Beyond Insecurity

Last month I wrote about ‘insecurity’ and how it may well be the root cause for all issues we, and the world, face today. To look beyond insecurity, and no doubt there is something beyond insecurity, we must first move beyond the limitations that this ‘insecurity’ has imposed upon us.

Is it really necessary though, that we keep looking for any fundamental cause for the state we find ourselves in now? Even assuming we could find the fundamental issue, what good would it do us while we are still caught in the old patterns, the conditioning that arose out of insecurity. None at all, because the conditioning itself demands that we either come to terms with it or try to change our lives, again, from within the conditioning that created the perceived need for change in the first place.

Perhaps there is a shortcut to moving beyond our conditioning. If we were to ask who is it who feels insecure? Who is it who identifies with insecurity? Who is it that continues to suffer the effects of insecurity? We might, just might, be able to step out of the old model. For it is only the continued identification with this old model that sustains it. We should be aware by now that where we put our energy, our attention, creates the world we live in. Yet while we insist on continuing to energise conflict we continue to live in a conflicted world.

To begin understanding this elusive ‘who’ we need to practice non judgement. All the time we judge a feeling, a thought, others, a situation or ourselves we are perpetuating the illusory state based upon insecurity. While we judge, and energise, we remain caught trying to find a way out, a release, yet it should be obvious by now that there is no way out of this illusion, at least not from within the mind-set that created it.

Common feedback to this suggestion is ‘too hard’ ‘I cannot do that’. Listen to yourself? Who is finding this idea challenging? The ‘who’ who is lost in the drama of course. Yet it is not necessary that we release all judgement in one moment, although this happens more often than we credit ourselves. The difficulty is seeing a mountain, an obstacle, so great that we are discouraged before we even begin the journey.

Even this self defeatist attitude is a product of insecurity. Accept the mountain, accept the idea that this is difficult, accept the thought you cannot do this, accept the thought that this is too hard. As you accept each thought, each feeling that arises, without judging those thoughts or feelings, what are you left with? More thoughts and feelings, naturally. Thoughts and feelings continue to arise whilst the consciousness remains polarised. Judgement guarantees ongoing polarisation. So whilst the consciousness from which all thoughts and feelings arise is conflicted, in a judgmental condition, conflict will continue to arise giving cause for action, further judgment. And so it goes.

By noticing a defeatist attitude and naming it but then moving on, releasing any attachment or judgement we return to a more balanced, harmonious state. With practice this becomes easier to notice and let go.

Acceptance then is the key, not returning to a murky past to try to discover why you have a murky past, simple acceptance. On a moment by moment basis. Not difficult at all. Each moment that you are conscious of thoughts and feelings is a moment of choice, to move beyond the old conditioning, or to energise the past. A past that has given you many experiences but does not allow the creation of a new reality.

As you practice non judgment, as you allow, as you accept it becomes increasingly obvious that the ‘who’ you were looking for doesn’t exist. The ‘who’ is a construct of the searching mind. After all, someone has to be searching! Don’t they! But with continued acceptance the need to search fades into irrelevance. When there is nothing to look for and no ‘searcher’ there is no ‘who’, there is no one holding onto a past built on insecurity. There is no one, nor any thing to clear, it is what it is.

Insecurity

If I were to ask most people if they were afraid, in that moment, most people would say no. If I asked them again in a stressful moment, they may say yes.

Insecurity is something that we all live with, in fact most of our decisions, our actions and our words are fear based. This may seem ridiculous, impossible, doesn’t apply to me! Yet the fact remains that insecurity is one of the most dominant ‘feelings’ in humankind today.

Insecurity shows up in many diverse ways, we often fail to realise it is insecurity based. Anxiety is a huge underlying issue yet ignored for the most part, ignored until it manifests as a problem. Then of course we try to ‘fix’ the manifesting problem, coming from a place of insecurity there is no fix possible, we simply add chaos and confusion to the situation having failed to recognise why it, the situation, arose in the first place.

If we look, in more detail, how it is possible that most decisions and actions are based on fear / anxiety it may be easier to recognise cause and effect and ‘do’ something positive about it, rather than wait for the issue to manifest and then have to do something about it. Denial is a wonderful ally but it doesn’t help you escape from who you are, in the bigger picture you are going to come up against all that you have avoided /denied. Best start working on it now, the sooner the better, before it manifests and forces you into another reactive situation.

It is easy to list areas in which fear / anxiety control our lives on both conscious and subconscious levels.

Health! A major aspect of our lives. While our lives are controlled by a media that has its own agenda we are easily manipulated into believing that we need to ‘do’ this, take that, buy this, practice this, avoid that, eat this, don’t eat that, get this check up, get that procedure.

If we don’t do as we are told then we are told there will be terrible consequences. The amount of information currently available is enormous, much of it conflicting. Who to believe! What to do? If we had no fear or anxiety then it is quite possible that we would not be affected by external forces that are trying to move us in particular directions. Being force fed a diet that has been designed to play upon deeply rooted fears we simply give more energy, consciously or otherwise, to those fears which allow them to manifest at some point.

For those who have been practicing clearing it is obvious that where we put our attention leads to a strengthening and eventual manifestation of that energy. Put your attention on anger, anger arises.

If you are afraid of contracting any disease, simply because the media tells you that you are in danger, a high risk case, then on a subconscious level fear has been triggered. Fear is going to be the force that allows the illness to manifest.. There may not be a great deal we can ‘do’ about old, inherited conditions, situations that we are not aware of until they become a problem. The more we practice not giving energy to that which shows up the more likely we are to lead relatively pain free lives simply because we no longer give energy to every little thing that shows up in our awareness.

Are you afraid of losing something? Health. Wealth. Material Possessions. Friends. Are you afraid of heights? Of being closed in? Of spiders? Of your neighbour? Are your fears anything more than a lack of awareness of your true nature? In all the years I have been practicing and teaching ‘clearing’ it has become obvious that fear is the root cause for all disease, for all poverty, for all discrimination, for all chaos, for all wars. It is the one simple fact that underlies our experience.

Fear arises from a lack of awareness, an awareness of our true nature, not the conditioned awareness that is so prevalent today. This lack of awareness is not something new, though the broadening knowledge of it is relatively new. While we continue to give energy to our subconscious, conditioned mind, fear will always play a great part in shaping the world we live in. It is not possible to create a new world while the majority of those who are wanting to create a new reality are still fear based.

We need to see these fears for what they truly are, a conditioned response brought about by mass hypnosis. Rather than face all of these fears individually, which are all imaginary anyway, we should simply address whatever shows up in our life, in our reality, in our mind and in our hearts. Recognise that for the most part these thoughts and feelings arise from subtle levels of fear and stop empowering them. Stop feeding them. Stop identifying with them. Stop being a part of the problem and become a part of the solution.

There are many who say that there is nothing wrong with the world, it is an illusion after all. But for those lost in the illusion, feeding and empowering the illusion, there is something drastically wrong. Until we can all wake up from the illusion there appears to be something to do, wrongs to right, issues to take sides over. All of which simply adds to the chaos, confusion and conflict thus perpetuating the belief in the illusion.

The practice. Notice thoughts and feelings; recognise, accept and let go of the feeling / thought before it becomes a problem. Don’t wait to deal with a problem when there was no problem to begin with.

Navigating Through a Challenging World

No matter who we are or where we are in life, issues arise that need dealing with. Some people appear to sail through life, while others find challenge and conflict that needs resolution around every corner.

Is there a part on this journey through life that we are ever in control? Or do we remain victims to circumstance no matter what we do or where we go? Do we play a part in creating the world ‘we’ live in?

I suspect that, for many lost in one drama or another there is rarely a moment when they are able to step, even momentarily, outside of the drama and question it or view it more objectively. Such is the nature of the ‘drama’ it is so totally absorbing that its reality is never questioned.

We may have been born free, meaning free from a past, although I believe this to be highly unlikely. However it doesn’t take long before we are lost once again in the drama, conditioned by those who became lost before us, parents and society in general. The conditioning is simply how to be in the physical world and survive, for as long as you can, the process.

This early childhood conditioning then can be seen as the training through which we can navigate our way through life. Yet the conditioning comes with a twist! First we are convinced, through no fault of our own, in the absolute reality of the world in which we find ourselves. Next, that in order to achieve anything of value we must put in effort, meaning we have to ‘do’ something to achieve those goals.

So, our conditioning has us believing in ‘our’ reality being the way, and all other realities, or perceptions thereof, to be lacking. This may lead to our trying to convince others of the rightness of our path. This leads to even more conflict as those on another path try to convince you of the rightness of their reality, or simply defend their own beliefs. We should be able to see, and understand, that any attachments we have to ‘our’ way of being leads inevitably to conflict. Religion is just one example of conflict arising out of a conditioned belief.

Society, no matter in which one you live, is constantly divided, the for and against – the haves and the have nots –the my way is right, meaning yours isn’t! So, on some level, likely driven by a sub-conscious energy, we are in a constant struggle to maintain a lifestyle that we believe is the right one. This translates out always having to ‘do’ something to maintain order in our lives. So early childhood training given us the tools and awareness to navigate through life but in themselves can be seen as the fundamental problem to a world without conflict.

If you are a Taoist, then you may see the world as simply Yin and Yang, constantly balancing each other out. One force arises, another arises in opposition. Keep multiplying this and pretty soon you are lost down so many rabbit holes you no longer know which way is up (or down!) And you create more complications for yourself as you try to deal with situations, personal – family, societal etc. Sub-consciously giving more energy to the situations that arise that in turn create more problems to be resolved.

Navigating through a conflicted world / reality becomes even more of a challenge and we seek new skills to employ to help us find our way. Those new skills can only exist within the framework around which your original assumptions / beliefs was built. So nothing really new, just looking at the problem from a different angle.

And so it goes for the many who continue to believe that in order to get more (wealth, happiness, etc) they need to do more convincing the rest of the world of the rightness of their conditioning.

And here we are, collectively dealing with so many energies that have been created, essentially out of nothing, maintaining the old status quo creating further conflict which then requires even more aggressive behaviour to maintain order!

So, how can we navigate in a way that is not going to keep conflict alive? Is there any need / desire to do this. If this planet and the third dimensional world that we seem to inhabit is a playground, then play on.

If this is you then there will have arisen no need to change the rules. You are, if not happy, then totally lost within your dream world, accepting it completely. Yet for some a moment has arisen that leads to questioning the world you live in, not the usual questions that arise from within a conflicted state but questions about the very nature of the reality you find yourself in.

While we remain attached to the past, the past will continue to unfold into the present and on into out future, no questions asked, no answers given. When we begin, along whatever path unfolds before us that has a hint of a possibility of a different way, we are drawn into a different world. Our values slowly change, our perceptions shift, our understanding expands, in doing so our attachment to the past gradually lessens. One of the understandings that may arise is explained by the Zen saying:

“Do a lot – achieve a little
Do little – achieve a lot
Do nothing – achieve everything”

As this becomes your reality the need to navigate falls away, opposition reduces, conflict lessens. Yet this will not happen without the past continuing to show up, demanding you ‘do’ something about something. For nothing arises from nothing, there has to be some stimulus giving rise to the situations that arise today. Like a great wave, a tsunami of energy, energy provided by the believers in their unique reality, that needs to be ridden, like a champion surfer. As the surfer becomes more proficient and goes with the energy instead of fighting it so challenges that appeared ‘real’ before no longer exist.

The need to navigate then arises from a misunderstanding. Correct that misunderstanding and the need no longer exists.

Just beware, if you walk this path, that the energy you have given to all aspects of your life in the past will continue to show up until the energy of the tsunami has been released fully.

Navigieren durch eine herausfordernde Welt

Egal, wer wir sind oder wo wir stehen im Leben, es tauchen immer wieder Probleme auf, mit denen wir umgehen müssen. Manche Menschen scheinen durch das Leben zu segeln, während andere hinter jeder Ecke auf Herausforderungen und Konflikte stossen, die gelöst werden müssen.

Gibt es auf dieser Reise durch das Leben einen Teil, den wir jemals unter Kontrolle haben? Oder bleiben wir Opfer der Umstände, egal was wir tun oder wohin wir gehen? Spielen wir eine Rolle bei der Erschaffung der Welt, in der”wir” leben?

Ich vermute, dass es für viele, die sich im einen oder anderen Drama verstrickt haben, nur selten einen Moment gibt, in dem sie in der Lage sind, aus dem Drama herauszutreten und es zu hinterfragen oder es objektiver zu betrachten. Es liegt in der Natur des “Dramas”, dass es uns so sehr in seinen Bann zieht, dass seine Realität nie in Frage gestellt wird.

Vielleicht wurden wir frei geboren, das heißt frei von einer Vergangenheit, obwohl ich das für sehr unwahrscheinlich halte. Es dauert jedoch nicht lange, bis wir uns wieder in dem Drama verlieren, konditioniert von denen, die sich vor uns darin verloren haben, den Eltern und der Gesellschaft im Allgemeinen. Die Konditionierung besteht einfach darin, wie man in der physischen Welt lebt und den Prozess so lange wie möglich überlebt.

Diese frühkindliche Konditionierung kann dann als das Training angesehen werden, durch das wir unseren Weg durch das Leben finden können. Doch die Konditionierung kommt mit einer Wendung! Zunächst sind wir ohne eigenes Verschulden von der absoluten Realität der Welt überzeugt, in der wir uns befinden. Als Nächstes wird uns eingeredet, dass wir uns anstrengen müssen, um etwas Wertvolles zu erreichen, das heißt, wir müssen etwas “tun”, um diese Ziele zu erreichen.

Durch unsere Konditionierung glauben wir also, dass “unsere” Realität die richtige ist und alle anderen Realitäten oder Wahrnehmungen davon unzureichend sind. Das kann dazu führen, dass wir versuchen, andere von der Richtigkeit unseres Weges zu überzeugen. Das führt zu noch mehr Konflikten, da diejenigen, die auf einem anderen Weg sind, versuchen, dich von der Richtigkeit ihrer Realität zu überzeugen oder einfach ihre eigenen Überzeugungen zu verteidigen. Wir sollten in der Lage sein zu erkennen und zu verstehen, dass jede Anhaftung an “unsere” Art zu sein unweigerlich zu Konflikten führt. Religion ist nur ein Beispiel dafür, wieaus einem konditionierten Glauben Konflikt entsteht.

Die Gesellschaft, egal in welcher du lebst, ist ständig gespalten, in Für und Wider – die Besitzenden und die Nichtbesitzenden – mein Weg ist richtig, deiner nicht! Auf einer gewissen Ebene, die wahrscheinlich von einer unterbewussten Energie angetrieben wird, befinden wir uns in einem ständigen Kampf, um einen Lebensstil aufrechtzuerhalten, den wir für den richtigen halten. Das bedeutet, dass wir immer etwas “tun” müssen, um die Ordnung in unserem Leben aufrechtzuerhalten. Das frühkindliche Training gibt uns die Werkzeuge und das Bewusstsein, um durch das Leben zu navigieren, kann aber auch als grundlegendes Problem für eine Welt ohne Konflikte angesehen werden.

Wenn du Taoist bist, dann siehst du die Welt vielleicht einfach als Yin und Yang, die sich ständig gegenseitig ausgleichen. Eine Kraft entsteht, eine andere entsteht als Gegenpol. Wenn du das immer weiter multiplizierst, verlierst du dich bald in so vielen Kaninchenlöchern, dass du nicht mehr weißt, wo oben (oder unten!) ist. Unbewusst gibst du den Situationen, die entstehen, mehr Energie, was wiederum zu mehr Problemen führt, die gelöst werden müssen.

Die Navigation durch eine konfliktreiche Welt/Realität wird zu einer noch größeren Herausforderung und wir suchen nach neuen Fähigkeiten, die uns helfen, unseren Weg zu finden. Diese neuen Fähigkeiten können nur innerhalb des Rahmens sein, auf dem deine ursprünglichen Annahmen/Glaubenssätze aufgebaut waren. Es gibt also nichts wirklich Neues, wir betrachten das Problem nur aus einem anderen Blickwinkel.

Und so geht es vielen, die weiterhin glauben, dass sie mehr tun müssen, um mehr zu bekommen (Reichtum, Glück usw.) und den Rest der Welt von der Richtigkeit ihrer Konditionierung zu überzeugen.

Und da sind wir nun und haben kollektiv mit so vielen Energien zu tun, die im Grunde aus dem Nichts entstanden sind und den alten Status quo aufrechterhalten, was zu weiteren Konflikten führt, die dann ein noch aggressiveres Verhalten erfordern, um die Ordnung aufrechtzuerhalten!

Wie können wir also auf eine Weise navigieren, die den Konflikt nicht am Leben erhält? Besteht überhaupt die Notwendigkeit / der Wunsch, dies zu tun? Wenn dieser Planet und die dreidimensionale Welt, die wir zu bewohnen scheinen, ein Spielplatz ist, dann spiel weiter.

Wenn du das bist, dann gibt es keinen Grund, die Regeln zu ändern. Du bist, wenn nicht glücklich, so doch völlig verloren in deiner Traumwelt und akzeptierst sie vollkommen. Doch für manche ist der Moment gekommen, in dem sie die Welt, in der sie leben, in Frage stellen, und zwar nicht die üblichen Fragen, die in einem konfliktreichen Zustand auftauchen, sondern Fragen über das Wesen der Realität, in der sie sich befinden.

Solange wir an der Vergangenheit festhalten, wird sich die Vergangenheit weiter in die Gegenwart und in unsere Zukunft hinein entfalten, ohne dass wir Fragen stellen oder Antworten geben. Wenn wir uns auf einen Weg begeben, der auch nur den Hauch einer Möglichkeit für einen anderen Weg enthält, werden wir in eine andere Welt gezogen. Langsam ändern sich unsere Werte, unsere Wahrnehmungen verschieben sich, unser Verständnis weitet sich aus und unsere Bindung an die Vergangenheit nimmt allmählich ab. Eines der Erkenntnisse, die entstehen können, wird durch das Zen-Sprichwort erklärt:

“Tue viel – erreiche wenig
Tue wenig – erreiche viel
Tue nichts – erreiche alles”.

Wenn dies zu deiner Realität wird, fällt das Bedürfnis zu navigieren weg, Widerstände werden weniger, Konflikte nehmen ab. Doch das wird nicht passieren, ohne dass die Vergangenheit weiterhin auftaucht und von dir verlangt, etwas zu “tun”. Denn nichts entsteht aus dem Nichts, es muss einen Anreiz geben, der zu den Situationen führt, die heute entstehen. Wie eine große Welle, ein Tsunami aus Energie, Energie, die von den Gläubigen in ihrer einzigartigen Realität bereitgestellt wird und die geritten werden muss, wie ein Meistersurfer. In dem Maße, in dem der Surfer geübter wird und mit der Energie mitgeht, anstatt sie zu bekämpfen, gibt es keine Herausforderungen mehr, die vorher “real” erschienen.

Das Bedürfnis, zu navigieren, entsteht dann aus einem Missverständnis. Korrigiere dieses Missverständnis und die Notwendigkeit besteht nicht mehr.

Wenn du diesen Weg beschreitest, solltest du dir bewusst sein, dass die Energie, die du in der Vergangenheit in alle Aspekte deines Lebens gesteckt hast, weiterhin auftauchen wird, bis die Energie des Tsunamis vollständig freigesetzt wurde.