Inspiration is the ability to manage that whole process of growth
To be inspired, we need stillness within. That means to see this tic toc between order and chaos in our lives and rather than fight it, actually manage it. Infatuation with order will breed huge chaos. Instead, we can say, ‘oh, there’s a challenge, where is the balance in that, oh there’s a winner where’s the balance in that’
In the diagram above, we call it the consciousness cone, inspiration is at the top. You can see that a person who is at their highest ego state at the bottom is spending huge amounts of energy in emotion, running from very happy, to very sad. From infatuation to resentment. This is the lotto winner who, without the mindset to manage it, spends their winnings within months and ends up in more debt than they had before winning.
Moderation is the keyword at the top, it is a focus on something more that wild upsides and deep depressive downsides. This is the middle path, where love and inspiration are a priority. Very few people can sustain this level of growth. They most often yoyo up and down the cone some days at the top, others at the bottom.
Viewpoint is everything. The person who prioritizes their ego sees the world from their own circumstances and looks out at it. To them, when they look at the stars, they are at the center and the whole universe is rotating around them. To the inspired individual, they look at the stars and it appears they are on the outer looking in. The ego driven individual will take everything personally and become disturbed by the small things of life. The inspired individual see the balance in everything and takes nothing personally, to them, there is no self to take anywhere.
To the inspired individual, there is no soul, there is no individuality to identify with, not even a good and bad to protect. To the inspired individual there is work and life and love and doing. The elations and depressions of it all are just seasons of the day, there is simply no need to react.
The search for truth, is the search beyond self. That truth lies hidden below the ego. When the fog is cleared everyday life becomes transparent we see the beauty that lies beneath.
One moment standing in the midst of nature’s orchestra with an open heart seems like a whole lifetime, if we are in tune with her rhythm.
‘What can be learned from books means so much, yet, it is all someone else’s, repeated, regurgitated, recapitulated, renovated, rejuvenated truth. We must learn to write our own books, instead of parroting what others have said, and in this, let nature be our guide’ The ground is steep, the rocks are wet, we must take care of each other. There is no alone, with Inspiration, one is never alone. Every tree is a sacred friend, every footstep divine, the rocks are mates ready to lend a hand. Inspiration teaches us friendship with nature. We learn to be humble to the power that is greater than ourselves, not because of fear or faith, but through trust in the heart of the divine. Nature is our witness.
Everyday inspiration does not come from sitting in caves with crossed legs, (although that’s how Chris found it) it comes from life and an understanding of it. Whether we are fishing off the pier or swinging a billion dollar deal, singing in the shower or to a million people, we see beauty, we see life and we are in awe of it.
The first step is to unlock what has already been learned and then unlearn it. This unlearning is what is called the gaining of real wisdom. In the past you may have said ‘that person is bad’. This is knowledge taken from our learning, but such learning and judgment are in defiance of natural law because the experience is one sided. It is out of balance, and all emotion ‘ including your emotional downers ‘ comes from imbalanced thought. Emotional downers is the product of an imbalanced thought about something or someone in the past.
Unlearning is to see the circumstance differently. There is always two sides to that person or situation, you just never saw it. When you see the goodness in a situation you have already called bad, you have unlearned; you have seen with two eyes. You learn by seeing one half of the story; then unlearn and see two sides. This makes the learning complete.
Nature’s law pervades every walk of life so it is not specifically what you think that matters, it is how you think that makes the difference. You must change how you think from one sided learning (causes depression) to balanced thinking (causes love).
S came to me for a consult. She was 18 but looked 12. For nearly 5 years she had been diagnosed as depressed and due to that had taken on board some eating disorders. Her mother was with us in the consult and was obviously shattered by her daughters declining health.
Eating disorders that deprive the body of nourishment are self deprecating, something about S, was so unacceptable, in her opinion, that she wanted no body to live in, she was trying to eliminate her physical presence on earth (bulimia or anorexia). In S case anorexia because she was not vacillating between infatuation and resentment. She was only conscious of her depressions.
Emotional downers, looked at from the point of view of natures law, is an obsession with a self righteous set of beliefs that are stubbornly held in the individuals mind against the backdrop of everyday life. Remember, there are two sides to everything, Expressed and Repressed. The expressed disappointment with life is the balance to the repressed belief that the depressed person knows what is best for themselves and others.
So there were two issues. One a thought that S was holding onto that was causing her to become depressed. The other was nature destroying her body, which meant she was not fulfilling, or had already fulfilled her purpose.
Me ‘ so, tell me what you like and dislike about life’ S ‘I dislike everything.’ Me ‘money’’ S ‘yes, money makes people mean and cruel’ Me ‘your mum’ S ‘yes, my mum doesn’t love me she just wants to fix me so I get out of her hair’ Me ‘your Dad’’ S ‘I hate my dad’ Me ‘so what is your dream’’ S ‘ I don’t care’ After an hour of this Me ‘when you were a little girl, what was your dream’’ S ‘I don’t know’ Me ‘yes you do’ After another half an hour S ‘I used to dream of becoming a dress designer.’ After another half an hour she shared more an more Me ‘and why is there a problem becoming a dress designer’ S ‘it’s too hard, there are too many people doing it, I’m not good at it, It’s a cut throat industry’ Me ‘so if that’s what you think about the real world, that means in your fantasy you believe you are better than everyone else but no one recognizes it’ S ‘yes. And’’ Me ‘when we have such inspirations about ourselves its usually because something happened really painful and we create a fantasy of ourselves inside our mind. Then when we can’t live that fantasy, we get angry at the world and want to go somewhere where our fantasy can become reality’ S ‘so’’ Me ‘so where are you going to be able to live your fantasy you’ S ‘heaven’
To extract the gift from our life path, we must get beyond the ego, and to do that we must become an empty cup. This means letting go of and changing some of your judgments about people in the past or present. Often a person, like P, comes to me and says "here I am. Can you help me spiritually’", to which I answer, "yes". Then they say "I want to know what you think about life and death, or about the beginning and end of existence". This prompts me to wonder what their attitude will be if their existing opinion does not agree with mine. They seem to want to learn, yet they do not want to be empty of their preconceptions and expectations. That means going to the stream wanting water, but keeping one's cup covered up,
A full cup is the ego, jammed full of beliefs, identities and ideals which prevent change. They are learned ego responses that have served you in the past, but maybe blocking you now. They maybe blocking your heart from being open, but instead of changing the thoughts and ego attachment people will change their relationship instead. This is a high cost, to keep infatuating the ego. With emptiness, comes an innocence that is open to change. With that emptiness comes trust to open and let go, find love and the recognition that there is an order in each chaos and we do not need to fight.
P came to me really depressed. ‘I have had cancer 10 times and now it’s 11. I want to know if there is anything I can do to stop this’
Me ‘so, what have you done to heal it 10 times, that sounds amazing’
P ‘I have gone to India to get rid of my bad Karma. I now meditate for peace and love and bring in the healing’
Me ‘and what were you doing before that’’
P ‘I was a Christian and I prayed for love’
Me ‘and before that’’
P ‘ I studied comparative religion before I got cancer. I wanted to be a priest and bring love to the world’
Me ‘do you want to question this idea of love you have for the world’
P ‘who do you think you are. What a waste of time. How can you call yourself a spiritual teacher when you think spirituality is not about love’ You have no idea.
Me ‘I guess not. But I am doing something different to you, and you don’t want to know what it is. So I can’t really help you until you are ready.’
P ‘thanks for nothing’
Me ‘sorry I couldn’t help’
The purpose of this article is to discuss the second law of nature, the law of growth. Personal growth comes from changing your mind. When things happen, you can go into a downward spiral or change your mind. I you change you mind you can grow, if you don’t then you will simply have to deal with the issue at hand.
http://www.chriswalker.com.au Chris Walker is a world leading change agent, an environmentalist and author of more than 20 books. Born and bred in Australia, he consults to people and organisations throughout the world on improved relationships, health and lifestyle through the application of the Universal laws of Nature. The result he offers is that we stay balanced, share loving relationships, work with passion, enjoy success, and live our personal truth. To learn more about Chris’s work and journeys to Nepal, visit http://www.chriswalker.com.au -- http://www.chriswalker.com.au
