13 Illusions to shake up your awareness

Illusions are self-created obstacles to a clearer view of things. Illusions are destined to dissolve as part of learning and unlearning.  This is part of a personal journey that is guided, diverges and finds its way home. Each stage is ultimately a choice. You decide when and where to pause. Your unique view of life is yours alone. You are invited to shatter your own myths.

When a person is ready to question or explore his own deeply entrenched ideas, he may awaken to acknowledge the rigidity of ideas and also shift positions or attitudes. Consider these 13 concepts to ponder and reframe;

1) Ego. Part of the psyche experiences and reacts to the outside world and imagines your self-image into being. To separate yourself from the selves of others and from objects of ego, thought causes you to forget or repress the truth. From the moment ambition is born, you are prompted to quantify it.

2) Money. This takes shape as a piece of paper with random value linkedto numbers. Virtually everyone buys into that idea and allows it to control how they think: what is affordable, enough, desirable, feasible, doable, relative and inconceivable. Currency is a human invention that arose with human motives.

3) Duality. To separate concepts into two parts is a gradual denial of unity or oneness with everything. To envision poverty distracts you from wealth and abundance. Polarities of positive and negative such as good and evil fragment underlying wholeness. As one concept exists, the opposite also exists, even if you do no choose to acknowledge it at this moment.

4) Consolation. From birth, part of you is consoled when you are fed, clothed, and loved. When was the last time you fully trusted all of your needs are met from outside yourself? Faith becomes consolation during trouble. Yet, you imagine issues where none exist and imagine what you require to dissolve it.

5) Comfort. This zone is a view of a degree of tolerance for mediocrity, anxiety, worry, and stress. It also denies what soul whispers. Some people view this as an excuse to stay put, to continue fooling self and everyone of what you need. To lose what you thought you needed shifts focus to what matters. You move away from tangible things that are bought, sold, stolen, burned or bequeathed to uncover other priorities.

6) Form. Your view of the physicality of things is grounded in beliefs. You envision or hear about objects, infer about density, texture and viscosity, without necessarily touching or experiencing them. You visualize shape without seeing and create interpretations of your sense of reality.

7) Beliefs. The focus of your devotion is hidden. It has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness or, level of conscious awareness and deliberate intent. To work in the realms of expectation and assumption creates layers of illusions you come to accept.

8) Fear. There is nothing to fear except your ability to create it. What you anticipate you will gain or lose goes deeper than ideas you access in the mind. This invokes fundamental views about what makes you who you are.  What can you live without? Few people recognize your own misunderstandings.

9) Pride. A high opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority is a view that grows from fears like inadequacy and insecurity. What you think you have or not does not change who you are.  Thinking without complete awareness explains many human issues.  People reflect each others issues, differing only in degree and level of awareness.

10) Effects. Reality is something other than perceived effects, for it is part of the Cause. Beside, over and above, under and behind, all forms of Being, Matter, Energy, Force and Power, is the ever-calm, contentedness. Reconnect to inner knowing grows into absolute trust. This translates into confidence in the goodness and justice of the only Reality that exists.

11) Crisis. When old ways of thinking and doing fall short or no longer satisfy perceived needs, a person may imagine the self is threatened. Behaving as you have done is not necessarily aligned with the natural flow of energy to start with. If you take too much without giving back, this creates imbalance. A sense of urgency draws attention to issues of survival.

12) Armageddon.  It is said a final battle involving good and evil will occur before the end of the world. Another way to view significant energy movement and upheavals is to concede former consciousness is dissolving on a wide scale. Such a view helps explain geographic, environmental and climatic shifts that might otherwise be viewed as a domino effect toward catastrophe.  Life-changing transition is imminent. How you understand it is grounded in perception.

13) Perception. If you agree your outer reality reflects your level of inner understanding, then indecision or turbulance speaks volumes.  How you come to recognize and grasp each experience is based not on superficial human senses, but on deeper awareness.  Answers do not always emerge in the form of words.  Letting go of ways you sense the world is an act of growth that dissolves dogma and resistance and brings you face to face with something indescribable.

"If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating fundamentally the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction." -Eckhart Tolle

Review your motives

"If we forget ourselves in order to benefit others, if we are prepared to give our own lives to save the lives of others, and if we are giving them whatever is necessary for their welfare, then we shall gain happiness and all perfection." -The 14th Dalai Lama

When humans forge relationships, they may have a deeper strategic agenda.  You may not be consciously aware of why you spend time with certain people, or, you may consciously seek out people because you hope to gain from the relationship.   It may be personal or professional or, something unknown to your conscious mind. In some cases, people are very clear why they seek a particular mentor, they may wish to model a paricular kind of external success and wish to follwo similar steps to get there.

Some people are very altruistic.  They always put another person first.  This may be your partner, parent, child, friend, colleague or strangers.  In such cases, caring and devotion may come from the heart.  Love and compassion guide us unless people-pleasin, fear of rejection or codependence exist due to soul wounds.

Other people are more self-centred.  They make choices that favor their own interest, consciously or unconsciously.  They only do things if they discern it would be to their perceived advantage.  The nature of their relationships reflects their self-importance.

To fight your own will offers a lesson.  You want to do more than survive.  You want to change part of yourself that seems to be missing.  You are shaping your consciousness with every person you meet.  You stretch to become something you have always been.

How can you attain superhuman powers?

So, you desire to develop abilities that exceed what you consider to be 'ordinary' or 'normal' human powers. This article invites you to examine your underlying motivation. That is, what do you seek to gain? And, what do you regard as being 'normal?'

The ego urges you to seek the extraordinary based on its own agenda.  The heart knows the truth of what is possible is completely ordinary and always accessible to he who is ready to allow his potential to be revealed.   What you see and experience is directly related to what you allow or resist within.  The innate power revealed is directly proportional to one's humility. Consider this opportunity to trigger some key revelations:

1)It is not about developing power but about removing barriers to what is:  Light exists that you do not see with human vision. Sound exists at frequencies that you do not yet hear.  Any or all of your senses can be allowed to expand. How you think and feel distorts your view of reality if you let it. It is also possible to grow aware of how the ego controls you and move beyond that to see what it cannot comprehend.

2) Notice the real reason for pursuit:  For some people, the pursuit of happiness takes many forms.  Maybe you read about extraordinary powers, and this appeals to the ego. Maybe something you read planted a seed. Maybe a situation nurtured hope to perform beyond expectations or perceived limitations. Follow the thread to better understand yourself and deep fears. How you want to grow in a particular way determines whether you experience it and if so, for how long.

3) Who can do what you hope to do?  If you have seen or heard about humans levitating, projecting a second physical energy body identical to the one they already have or, individuals defying other assumed laws of physics, you may wish to learn more.  What do you read about such persons? Are they martial artists, government operatives, shamans, spiritual gurus or without labels and roles in society? Each state of mind or state of being reveals degrees of dedicated commitment. As one grasps universal laws, the bigger picture and what is unfolding grows clearly apparent.

4) How do your heart and mind factor in? The ego-mind is where fear resides and heart embodies love. Notice whether the intention to attain something arises in the heart or is created as a thought with a purpose in mind.  You activate a chain reaction of inner influence at cell level.  Every cell in your physical body functions based on energy vibration. Whether you believe in something or know in your heart something is true influences what transpires in your reality. Inaudible sound and invisible light affect how you think and behave now.  Everything is revealed with perfect timing.

In essence then, superhuman powers are not to be attained, but rather, something innate that reveals itself when a person is no longer controlled by the ego.  This is part of awakening to the truth of who you are.  Until then, the universe only seems to hide what you want.  In truth, you only ever hide true potential from yourself until you can handle it.  All is revealed as you willingly love and appreciate everything equally and have no desire to control. Unlimited being shows you the rest in its own ways. 

"The so-called miraculous powers of a great master are a natural accompaniment to his exact understanding of subtle laws that operate in the inner cosmos of consciousness." -Paramahansa Yogananda

The essence of being

I recall someone encouraging me to take the stairs if elevators to success seemed out of order.  Now, why is humans are conditioned to desire quick access to those things that seem beyond our reach? What is it that makes us feel we need what we do not seem to have?

As we let go of conditioning and shift to a place of non-judgment, priorities mysteriously change. The same things no longer hold appeal.  What does it feel like to let go of what you think you want? Refreshing? A relief? Open the mind and catch a glimpse of true essence.

One view of success is what the ego views as achievement. It appears out of reach so we think we must do something to get fulfilled. If your goal is a half hour of meditation twice per day, and you complete this, the related good feelings evoke a sense of satisfaction. If you aim to develop greater physical flexibility in yoga positions or, mental aptitude in negotiation, success is still 'results-oriented.' Notice what happens as you discover immeasurable kinds of success also exist.

Consider a talkative person who is known for having ideas spinning in his head all the time.  He may typically know restless sleep because his mind is busy working out solutions to his problems.  Then, as he learns to settle the ripples down, he may experience stillness. To allow silence into your life is to discover you attract different versions of success into your life.

As you quiet the mind, you let go of judgment and mental noise. Explore what silence feels like. A sense of success arises as an innate feeling of acceptance.  Its like doing nothing and everything at once, and loving unconditionally, come what may.  This is the essence of being.

Brace yourself: Be what is innate.  Love is your true nature.  Its not the conditional feeling that you get through relationships that mind would have you believe it is.

Deciphering ignorance

The Indian Patanjali suggests you need to return to school in order to rise above ignorance and achieve success.  According to him, we may all access useful knowledge in our minds.  It's what we choose to do with this that creates our version of success. Who is given the authority to determine what kinds of facts and skills are more important or more useful than others? What kinds of reasons do you have for accepting a particular hierarchy of steps to success?

If, by drawing from some of your skills, you're able to acquire more money and you desire this, then it may make sense to pursue this avenue.  However, if someone chooses to apply different kinds of knowledge at his disposal, which brings him less money, this individual is not ignorant, though certain cultures would have us believe that intelligence is measured by level of income.  For some people, success is based on feelings, such as a level of accomplishment or satisfaction.

Ignorance can be felt as what Wayne Dyer calls, "falsely identifying oneself as only of the ego-based world."  How can you reframe views of success such that you unlearn your thoughts to separate yourself from cravings and objects you desire? Ignorance prevents you from experiencing success and fulfillment so long as you continue to pursue what appears to provide it rather than find a sense of purpose and success within yourself without doing anything. 

Your senses may influence your view of success by tempting you with things you think you want but don't really need.  Success may involve overcoming certain self-destructive habits, such as over-eating, addictions, focusing on sources of grief, frustration and pain. 

Come waht may, remind yourself that you are not your experiences. You are not the person who thinks he chooses and controls them. A watcher exists beyond all that is perceived. Know values and habits arise as your own illusions. Reflect on your selected activities and what they reveal about your views on success. Ask yourself whether any belief about success is ever spot on.