Are you a Slave or a Master?davrly

Earth is a school, and we are not yet masters. We are still slaves. How does that feel?

We are here in training to become masters, not of others, but of ourselves. But right now if we are sick, angry, jealous, worried, addicted or unforgiving, we are still slaves to some degree. Slaves are complainers who say “Poor Me’ and “Ain’t It Awful”. They are stuck in a rut. Their life is repetitious. They don’t learn much. They just don’t get it. They live in a tiny little world about as big as your fist. And they are very angry about living in that little world. But when you become willing to learn, your world gets bigger. You learn more and when you learn more, you are on your way to becoming a master.

Yes, earth is a school and Life is our teacher. We are given as much as we can handle. You can only take one step at a time, but when you take that step the light shines just ahead of you on the next step. No more, no less. You can’t take 20 steps at a time. Just one. And you can take it. Commit yourself to this training. Commit yourself to that one step. When you commit, take that next step, show gratitude for what you have already learned, work with your teammates, and then Providence acts. The whole universe works with you. As long as you are an excuse-maker, and don’t commit to becoming a master, you remain a slave, a victim, a complainer, a competitor and a loser. If you want to complain, you will just receive more complaints. If you are complaining you are not learning; if you are learning, you don’t have time to complain. Open your mind to become a master. Slaves have their minds made up. Which will you be today, a slave or master. Its entirely your choice.

Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler were not yet masters. Even though they conquered the world, they did not master themselves. We are put here to become masters, not complainers or slaves. We receive exactly what we can handle each day.

Masters look for the good, forgive the bad, and set their own goals. Slaves don’t do that. They look for what’s wrong, punish the bad, and have no real goals. They wait until other people tell them what to do, and then they refuse, resist or rebel. They shoot themselves in the foot. They remain slaves, victims of their own short-sightedness. Are you an angry slave or a grateful student? No matter what you were yesterday, you can make another choice today. You can learn with your head, your heart or your hands. Or you can learn with all three. If you are faithful with the little things, you will be given bigger tasks. A JMU graduate is waiting tables. If he does that well, he may meet a patron at the next meal he serves that will give him a bigger job. Masters are interested in service; slaves are only interested in status. Masters are servants; slaves are losers.

There was the story of a newspaper reporter interviewing three workers on the street. He asked the first man what he was doing and he said he was drawing a paycheck. He asked the second man what he was doing and he said he was stacking bricks. He asked the third man what he was doing and he said he was building a cathedral. Who was the master here?

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

~Goethe

Goethe speaks of a master as one who envisions and commits. Become a master today. Expand your vision. Open your mind. The Teacher comes when the student is ready. Give up your self-imposed slavery, your painful victimhood, and take that next step. Do what your hand finds to do. Wait tables, wash dishes, mow the lawn, clean out your garage, make that phone call, be thankful, set goals, see the good, let go of the bad. The world is your oyster. Quiet your mind. Listen and learn. Life is your teacher. What an exciting place and time we live in! A world of resources is at your feet! If you don’t ask, you won’t be ready to receive. What do you want? There are no limits here except your story and your excuses.

This Quote deserves a Special Place all by Itself

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

~Goethe

Belittlement

Symptomatic Anxiety leads to horizontal, circular, self-medicating activity, or vertically to your Existential Anxiety level where you can then find your burning life question, specifically “What could I learn from this anxiety?” Within this anxiety-acceptance level, a door will open and you will find out not only the purpose of anxiety, but also the purpose of your life.

The major lesson of existential anxiety is the recognition of your unawareness of the Infinite. Existential means existence, or who you are. If you don’t find out who you are, your anxiety and its painful lessons will continue. When that door does open, you can enter the Kingdom of the Infinite Good. This discovery is the purpose of your journey here on this earth plane. Once this golden key of knowledge is in your hand, you can accomplish anything you wish. This Open Sesame, this Magical Genie, this Christ within, is who you are.

Otherwise, your self-esteem shakes with every wind that blows. Until you discover the Christ or Buddha within, you will be continually frustrated. You can continue as you think you are, but only for a price. That price is stress and suffering, and ineffective self-medication. There is no medication or “fix” on this plane that will correct the problem you have. Sex, money, fame, opinions, politics, power and youth will fail you. You will run out of gas, unless you find a source of renewable energy. That energy is Consciousness.

If you were conscious, you wouldn’t be anxiety-ridden. How can you get to your Source? That is a burning life question we rarely ask directly. It is not a horizontal path, but a vertical one. It can’t be found within time, it is trans-time. It is down some rabbit hole where you would never expect it to be located. If you think you can take the Kingdom of Infinity by force, good luck. It hasn’t been done yet. We have to “wait upon the Lord.” The ego has no patience. Unlocking the inner door requires a shift of attention from outward to inward. Learning a new language is required. Ego English won’t cut it. The forgotten language of symbology and dreams is needed.

It’s like learning to walk and talk again, right here in mid-life after a second birth. Sorry. That’s a necessity. You can’t skip it. More of the same won’t do. A leap is required. Quantum physics calls it a discontinuity. The gap between what you think you are and have, and what you want, is enormous. In that gap is where anxiety is generated. You have to go there. You have to learn to live there. That is where life is continually regenerated. It’s called living on the edge. There is nowhere else that is alive, free, responsible, and creative. Living anywhere else is a copycat existence. Mediocrity. The scripture calls this world a furnace of affliction. It has enough heat to melt away the dross, the trash, the toxins, as well as the old patterns of reactivity and negativity. Rejoice, not in the affliction, but in the renewal potential found here.

And so, anxiety arises from the gap we try to deny or avoid. This is a gap between who we are and who we think we are. Know thyself is a wise counsel, a life-long challenge and calling. When you put off this critical understanding, you establish habits of misperception which become harder and harder to break. You become more and more embedded and embittered in your egocentricity patterns. You are not an ego. Wise up. Wake up. Use your anxiety to help you.

My client resents the belittling that her husband does to himself. That resentment is just another face of anxiety. That resentment is just another ineffective self-medication. She believes that belittlement is real and that it makes victims of people because she feels she is its victim.
Belittlement thinking arises from misperception and carries a burden of stress with it. Let yourself become aware that belittlement is not truth. Don’t give it any attention, time or energy. Her husband is a god, and so is she. Belittlement does not befit them. Belittlement is just a mistaken human drama, an erroneous state of mind, a lie we tell ourselves. All judgments are belittlements. All anxiety arises from human opinion. Einstein said that he only wanted to think the thoughts of God. That is our calling. When we do not think the thoughts of God, we get stuck in human opinions, in belittling opinions.

It looks like if you choose to embrace anxiety you would just have more of it. But that is not the case. I am not asking you to embrace anxiety but to embrace its meaning. Walk into it. On the other side of it, is the door to the Kingdom of Infinity. Anxiety per se has no healing value. Just go there, just be there in the gap. You don’t want certainty. Certainty is dead. You want aliveness, change, awareness. If you want some kind of fake safety, good luck. There is no such safety because there is no danger. All danger is to the ego. The Self is never in danger. The Self is eternal. The ego is just a collection of opinions, judgments and fears. If you are not in danger, why should you seek safety? Danger is just a belief. If there is a safety, the thoughts of God are your safety, your refuge. Nothing else is needed. Nothing else exists. Opinions don’t exist, they just appear to exist. Shadows disappear when the light comes.

You Can Make a Difference Today

Anything which is blessed, praised, appreciated, or held in unconditional love consciousness will rise in vibratory frequency and be transformed. Any object, person, idea, or form has an unlimited energy potential. The Infinite Good is in everything finite. Just hold it in your hand, and lift it up to heaven. Take it to your altar at the top of the mountain. Call down the heavenly fire. It just takes five seconds or less. Bless and curse not. You have the power to bless any goal, any project, any situation, any person. Just revision it. Just see it from God’s viewpoint. You can think God’s thoughts. Just imagine each and every situation raised to its highest potential. Enfold it in light. “Peace be with you.” May the Force be with you. What is the power of a single thought? We have no idea. We have set limits everywhere, imposed burdens all around us, filled the atmosphere with doubts and fears. You can reverse all of that. You can make a difference. Just change your consciousness, and the world will change accordingly.

"There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: Those who are afraid to try themselves, and those who are afraid that you will succeed." -- Ray Goforth

The Young Man and the Starfish
Author Unknown

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his journal writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

There is something very special in each and every one of us.
We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can become aware of that gift, we gain, through the strength of our visions, the power to shape the future. We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our stars wisely and well, the world will be blessed.

Your Story is Your Religion

Your Story is Your Religion

Everyone lives and dies by their story. All murders, wars, crimes, divorces, addictions and neuroses are due to story-blindness and story-attachment. We are sleeping with and married to our unconscious scripts and stories about self, God, others and the universe.

Our most valued treasure is not our money, our family or even our own life, but our religion. Our religion is our story and god has little or no part in our religion. Sorry. That’s a wake-up call-to arms, right? I’ve gone from gossip to meddling. When I said that your religion has nothing to do with God, wasn’t that a battle cry? Our inmost loyalty is to whatever we consider god to be. My theory is that our story is our religion, our god, our most valued treasure. Everyone is a martyr to his god, to his religion, to his story, to his or her own self-defined identity.

What I have discovered in my lifetime is that for the most part (about 99%) our story is unconscious, automated, habitual, and hidden. We don’t know the difference in ego and Self. That ignorance accounts for all of our anxieties, problems and unhappiness. And if I could prove that to you, I would be your best friend or your worst enemy. Fortunately or unfortunately, I can’t do that. No one can prove anything to anyone. Self-inquiry is a possible but not likely lifetime career choice. Who wants to doubt himself or herself? Suffering is the only sufficient motive for self-inquiry that I know of. Desire for knowledge, however, runs a close second, and happiness a distant third. Some people say that happiness is our chief motivator, but the ego will choose being right over being happy every time.

And so, enlightenment is not very high on our list of priorities. For the most part, no one gives it a thought. How many times do you wake up in the morning and say “Enlightenment is my number one priority for today.” I argue in this book that whatever we put before enlightenment makes enlightenment unlikely. The only thing you could possibly put before enlightenment anyway is your ego story. And that is precisely our human dilemma.

And so Jesus’ first question in his ministry was “What do you want?” And when you ask that question to yourself, be sure to put the emphasis on which “you” is doing the “wanting.” There are two you’s: the ego and the Self. And they are vastly different “you’s” and they want absolutely different things. We spend our whole lives carefully crafting our ego story. Every line in this drama is carefully scripted, rehearsed, and choreographed. It’s all theatre, drama, fiction. We are not who we think we are. It’s all made up, imaginary, fantastical, illusory. Is that good news or what?

If you or I knew ourselves as sons and daughters of God, we would not be in the mess we is in, would we? God didn’t make the ego, we did. So let’s begin with the wisdom of the Greeks: Know thyself. That is what enlightenment is all about. Let’s be thankful that we don’t know and that we are ignorant! Even in this most “enlightened” age, we are not yet enlightened.

The Buddha said “Be grateful if you have ever even heard of enlightenment; be more grateful if you pursue enlightenment; be most grateful if you ever experience enlightenment.”

And so, what are your chances of just happening to become enlightened? Zero. It ain’t going to happen. With 25,000 hours of programmed tapes playing in our heads by age 21, our chances of random enlightenment are zero. But, on the other hand, enlightenment is inevitable. That puts us in a very interesting dilemma, doesn’t it? The dilemma is that anxiety without enlightenment is a given. The whole universe is designed for your enlightenment, and absolutely every event in your day today has that singular purpose. What a trip! Just be glad today for your anxiety and that will open doors in itself.

Enlightenment or Suffering?

The only question is whether you want to be enlightened or to suffer. Everyone is seeking enlightenment 24/7 but we don’t know it, so we cling to the highest symbol of enlightenment that we know about. This clinging, which seems like our “solution” actually becomes our albatross, our addiction. What was paradise, now becomes prison. What was our answer, becomes our problem. What was god, becomes the devil. We are moving from the known to the unknown. Change is our calling. All security becomes an eventual trap. The known becomes a limitation. What was new is now old. What was liberating is now confining. What was fun is now boring. Change is inevitable unless you want mediocrity.

You must flow or stagnate. Lazy is not a choice, because anxiety goes with it. What is your growing edge? God is the ever new. Have you met with your inner God today? God is a stretch. Have you stretched today? You are either growing or dying. Awakening or going deeper into sleep. Becoming more conscious or more unconscious. You must face your anxiety or remain stuck. Enlightenment is through the veil of anxiety, not away from it. Move toward your anxiety, and through it. Anxiety is not to be avoided or stuck in. Anxiety is just a signal of the door to your enlightenment.

Anxiety is a symptom of unconsciousness. Anxiety means that you are unaware of who you are, unaware of your Infinite Good, that you stuck in a state of mind, a self-limiting story or trance. Anxiety is a call to awakening. If you are still suffering, it is because you do not hear or heed this call. Enlightenment is inevitable, suffering is a default choice. Why do I say that enlightenment is inevitable? Because that is what you are. You are the light of the world, hidden under a basketful of erroneous beliefs. Whatever you put before awakening will just re-enforce your suffering. There is no finite state of mind that will do. You will never settle for less than your Infinite Good. You can’t. Impossible.

Your Conscious Re-Education

YOUR CONSCIOUS RE-EDUCATION

We are all involved in a marvelous re-education process which we don’t understand, and which may seem banal, boring, tragic, chaotic, or foolish, but we finally come to a crisis in which we can begin to understand what we call in spiritual psychotherapy “the Great Reversal.” Things that look tragic, foolish, or symptom-like, when understood properly, become symbol-like, symbols of an inherent spirituality which we have lost track of, but which now we can consciously engage. It doesn’t matter whether you finished the eighth grade or post-graduate school, the Great Reversal educational process is for everyone, because we have all been brain-washed, short-changed and socially conditioned.

You may have spontaneously picked up on pieces of this process hit-or-miss or after a major life crash, but at some point you can consciously and deliberately enroll in the process of spiritual awakening as your major life purpose. Whether we have assumed that life is normal or abnormal, fair or unfair, successful or not, we can now begin to re-examine our life story in a reverse format manner. What previously passed below the radar screen of our awareness now becomes our main focus. The Great Reversal process will open up the Great Mystery Awareness within you. We don’t know the invisible meaning of the visible. No wonder we feel confused, ambivalent, and anxious. The Great Reversal Process can be accelerated by realizing that 1. We are never upset for the reason that we think, and 2. Everything happens for a reason, and 3. All things work together for good. Life is truly a Great Mystery governed by infinite intelligence, compassion and purpose. Until we commit to this process, we will continue to function at a mediocre level of anxiety and mis-creation.

Mis-imagination is our only problem. That is, we have developed an unconscious story that we live by which has produced our experiences. This story is a mis-creation, a mis-imagined and fictional account of who we are and what the world is. We are dead wrong and don’t know it. We are so proud and certain that we see things as they are. When you see what you don’t want, you are not seeing things as they are. Our life story contains a whole repertoire of things we feel justified in fearing, resisting and resenting. We think we know. But all that we know is what we have imagined. Most of our knowledge is mis-imagined opinions and judgments.
Humility is when you begin to get an inkling of the truth about this fictional knowledge. You begin to see that your control issues stem from the fear that this false knowledge is true. As shocking as it may seem at first, it begins to dawn on you that the story of good versus evil is fictional. Only the Infinite Good is real. All of the rest is mis-imagination.

The Great Reversal re-educational process then is awakening to the fact that without exception, everything that has ever happened to you, since the beginning of time, is for your Infinite Good. Now you will begin to know honesty at a whole new level. Lies. Lies. Lies. Our whole story has been a lie. What a terrible but comforting piece of good news! Terrible for the ego, comforting for the True Self. You thought the visible I and the visible world were the foundation of reality, didn’t you? Through the Great Reversal re-educational process, you begin to see that every single experience begins at the invisible level and becomes visible.

You unknowingly created every single experience you ever had! The outer circumstances of your life are the precise result of your inner invisible story. Right now you are creating your tomorrow. You have a choice, but only when you become conscious. Default choices have ruled your life up until now in the form of the story of good-versus-evil. Can you honestly tell me that the conscious knowledge of the Infinite Good informs your choices? I didn’t think so. Your life can begin anew each morning that you inquire into your assumptions, thoughts, feelings and behavior. Just ask yourself: Is that so? Or, use my formula: “Anxiety is unawareness” to shock yourself awake.