It has been said that our entire lives are just preparation for the few brief moments that really matter. Aside from those precious fleeting moments, the rest is autopilot. Days slip through our fingers like grains of sand while we act out scripts. Nor are these the scripts of an exciting play; it would be one thing if the playbook of life were full of fun and excitement, but all too often the stories of our lives read more like tax returns. As kids, we were conditioned by school and church to be model citizens, until we forgot that there was ever any other way to live. And then we grew up and got jobs, working so we could survive and surviving so we could work. But this is not how life has to be. It's never too late to grab the helm once more, to disengage the autopilot and reclaim our destinies!
RESOLVE TO TAKE CONTROL
The first step we can take toward liberation from our robotic programming is simply to make a firm resolution to reclaim command. This decision is so easy, and yet so few people manage to climb this crucial rung. This step is thought crime, a little personal revolution. We've all been brought up to be good citizens, but they can't control what we think. They can try, but only we can hand over the keys. And we can take the keys back.
ASSUME COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY
Once we've officially resolved that we want back into the driver's seat, the next step is to stop passing the buck. I might not be strong enough yet to break the routines and habits of life, but my resolution has generated the courage to accept that I'm on this path because I put myself here. Whatever my circumstances, the only person who's ever had ultimate power over me was myself. I might work long hours to create wealth for men and women I've never even met, but I'm the one who decided to apply for the job. I'm the one who signed the contract, but the contract was never really valid because it always lacked full disclosure: they never told me I was selling my soul! They cannot enforce it, and I could choose to quit any time I wanted.
This stage is not an action stage but a mental stage. In this stage, we're conditioning our minds, or rather un-conditioning them, to more accurately reflect reality. In this stage, you might wake up and you really don't feel like going to work. Rather than thinking, "I have to go to work even though I don't want to", instead think "I'm choosing to go to work even though I don't want to." This is a more accurate model of reality because there's no physical law forcing you to go labor away. Again, when you're veging out, rather than thinking "I'm lazy", think instead "I'm choosing to veg out." This crucial mental shift will prepare us to reclaim sovereignty over our lives.
LIVE IN THE NOW
Once you've conditioned your mind to automatically, effortlessly assume responsibility for the things in your life, you're well on the way to taking full control. The next step is to shift your focus toward the here and now. The future and past are not real: you'll never wake up and say "Aha, it's finally the future!" You never woke up and said "Aha, it's the past!" Even if you had a time machine and travelled a thousand years forward or back, it would still be the present to you. The present time is the only one in which you'll ever live, and it's the only one from which you can exert Control.
All of life is just preparation for the few fleeting moments which matter. These instants are like pivots, joints in an otherwise rigid structure: the scripted autopilot life, with only a handful of points to change course. These pivots are the points when we realize presence, when we wake up completely and make totally conscious decisions. They often occur in times of upheaval and change, when unforeseen turns in the road knock us out of whatever rut we're in: we're forced to rechart our career plan, we discover the love of our lives, and so on. But the truth is, by living in the present, we can make every moment one of these crucial hinges. The rigidly structured life suddenly evolves into a fluid, flexible, living thing of beauty. The playbook gives way to a totally improvised dance, adlib and free.
MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS
When you succeed in the previous steps, you find yourself suddenly free from the traps and chains of the world, or rather you understand that they were always illusionary, from the very beginning. The last step in taking control is to break the tyranny of your own thoughts. You are not your mind-- you are something far more profound and deep, and your mind is just a tool. Afterall, how could you "hear" your own thoughts, if you were those thoughts?
When we think a thought repetitively, it becomes habit. As more and more thought-habits are created, the mind becomes more and more a tyrant. Trying to stop thoughts by brute force is futile, but there is a way to dismantle thought addictions. A method that's been independently discovered by countless gurus from every nation and every belief system, a technique which is beautiful in its sheer elegance. The method of passive observation. Simply observe your thoughts, without attempting to change them, revise them, or silence them. This amazingly simple act will weaken the habits, and gradually dismantle them. As old mental patterns dissolve, we become the masters of our very thoughts!
WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE IN CONTROL OF LIFE?
Imagine your boss walks up and tells you he needs you to work over the weekend. You, of course, would rather not do that. What would the in-control you do in this situation, the you who has mastered all the steps outlined above, the you who has taken full control of life? This sovereign human being will politely decline, and tell the boss to find someone else. There is no fear of being fired, because when you live in the present moment, you suddenly become aware of such amazing abundance all around you that there's no need to work like a dog in exchange for tablescraps. Neither is there any hatred or irritation toward the boss, for behind their suits and ties, we see that our overlords are human beings just like us. We understand they are just our fellow players in the game of life; maybe they're at a higher level than us materialistically, but ultimately they're dancing the same dance.
When I first met my girlfriend, doing laundry together, she was so beautiful when she smiled she seemed like an angel. I'm so glad I was in control of my life, because if I hadn't been, I could've quickly run away. Instead I easily opened an immediate connection with her, and asked her on a date within minutes. Over the next couple of weeks our interactions were spontaneous and outright playful, leading effortlessly and naturally into passionate romance. When you live in the moment, it's like when you were a young child at play. The carefree joy that attends to you will flow out and infect people around you. When you're master of your own mind, you stop overanalyzing things, making you immune to things like fear of rejection, and you just go.
There will always be setbacks. A North Korean prisoncamp worker who Takes Control won't magically have her stomach filled with food. But the challenges of life transform from terrifying monsters in the dark, into minorly annoying shadows in the daylight. As the Biblical David sang, "Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." The very worst thing that can happen is death, and even that loses its menace when you take control.
FURTHER READING
How To Contribute To Society
10 Metaphors About Life
Short Story: The Balancing Beetles
Positive Affirmations
RESOLVE TO TAKE CONTROL
The first step we can take toward liberation from our robotic programming is simply to make a firm resolution to reclaim command. This decision is so easy, and yet so few people manage to climb this crucial rung. This step is thought crime, a little personal revolution. We've all been brought up to be good citizens, but they can't control what we think. They can try, but only we can hand over the keys. And we can take the keys back.
ASSUME COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY
Once we've officially resolved that we want back into the driver's seat, the next step is to stop passing the buck. I might not be strong enough yet to break the routines and habits of life, but my resolution has generated the courage to accept that I'm on this path because I put myself here. Whatever my circumstances, the only person who's ever had ultimate power over me was myself. I might work long hours to create wealth for men and women I've never even met, but I'm the one who decided to apply for the job. I'm the one who signed the contract, but the contract was never really valid because it always lacked full disclosure: they never told me I was selling my soul! They cannot enforce it, and I could choose to quit any time I wanted.
This stage is not an action stage but a mental stage. In this stage, we're conditioning our minds, or rather un-conditioning them, to more accurately reflect reality. In this stage, you might wake up and you really don't feel like going to work. Rather than thinking, "I have to go to work even though I don't want to", instead think "I'm choosing to go to work even though I don't want to." This is a more accurate model of reality because there's no physical law forcing you to go labor away. Again, when you're veging out, rather than thinking "I'm lazy", think instead "I'm choosing to veg out." This crucial mental shift will prepare us to reclaim sovereignty over our lives.
LIVE IN THE NOW
Once you've conditioned your mind to automatically, effortlessly assume responsibility for the things in your life, you're well on the way to taking full control. The next step is to shift your focus toward the here and now. The future and past are not real: you'll never wake up and say "Aha, it's finally the future!" You never woke up and said "Aha, it's the past!" Even if you had a time machine and travelled a thousand years forward or back, it would still be the present to you. The present time is the only one in which you'll ever live, and it's the only one from which you can exert Control.
All of life is just preparation for the few fleeting moments which matter. These instants are like pivots, joints in an otherwise rigid structure: the scripted autopilot life, with only a handful of points to change course. These pivots are the points when we realize presence, when we wake up completely and make totally conscious decisions. They often occur in times of upheaval and change, when unforeseen turns in the road knock us out of whatever rut we're in: we're forced to rechart our career plan, we discover the love of our lives, and so on. But the truth is, by living in the present, we can make every moment one of these crucial hinges. The rigidly structured life suddenly evolves into a fluid, flexible, living thing of beauty. The playbook gives way to a totally improvised dance, adlib and free.
MASTER YOUR THOUGHTS
When you succeed in the previous steps, you find yourself suddenly free from the traps and chains of the world, or rather you understand that they were always illusionary, from the very beginning. The last step in taking control is to break the tyranny of your own thoughts. You are not your mind-- you are something far more profound and deep, and your mind is just a tool. Afterall, how could you "hear" your own thoughts, if you were those thoughts?
When we think a thought repetitively, it becomes habit. As more and more thought-habits are created, the mind becomes more and more a tyrant. Trying to stop thoughts by brute force is futile, but there is a way to dismantle thought addictions. A method that's been independently discovered by countless gurus from every nation and every belief system, a technique which is beautiful in its sheer elegance. The method of passive observation. Simply observe your thoughts, without attempting to change them, revise them, or silence them. This amazingly simple act will weaken the habits, and gradually dismantle them. As old mental patterns dissolve, we become the masters of our very thoughts!
WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE IN CONTROL OF LIFE?
Imagine your boss walks up and tells you he needs you to work over the weekend. You, of course, would rather not do that. What would the in-control you do in this situation, the you who has mastered all the steps outlined above, the you who has taken full control of life? This sovereign human being will politely decline, and tell the boss to find someone else. There is no fear of being fired, because when you live in the present moment, you suddenly become aware of such amazing abundance all around you that there's no need to work like a dog in exchange for tablescraps. Neither is there any hatred or irritation toward the boss, for behind their suits and ties, we see that our overlords are human beings just like us. We understand they are just our fellow players in the game of life; maybe they're at a higher level than us materialistically, but ultimately they're dancing the same dance.
When I first met my girlfriend, doing laundry together, she was so beautiful when she smiled she seemed like an angel. I'm so glad I was in control of my life, because if I hadn't been, I could've quickly run away. Instead I easily opened an immediate connection with her, and asked her on a date within minutes. Over the next couple of weeks our interactions were spontaneous and outright playful, leading effortlessly and naturally into passionate romance. When you live in the moment, it's like when you were a young child at play. The carefree joy that attends to you will flow out and infect people around you. When you're master of your own mind, you stop overanalyzing things, making you immune to things like fear of rejection, and you just go.
There will always be setbacks. A North Korean prisoncamp worker who Takes Control won't magically have her stomach filled with food. But the challenges of life transform from terrifying monsters in the dark, into minorly annoying shadows in the daylight. As the Biblical David sang, "Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." The very worst thing that can happen is death, and even that loses its menace when you take control.
FURTHER READING
How To Contribute To Society
10 Metaphors About Life
Short Story: The Balancing Beetles
Positive Affirmations
Posts
2 comments:
It is almost as if you write these articles based directly on my life at the most crucial time. Some call it Fate... lol
Yea dude this is THE post.
Next step... apotheosis
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