When I was in prison I worked with a guy that was crazy funny. One of his go to lines was “Hey bro, it’s all good”. He didn’t own the phrase but he delivered it at the right time and made it funny. The truth is I’ve never laughed so hard as I have in prison. The combination of not using drugs and being stuck in a place where a sense of humor is a survival mechanism led to some hilarious conversations. Most people in prison are there because they’re addicts – most of these aren’t dangerous. The ones you have to worry about are the ones whose motivations were more psychotic.
Not that it’s all fun and games but it’s really no different from being out here. There’s just more room out here.
There are a few books, as I’ve mentioned, I read over and over. They always address where I’m off the mark ( somewhat annoying ). I also forget to practice what I know to be best – so I keep my reminders close at hand.
The books are Eckhart Tolle, The New Earth, J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known, Alan Watts, Still The Mind and Chogyam Trungpa, Meditation In Practice.
That saying – it’s all good – came to mind when I was reading Tolle’s book again the other night. He was targeting the ego’s affinity for blaming the outer world for everything. Basically, it’s all bad. They’re bad, institutions are bad, this is wrong, if it weren’t for this and so on – that’s the ego.
We could say it’s us – but that’s the ego too. There really is no us. This would call for a definition which is only available from, or necessary for, the ego. The self, really isn’t anything either. That’s an ego product too. There are two possible states for consciousness. One that is driven by the ego and one that is involved with intelligence.
Now – these are Tolle terms. But here is the crux: When ego say’s “That’s bad” we can catch it and say “That’s good – It’s all good”. Is it all good? Too deep, doesn’t matter. The point is to weaken the ego. Exposure weakens the ego, which increases awareness, which allows intelligence to enter.
For now there isn’t much more than that. Like everything here – it provides a practice.
I was talking with a friend the other day about depression and getting overwhelmed and so on. I told her that I looked at my brain/thought system the way I’d look at a toddler in Tiffany’s. As long as I pay attention and keep an eye on the rascal I can avoid a calamity. As soon as I turn my back – Whammo. This is how I treat my brain. It’s really the only enemy I have. I should also say, that enemy is good -right? I couldn’t think of another word for enemy.
Anyway the practice is – pay attention, whenever we see, hear, sense the ego reacting negatively we catch it. We interfere with it’s habitual process. What we do after we catch it is up to us. We could say, “I see you…”, and maybe add, “It’s all good….”.
I’ve adhered to and written about the ability for people to write the script for their future conditions. The way this is done is by utilizing the creative power of the subconscious mind. In this creative process the part played at the conscious level is visualization. If we want to live in a cabin by the creek surrounding by maple woods and a community of family and friends we would visualize this everyday.
This process is used by every person everyday, whether they know it or not. So, I have advocated the intentional use of the process as a tool for positive re-creation and change. I noticed recently that my own conditions didn’t reflect my overall vision. About he same time I walked through the TV room to find her highness watching Wayne Dyer. He was talking about changing our conditions with visualization.
My first thought was – ah, him again, I already know this. My second thought was – so since my conditions don’t reflect my favored vision does that mean I’m advocated and writing about something that doesn’t work? Third thought – No, based on all available evidence this subconscious creating is factual – this is just the way it is. And fourth – so why does my life situation look like this?
A little later I decided to do a little intentional envisioning. Then it dawned on me, I’d quit doing this because I’m no good at it. Yep, I’m a visualization backslider. The whole thing is a little strange because visualization is what I’m good at. I visualize things and draw them. I visualize things and build them. I entertained myself as a young teen by visualizing my girlfriend with me while I was doing something I didn’t want to do – like building fences, mowing grass or using a shovel. Hell, I’m kind of a visualization expert.
The problem arises – today – when I sit down to visualize a future situation or condition. What comes to mind is the girlfriend I had when I was fourteen or a stable I designed in 1987. This is a little frustrating. So I’ve decided that I’m going to become a long distance runner. I won’t have to work on anything, I’ll just run. Besides, my friend Tammy said I couldn’t catch her on my best day with a strong wind at my back. I’m going to get started on my new life as a runner – just as soon as this is the #1 addiction help blog in the world.
Seriously though it’s always nice to find the answer to a problem and this is the answer I found: I’ve become a habitual thinker. Yuck!! When I couldn’t, or didn’t, easily conjure up the appropriate vision – I stopped trying.
Needless to say I’m on it. I’m going to spend a good portion of my day today visualizing what I decide is best – as opposed to what my habitual brain/mind complex has grown accustomed to seeing (for me).
Dr. Wayne Dyer Video
I’ve been studying the System of Life for some time now. With any study one thing that has to be done is a lot of data collecting. I suppose there are three main areas we can get this data. The first would be watching the world around us.
Watching The World
The World of People – Watching everything that happens. Listening to everything people say. Reading what people have written. Read some of the Poets, look at the Art, listen to the Music, read what the world shapers say and everything in between. Watch what people do, how they act and react and listen to everything they say.
The Natural World – Watching nature, plants, animals, the weather, the seasons, the heavens. Then read and look at everything that people have said about the natural world.
The Inner World – This is the study of life through introspection. Meditation, paying attention to thoughts and feeling. Finding out what’s in there and what “it” is.
The System of Life
Everyone and anyone is completely qualified to remark on the system of life. Everybody knows or has observed something. What I want to look at today is how the Natural World does things. Then I want to ask if we can do things in the same way. If we can – wouldn’t this be the best way – since we’re a part of this natural world?
One thing you’ll notice if you watch nature is it does a lot of stuff without any noise. The rain forest was made in silence. I was looking at the tree off the balcony the other day. It’s been there all winter apparently idle. Completely silent. Then all of a sudden (overnight) I see a little action on the ends of the branches. The days are getting longer. It knows this and knows that this is the time for a little action on the ends of the branches.
I think this type of work, or accomplishing, or whatever you want to call it is available to us. When I look around at the world of people I don’t see much of this silent vibrant accomplishment. What I see are Ants. The industrious Ant has become the model for humans. I have nothing against Ants – but – I don’t want to be one. What I learned from Ants is, if I keep putting one thing on top of another it will get taller.
There are a lot of people who behave like Tigers. They have adopted the style of a ferocious, gemme that, predator. I really like Tigers too – but – are they good role models? Are they all I need to know? Is this how I want society to work? The Tigers rule and the Ants toil? What I’ve learned from Tigers is – there are some obstacles you can’t meet head on with a club. Sometimes a geographic relocation is the best solution.
How can I best, “Get Things Done”?
I don’t want to be an Ant, and being a Tiger plays as long as you’re the toughest Tiger (also a lot of work). How about learning from the tree? Could I do things like that? In total silence? Without all that noise and movement and effort?
I’ve come to see that this is the best way to get things done. It’s the best “Earth System” I’ve seen. Is it possible for we humans to do things in this way? Let’s take the chore of finding solutions to our problems. Remember, problems are problems because we say they are. All problems are personal problems.
Over the past few years most of my problems have been resolved while I was asleep. Or, they just popped into my head while I was doing something else – like reading. What I’ve attempted to do is: simply concentrate on identifying the problem. My current personal problem is: I keep – habitually – addressing problems as if I were an Ant, or a Tiger. Neither of which I am, or wish to be.
Here is the experiment, the test, to see if this is possible.
Identify as well as possible what the problem is. Write it down. Leave it alone – don’t mess with it, just leave it.
We can’t act like Ants or Tigers and do the test.
Being what we are.
- What is my state of consciousness?
Or level of consciousness. Ever notice how no one says make, create or build a higher state of consciousness? It’s always something like – attain, gain (as in gain on or catch up to), strive towards. What I’ve come to understand (so far) is that consciousness “Is”. It’s there. It’s always been there. We can go toward it – possibly – in understanding. Can we go into it. Can we tap in to it, flow with it, be in it – or not.
Here’s something to look at – Let’s raise the level of consciousness in ourselves. What does that mean. Some hear this and think raise as, work to increase, lift, raise like a barn, build and so on. Is this what it says?
The way I’ve come to understand this is that raising this level is much like raising the level of a lake. Any analogy will work as long as we see consciousness like water. How do we raise the level of water, say, in a barrel? I picked this because in this case we control the water, or the consciousness. We just pour in the water. The level was what it was – and now it’s this. The similarity in any analogy we choose – Lake, barrel and so on is – there has to be a place for the water.
If we keep putting water in a barrel and it will flow over the top and fill any spaces that are available on the ground. Keep pouring and a lake will form. Keep pouring and the lake will rise until it flows over the hills and starts to fill the places available on the other side.
Like water, consciousness will fill any place available. We only need to make the place. Consciousness is always being poured. It “Is”, and it is abundant. It will fill, automatically and without effort on our part, any place available to it. In fact – effort fills the place that consciousness would naturally fill if we got rid of effort. This is my opinion – after much watching and testing.
Effortless Solutions
Which leads us again to our test – our experiment.
- Putting our Problems to Bed
Now that we have clarified our problem as well as possible we will sleep on it. Remember that Rain Forest which was made in silence? That’s what we’re going to test. Can the solutions come out of us, or through us, effortlessly? So effortlessly that we can do it in our sleep? Everyone has woken to an answer at one time or another. What I do is try and make this the rule. Instead of the occasional boon I’ll make it my natural everyday process for accomplishing things.
Every night will be a little Winter. Every morning will be the Spring and the life I created will burst forth on the scene.
Consciousness will do this for me. All throughout the history of mankind we’ve heard the wise directing us to the light. There are countless stories using light, and water, to represent consciousness when delivering messages and spiritual instruction. This is not mistake or happenstance. There are properties in light and water that hold the key to life itself.
Here is a really good video to watch. I’ve put a segment on this page (below) with a link to the full video:
