Monday, February 26, 2007

A Challenging Thought, or Two...

"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose
something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome…”
--Helen Keller
Everyone is challenged by something.

One may have abundant financial wealth, but terrible relationships; or wonderful relationships, but a lack of resources. One may be challenged by gluttony, or looks, intelligence, or confidence; or perhaps one has the appearance of “having it all,” while housing some deep, dark, paralyzing secret.

Perhaps God, in Its infinite wisdom, has created a formula to be used in the perfection of our souls:

Human Birth = Challenge.

So what is challenge? It all depends upon who is looking, the belief system being embraced, and the scope of the individual’s perspective. To someone who believes their world to be defined by their current challenge, life might be perceived as an insurmountable experience. I refer to these ones as possessing the “Five Feet Away” perspective. But, from five feet away, one’s perspective is limited at best. These blessed souls often believe themselves to be the experience, and therein, often they embody the consciousness of victim.

I’ve been there. Over, done, next…!

Then there’s the “Fifty Feet Away” perspective. From here, we can see a little more; we’re slightly removed from the belief that we are our current experience. From fifty feet away, we are opening to the possibility of the law of cause and effect, or at least allowing for a Great Mystery operating in the lives of human beings. From this position, we progress to an almost Pollyannaish, oversimplified state of mentally viewing challenge as simply something to be overcome.

I’ve been here, too; and it was blessing in that, from this perspective, there were so many opportunities to learn about the Self. Partaking of the opportunities, we make mistakes. Mistakes turn into lessons learned. Lessons learned create gratitude (for having learned through our mistakes), and an awareness that perhaps it’s time to move on, to entertain a larger study about who we are and what we’re experiencing.

The “Five Hundred Feet Away” perspective is the beginning of another world, a different state of consciousness. From this viewpoint, we commence seeing rudimentary interactions between events, chosen actions, and other souls. Acknowledgment of the “Law of Cause and Effect” begins to emerge—simply because one begins to see and understand the “dance of actual and possible choices and variables.” From here, perhaps we begin to contemplate our lives more globally, incorporating: genetics, environment, lifestyle habits, stressors, choices, joys and passions, and previously unacknowledged variables, as well as those that remain unknown (and sometimes variables do remain unknown).

From five thousand feet, the magic begins. Not only can one more clearly see cause and effect, but the experience is almost one of becoming a player within a play. One can see the issue, see many possible moves, ponder the next move, and muse about what effect it will have, and whether that move creates desired outcome or not. We engage in more experimentation, after which each organism collects data and learns to self-correct—or not.

Perception from fifty thousand feet brings a more refined perspective, transporting the perceiver to the realm where one comprehends the workings of cause and effect more broadly and detachedly, almost like watching an interactive movie or play “in the round,” where the audience members participate in the outcome of the play. From here, boundaries between actor and audience begin to blur, and everything, including old beliefs are called into question. In a world where I am both audience and actor, perhaps everything is a reflection of everything else. Maybe ideals and concepts are less static and fixed, and thoughts, actions and ideologies exist in shades of grey, rather than black and white. Here, it is difficult to maintain a victim state of consciousness, and we find ourselves taking more responsibility for our lives, and beginning to clean up any “acts” that do not support our evolving viewpoint.

Five hundred thousand and five million feet and beyond hold everyday experiences for psychics, sages and Masters, whose sight transcends the veils of normal human perspective. From this position, all is perfect, nothing is out of place, and perhaps there is blissful appreciation and awe for the universe as a precise school, designed to help Divine Beings regain their ability to see, know and participate in the “play of Creation.”

Enter the experience of physical challenge. What relationship exists between physical challenge and perspective? Again, experience is colored by perspective. From five feet away, we are the physical challenge, rather than the challenge being an experience we are having! I don’t know, but perhaps this perspective breeds depression and victim-hood, despondency and tragedy. Authentically speaking, the five feet away perspective is a starting place for all of us; we all have to temporarily embody this state of consciousness, which has its virtues. It has something to teach us, and we cannot really know the Self if we only gloss over the incidents that, according to the “evidence of the senses,” appear to be negative. The wisdom that is available to us usually comes through consciously negotiating difficult experiences, rather than attempting to circumvent them.

In my life, I’ve learned so much through the experiences of: pain, surgeries, pain, multiple sclerosis, various other physical challenges, and a differently-abled body. Oh, and did I mention pain?? During many years of private practice as a hypnotherapist and counselor, and facilitating groups and workshops, I’ve also learned through the journeys of countless soul mates. I believe I’ve discovered that, while it may not be flawlessly possible every time, it is often within our reach to transcend identification with the physical experience; and this catapults us to a different state of consciousness (without drugs!) Sometimes, depending upon where we arrive, and what has brought us there, we are graced with the experience of knowing that: “I am more than the physical body.” Always—it enriches us.

Those are my thoughts, and I’m sticking to them (until my viewpoint evolves, of course!)

What do you think??