Conditioning

Do you ever wonder who you really are? So much of our parent’s identity is embroiled within us. We are taught how to think and what is expected of us and we just merrily go along or choose the direct opposite just to rebel. But what of us is really our own? And how can we trust what we believe to be our truth when we have been so influenced?

I see it now with my own children and their friends, to hear their discussions, which are a direct interpretation of the parents ranting and beliefs. It is amazing. I even hear my own children representing my beliefs or my husband’s ideas as their own opinions. They tend to like what we like, probably because that is all they know. Then they take on the likes of peers only to fit in. But they grow up claiming likes and dislikes which are only conditioned habits and familiar behaviors. How could we ever really form non influenced opinions?

Makes me wonder how much of a robot I really am. In my line of work, I regularly help people overcome and clear past negative conditioning. Nice to clear out the unhappy emotions that hold them back, but what about the positive conditioning, is it not still conditioning, and has it not helped form who they are? What if that is not who they are at all? What if all the encouragement and congratulations and hints of what they are good at sent them down a path that is pretty good, but it was not really their real path. Could this be why so many potentially happy people with nice jobs and families still seem only pleasantly happy but not clearly joyful and content with their lives?

Who are you really, apart from everything your parents and teachers and mentors suggested that you were? Have you hit your core truth? That feeling, beyond everything else, that says, yeah… this is exactly where I am supposed to be and I am doing exactly what I was destined to do! I can feel it in my soul!

Did you see the movie The Matrix? Ever wonder if you are living a life programmed by someone else? Perhaps we are just brains in a vat playing out a silly drama in our minds. And if that’s the case, could we change the play and the roles simply by thinking it so? If you realized the full extent of your conditioning would you seek to change it all or just not make waves and continue along?

Groundhog Day and Parallel Lives

Rana, I liked your last comments, very wise…. And yes, the movie ‘Groundhog Day’ gives us reason to ponder… What if we are playing the same life time over and over and over again making only subtle changes? We like to believe in past lives, that’s all very interesting and appealing…. But what if, like in the movie Groundhog Day, we are actually reliving the SAME lifetime over a thousand times? Readers, if you have not seen the movie Groundhog Day… check it out, it’s very interesting.

We have all had those experiences of Deja Vu, maybe that is because we actually have been in the exact situation before, thousands of times. Perhaps the Deja Vu is a flash reminder that you have done this situation WAY TOO MANY times in the exact same way and it is time to play it out differently.

The theory of parallel lives says that for every decision you make another part of you made the opposite decision to see how it would play out and at this very moment you are playing out thousands of variables at the same time. We only consciously experience the awareness of one at a time for simplicity. But if we wanted to, we could expand our minds to tap into what our other parts are doing. Perhaps we glimpse some of this when we are dreaming?

So, when you decide to marry Bob and have a family, at that moment another aspect of you said no to Bob and pursued a wonderful career. The larger you, or oversoul is playing out all options to see what it likes. But your consciousness remains here with this decision and plays it out.

But, either pathway may be repeated, over and over, until you find your happiness or joy. For our happiness and joy has nothing to do with whether we marry Bob or not. The externals are just interesting stimulus; the pathway home is about finding our peace and joy. What if you are going to be you for another hundred lifetimes?

meditation and self worth

On my last note, Heather commented that she would like to meditate more to experience bliss, but lacks the focus and discipline. Well, I hear that at every meditation class I teach. Heather, you are correct… our past conditioning does become part of the problem. We live in a society that values accomplishment. We are a community that respects hard work and frowns on sloth and unproductive activity. Through the years we have all heard comments such as…"What are you doing? Sitting around gazing at your navel?" “Get going and make your self useful!” It is drilled into our minds that activity is good, sitting around is bad. So now we try to teach a stressed out society to relax, sit still, and think of nothing….And that idea must fight against generations of conditioning.

But the real question is… has our past conditioning brought us happiness and peace? If your answer is no, then there must be a different way. The foundational principal of hard work and being busy, is about proving your worth, yet if you believed in your own worth, and inherent value as a person you would not strive to prove your worth to anyone. So let’s relax, meditate, find our peace and happiness and not even think about how others perceive us. We love us, and we know that we are perfect in the eyes of the Divine, and if the creator is happy why worry about what others think?

Thank you for your comments. Do not be afraid to sign them. If you don't want others to know who you are, then let's make us names. Sign your comments with the name you always wanted to be called, or a spirit name you would like to have. This way if you continue to comment others can follow your line of thinking and begin to know you as an entity, even if you are writing as 'freebird' or some such name.

I want to speak to the comments on bliss. It is a good question for those of us who have had moments of bliss. Why do we so easily forget and continue on with the mundane. Why would we not seek to continue and recreate that state of bliss? I think it has a lot to do with worthiness. Do we really feel that we deserve a life of peace, bliss and abundance? If life gets too smooth and wonderful, do we begin to feel guilty and uncomfortable? Do we then subconsciously create a crisis so that we are more like other people? How would you feel if your life was fantastic while your friends were struggling with complicated problems? When people ask how you are doing, will you say fantastic, and be excited, or do you feel the need to scrape up a problem to discuss because everyone else is sharing their tough life stories. Would it be bad to have a great life when others don't?

Perhaps we don't seek bliss because we don't really believe it is a possibility in this world. Or if it were possible, it may be awkward to be the only one experiencing it, or perhaps people would think us delusional. Better to fit in and be unhappy and complain!

Another comment was made that perhaps death brings the quiet and then we can sustain bliss. But... my experience, reading and research all lead to the conclusion that we continue after death and carry on with our life experience, just at a different level. I read somewhere that you cannot escape life through death but only through truth.

And so it seems that peace and bliss will never come to us uninvited, that if we don't seek it here and now, it does not just show up later. The activities of our lives, are shaping our afterlife. Death will solve nothing. It will only change the characters, never the situations.

So why wait...what could be more imporatnt than the path of peace, joy and happiness? I think it may be scary to ask ourselves, what kind of future and afterlife have the events of today created for me?

Metaphysics and Personal Peace

I often ask myself, why I love metaphysics. Is it that I am bored with the regular aspects of physical life? Is it that I am trying to escape playing the game everyone else likes to play? Or is it really this deep inner longing that there truely is something more. That all that we see around us isn't enough to satisfy the human spirit.

I suspect that our greatness lies hidden within snickering at our dramas of smallness and limitation. We have moments that we seem to rise above and something wonderful emerges and our brilliance comes shinning through. Ever had those moments where you just feel totally connected and that everyuthing is perfect? I hope you have because they are available.

The search through metaphysics, for me, is the search to find the key to sustaining these moments of connectedness, completion, and perfect peace. Afterall, what search could be more fulfilling than one that is heading towards perfect peace? I am talking about a state of being where all is well, you are content and at peace with yourself and the world. You are happy and feel that everything is ok as it is, and that the world is working itself out. Nothing bothers you, no one pulls you off balance, you just do the day with joy and contentment. Enjoying the people and circumstances around you no matter what they are.

I believe this is possible and perhaps it is our natural state of being. And so for me, the metaphysics of human behaviour is the study of all the influences that keep us from finding our peace. If peace is our natural state, then there is no use searching for peace, but the effort is better spent searching for the obstacles to peace , removing them and ...there you are....all peaceful, returned to your natural state.