understand that even the finest mental process cannot deliver us beyond what are its own inherent limitations. From this unique inner-vantage point something altogether new, some unthinkable leap is needed if we are to successfully bridge the gap between this "limited" mental world and the new life beyond our selves.
The theory goes that as you begin to realise the true restrictions of living from what they describe as a thought-dominated self, you will no longer ask "how" because part of your new realisation will include the understanding that this habitual question of "how" to get outside of yourself is actually arising from the same life-level you are trying to leave.
The first school of thought believes that the "how" of something can be crucial to make us consciously aware of our thoughts, and thus we take control of them. I prefer not to see self-mastery as a concept of domination - either of our thoughts over us of which we must escape or which we must bullfight like a matador to win into submission - but as an equal partnership of synergistic harmony.
If our thoughts are so powerful, then we need to understand their influence in our lives, not to release ourselves from them, but to work in partnership with that power as we become more conscious of its abilities. However, there are times, too, that initially we may not need to focus so much on the "how" of something to gain its benefits. For example, when practising tantric sex in a trusting relationship, I often say that you don't need to know the "how" to feel the "Pow"! But this is more in times when we have to let go of thought, and move more on instinct; in a synergistic relationship with our mind we will know at what times it needs to take a stronger role in our lives, and at what times it should take a back seat. This is what a harmonious relationship of all components working together is all about, because there is not one ideal theory for all occasions. Neither is there one-size-fits-all cure for every individual.
However, to achieve this synergistic partnership with your thoughts and self is a lengthy process, it takes time. For the Buddha it was a lifelong journey; many great thinkers will often say that learning never ends, and we really learn nothing. Yet, at important stages of our inner-development there may be times when it will seem to us as though there is no way out. In those situations which we don't have the time to use our Divine Perspective - in what I call heat-of-the-moment episodes - the second school of thought can be helpful. When you feel trapped, or unsure, there is something better you can do in place of feeling trapped.
Adherents instruct that each time you reach the point of self-uncertainty where you know you must take a step, but you also know that you can no longer ask "how", just go ahead and step forward anyway! Step into the "now" of the moment. Step into what appears to be the darkness in front of you. It can be frightening to NOT look before you jump (as we have been often told the opposite) but it can be exhilarating, too.
It's believed that a decision in favour of a bold new action thrusts you into the spiritual now where the actual moment itself teaches you everything you need to know about how to proceed. Moving away from the mental how into the spiritual now places you under the guiding influences of an intelligence that never fears the unknown because higher understanding is its very nature. This new order of intelligence does for you what you were certain you could not do for yourself. It solves the dilemma; it finds the way. All you need to do is follow.
When you're in a tight spot, it doesn't matter how reluctantly you take your first step into the spiritual now. What does matter is that you take the action. If you will do your part, the truth of the situation will take care of the rest. Adherents to this second school of thought say this explains why the true spiritual life is said to be pathless. When it comes to leaving the mental world behind, there is no path outside of each step to be taken.
Thus, such proponents suggest that the clearer we can make for ourselves the difference between the mental how and the spiritual now, the easier it becomes to depart from the one which is to enter the other. It helps us not to be so fixated on what we know, but more open to the possibilities of what we can be. For example:
- Living from the mental how: We often fear what we can't understand. Living in the spiritual now: We understand that fear is a mental mistake.
- Living from the mental how: We seek answers for tormenting questions. Living in the spiritual now: We understand that there is no intelligence in torment so we simply drop those questions.
- Living from the mental how: We look to the past to help guide us to a secure future. Living in the spiritual now: There is freedom from the past and no thought for tomorrow because we are living fully in a painless present.
- Living from the mental how: We are reluctant to admit when we are wrong. Living in the spiritual now: We are free from the punishing need to pretend that we are always right.
- Living from the mental how: We spend valuable time looking back in regret over past events. Living in the spiritual now: The past exists only for practical purposes and never as a source of pain or problems.
You may want to make your own list. By contrasting these two inner-conditions it will become increasingly clear to you which of these two worlds you really want to live in. Take what resonates with you, and utilise it in your own life. Taking a blind leap of faith may not always work, but in the heat of the moment take hold of the tail of truth, and it will often lead you out of danger zone. This may also mean taking you out of your comfort zone, and that's a choice you must make. Whether you do that with your "heart" or your "mind" possibly matters less then you do it at all. Remember, our energy flows where our attention goes.
The syngenesis of life
New quantum theory accounts for both the internal and external mechanism that shape reality. Most mathematical theory explaining the operations of physical nature negates the central fact that cognition as an observer of reality adds an entirely new dimension to how we co-exist and co-create our lives.
The impact of human consciousness on reality, apart from the behaviour-action consequences, is believed to be largely due to the quantum dynamics of nerve terminals that create the link between nerve cells in the brain. This transfer of energy between synapses is just one known source of thought-energy or vibration, which studies have also shown can impact the past, the present and the future. Dr. Neil Bohr said that anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it - and we still have a long way to go.
When Bohr and his assistant Werner Heisenberg came to Albert Einstein to tell him it looked like the minds of the researchers were affecting the results of the experiments, it was suggested that the mind was inexorably linked to matter. Although Einstein professed to not believing in a personal God, he later said, "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble."
In other words reality can't be inherently understood as per the messages we receive from our human senses alone; but to date our perception of the world has been moulded by religious suppositions and past scientific discovery. Yet clinging to past perspectives will not reveal nor describe the secrets of human consciousness and its impact on the universe, experts say.
The idea that human beings are merely sensory animals designed to experience reality passively can't co-exit in conjunction with new discoveries in quantum science. Instead new data shows that we are consciously, or unconsciously, influencing and creating the results we experience in our everyday lives. Therefore, it would be correct to say that when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Going back to the start of the article, think back to those moments where it feels like your banging your head against a wall. Then consider this: The subatomic structure of solid mass makes up less than 1% of an atom's size. Some scientists have observed that the distance between orbiting electrons and the nucleus of an atom can be compared to the distance between continents, and the distance between atoms and a solid object may be compared to the vastness between planets.
The billions and billions of atoms that we're made of are mostly empty space, so despite there being so many of them, without that space our body would compress into a tiny volume. The nucleus of the atom, which makes up the vast bulk of its matter is so much smaller than the whole structure that it is comparable to the size of a fly in a cathedral. Therefore, it may be counter-intuitive, but like our bodies, a brick wall is mostly empty space. Walls do not exist unless we bring them into our range of perception.
A landmark psychology study conducted by Prof Daniel Simons and Prof Christopher Chabris in 1999 at Harvard University showed that we miss a lot of what goes on around us, and what we perceive is based on how we deploy our attention. In essence perception is not reality, but it becomes so when we believe only what we know and disregard other possibilities. If our mentality becomes our reality, then changing the way we view thought and its relationship to the physical world must proceed any advancement and enhancement of our own current conditions.
You are today where your thoughts have brought you, and you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. Thought is power, and awareness can be curative. Thoughts can change the world. Your thoughts can change your world.
But how can I balance myself when I am so affected by everything? This is a question my readership often email in to ask me. Whenever I have a problem of any kind, I always begin by reminding myself that thoughts can change the world, and to think positive. I say it aloud, because our verbal descriptions of reality can create a tension loop that affects our emotional and mental state.
Shifting your verbal descriptions to more positive ones is part of the process; you can explore a stabilising energy meditation that unites your body and mind. Take your time, breathe, and guide yourself through these steps:
- Imagine that you are uniting the energy of your parts: your body energy, your mind energy, and your heart/soul energy. Pretend that they are all made of energy, weaving together in harmony.
- Sense, or imagine this unified energy from all your parts smoothly flowing through you. Perhaps you feel it as gentle waves, or a subtle warmth, or a mild tingling energy. It's OK if it seems that you're just making it up.
- Breathe in the energy that flows through your body - just imagine that you are easily and comfortably doing this.
- Relax into the feeling. You are breathing easily. Your unified energy is flowing. Just be with your energy presence, however you experience it.
Now you are starting to experience a balanced inner feeling that reduces tension. It reorients you to the state of grace. This centred feeling supports your practice of learning to describe events in non-dramatic, neutral language. It can help you float up to the Divine Perspective point, and help you to become unattached and view things from a distance.
When you practice freeing yourself from your own needlessly dramatic loops, you discover that you are practising a spiritual path of conscious wisdom. Perhaps you had supposed that this path was only available to special spiritually awakened people. And yet, these abilities can be practised by anyone.
Read about the power of meditation.
In short, you are learning to step back from dramatic descriptions. You generate neutral descriptions of reality. You bring yourself back to your centre. And this frees you to access your inner peace and divine soul wisdom. It's profound, but you can do it. You don't have to remain caught in the tension habit. And you don't have to wait until you are enlightened to free yourself.
Love is the true balancer in life.
Higher states of consciousness are a set of choices and behaviours. You can access the healthy states any time, by choosing the balanced behaviours. Below is a powerful centring meditation that helps transmute tension. Use it when you feel affected by everything:
- Let yourself breathe into your body. Imagine a vast inner imaginary space within you, where the energy of your soul shines brightly. It's OK if it seems that you're just making it up.
- Imagine that the energy of your arms and legs is weaving together with the energy of your body. Imagine that as the parts of your body unite, you feel the gentle warmth of life energy in your body.
- Sense the layers of tension. Let the tension layers gently dissolve into your inner bright soul energy. Imagine that your soul recycles the old tension energy into refreshing new energies.
- Dissolve the layers gradually, and one layer at a time. Be gentle with yourself. Honour when you make even small shifts.
- Notice how each little shift feels. This itself is an empowering and inspiring discovery.
This meditation helps create a centred state of consciousness, so that you can quietly look at your life from a deeper, more balanced perspective, or give you the ability to detach yourself and levitate your view to a more divine position. You can notice the dramatic words that you may be using. You can let yourself make the shift from dramatic expressions to neutral terms.
This helps you create friendly balance between your mind and your body. It is easier to breathe. Your body awareness keeps you centred. Your soul wisdom is available for you. And you can think more clearly.
In such moments of peaceful clarity, you are rediscovering your ability to choose balanced states of consciousness, even amidst everything that is happening. Thus the decisions you make, the actions you take, the thoughts you generate, all work harmoniously in a synergism that takes you with every breath closer into union with your centre, and with the divine truth that lives within you.
Yours in love,
