Pain is not Suffering

I posted this as a meme on Facebook from Teal Swan: "The circumstances you are experiencing are not the cause of your suffering. The cause of your suffering is the thought that what is happening should not be happening, or is not supposed to be happening."

It's an expansion on the old Buddhist saying I heard in yoga class frequently: "Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

The Facebook post got several comments mainly about physical pain. One friend wrote, "Well, then, whoever wrote that was never severely burned in a car accident." Another wrote, "I really resent those who say you can control everything with your thoughts. You can control some things, but we live in a physical world." Still another commented, "They're talking about emotional pain, not physical pain, right?"

In all cases, the people completely missed the message of the meme. It was not saying that your thoughts caused the pain. It says that your thoughts about the pain and/or its causation is causing the suffering.

In my own case, in the past, for several years, I had debilitating lower lumbar disc inflammations that would put me in bed sometimes because I could not move without extreme pain in my back and down both legs. I suffered greatly because I kept judging how unfair it was, and why me, an active, professional musician who ate right, exercised, took good care of himself should be burdened with this disability. Sometimes I cried. Not so much because of the pain, but because of the circumstances of it--and the situation I was in because of it.

I finally just decided to stop suffering and do something about my condition. I began yoga classes, and within a year, my back was completely healed. Yes, it was very difficult to do the yoga, and there was a lot of pain along the way, but I was convinced that it would work, and I had the drive and determination to get out of pain. This is the remedy for suffering: change the circumstances. Do something different. Get out ahead of the situation. Allow the pain, allow all the inconvenience, all the gripey thoughts and emotions, and just soldier on.

Anyone who has a serious disability, for example, Stephen Hawking, absolutely could not be in suffering and do the things he's done. Sure, he's probably in a lot of pain, but his vision, will, and determination to live his life cancels out what could be certainly the best of reasons to suffer.

What Hawking has done, and anyone overcoming any sort of painful disability, is to focus on what is working; the things in life to be grateful for, because that's where the energy is. That's where the inspiration lies, and that's where LIFE is. Life is not in the suffering, because suffering is a mental construct of victim behavior. It defeats hope, it neutralizes motivation, and rips the color right out of life and living.

So above all, my friends, gratitude trumps suffering, and will certainly lead to ease, joy and a zest for life.

Want Change? Notice Something Different

In the world (or many worlds) of quantum physics, the mechanism of belief goes far beyond the conventional understanding of the word. Belief, as a part of quantum living, is really an allowance of everything that shows up, combined with the intention that something show up.

I've had this discussion many times with clients who say, "I took the E-1, and I didn't notice any difference." My standard reply is, "You may not have noticed anything change, but something is changing whether you can feel it or not."

This is true because of two factors: 1) The client had decided to take an action to relieve a symptom, or problem. There was an intent to change an unwanted condition and the atoms and molecules in the body are responding to the intent. This is at the crux of healing. The healing starts at the intention to heal.; and 2) Subtle energy formulas such as E-1 are acting on and changing the subatomic structure of the body that amplifies the healing intent. This is the very nature of quantum entanglements and actualization.

When someone says they don't "notice anything different," they are in effect saying, "My awareness is limited to this very tiny box of possibilities." And because they are using quantum medicine-based formulas that they have never used before, how would they know that "nothing is happening"?

I encourage these boxed-in clients to take their awareness out of those four, two-dimensional constricting walls and place it in the field of infinite possibilities where anything is possible, and anything where can be perceived. Lo and behold, they suddenly realize that every time they take the E-1, the tightness in their chest goes away, or they actually feel less stressed, or they have better balance when they walk. Now, all they did was consider the idea of infinite possibilities, and immediately their awareness of their changes increased.

This is profound. It means that if you want or intend something to happen, it begins to happen immediately in the atoms and molecules of your life. That initial change will continue to grow into everything you are asking for--provided you don't stop it prematurely by declaring, "Well, nothing's happening, so I guess I can't have that." And the Universe is just as happy to respond to that as well.

This, of course, has everything to do with receiving. If you are not willing to receive the change you are asking for, then it's going to be "on pause" until you are. One way to make sure you are open to receiving the change you want, jump into the field of infinite possibilities where anything can happen above, below, to starboard, to port; 360 spherical degrees of universal response to your desire. Then, watch it all unfold in gratitude.

Why Acceptance is Toxic

We're all familiar with the old saw from Alcoholics Anonymous: "Grant me the serenity to accept those things I cannot change"... The trouble is, it has a built in trap that most of us are not aware of.

When we accept something, we take it into our space and become it. We become what it is we accept. Somehow, someone got it into their furry little head that if we ACCEPT those things that cause us pain and discomfort, it magically leads to freedom from those sources of pain and discomfort. News flash... Nah. Been there, done that, doesn't work...

I've come to the awareness that what we really mean is ALLOW. Allowance and acceptance are two very different things. When we allow something, it means it is flowing past us and around us, like water flowing around a rock in a river. To accept something, we take it in, like a sponge.

To confuse these two concepts I believe is a serious error, especially when it comes to quantum living. To accept something means to entangle with it. Our photons, atoms and molecules are literally mixing in with that unwanted condition we've chosen not to experience. Like some sort of penance where we believe if we endure and suffer long enough, it will eventually lead to some form of divine grace and relieve us of our burden. So unnecessary...and inefficient!

Replace ACCEPT with ALLOW for those things you want to change: "Grant me the serenity to ALLOW those things I cannot change" puts you in a much more empowered position. Those "things you cannot change" simply flow around you and float on off and out of your universe.

Try this out on those things in your life causing you pain; those things causing you grief, suffering, disillusionment, disempowerment: Replace ACCEPT with ALLOW. Allow those things to float on by--wave at them as they saunter off into the distance. Then get busy choosing something different!

The Trouble With Answers

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the devotion to answers has prevented discovery, greatly hindered innovation, and basically kept the human race planetbound when for the last 300 years we could have been exploring the stars...

I know. Kind of a sweeping statement. Let me explain this point of view.

We've all been educated and socialized in the belief that to understand something, you "search for the answer". You look it up in the dictionary, you research the encyclopedia, you explore the Interwebs until you find the answer to your question, which usually turns out to be a conclusion or a judgment about a particular unwanted condition or personal conundrum.

You have to agree with the answer before you can "accept" it as "true". My question is, how can you agree with something you previously declared you needed an answer for? What are you agreeing with? Something you already knew, obviously.

That's the whole point. It's not about knowledge. It's about awareness. What causes awareness? A question. Awareness then leads to choice, and making a choice creates more awareness. When you are attempting to get an answer to a question, aren't you really asking for more awareness in a particular area?

There's a huge difference between awareness and an answer. With an answer, inquiry stops. The question has been answered, it's all settled, no need to look further. This effectively stops awareness. With awareness, you are always aware that there is more, that there is a greater, larger picture to gain awareness of. Awareness stops or freezes with an answer.

Consider how much further along science would be today if scientists would have made questions more important than answers? Research stops once an answer is obtained. And when answers become codified as "laws" and "theories" it effectively squelches further questioning.

We are in the habit of "coming to conclusions", as if that is the end all and be all of our inquiries. As if that's a good thing. Well, it's not wrong, it's just limited. What if you never came to any conclusions about anything? What if you stopped searching for answers, and just kept asking questions? What would your daily life be like?

For one thing, you would stop judging, because judgments and awarenesses cancel each other out. You can't get a new awareness with a judgment held in place. Conclusions are really just judgments with a justifying story. So you wouldn't have a story that leads to any sort of "conclusion"--you may have a story that demonstrates how you got to more awareness, but you wouldn't have a story that concluded: "therefore, I'm not suited for this job", or "that's why I don't like dogs". It would all just be an interesting point of view that could change at any moment with a new awareness.

This "changeableness" is actually quite threatening to many people because you then become "unpredictable" or "undependable". We have set up a social stigma against changing. This is part of being in judgment and coming to conclusions about others, in an attempt at predicting behavior, which is really just a control story. You would need to give all that up.

What if you woke up in the morning with the question, "What wonderful and amazing things could happen today?" or "What are the things I can do to make my day amazing?" And as your day progresses, you just keep asking these questions, and once something does happen that's amazing, you don't conclude that it was because you asked for it. You instead say, "How does it get any better than that?" or "What else is possible?" And a new awareness comes to you.

If we all could live in the question, it seems to me it would be only a short time before we have solved the world's problems and are vacationing across the Milky Way...

Your New Quantum World

I think I was probably 19 when I heard about quantum physics. They just barely skimmed over it in college chemistry, probably because the professors really didn't know how to teach it since it completely undermines Newtonian physics. The one thing that did get through to me, though, was that measurements at an atomic level are directly affected by the observer. Wait. What?? Atomic measurements change when observed by human consciousness. At the time, it sort of hit the top of my head and bounced on off into the Twilight Zone. But, I kept coming back to it over and over as my life sauntered on.

At one point maybe 20 years ago, I did an informal study of quantum physics--something on the order of "Quantum Physics for Dummies" (which is an actual book). Every time I would delve into the subject I would get my mind blown. Concepts such as "quantum entanglement", where atomic information ends up instantaneously (apparently, teleported) spread among several particles at once; or Einstein's "spooky action at a distance" when it's possible for a single particle to be in two places at once.

This is deeply subversive stuff, and I love it.

The real "juice", though, came from an entirely different direction, and when combined with quantum physics, it was like a metaphysical atomic bomb. You see, I also was a devoted spiritualist--I believed, from my own personal subjective observations, that I was a part of God, the Infinite Creator, and thus, was an infinite being myself, having this decidedly non-infinite human life.

Mix the knowing that you're an infinite being, with the scientific fact that you change the makeup of atoms just by observing them... Well, that's some heavy duty stuff there!

So, the only conclusion to come to is that I--we all--totally and completely create our lives from the ground up in every way, shape and form. It can be no other way.

The thing about this, however, is that we can create a very complete illusion that convinces us that we CANNOT BE creating everything in our life. We decide it's too much to take in. It's too much responsibility, or it's not possible because of these thousands of reasons. News flash: There ain't nobody else but you doing your life.

The big apparent confusion is that we are all down here on this lovely blue marble, operating what we have defined as finite physical bodies, and interacting with each other within a pretty strictly agreed-upon time continuum. Things get confusing since we observe other infinite beings creating things, and we're observing those things. We sometimes think we created them, which we use to convince ourselves that we are NOT creating what we think we are creating.

Add to this the scientific quantum fact that there are INFINITE POSSIBILITIES, and you can easily see why most of us just keep our heads down, nodding in agreement with "whatever"... It just seems overwhelming.

Well, the next news flash: It's only overwhelming because you decided it is. The only difference between feeling overwhelmed and not is basically, a choice. You can choose to observe how utterly overwhelming this physical life is in this time continuum; OR, you can see the utter simplicity of experiencing the infiniteness of you, and that you can choose what time continuum you live on, and all the conditions of your physical life.

By doing this one thing: CHOOSING, you'll find that the Universe (the infiniteness of you) really has nothing else better to do than reflect back to you your choices. Hence, by observing what is reflected back, you can change it to be something better, something greater, for no other reason than to more accurately reflect the infiniteness of you. So why not choose the highest and the best for your life? It's the most natural thing in the world...

Giving Up Utopia

Ah, Utopia... that magical and seemingly impossible paradise where everything is perfect and we all live happily ever after. Not to seem like a curmudgeon or anything, but, please. Get a grip.

The concept of an unattainable Utopia has been around for a long time, officially since the year 1516, when a Sir Thomas More wrote a book by that title. In it, he muses freely about the perfections of human imagination in a decidedly non-existent place. He uses this mystical Neverland as a vehicle to contrast with the "way things really are" in the world.

We all have our personal Utopias, where we can wistfully while away the minutes or hours longing for this personal paradise. The thing is, it's a trap. And a great one, too. Most of the great religions of the world promise some sort of paradise in the afterlife, or a code of conduct that if "everyone just followed this" the world would become perfected. So, it's a pretty transparent control mechanism.

The problem with Utopia is that it begins with a judgement, and ends with a conclusion. The judgement that my current circumstances are bad or untenable and if some magical thing would just happen, my life would be perfect. Well, perfection is a judgement in and of itself, too. Perfect in what way? Once perfection is attained, then what? That's the conclusion--the big conclusion that stops everything from becoming something else, something much greater.

The judgement and conclusion of perfection completely denies how creation actually works, because if your goal is the attainment of Utopian perfection, you're going to be working on that for eternity. Why? Because the Utopia you envision now is not the Utopia you'll envision later. Everything changes, including your idea of Utopia, your judgments about it, your conclusions about your own life, so it's completely an exercise in smoke and mirrors with nothing concrete that would ever show up, except for perhaps unhappiness and frustration.

In the existing quantum world, once something is observed, it changes. Thus, the artificial construct of Utopia, once viewed and desired, begins immediately to change. It does this, in fact, to the point where most of us give up on attaining our Utopia after childhood. We settle for what is easy and obvious, and what is comfortable, or what we're comfortable doing, or even what doesn't hurt.

We are infinitely powerful beings. We have the ability to create whatever life we want to create, and the way to do that is requesting of the universe (our creation) an awareness of our greater potentials, and of what else is possible. As infinite beings, we have a need to play big, make waves, make a big sound. What's the biggest game we can play, the biggest sound we can make? We don't know, so that's when we ask the question: What else is possible here? How does it get better, bigger, grander? The awarenesses revealed from those questions is what the universe is already set to deliver you. All you need do is follow the yellow brick road.

So stop dreaming of, or even working on that elusive and unreachable Utopia. Instead ask the Universe what amazing greatness it already has available to you right now!

The Quantum Reality Gap

As kids we were all educated with the underlying premise that solid things acting upon solid things is the only way a solid thing changes. This, in fact, is still the prevailing worldview held by the majority. However, with the advent of quantum physics--that snarly and deeply subversive science that claims NOTHING is solid, has, well, created a whole new level of cognitive dissonance. That is, if you're tuned in.

The problem, in my view, stems from a deeply ingrained over-dependence on our almighty tool-using perceptions. If you can hold it in your hand, bang it on something, it's, well, real. This could not be argued with for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution here on planet rock. But now, it can.

I don't think people get the full impact of this extreme change in reality. It's like your postman came by with that blimp you ordered, and just put it in your curbside mailbox. You went out to retrieve it, realizing it was quite impossible that it was there at all, but then, you pulled it out--all 100 yards of length--and scratched your head, loaded the kids in the blimp and went off for ice cream.

That's cognitive dissonance, my friends. And that's basically the world we live in now, but we don't really get that it is.

Anyone who knows me, has heard of my current fascination with Access Consciousness. I love this modality because it requires you to "live in the question" as opposed to always seeking answers. This flies in the furry face of all us monkeys trying to "figure out" what "tool" to use to find the next answer. Because if you have the Answer, you can solve that problem, and by solving that problem with that answer, you think you'll be happier or at least understand why that problem is going on. Well, this is all bullshit, actually. With Access they push to stay in the question, ignoring answers, and simply being content with what awarenesses show up as a result of being in the question. By using this approach, you create a far greater range of potentials and possibilities--or quantum entanglements--from which you can choose your preferences.

The challenge with this mode of thinking and knowing is that it is pretty much the opposite of what we try to do, so we're much less willing or even able to accept that a question can create so much change. It's a reality gap--a quantum thinking gap. You mean we are actually creating every single moment that is happening to us? Yep. Even if you buy that--even a little bit--it is a bitch to wrap your head around it. In fact, the more you buy into the self-as-creator paradigm the more cognitively dissonant things become because you realize that because nothing is actually solid anymore (which was an illusion in the first place), a mere passing thought or intention can completely change your life. Of course, this was always true before, but then we attributed big life changes to "fate", "karma", "coincidence" or "synchronicity" without realizing that all those "escape terms" are actually code for You-Create-Everything.

The trick, I think, is to acknowledge that the way we think and how we feel about it, are fundamental drivers even more than that hammer on that nail. In fact, that hammer and nail were created by our thoughts, intentions and feelings. It's confusing and a little or a lot scarey, but it makes the world a completely magical place!