The Impermanence Of Form In Our Lives
Often
when I am writing on any of the various facets of metaphysics
and how the universe works, I am struck by how much one facet
is very much related to and tied to other facets, which in turn
are tied to others, which in turn are tied to others and that
ultimately it's all one whole. I then always end up coming to
the conclusion that it really almost doesn't matter where you
begin a discussion. You can begin just about anywhere. So rather
than viewing a discussion in terms of a continuum, with a starting
point on one end and a conclusion on the other, I view it more
as a sphere where you can begin at most any point and from there,
go in many different possible directions.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about and discussing with students, the subject of form and transforming and the idea that any form we experience in our lives is as accessible as any other. Related to this are the subjects of cycles and the impermanent nature of the universe and transcending. And so, in writing about this, I again asked myself where to begin? Well let's just begin.
Think about this. All of our current conditions and circumstances in our lives are just form in this physical world which is all about form. They are the form that your thoughts and beliefs have cast. You can also think of them as just an illusion; and that when it comes right down to it, you can have any illusion you desire, any personal reality. Any reality is as possible as the one you are now experiencing.
The Form Is Chosen By You, Not Assigned To You
Let's take the financial aspect and look at it as a continuum
for purposes of illustration--on one end the experience of homelessness
with no belongings and on the other end, Bill Gates. Now realize
this; from the perspective of your higher self, any stop along
that continuum is just as accessible as a personal reality as
any other. The universe makes no judgment, sees no stop as any
better or any worse than another. Any position is as good as
any other. Within the grand scheme of Infinite Mind, we have
total freedom to choose. So wherever we find ourselves along
the continuum, we are there because we have chosen to be--not
because the universe has assigned us there or said that's where
you deserve to be because that's all you are worthy of, or some
such. The universe doesn't care a twit about any of that--only
the ego, wanting to maintain the illusion of limitation, does.
The universe, being pure Principle doesn't see you as limited
in any way at all. Remember, this pure Principle is about energy,
totally unbiased and without judgment.
The reason
we are not moving easily, anywhere at will, within the continuum
of the illustration is that we have tended to solidify ourselves
into certain experiential "form". In other words, we
have identified with our circumstances and conditions so much
so that it seems that that is who we are. And we have taken on
that form. You see, you keep thinking that the current illusion
is something with permanence because it is all intricately tied
to all sorts of history and perception of self, a self that is
limited to only certain experiences and undeserving of many other
ones that seem totally unattainable. Well, guess what, this is
the essence of the illusion. And buying into it, as the ego (the
body of false and limited beliefs you have accepted) would have
you do, you have chosen to tie yourself to all of this history
and self-image stuff. Realize that our identity with the way
we are is the same as beliefs of who we are. We feel comfortable
with the identity. But the thing is, is that the identity is
totally arbitrary, based upon thoughts we choose, focus of attention
we choose and the beliefs we have accepted for ourselves.
We could as easily accept any other beliefs about ourselves and
choose other thoughts and focus of attention and, thereby, have
a different "formation" of experience. Our identities
are not assigned to us from an outside source. They are not written
in stone, not in the least. We have chosen them, maybe unconsciously
so, but chosen just the same. We have unconsciously become so
attached to current form that it almost seems we have made a
permanency out of it, though it's not totally permanent. The
reason we do that is that we either have things in our experience
we fear letting go of (an attachment) and / or we are fear that
other undesirable experiences may enter our life (resistance).
Thus we are resisting the flow of the universe.
I have pulled a number of statements from Eckhart Tolle, in his book, The Power Of Now, which describe this quite well. He says,
"As long as a condition is judged as "good" by your mind, whether it be a relationship, a possession, a social role, a place, or your physical body, the mind attaches itself to it and identifies with it. It makes you happy, makes you feel good about yourself, and it may become part of who you are or think you are."
"[This is not to say] that you should no longer appreciate pleasant or beautiful things or conditions. But to seek something through them that they cannot give - an identity, a sense of permanency and fulfillment - is a recipe for frustration and suffering… The more you seek happiness in this way, the more it will elude you. Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but you may need to experience many disillusionments before you realize that truth. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they will also give you pain. Things and conditions can give you pleasure, but they cannot give you joy. Nothing can give you joy. Joy is uncaused and arises from within as the joy of Being…It is your natural state, not something that you need to work hard for or struggle to attain."
"The happiness that is derived from some secondary source is never very deep. It is only a pale reflection of the joy of Being, the vibrant peace that you find within as you enter the state of nonresistance."
"To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease."
"The external conditions that were being resisted also tend to shift or dissolve quickly through surrender. It is a powerful transformer of situations and people. If conditions do not shift immediately, your acceptance of the Now enables you to rise above them. Either way, you are free."
Tolle also
provides us with another angle to the hardening of form.
"Non-surrender", he says, "hardens your psychological
form, the shell of the ego, and so creates a strong sense of
separateness. The world around you and people in particular come
to be perceived as threatening. The unconscious compulsion to
destroy others through judgment arises, as does the need to compete
and dominate. Even nature becomes your enemy and your perceptions
and interpretations are governed by fear…
Not only your psychological form but also your physical form
-your body - becomes hard and rigid through resistance. Tension
arises in different parts of the body, and the body as a whole
contracts. The free flow of life energy through the body, which
is essential for its healthy functioning, is greatly restricted."
Attachment and resistance indicate a doubt that the universe will provide better, a sort of faith, in fact, that the next form will be worse. And, though unintentionally, when you project your fears into the future and then resist them, you can almost be assured that it will be worse-at least from the perspective of your ego's assessment. However, as we know, from the higher perspective, the subsequent manifestation of your fears will be perfect because the new less preferred circumstances will have the potential of moving you to even greater awareness-the awareness that you should stop resisting and allow the universe to provide. And if you still do not get it and continue to resist, the universe, in its great wisdom and love will provide you more of what you are resisting. Hallelujah!!
But let's remember that now we are becoming more enlightened beings, acknowledging that we aren't just at the whim of whatever the universe decides to deliver us. We know that the way the universe works is that it can and will deliver ONLY according to our thoughts and focus of attention. So I suggest that we begin to break that seeming solidity of form and free ourselves that we might move around the reality possibility continuum. (I will provide you a powerful visualization to assist with this at the end of the article.) Surrender is a big part of this. Be willing to let go of all current stuff you fear losing and also don't attach to new forms as a condition of your happiness.
Impermanence Of The Universe Is Its Natural State
Now of course, we cannot totally freeze any form because the universe is impermanent. Impermanence is its nature. Yet, we certainly do manage to restrict ourselves from moving around within the possibility continuum. We observe the impermanence of the universe in the cycles of life that we observe in our world. Tolle states this rather nicely, as well when he says,
"But nothing lasts in this dimension where moth and rust consume. Either it ends or it changes, or it may undergo a polarity shift: The same condition that was good yesterday or last year has suddenly or gradually turned into bad. The same condition that made you happy, then makes you unhappy. The prosperity of today becomes the empty consumerism of tomorrow. The happy wedding and honeymoon become the unhappy divorce or the unhappy coexistence. Or a condition disappears, so its absence makes you unhappy. When a condition or situation that the mind has attached itself to and identified with changes or disappears, the mind cannot accept it. It will cling to the disappearing condition and resist the change. It is almost as if a limb were being torn off your body."
All of our suffering and unhappiness is a result of resisting the change, the fear of letting go and allowing the universe to continue its ongoing march of change. We may not be happy with what we have now, but it is known, and we think that is better than the unknown that we fear will likely be worse. Clearly, change is as natural as it is ongoing and unstoppable. So we may as well just accept the impermanence and cease resisting. The thing is that when we allow forms to die by letting go of them, we are open to the universe replacing them with something better for us, consistent with who we are at any particular time.
Everything the masters have been trying to teach us has to do with the idea that any form is instantly possible for us and that the only thing that makes it not so is our inability to believe it is so. And the reason we have limited belief is because we have bought into the illusion of mass belief rather than Ultimate Truth. And mass consciousness is convinced of the limitations of time and space. In other words, the Masters like Jesus healed instantly, changed water into wine, walked on water, etc. Now from the perspective of mass belief, these feats are called miracles because, though they manifest in physical ways, they seem to go against the illusion of limitations we have accepted as natural. But the teachings tell us, "All of this and more you also can do." We have difficulty believing we can make such dramatic changes instantly; however, we do allow ourselves to do so over a period of "time". A Course In Miracles tells us that miracles are the natural way and something is askew in our thoughts (i.e., beliefs in limitation) if we are not experiencing them.
Breaking The Bonds Of The World
Let us not forget that we are bound to the laws of the world
to the extent that we think we are. And it is our mass conscious
acceptance and agreement upon lack, limitation and illness that
keeps us bound. Our trip here in this physical realm is to learn
that we have the power to transcend limiting ideas. Ultimate
truth itself cannot be transcended. It is absolute. However,
these physical limitations that we have agreed upon in this space-time
realm can be transcended. When we allow these so-called miracles,
we are transcending the limited thinking of the world. When we
move from bondage to freedom, that is transcending; when we live
in abundant prosperity, health, joy and happiness, that too is
transcending them. The evidence of transcendence, to a large
extent, are these desired physical manifestations that have come
into our lives--not through will of the personality but through
working in harmony with spiritual law. When we live our lives
in the illusion that we are limited beings only, unable to transcend
what has been agreed upon by mass consciousness, we are not living
in harmony with spiritual laws. Keep in mind that the critical
element in transcendence, as the masters demonstrate for us,
is faith--by that I mean the idea of "believing BEFORE seeing".
Your Power Is In The Present
So much of metaphysical and spiritual teachings emphasize the importance of the present moment. That's because all of our power is in the present and all of our limitations and seeming problems exist within time, the past and the future. It is because we mostly keep our focus in the past or in the future that we conclude that the Law of Attraction (L of A) is not working in our lives. Oh, what a mistaken notion this is. Realize that every moment of your life, as it is right now, you ARE creating via Law of Attraction. You can't not do it. You are energy and you are attracting like energy. It's just how the universe works. The L of A is working perfectly, always. We are creating the content of our worries about the future or keeping in experience all of our limiting thoughts of the past by dwelling on the hurts and dramas of past experience. When we "surrender" to the moment, we are letting go of "resistance" to what is, as well as to what we fear may come as we project into the future. And in surrender, the channels open and we allow the universe to bring better experiences into our lives. The universe knows what you want. You don't have to ask over and over and "work" on what you want to create. Focus of attention is more powerful than work. (When I refer to work, I am talking about mental work, not about any action taking you may be guided to do. Any doing type action will come naturally and not seem like work.)
We would be much better off just being in the moment expressing appreciation and thanks for what is NOW. Expression of gratitude is one of the most powerful Spiritual practices you can do. It is a form of giving to life, and it is a Universal Principle that giving opens the way for receiving. Giving and receiving go-together. So give thanks for everything you do have, your sense of sight, hearing, touch, your mobility, the abundant blue skies, the sun and the stars, clean air to breathe, beautiful flowers and smells, birds, your loving pets, shelter, food to eat, etc, etc. Granted you may not have some of these things. Just give thanks for everything you can think of to be thankful for. This rapidly changes the energy you are about. This appreciation energy primes the universe to deliver more of what you desire and you will find you are attracting more into your life. This is how to experience the L of A at work the way you prefer it.
A Visualization For Dissipating Solidity
Earlier I promised a visualization to help us break the solidity of our experience. Let's utilize the universe as the energy system that it is and of which we are a part. Here's a visualization that I've been using. You know those Sci-Fi movies like Star Wars or Captain Kirk and his crew on Star Trek, with that great special effect, the "beam me up" thing, where the person just breaks up and dissipates and then reforms somewhere else. Well this is how I see trans-FORM-ation into a new reality. I visualize my circumstances and conditions as being free from all of the history and identification trappings, i.e., I surrender the ego identification and then see current undesirable form disintegrating and re-forming into the new form I desire. Think of it as creating a new form, which, beginning now, you will be willing to accept as impermanent. You will enjoy your new experience in the moment, but you will not be attached to it, knowing that it too will change. But also knowing that it can be replaced with something better. As we begin moving around the possibility continuum more freely, we will come to enjoy this modus operandi of not allowing particular forms of experience to solidify.
Our real "work' then is in breaking out of the solidity of present form by surrendering our identity and believing the truth that any experience is as available as any other. Cease judging experience. Just surrender and allow. When you decide you want this different job or home or body type or relationship, remember any experience is possible, BUT, deciding that you will not be happy until they manifest is attachment. And attachment is a deterrent to creation. That means you MUST decide to be happy now. There is no getting around this, because the universe being Principle, simply matches energy. In order to attract happy experiences, you must already be in that state. And that's as simple as a decision. If you insist upon maintaining unhappiness now, it can do nothing but match that state. A final quote from Tolle ties in with this perspective of unhappiness. He says,
"A Course In Miracles rightly points out that, whenever you are unhappy, there is the unconscious belief that the unhappiness "buys" you what you want. Its only "useful" function is that it strengthens the ego, and that is why the ego loves it.
Once you have identified with some form of negativity, you do not want to let go, and on a deeply unconscious level, you do not want positive change. It would threaten your identity as a depressed, angry, or hard-done-by person. You will then ignore, deny or sabotage the positive in your life. This is a common phenomenon. It is also insane."
Be in the present knowing all is perfect now, expressing appreciation for what you have now. We always get what we need in every moment. This may not seem to be so until you realize that what we need is what will bring us to greater awareness. That is not always the same as what we desire. But through objectively observing what we get, considering the cause and effect aspects, examining what energy we were holding that brought a particular experience, motivates us to upgrade our energy that then opens the channel to what we desire.
Every day, every moment, less judging, more allowing and more loving. Transform!!
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©, 2002-2006, William Gunderson
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