Blog 55
You have to have a vehicle to get out
Get out of what, that’s a good question, what are we in that we need to get out of anyway? What I’m meaning is getting out of seeing life a certain way. Seeing life through our own story of what we think life is about or see life through our glasses, through our filter, through our beliefs. You might ask what’s wrong with that, and the answer is nothing; the only problem is that everybody else has a different pair of glasses on. So their story of how life is, is different to yours. Now the question is, is there a right or wrong way to see life or is it just our personal view we only see? It seems hard to see someone else’s ‘point of view’ when it comes from what we think they mean, as we are not in their head or shoes. It reminds me of an exercise we did once on one of my Taiji Retreats. We were on the beach and we made foot prints in the sand and then someone else walked on your foot prints. It was a weird experience, to walk in someone else’s footsteps. It was like discovering a different aspect of the other person we didn’t know. It felt strange-it was like living in someone else’s life. It made me think how different we all see the world.
So back to the vehicles. What vehicle or process or practice, or teaching can we employ to help break free from our stories? Our stories about life that might be limiting us, about money, about success and happiness. About what a good relationship looks like, about what good parents look like, how good friends should act, or what good leaders act like.
About what money is for or what children are for or what Governments and politics are for? What armies and churches are for? What school teachers are for? What wars are for?
We may have stories about what we are here for, our purpose, our gifts. But are any of these true or did we just make up all these points of view, ideals, beliefs, opinions? Or did we as children just agree with what other people told us or taught us, or role modelled to us? People like our parents, relatives and teachers etc.
So who are we under these stories?
What do we really feel like? What do we really like and dislike?
If there were no people in the world, what would you act like, what would you do as an occupation?
How important would money be?
I better get my pilots licence or I wouldn’t be able to travel which I love.
Mind you, I could drive a boat; it might just take me a while to get to Europe though.
But this is not the vehicle I’m talking about either.
It is the vehicle to see past our stories of how we think life should be. How do we see past the capitalist system and see the control it has over people, see past the consumerism where people try to convince you that you need to buy things to be happy. To see past owning your own home is one of the major goals in life which is driven by the banks, so you pay them interest for 30 or even more years. And banks are owned by very wealthy people and they use the magic words ‘Its security’.
Security from what? Ask the people in Christchurch if they feel secure in their homes or what about another group of interesting people who use ‘fear’ to advertise their business. ‘You could lose all your precious stuff. Something could happen to your car or your house, your camera, your phone. So you better give us large quantities of your money and we will protect you.’ But when something happens we will try to find every loop hole or cause, not to pay you.
It’s like travel insurance, insurance for you or your lost bags. You pay them money to transport yourself and your bags to a destination and they lose your bags and it’s not their fault. Yeah right! You better pay us flight insurance as we are so inefficient in our business we might lose your bags and it’s not our fault. It would be like going to a dentist and paying an extra $100 insurance in case he accidentally pulls out the wrong tooth! Or surgery insurance in case they replace the wrong hip, oops I think they have already done this, but I don’t think they had insurance and got a big pay out. I think they got the big “Sorry about that”.
My favourite story is the water bottle story.
How come water in a water bottle is more expensive than petrol per litre and it falls out of the sky and is ‘free’?
How do we see pass all of these very these very clever illusions to see what really motivates them? How our minds are being manipulated to see the world in a certain way. It keeps you locked into seeing the world a particular way. They pay huge amounts of money on advertising campaigns to lure us into thinking that we really need their products or services and if you do this you will be happy successful and content. Well maybe not content, if you were content they can’t sell you anything.
One of the best examples of this would have to be the huge amount of money and advertising targeting the young girls with clothing. I know young girls who wouldn’t be seen dead in anything that hasn’t got a fashion label on it. I walked through a mall the other day and I ‘m sure just about 70% of the shops were targeted to them. The story read something like this ‘I’m not ok if I don’t wear these clothes people won’t like me. I’m not cool, I am not acceptable.’
This story seems to stick until old age too. I saw a woman about 85-90 dressed up to the tee believing that the way she looks, her image is still so important to be accepted. I’m not saying that dressing up isn’t great and fantastic, some woman just like beautiful clothes, style and colour, and don’t care if people like what they are wearing. I’m just questioning the motives for wearing them. Is it because the women love clothes, colour and fashion or is it how they want to be seen and judged by others? One of these groups of women is definitely marketed to more than the other.
So how can we see past the illusion, what tools do we have? One way to see past it-is not to focus on it, focus on something else. Nature for example, plants, animals, trees, rivers, sea, mountains, and see the beauty. See that they survive without designer jeans, and fancy restaurants and insurance and money.
Another one would be to focus on the poor and needy in the world and how they survive.
There is other one like service to others, Meditation, Qigong and Spiritual practices. These all focus on others and not self.
Change the focus, change the state, and change the awareness.
None of these may sound that flash, but what you get in return, is an extraordinary new life, fuller, richer and more expansive. A view outside of ourselves and our stories that limit us, keep us in their control.
It’s like taking the red pill from the matrix movie.
A world inside a world.
A world hidden by our stories and confining beliefs. A world of vastness, excitement, adventure, a world of unlimiting beliefs, and freedom.
The question is what values, rules and stories may be stopping this?
Cheers,
Pete C
