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Just as depression is often associated with the abandonment of an old identity,
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exhilaration is associated with the acquisition of a new one.
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Develop the ability to distinguish between taking on a new identity and freeing yourself from identity.
Nothing is concrete.
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Everything is a multifaceted abstraction.
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If we reduce something to a concretion, it loses its meaning and grandeur.
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Striving to understand, we do this with ourselves, others, and everything.
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By adhering to a perspective, we limit our ability to understand.
To exist means to exist transgradiently.
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Our health is dependent upon our ability to shift spontaneously from one reality to another. When we identify with (hold on to) a reality on a particular level, that holding effects our physiology at every level.
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For example, if we refute emotions as being illogical, we suppress a reality of our being. This sort of suppression causes dis-ease. We refute another level when we don’t cultivate the ability to think rationally, again causing disharmony. When we feel that unease, we conclude that we must improve our ability to function in our reality. Such a reaction only perpetuates the process. As the result of our identification with particular realities, our lives become ever-tightening spirals.
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To counter the tightening process we need to learn to rest into our transgradient nature, our natural state of being. This kind of “resting into” is more easily said than done because we hold on to our ideas of reality not just with our minds but with our bodies and hearts as well. This holding permeates all levels of our physiology—physical, energetic, psychological and spiritual—so completely that we assume the holding is who we are.
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To become wiser, we don’t need to get better at what we know as much as we need to stop holding on so tightly to what it is we think we know.
The following video blog is in response to a reader that wrote in with a question. I invite questions so that I can respond in this way.
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Michael
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The only true knowing, is knowing that you know nothing.
— Socrates
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In other words, Truth dwells within you as an abstraction.
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You can feel it.
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You can even live it.
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But you cannot grab onto it.
The development of psychodynamic health has to do with the alleviation of stress. Inherent in that statement is a rather intriguing understanding:
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The state of the physiology itself is intrinsic to the state of psychodynamic health.
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This understanding is fundamental to an effective, wise, and intelligent approach to psychological health. The basis of your psychodynamic health, inner wisdom, and intelligence is already there.
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We know that if we cut our finger all we have to do is put a bandage on it and keep it clean. The inner intelligence, an inner self-correcting mechanism, will cause it to grow back together. The finger knows how to grow back together. We just have to create a situation that accommodates that process.
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We need to recognize that the self-correcting mechanism, which heals our finger, is the same mechanism that comes into play in our psychological health. Our attitude about our mental health is that we need to impose health upon it from the outside. We say, Think this way. Hold on to these commandments. Get rid of that aspect of your being. Align with this behavioral modality.
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Everyone knows that a rose bud cannot be turned into a blossom by peeling back the petals. Doing that would only make a mess out of the bud. The ability of the bud to unfold into an exquisite blossom is inherent in the nature of the plant.
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Our psychological health is the same. I call that inner intelligence the self-correcting mechanism.
Effective personal process is experienced as an inner churning, an inner tug of war of thoughts and emotions.
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No stone is left unturned. All stable ground becomes shaky.
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It can at times be a frightening process.
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A false sense of security dissolves as the comfort of the true Self emerges.
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The process, though cyclical, gradually spirals upward to greater and greater levels of fulfillment.
The wholeness that unifies all realities is the Transcendent.
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It is the vessel that holds everything together seamlessly.
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The study of that vessel and how it relates to all aspects of life and existence is called spirituality.
As the sweetness of your inner being shines forth into your life, your own self-love becomes a beacon light for others.
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Your cup, full and overflowing, nourishes and supports the lives of those around you.
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When the tree of your inner life is filled with the fruit of your being, the branches of your soul just naturally bow down and touch the earth in humility.
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Then you are truly wise, happy, self assured, and abundant.
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Then you are truly free.
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If we base our life on expectations, it sets us up for disappointment and bad feelings.
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Our growth as individuals does not happen by aligning with our current expectations of what we will/should be like as we evolve. Those expectations themselves will also change, evolve.
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Aspiring to our current expectation often limits our true growth.
The Truth about Religion and Flatlining
