Dear Friend
There’s a book first published in 1989 written by John Grinder and Richard Bandler called ‘The Structure of Magic’.
It has painting of a wizard on the front cover wearing a pointy hat. The authors wanted to understand why some therapists were highly effective and could help their clients heal, while others were less so.
They discovered that the remarkable therapists had certain traits in common. Most relevant was they understood that humans, are overwhelmed by the abundance of life in our universe. Our senses cannot take in all of the information it generates. It’s too vast, too diverse.
Our minds are unable to comprehend the true magnitude of life and so nature’s coping mechanism is to create inner mental models or maps of reality, which become our world.
The therapists know that our maps of the universe are by their very nature incomplete and contain false assumptions.
But we don’t know we are living in a world of our own. We believe we are experiencing reality as it is, not as we make it.
How many billions of us alive at anyone time? That would be the number of worlds in existence.
It’s helpful to know that your individual world is somewhat made up. The connections our brains are arranged in patterns that can and do change. The hard part is becoming aware of our ourselves as meaning making creatures, loosening our attachments to who and what we think we are and embracing change.
We have the ability to update our mental maps. Humanity is not an evolved, but evolving species. Our evolution is to come out of individual and collective traumas and to co-create a peaceful reality.
Traumatised people will kill others for having a mental map that does not agree with their own. When we commit to being curious, to understanding how our fellow humans have constructed their mental maps of reality, we take steps towards peace.
It’s a stage of maturity when we realise that other people don’t think as we do. I don’t recall exactly when it dawned on me, but honestly it’s still something I need to remind myself of fairly regularly.
Our collective journey towards peace is work. I would say it’s humanity’s most pressing need that we engage with one another in this work. I’m reminded of the Elvis Costello song “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding.” Are we living in a time where dominant cultural voices wish to paint peace lovers as flaky rainbow chasing dreamers? Maybe so.
It’s not like that though.
Peace and courage go hand in hand.
Look at the lives of any peace activist and you’ll find a story of bravery and effort. In a divided conflicted culture it can feel risky to stand out, but really it’s good to remind ourselves that others want peace just as much as us. It’s our greatest need. It’s okay to stand out. Becoming emotionally or spiritually aware is a sign of sanity not utopian day dreaming. Anyway, what’s wrong with daydreaming?
I’ve had many mystical experiences, times where I was worried I was losing my mind.
One happened in the late 90’s when I first moved to London to study. At that time I would go into something like a light trance and find myself wandering around the city. Sitting on buses, marvelling at the sights and sounds.
One day I found myself walking from East Dulwich towards the Thames. Everyone I passed on the street looked to me like a dear family member or friend. “I know you, I know you” was all my bamboozled mind could utter.
I must have looked strange, I recall the fear on the faces of some of the people I passed. I wonder what they saw in the young man passing them? I never spoke of the experience. Like many others who experience glimpses into our true nature as humans, for fear of being seen as crazy, I kept it to myself.
These moments of inspiration tend not to provide answers, that’s not their point really. They do open up questions.
I used to long for easy answers. Who doesn’t? Sometimes I still do.
And then there’s the work. Seeking to understand one another. Marvelling at diversity. Doing what we can to help one another.
Peace is always here now, behind the tumult of the world we are creating. Take a breath, meditate, pray, drink a cup of tea and look out the window, whatever it takes.
Nothing is small, it all adds up.
Until tomorrow
Love
Mike