Not Knowing
Dear friend,
The skies hang heavy overhead this morning, the plants glad of the misty rain. Home in London in the silence and stillness of the house. Katie and Zara will be here soon.
This is the final month in my part time teaching job. People ask how I feel about it and I mostly feel a sense of relief. When you let go of something, it opens up space in your life for the new, the unknown. In the UK it looks possible that there will be a change in government. Whether that’s true, and what changes it will bring, remains to be seen. My hope is that the people who are the most oppressed and who are having the worst time will experience some relief. Who knows? Promises are made by politicians seeking power tend to be forgotten quickly.
So much information bombards our senses, wether it’s human made or the natural world. We have to select. We can’t take it all in. We limit reality so we can navigate a course through life. We don’t do it deliberately. It’s automatic
There’s a dreamlike aspect to our waking lives, in that it’s curated by the mind. You’ll notice certain people over the course of the day and others not. The mind shows us what we deem important or significant.
What we’re sensing out there is a projection.
Say you get a new car and it’s canary yellow, you’ll start to notice more cars of that make or colour on the road. They were there, but got filtered out as not important. Now you see them.
Last night Chiara and me were talking about living according to principles versus pandering to the concerns of the false self. The false self is in the business of building itself up. Re-enforcing an identity. It can be that we want more status or money or power, or it can just as easily be that we want to be right and to make others wrong. We might want to disempower ourselves because that feels like who we are. It gets labelled victim mentality. Not to say people do not experience victimisation, because they clearly do. It’s a shocking and hurtful experience to be abused or mistreated. The abusive protagonists rarely see their behaviour as such.
When we treat others badly we’ll rationalise our behaviour. An obvious example is to make the other an enemy or threat to your way of life. To turn them in your mind into less than human. Dehumanising people cannot lead to peace on a personal or a collective level.
Living a principles based life can and does lead in the direction of peace.
Refusing to speak ill of another behind their back, that’s a sound principle that serves peace well.
If you find yourself in a toxic social or work environment it will have its origin with people living and acting in unprincipled or deluded ways. Unprincipled behaviours pollute the social environment. Pollution in our individual streams of consciousness empty out into the great ocean of humanity. To clean up the ocean we can stop dumping in our streams and rivers and waters.
Another true principle is to be kind in thought, word and deed. Not a pushover. Not that you never get annoyed or angry or upset. We can be messed up, a ball of inconsistent and conflicted anxieties, that’s human. Forget perfect. Perfectionism is a scourge to our peace of mind. If we have to be perfect to be okay, we rarely get to experience inner peace. But we can be kind. No exceptions to that kindness. We’ll slip up, you do make mistakes while you’re here in a body in the physical dimension, that’s the point of coming here, to learn from experience.
Experience teaches that principles are to be clung too.
Appreciating the good you find in yourself and others and in the world is another principle that tells your mind what to look out for.
It’s a command, “look out for more good.” We have the capacity to command our minds to think in a certain way, our body to act in a certain way that leads to peace.
The more good we see the more we also notice what’s not good.
Ying and Yang.
Light and shade.
Contrast.
That’s all part of the paradox of life on earth. It’s ephemeral, but it feels like it’s forever and it’s remarkable to find others who share similar views and who are at the same time willing to let go of their opinions and beliefs.
Tell your mind what you want. Write it down. Draw it. Decide it.
Hitch yourself to true principles.
No back biting.
Appreciation of what’s here now.
Leave judgement up to the mystery, focus on forgiveness.
Use your will consciously to create as you wish.
When you’re in the grips of the false self all kinds of crazy ideas seem true. Look at their foundations. Do they spring from true principles? You have to decide for yourself.
The majority of people you meet wouldn’t dream of reaching into your bag and taking your valuables. Some do. They rationalise a different set of principles.
Finders keepers. Dog eat dog. Smash and grab. Dominate and control. Push others down to lift yourself up. Silence and censor. Holier than thou. All toxins.
We need certainty, we also need adventure. You can build a prison of your mind or a garden.
Beyond the garden, the unknown, beyond the unknown the unknowable.
It’s not a bad use of our time to get clear on the principles by which we live and to become aware of how consistent we are in living by them.
It’s an inclusive practice.
No exceptions.
Kind no matter what.
Owning it when we’re not.
Journeying into the unknown.
Guided by principles.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey