The Discomfort Zone

I was watching a dear friend and teacher recently speak on a Facebook Live broadcast about how change is not comfortable, and about how we are using that as an excuse not to change.

Well... my dear friend, I have to disagree on a couple of finer points:

1. The reason most people need and desire change is because their comfort zones are no longer comfortable.

2. When the change one is seeking begins to happen, we feel excitement--not discomfort.

She also spoke about how the process of changing steers one through all the barriers, reasons, sensations and blockages that are holding the particular condition or situation we wanted to change in place. It's true that all of this unraveling can temporarily feel like things are "falling apart", or "caving in", however, if the intention was to change, this unraveling is the evidence validating the intention to change, so why not celebrate it?

Yes, we can definitely lose track of all the changes we have desired, so that all this "falling apart" seems dangerous or distressing--and if we go into being the victim, we risk the nullification of our intention to change.

In fact, most desire to change revolves around finding a comfort zone, where life comes to us with ease and joy, and we are free to express ourselves creatively, experience the world as a loving place, and where future changes are joyful and generative.

I would hazard a guess that the meme, "Change is uncomfortable" is really just an arbitrary point of view that ignores the mechanics of how things work in this magical 3-D world we've constructed. The bottom line is that the higher more generative life we seek change for, is, in fact, the truer reflection of who we really are. And to make that change, we have simply to focus our intent on that version of ourselve already existing as a parallel reality.

I would also profer the view that what drives most change is discomfort or pain of some level, and that it is impossible to change from an alleged "comfort zone". If we are truly in this theoretical comfort zone, why would we want to change from that?

On the other hand, why experience discomfort at all in a "comfort zone"? How about just choosing something different--perhaps with more magic, excitement and incredibleness?

If instead, we are suffering or prolonging discomfort, how about changing the current situation or condition by tuning in to the higher version of yourself, and sending out the intention to become that? More joy, more ease, more fulfullment, more amazing-ness. Then, be willing to experience whatever the universe presents to us as experience in the unfoldment of that version of yourself wherever it may lead.

I would also venture to make the observation that behind all discomfort and pain is the desire for that higher version of your life, and that any pain or discomfort we are experiencing is us in the process of actualizing that higher life. It's the perception that life is victimizing us that prolongs the discomfort, pain and suffering, and potentially completely blocks any change.

So switch it up. Be the creator. Spot where the victim is, and simply say "bye bye". Then go to where the ease and joy is that will demonstrate to the Universe--your co-creative partner--that you are onboard with realizing the greatest life you can experience, and that you are willing to go beyond that. Continually broadcast that vibration of ease, love and joy, and tune in to that same broadcast emanating from the Ultimate You right next door. Enjoy the ride, and enjoy arriving at your new comfort zone!

A World Made of Language

One of my favorite authors and and shamans (although he wouldn't admit to being one), is Terence McKenna. Mainly famous for his ascendancy as the progenitor to Timothy Leary, McKenna made it his mission to enlighten his audiences about the very deepest fact no one talks about: our world is made of language.

And when he refers to "our world", he means the modern technological Western-style world, with its materialism, and embedded scientism, usually denying the reality of personal experience in favor of "objective observations" of agreed upon, consensual reality.

New flash: These are not the characteristics of non-Western, non-technological societies, such as isolated tribal cultures of South America, Indonesia, Africa and the Australian Outback. To these cultures, language does not define their worlds--and in some cases is avoided in favor of telepathy or dreaming.

I was deeply impressed with the recent movie, "Arrival", which attempted to address this subject. As McKenna has said, if there are assumed to be intelligent extraterrestrial life forms, most likely they are so alien, we wouldn't possibly be able to comprehend their purposes or their agendas, let alone their modes of communicating or conveyence. The movie pivots around this point, and ultimately shows how our reality is shaped by language. In the movie, the visitors defined human language as "a weapon", possibly due to it being so limited that it was harmful to comprehend it. Conversely, the contact human, a linguistics expert interacting with the aliens, was completely transformed by attempting to comprehend what the aliens were actually using as their mode of communication.

As standard operating behavior and habit, we interpret our experiences as words. The feelings, deeper perceptions we have about the world are translated into words. We say it's because we want to understand these things and be able to report to others about them. But this is really more of an excuse not to simply BE without words, and use our capacity to know outside of understanding. If we are filtering everything with the language we use to interpret it, how much of it is not covered by words, and so is lost?

One of the exercises I was taught by my guru many years ago was the practice of non-duality. In this practice, we try to see the world and our experience of it as a whole system containing both ends of a spectrum or duality. Say we witness what appears to be a cruelty in the world. The non-dual approach would be to simultaneously notice the kindness resulting from the cruelty. We try to see hate as a cry for love; a judgment as a desire for something greater. After practicing this for awhile, you come to a place where language seems limiting--indeed a "weapon" of limitation, secrecy and control.

Even in the "new age" spirituality movement there can be a "weaponizing" of spiritual concepts by using them to belittle, invalidate or limit another. Your 4th Chakra is closed down, so you are a hateful person, for example. The non-dual version would be the observation that the person's 4th chakra is in the process of opening as indeed is the entire being.

Because our world is made of language, we can use it to define our lives in a more constructive and generative way, by simply repeating the words to construct the life of our dreams. In light of the dualistic nature of language, the task becomes one of disciplined mindfulness: observing the negative thoughts as openings to a reality without that negativity--using the negativity itself to build a positive, life-affirming, generative life full of purpose, joy and ease.

Tune in to the oneness. It is emanating from every point in the Universe.

Be the Magician

One of the most basic skills in magic is to entrain the audience into suspending their disbelief of their own senses. If the audience no longer disbelieves what they are seeing, what you do as a magician seems like real magic. The trick is to convert the skepticism of disbelief into the wonder of true believing.

And this is how we actually create our lives. We become true believers of our own magic. We don't like a certain situation, or we want to change what we are experiencing in our lives, so we reach out with a new vision of how we want our lives to be, and refuse to disbelieve when things are slow to change or barriers and apparent obstacles block our choice to change.

Last week I had an experience with the crowdfunding app, GoFundMe. I had made a choice that I was going to raise the money for my cause, no matter how long it took, or what I had to do to make that choice come true. I thoroughly suspended my own skepticism about fundraising and "other people's intentions"--all the reasons that prevented me from using the service in the past. And with that mindset, lo and behold, it only took 48 hours to achieve my GoFundMe goal. In retrospect, it did seem like magic. In fact, many of the partcipants in the fundraiser were surprised how fast everyone chipped in.

My guru/coach said something that got me going on this: "The energy of wonder--the amazement of creation--is one of the most attractive qualities you can show the Universe. The intelligence of the particles and waves swirling around you, are just waiting for you to want something amazing they can be a part of."

Most of us have had the experience of deciding to accomplish a project or get something done, then sitting down with pen and paper to write down all the plans necessary to bring the project to fruition. We list out all the steps that we can see from the perspective of not having the project completed. We then proceed to trudge through the steps, one by one, and then realize a lot of the steps have to be revised, or new steps added, and after a while it seems overwhelming.

Of course, the problem started when we wrote down the steps we thought we needed to do. That's a problem because it was done from the viewpoint of not having what it is you're shooting for. In fact, a very wise person told me once, "It's not your job to figure out how to get something done. That's the Universe's job."

All we need to do is put the vision out there and suspend our own disbelief about it happening. The fact is, as creators, once the vision is released it IS existing within the quantum energetic structure of the subtle energy fields permeating us all. And, these subtle energies are independent of space and time and instantaneously connected to all particles and waves in the entire Universe. They are, literally, the MAGIC of life.

We can just as easily spontaneously STOP everything by disbelieving. If you don't believe in your own creation, then the intelligences of the particles and waves in the subtle energy field of your life, won't believe them either, and nothing changes.

So, as the magicians of our own life, we must entrain our monkey minds to be true believers in what we are creating. And in doing so, wha-la! Magic.

The Power of the Tiny

I was out on my daily walk the other day, and my eye was riveted by these tiny flowers whose plant was draped enticingly over some river rocks in a wall. Unexpectedly, as I admired these precious flowers, I was overcome with emotions of beauty, poignancy and reverence.

These tiniest of flowers, perhaps because they were so perfectly formed and because they were so tiny, beckoned my attention and involvement so thoroughly, it seemed like they were these miniature magicians hypnotizing and mesmerizing the giant body stooping down to have a look see.

There has been much fervor lately about new quantum physics research that may definitively prove that physical, natural geometries are indivisibly and invisibly connected to human consciousness. Or, to be more precise, human consciousness is a part of an ocean of conscious intelligence actively creating and expanding into geometric matrices underlying all physical creation.

My emotional experience with these tiny flowers seemed to subjectively prove to me that, no matter the "size" reference, the underlying "morphic field"--or energy matrix--expresses itself infinitely and timelessly through every category and perceived class of physical matter. There is no true division between "big" and "little"; no true difference between our emotional states and what is created from them; no actual separation between "me" and "you". All of it is a great big ball of interconnected and interdependent energies.

In fact, in other new research, it was found that emotional states directly change physical matter, proving the illusion of separation between what we feel and what we experience is the great veil eclipsing our direct experience of the divine. The perception of time tends to throw us off and obscure this perennial truth, yet when we can step back in mindful allowance, the truth behind the illusion is inescapable.

in the ancient practice of non-duality, the perception of "opposites" is discovered to be a manufactured point of view that we use to define and separate groups of things from other groups of things. Apparently, this is for the purpose of playing a game, or, more basically, having the ability to perceive: without dark, there is no light; without vacuum there is no form; without ignorance there is no knowing; without forgetting, there is no remembering; et cetera, et cetera.

In fact, the observable universe can be seen as a unimaginably huge generator powered by the infinite energies created from nothing to something; or, as a vacuum into an atom--the "zero-point" theory of energy generation. As is clear in the practice of non-duality, there is infinite multiplication from zero to one. It is the supreme dynamo of creation itself.

And we have that ability within our being to bring forth something from nothing. It is the function and destiny of consciousness--ever expanding, ever ramifying, ever evolving--from the enormity of the greatest galaxy clusters to the tiniest of flowers on a rock, there is no escaping the truth of our own power of creation.

Building a Ladder to Infinite Possibilities

One of the more amazing aspects to Life that quantum physics teaches us is that all possibilities--infinite possibilities--exist within every moment. We also learn that the subatomic intelligences making up the perceivable universe(s) are clumped together in forms that the mind assigns use and meaning. These subatomic intelligences are listening to our thoughts and watching our actions at every moment.

In the science of epigenetics, we find that the decisions, opinions, fears and other emotional states not only create gene expression, which changes DNA, but that these changes are passed down for generations unless acted upon or changed.

The way we view life--our Point of View--sets up a matrix within which the subatomic intelligences build their forms and sequences. By changing your conclusions about Who You Are, it changes the matrix, and thus changes the forms surrounding you.

Most of what makes up our lives are the conclusions and points of view we established about what we perceived as events that happened around us. These conclusions and points of view direct the activities of subatomic particle-waves. Unfortunately, because we are habitually inclined to conclude and judge what we see and feel, we end up inadvertantly doubling down on our situations, creating unchanging conditions, stagnation and premature death.

The way out of the conundrum of reinforcing fixed or stubborn conditions is to stop judging, stop concluding, and stop habitually asserting a particular point of view. Instead, ask questions.

The question is the signal to the subatomic intelligences to change their positions in the matrix of Self. When you allow your perceptions, but then do not judge or draw conclusions about them, it opens up the energy and space for change to occur. By "staying in the question", you "loosen" tight, fixed forms and start to allow new energies and new forms to come into being.

How do you stay in the question? The key is mindfulness. We must be able to observe the moment we "double-down" with a conclusion or point of view. For example, your employer passes you up for a well-deserved promotion. The conclusion? "It's unfair!" or "I'll never get anywhere at this place", or "I guess I'm just not worthy". Instead, ask the question, What else is possible? What about this is getting me to my greatest and most glorious life?

Now, by asking questions, the secondary habit is to suddenly receive an awareness or a perception or "answer", and then make that answer a conclusion about "how things are". This is where mindfulness comes in again. Instead of making these answers into conclusions, simply ask more questions. The goal is to remain in a state of "ask" at all times. By attempting this, you'll become acutely aware of the debilitating and limiting conclusions and judgments you're making about your life. And sometimes it ain't pretty.

Every time you replace a conclusion with a question, you've added a rung to the Ladder of Infinite Possibilities, allowing greater space, greater vision and higher awareness than you had before. Ultimately, you're climbing into your infinite life, packed full of potential and possibilities for realizing the life you truly desire to live.

The Quantum Afterlife

At 80 years old, Robert Redford plays a scientist who proves the existence of the Afterlife, so kudos to him for taking on this age-appropriate Netflix production.

The film is a slow-moving, introspective fare, delivering the subject matter with even more gravitas than it would on its own. The cast is quirky and melodramatic, which gives impact to the last 20 minutes of the show, when Redford's character admits he had it all wrong about the Afterlife.

In the scientist's previous research, he definitively proves that a person's consciousness "goes somewhere else" at the time of death--hence, "The Discovery". This leads to mass suicides around the world, since now there is a guarantee of a glorious "life reset" after death.

The film begins with the fallout from The Discovery as Redford's character is interviewed by Mary Steenbergen's TV reporter. She attempts to get the scientist to accept responsibility for all the deaths (upward of 4 million since The Discovery), and he won't. After all, it's a matter of personal choice.

The next step for Redford's scientist is to obtain a physical recording of where this "somewhere else" is. For this he needs a cadaver--apparently more convincing than flatlining himself and some of his staff doing research on this.

The cadaver tells a mind-blowing tale, which gets me to why this film had such an impact on me, as a quantum physics buff. (Spoiler Alert) Via a quivering and ghostly video image from the cadaver's point of view, we see a known local hospital where the subject visits a family member. At first, everyone thinks the video feed is simply a string of memories, which would invalidate the premise that the machine retrieving this video is plugged into the subject's current view of the Afterlife.

But then, the scientist's son (and rude skeptic) discovers that there are small details in the video that do not match current reality: a door in a hallway at the hospital that isn't there in the video, a tattoo on the arm of the subject that doesn't match the one on the cadaver's body, and a few other things that get everyone asking, "What exactly are we looking at?"

And then, the chilling conclusion: what we call The Afterlife is simply another version of the life we've just led. So after our death, we step into basically the same life we just left--all the same people, same issues, and same settings, except we have lost the memory of where we had just been because we've left that mind behind and taken on a new one in a parallel universe.

So, no "god", no "angels', no "Pearly Gates"... just more of the same. Now, what impacted me was that this theory fits in nicely with what quantum science knows about the behaviors of sub-atomic particles. Such features as "spooky action at a distance" where electrons can be at two places at once, or share information instantaneously across huge distances, or go to the future and change its own past. These characteristics are common in the quantum particle-wave world.

We are all made up of these quantum particles, so is it such a stretch to believe that we, too, have the same "spooky" possibilities lurking within our being?

A somewhat shocking explanation given by engineers about how quantum computing works, is that all mathematical problems have been solved in all parallel universes. Inform a particle in this universe of a problem, and it automatically retrieves the solution from a parallel universe. In other words, quantum particles travel among parallel universes instantaneously, and those particles are what make up our very own lives.

What if "The Afterlife" is all about making new choices--about doing things differently than we did them before to create a different result for ourselves. The fact that we use the death of the body as a way to "jump parallel universes" now seems, in light of this new possibility, rather over-dramatic and anachronistic.

I then began to realize that I've been catching glimpses of another version or versions of my life my whole life. Usually, they are higher, more wonderful versions of me, where I've made the choices that have led me to a Utopian existence. This fits with the Promise of most religions about the Afterlife--we go to a loving, beatific place where all our loved ones welcome us with open arms. What if what they are referring to are simply parallel universes where we can choose anew among those possibilities.

And what if we could just go there right now?...

Leading the Pack

I've always been a big Carlos Castaneda fan, and his semi-fictional books have always been an inspiration. Now and then I revisit some of that information, and one piece in particular kept leaping into my awareness this past couple of weeks.

I believe it was the character Don Genaro, who, after appearing to Castaneda face to face in front of the casita where they were staying, suddenly and without warning re-appeared on the casita roof.

Flabbergasted, Castaneda blurted out, "What does this mean, Don Genaro?"

Genaro paused and looked out to the horizon for a long time from his perch on the roof, then said, "It's about getting in front of your life. If life is coming at you, you're doing it wrong. Be in front--like a leader of the pack." Genaro then jumped down off the roof, but seemed to be floating. "See? Live your life as a director, not a follower."

So many things seem to "happen to us", when actually we created them, or contributed to them happening. And yet, we seem to insist on being at the effect, or victim, of our circumstances and life events. When we assume the position of victim, or being at the effect, we give up any input energy that we may be able to change things with. That stance also leads to more victim-ness, as life saunters on like a slow moving tsunami, taking out the carefully built foundations and structures we've used to keep being at the effect.

One handy mind hack is to be mindful of when you put yourself at the effect of circumstances. Then say, "Interesting thing I created there. What is my next best move?" This replaces the inner rhetoric that usually goes on: "Damn. This pattern again. Will I ever learn? I'm tired of everything working against me."... etc. etc.

What we can create--and create in an instant--is an awareness of one of my favorite concepts: "Pronoia": The feeling and observation that Life is working in your favor. If you can perceive circumstances as being to your advantage, no matter how extreme or disadvantageous, then you've begun to "lead the pack".

Leading the pack also means seeing things the way they are NOW--not compared to the way they were, or some other past perceived joyful nirvana. Chances are that joyful nirvana is a self-defeating construct intended to neutralize best intentions in the present. "Youth is wasted on the young", or "The good ol' days are gone", or "It'll never be as good as it once was." These are all victim declarations, because they instantly dis-empower any present or future action to create brand new ways of joy and ease.

So assume the stance of Life Leader. Get out in front of circumstances simply by assuming that point of view. Then, sally forth confident that life is always working in your favor...