Below The Surface Of Appearances

The words we use, no matter what language we are speaking, has a life of its own. Just below the surface of its usual meanings we can find rich symbology. If we explore this hidden realm with some determination we can truly be enriched and also enrich the lives of those around us. The wisdom it reveals is well worth the effort you use to mine such gems. The words we ourselves use to describe the things around us can help us understand more of this hidden realm but we have to be in a relaxed state of mind in order to understand it more clearly. This will open the doors to “self” revelation. The beginning of wisdom is to know yourself and who and what you really are, and not just your reactions to your outer environment but the more subtle aspects of your inner realm. Our inner dialogue needs our close attention in addition to our outside stimulus. When we use a word we are actually choosing a symbol. The symbols are reflecting something deeper within, usually based on our understanding, and corresponding to something we already know through association.
Much of this creation’s wealth and what it has to offer is all around us. Also, it has not been used because we have not understood the true potential that we are, nor this “life/love/truth” that resides within us. It’s not that we are not capable of understanding, it is just that there are too few expressing this great light from within for others to recognize it within themselves. We have, in a sense, become disengaged with the more important aspect of ourselves, the part where the true power of a creative and transformative life can be known. The outer appearances are focused upon and the true source remains un-illuminated as long as we remain disengaged.

We spend many years studying just to learn a language, yet we want a five minute article to help us find our way to a perfect life. We, as a people, have become like kids that only want to play games with a cheat code to get us to the end with the least amount of hassle. Once there, it’s usually just a disappointment waiting for us because we did not learn the lessons we needed for us to appreciate the adventure fully. Whichever way we get there, with cheat codes or not, we feel cheated having wasted our time not having reached our full potential. Life here is passing us by and we may regret we have not made the most of it. One sees family, friends and even strangers pass away and maybe you start to realize your own mortality. We get those sobering thoughts when the life within us is trying to wake something up and push us forward, challenging us to learn these lessons.
To start seeing these underlying gems that can help us grow and understand our essence more fully, we need a “desire” to want to be more than just the flesh that we walk around in. We need to open ourselves to those around us and engage our minds and our hearts along with our actions more fully.
There is much more of life to be had that is all around us than we are consciously using for our benefit. There are subtle forces all around that help shape the environment around us. These forces or “energies” are actually responsible for forming not just the environment but also our bodies as well. The air we breathe becomes a part of our bodies. The sunlight lends its life giving energies to the mix of things all around us. These “subtle” forces are the bricks that our desires use to build the life around us. Where these building blocks are used is very often done unconsciously but we are very much connected to that source of creation. These bricks are part of the physical that you have gathered through your life and one day you will have to return what you have borrowed from our mother earth. It’s a debt everyone has to pay sooner or later. If you pay close attention to these very subtle forces and what is happening within you, you will notice that there is something that is quite masterful in directing these energies to where they are most needed first.

The nature of “Pressure” and how Nature abhors a vacuum.

We naturally start to focus our attention to things around us that cause us either pain or pleasure. Naturally we want to move towards those things that bring us pleasure. We “seek” happiness as if it’s something outside of us. Few realize that it is an inner state of being that we ourselves derive from the stimulus of our environment, inside and out. Every sensation is felt from within us. We can be empathic of others and what they are going through, but we feel it within ourselves. How we react to this stimuli is purely in our control and we desire happiness but we judge our experiences as if they are outside of us. Unless you learn how to control the animal nature part of yourself, you will be acting at the whim of the environment that is “outside” of yourself. This is really the source of our un-happiness, we don’t feel like we have our own lives in our hands. The blaming game starts… you already know this story. We actually have a very active role in shaping this environment. To get back to our source of wealth and health within us, we need to see this trap clearly and avoid it or it will suck all our energies from us. It is a type of vampire lurking in the shadows ready to feed off our life energies and it will leave us lifeless. It won’t kill us, but we will not truly be living life either. It will have us feeding off of the energies of others if we do not know how to escape this vicious cycle of blaming. These negative energies cannot live if we do not feed them and their negative pressure (impact) will no longer affect our lives once we learn how easy it is to just be the change we want to see and let this negative energy just dissipate. All this energy we free up can be redirected towards our growth.
When we take back the control of our lives from our inner “demons” we can see the symbolic meaning of Guido Reni’s famous painting of the expression of goodness holding the expression of evil under its dominating control.
Once we learn the damage that is done to our lives by letting these negatively charged situations control us, we will be able see that these things, (that we allowed into our lives) can very easily be removed because we allowed it to happen. Let’s not take too much away from that symbolical picture though because it is not a war between good and evil. There is no need for struggle. We don’t have to work hard to get ahead in this world. That’s right, I’ll repeat it, “we don’t have to work hard to get ahead”. We have to do the right things in our sphere of expertise. This is what brings success. We don’t have to study “hard”, we have to learn “in joy”. We don’t have to struggle in our vocation, we have to work in love. Enjoy what you are doing and you won’t have to struggle for success. It will be a consequence, and not a goal that you are seeking. Enjoy the process of what you are doing and you will not feel cheated. Otherwise you are going to be miserable and you will be making others miserable around you. If you yourself are well adjusted and happy, you will seed the environment with this positive energy and others will respond accordingly.

This is only the beginning of the wealth that is waiting for us to find…. just below the surface of appearances lies the life that can be fun, exciting and worthy of your true being. Enjoy the process and be invested in it. What has been created is a wonderful gift. Now it is a matter of each of us tending to it properly so that it is not the memory of the past controlling or dictating our future but just our clear desires and conscientious choices.

Boldly Go and explore your potential in each of the levels of your Being, in your thoughts, in your emotions, in your body and your energies, where you have an adventure waiting for you and …. Engage!