But Seriously Folks . . .

When we are fully conscious of our perception, we realize how full of crap we really are. -  Tom Von Deck, “Oceanic Mind”

"After meditating for some years, I began to see the patterns of my own behavior. As you quiet your mind, you begin to see the nature of your own resistance more clearly, struggles, inner dialogues, the way in which you procrastinate and develop passive resistance against life. As you cultivate the witness, things change. You don't have to change them. Things just change." - Ram Dass

Sometimes I catch myself taking things too seriously, especially this “thing” called me.  Somehow, despite years of practice, I forget to observe and simply become absorbed in my thought constructs.  It’s kind of like building a cage around my consciousness and then getting pissed off because I’m stuck.  A lot of things can seemingly entrap me: attachments, assumed responsibilities, guilt, fear, unconscious habits, feelings of obligation, etc.  And I suspect I’m not the only one.

The cage that we unconsciously create around ourselves becomes the object of our stress, anxiety, anger, frustration and discouragement.  It blocks the flow of life-energy in and through us and leads to illness, perhaps even death.  (Yes, you can literally die from taking things too seriously – especially sickness and death.)  It affects our relationships, careers and core spirituality.

Successful people build a highly functional structure around themselves.  It serves them in positive ways.  The rest of us include self-sabotage as part of our structure.  We believe negative things about ourselves and we take them very seriously.  Even those successful ones need to become conscious of their inner construct to remain successful; to continue to evolve. 

Fortunately my daily meditation practice will clue me in to when and how I am getting caught.  Through meditation I can become aware of the stress reflected in my body, the fixations within my mind and the fact that I have disconnected from my soul, my deeper essence.  Sometimes it takes awhile to disconnect from “the world,” i.e. my construct of the world, and to reconnect with inner peace and joy.  It is not so much an effort as just lightening up and letting go; surrender.  Often times I feel like I am being helped by my Guru on the subtle level.  Such is the gift of spiritual relationship!

Ultimately all of the elements of our ego construct are relative.  Our world is as we dream it.  Sure, there seem to be hard realities we have to face, but it is not the situations that we encounter but our interpretation of them that is crucial.  The world we encounter is our interpreted experience of that world.  “Man’s mind,” writes Joseph Chilton Pearce, “is a mirror of a universe that mirrors Man’s mind.”  Our world is a shared interpretation, a mutual hallucination or a work of art in which we each participate.  Separation, or “duality,” is the greatest illusion of all. 

When I get stuck in my ego-centric perspective my world can seem like a pretty messed up place.  Other people seem greedy and self-centered.  The economy, environment, crime, drugs, disease, corporate interests, etc. all seem like they are out to get me.  I get defensive and passive-aggressive.  I don’t trust nobody.  I feel alienated and alone.  Nobody understands me.  When I surrender I know that I am held in an interconnected web of being, Oneness of heart, mind and spirit which is beyond ordinary thought.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t address all those things in the world but that I know to address them within myself first and foremost.  I can’t see clearly to help the world when I am deluded by my own fear and aggression. 

We have to come from a place of love.  Love is not something we have to work on, something we have to do.  It is the core of who we are.  It is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the Being-Consciousness-Bliss of the Universal Self residing within each of us.  The world is immediately a better place when we awaken to the Love within.  We can start by not taking ourselves too seriously.