Here’s the thing:  there is much writing out there that is supposed to be helpful in figuring out where one is and why one is here.  And very much of it leaves me with the question:  WHAT does that MEAN?

Jung’s concept of shadow is like that (what you dislike in another is just a projection of what you dislike in yourself).  Couldn’t quite get there.

Then along came Byron Katie and I got closer to understanding it through her Work – the 4 questions and the turnaround.

Then along came Brooke Castillo and her Self Coaching 101 book and it got clearer still.

Airy Fairy

Here is what I understand so far:  We see what we want to see (i.e., we create our world), because we wear blinders that act as filters.  These blinders block our conscious intake of anything that would cause cognitive dissonance (discomfort) so that we can keep our belief system in tact.

Turns out “create your world” isn’t quite as airy-fairy as some would like to believe.  Some like to believe that things happen to them and they have no power.  Because to believe otherwise would mean they have to take some action or change some cherished story which has brought them comfort up until now.

The Dark Wood

Rebirth is messy.  Why should it be any different than a first birth? 

Don’t you know squeezing down that birth canal has to be a bit disconcerting after sloshing comfortably in warm amniotic fluid with this metronomic heartbeat lulling us at all hours.  Coming, as it were, from darkness into the light.  Could make one wish to crawl back in for a spell. 

But moving from light, where we “see” everything, to the dark is even more scarey. 

We think we have it all figured out – the path lies clearly in front of us.  We are breezing along, going with the flow, the way is clear.  Maybe we are humming or whistling.  The sky is blue.  Then, BAM!, something pushes us off this famailiar way  Suddenly we are in pain from brambles and snow-blind from too much brightness. 

Rescue yourself – this is no time to wait for some imaginary bigger-than-life knight in shining armor.  You are your own hero.  Act like it!  Here’s how.

Science: Theory of Process

What we perceive as reality can be changed by shifting our vantage point:

The above is a diagram of light waves and polarized filters.  Horizontal light waves can pass through a horizontal filter (H), but cannot pass through a vertical filter (V) and vice versa unless you add a filter (D) between H and V. (Must be placed between).  (Gary Zukov, The Dancing WuLi Masters)(emphasis mine)

The basic unit of the universe is an event or a process.  These events link in certain ways (allowed transitions) to form webs.  The webs in turn join to form larger webs.  Farther up the ladder of organization are coherent superpositions of different webs(things which are neight “this web” nor “that web” but distinct entities in themselves.  [Finkelstein’s theory of process].  The basic elements of Finkelstein’s theory do not exist in space and time.  They are prior to space and time. (Zukov)

Theo Skolnik says:  “We know from our understanding of how paradigms operate in such places as science and business [and, I might add, personal stories and ways of being] that the paradigm is a set of filters.  The scientist already ‘knows’ from his/her received theory what there is to be seen. The paradigm enables their perception and hinders peception of what is outside the paradigm.” (emphasis mine)

Need to “see” again?  Take a small step to the side, take off the blinders, change your filter, look at the strands of your story, seek your traveling companions.

Wylde Women’s Wisdom

“Can you see in the dark?”  Wolf eyes are yellow slits not/ black pools; curious I did not detect that earlier./  Her fur has dried, her paw is on my leg, her breath is/ garlic and seaweed/ in my face/ and the world has turned to liquid but I can breathe.//

“Open your eyes,” she says.’ Having come from campfire light/to ocean dark/ opening and closing eyes means nothing//there is no difference between open and closed.//

“Leave them open.”  I do not know if  it is order/or plea.//

Slowly from the midst of darkness forms take shape./Unfamiliar.  Frightening except for the paw steady and sure.//

This is what I see:  there are others here./Just like me./ Blind or half-bllind walking/or crawling, running or, sometimes, standing,/ each with a guide of fin or fur or plant or stone/ being led through dusk not black/ but shades of ebony and sable, coal and pitch, soot and smudge,/eel slick and obsidian shine/ – with phosphorescent rainbows evident if viewed/from just the right angle/ a small step to the side/ making a large difference/ in exactly what comes into view.//

I wonder whether I have been moving with my eyes open/ or closed.  Tammy Vitale, chapter XIV, Night Vision