You Are The Product Of Your Past
“You are one thing only. You are a Divine Being. An all-powerful Creator. You are a Deity in jeans and a t-shirt, and within you dwells the infinite wisdom of the ages and the sacred creative force of All that is, will be and ever was.” — Anthon St. Maarten
I’d like you to reflect on the following question for a moment. Your answer will give you a sense of what the following paragraphs will mean to you. Do you believe you are a powerful creator of your destiny, or are you resigned to the fact that life happens to you, instead of for you?
May I offer my perspective while you consider your answer? We all have unlimited power, although harnessing that power is the basis to this article. When we let go of the false belief we are lacking in some way, we arouse our potential.
One need only look to mainstream culture to see how the media and marketing hype influence us. We are drawn into a fictitious way of life at the expense of our sanity and hard-earned dollars. We are conditioned to be like everyone else. We try to stand out by decorating ourselves with ornaments, hoping we’ll be noticed from others. Yet inside we entertain the same thoughts and live the same lives as millions of other people.
Contemplate this for a moment: When did you last entertain an original thought?
In his book Do the Work, author Steven Pressfield realised it wasn’t until he was thirty years old before he contemplated an original thought. Every thought before that resulted from conditioned beliefs, attitudes and thoughts resulting from society. In many ways, we are the product of our past. Consider the following points on how conditioning establishes our perception of life.
1. Our Thoughts, Beliefs, Ideas, Perceptions Are Not Ours
We gain these ideals from others and make them our own. Over the years we substantiate them with evidence to support our thoughts. In doing so, the beliefs are reinforced via our neural network.
2. Reality Is Conditioned To Our Perception Of It
It was the American author Anais Nin who said: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” What she is referring to is best illustrated via the following example: If you were to ask twins what their view of marriage is, they will naturally yield different answers. This is because genetics alone do not dictate the course of our life. It is the canvas upon which we invent our life’s conditions.
Our epigenetics and inherent constitution work together to turn on switches that express certain behaviours and traits. Nothing is set in stone since there are multiple variables at play. So, our view of reality is largely influenced by our internal landscape.
Can you see how this way can benefit you?
Are you able to see how being in command of your inner world helps shape your reality?
3. Change The Filter And We Bend Reality To Conform
As the saying goes: “There’s more to life than meets the eye.” Much of what we consider fact or truth is open to interpretation because of what lies beneath the surface that controls our fate and destiny. Therefore, we must be open to new possibilities and suspend our need to judge what we experience. Sometimes, it is easy to judge what happens in our life because we are meaning-making machines. We create meaning in order to make sense of what happens to us. This helps us to discern if the experience is beneficial to our lives.
There are many people who are unaware of their filters and react to what takes place all too quickly. They use these filters, not realising they are a puppet on a string controlled by unconscious desires and memories.
To give a contrasting view, those who achieve enlightenment perceive life through universal consciousness: ever expansive, unlimited and non-linear. We needn’t be enlightened to experience similar states of being. We need only let go of what we believe is true to make way for the absolute truth. The biggest obstacle that holds mankind back from awakening to his authentic power is a conditioned mind.
I don’t say this to minimise your self-worth, but to put into view that we are born into this world limited in some capacity. However, we can overcome these limitations if we seek to do so.
How Do You Awaken Your Inner Wisdom?
“The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.” ― Ram Dass
We have the same genetic wisdom as all the geniuses that have lived before us. It lays dormant until we engage it. It’s been said our genetic expression is like light switches: if it is not turned on, it remains unexpressed. Whilst this is a simple case of genetic physiology, it underscores what lays dormant will continue to do so until we arouse its potential. We must provide the circumstances for it to flourish by aligning with the same energy as that source.
Therefore, we let go of our ideas and beliefs which hinder our growth. We let go of what we think we ought to be and view the world with a new mind — we lose our minds in a manner of speaking. It was Albert Einstein who once proclaimed: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
He was explaining how our problems are the result from an error in thinking. We cannot solve our problems with the same mind that created them. We must transcend our problems by creating a different filter in which to perceive the world. We do this by becoming passionately curious by living in awe and suspense.
We learn to think like a child.
We question everything and challenge all things.
It was the late Steve Jobs who said: “… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
This is our inner wisdom calling out to us. Let it expand, allow it space to thrive and feed it with passion, enthusiasm and energy. To experience reality on a deeper level, we must unite with our minds and hearts. This is because we are gifted with a mental faculty to reason the world with and intuition in which to experience it. The heart is the seat of the soul where wisdom lives. It holds the key to universal intelligence, so we must find time for silence to hear the call of our heart.
In doing so, we turn down the volume on the incessant internal chatter that marks our mental landscape. How? By tuning in to our inner nature, we become acquainted with our desires, urges and passions. This is wisdom beckoning us to connect with it. It is only then we will connect with our deeper spiritual wisdom and awaken our greatest power.
Originally published at Medium