It's never too late to change. For many of us, this is easier said than done. Unfortunately, it's more difficult for some of us, because we place too many restrictions on ourselves.
Some of us are watching our lives slip away as we grow more detached from what's happening in the world. We spend considerable time reminiscing about the "good old days," as if they were really good.
And while we continue slipping deeper into apathy, society constantly remind us that we're growing older and apathy is one of the conditions facing us.
While growing older or becoming labeled "seniors" is downright frightening to many of us, however, it's not nearly as frightening as watching our lives sink into social, economic, and political irrelevancy. And as we do, we become victims of a self-fulfilling prophecy about aging in this country.
Meanwhile, for those of us who don't dwell on or fear aging, we continue to live in the present. We recognize that these are the good old days.
We are working on creating healthy minds and bodies to assist us with expressing enlightened actions. And by doing this everyday, we; are too busy to cling to the dead memories of the past.
When we look in the mirror, we see ourselves without deficiencies of age, beauty, weight, and other physical identities that inextricably connect us to victimization. This awakened to life helps us to remain free from trying to look the way we look in the past.
And with this clarity, we're not rushing to get a face lift, tummy tuck, toupee, wig, and other types of implants to correct how we look. We clearly know that changes mean changes.
Similarly, for some of us, what's even worse than aging is aging without enough money. We thought we would never face layoffs, unemployment, business failures, and so forth.
We believed our education, experience and qualifications made us marketable into our retirement years. So we either didn't plan for changes or we expected they wouldn't really affect us that much.
This mindset places some of us in positions to become victimized by regrets, and blaming ourselves for being, basically, stupid for living our lives like "candles in the wind."
Meanwhile, just the thought of not having what we want at certain points in our lives is cause for intense suffering. Not to mention having deep fears over health care and intense regrets about our lack of accomplishments.
Many of us constantly moan about what we could've done if we hadn't done so and so. Unfortunately, and without ever giving it much serious consideration, we had bought into the victim age-game. And by doing so, we had abdicated our powers to change the rules of the game.
Nevertheless, to free ourselves from the age-game, we must be mindful that there are no age or income restrictions on change.
Change is a state of mind. It's our inherent abilities to connect with, and use, the endless flow of ideas existing in our minds.
For us to change or even participate in change, we cannot have cluttered minds searching blindly for solace in the past. We must have the clarity to perceive our lives existing in different states of change.
At each level of change, we add another action and experience. So, regardless to our present conditions, whatever they might be, they only represent another piece of an incomplete life. We can still add other pieces.
The key to adding more pieces or experiences to our lives is to have clarity. This means we must detach ourselves from longing for the good old days. We must let the dead (past) bury itself.
Our memories of the past are nothing but an obituary read over and over again. And it reminds us that someone (us) close to us has passed away, and will never be with us again.
Today, regardless to what we think about our lives, this is the greatest opportunity we have to change our behavior. However, we must be mindful of what change means.
Mindful change doesn't mean we make a list of the things that are bothering us and set out to work on them one at at time. It means having the awareness and clarity to accept ourselves with limitless power.
To achieve this awareness and clarity, we must be willing to participate in self-discovery -- the process of discovering the origins of our victim beliefs. And the awareness to know that victim minds can only produce victim results.
For us to create enlightened results in our lives, we must have enlightened minds (consciousness).
Brother Malcolm Kelly, M.A. is a Powers of the Mind Author and creator of the Enlightenism Philosophy. He shares Insights about how to use Self-Acquired Knowledge to create a Powerful Mind.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Talking About the Good Old Days
Friday, July 15, 2011
Life Beyond The Fears
Today, the victims (powerless) of the world are finding it difficult to suffer in silence. We can no longer ignore the cancerous surge of uncertainty spreading rapidly through our minds.
This is our wake up call for action. Whether we like it or not, we know it's time to do something about our feelings or succumb to our fears of victimization.
Regardless to the numbers of us who are unemployed, losing our homes to foreclosures, drowning in credit card debts or simply unable to cope with the vicissitudes of the economic calamities around us, we somehow, incredulously, find it difficult to believe what's happening is real. This all seems so surreal.
This surreal perception of reality is another example of why we continue to perpetuate victim beliefs and values. And why we have learned to live with the illusions defining us as victims. Unfortunately, too many of us find this as acceptable.
Meanwhile, the fears we have about the power of the illusions inextricably tie us to the confusion we're seeking to escape. So we remain powerless because we're too afraid to accept personal responsibility for creating and embodying the beliefs that sustain our powerlessness.
Our powerlessness or victimization is the way we perceive our existence in this world. And while we complain about our living conditions, we continue to search for solutions outside of ourselves. We don't trust ourselves to have power.
From a victim or a powerless perspective, many of us expect society or its designates to fix our problems. We have been taught to believe we're powerless and that authentic power exists in others.
So the truth about us has already been confirmed by our beliefs and values. This iinescapable truth is always present in our actions.
After awhile, we believe our problems were created by others. And because of the magnitude and duration of them, we cannot imagine that we're responsible for creating so much suffering. So, in a certain sense, we're sleepwalking in our lives, and we're never fully awake
Similarly, as sleepwalkers, we're always struggling to make sense of what's happening in the world. We want to know if this or that policy will harm us. This is the cave-like existence of victims who live in darkness, not fully awake to see where we're going.
Nevertheless, even with our pain and suffering, many of us believe we are powerless, because society and its surrogates taught us to think and act as victims. We don't really believe we chose to live on the bottom of society. No, someone placed us this position.
Some of us perceive our existence in society as minor contributors dependent on others to tell us what to do. We are here, but we're not here to do anything about unemployment, home foreclosures, credit card debts, senseless wars, and the untold violence against each other.
We are here, but we believe no one will listen to what we have to say. So we don't say anything. We're here without the vision to develop ourselves beyond the perceptions of powerlessness.
We're here, but we're afraid to be here. We're afraid to wake up from our illusory dreams.
Similarly, in a certain sense, we are living in the spiritual dark ages. While the world we live in has made gargantuan strides in science, medicine, electronics, and so forth, many of us have not worked on making strides in our spiritual lives.
For us to overcome our fears, we must revalue ourselves with creative power. While we can use the information from our spiritual and personal growth books to guide and inspire us to change, we must be the catalyst for the actions.
Unfortunately, some of us devalue our own power by believing our Creator (the unconditioned consciousness) is not present in our lives now. As victims, we're too afraid to believe it's not sacrilege to claim the divine power within us, and to use this power to revalue ourselves.
It's never sacrilege to use what we already have within us. It's foolish to suffer when we have the power to free ourselves from it. And if we don't use this great power within us now, then when do we plan to use it.
As humans, asleep or awake, our greatest strength is the power of our minds. This power allows us to conquer our fears.
It allows us to create things -- cellular phones, computers, airplanes, heart transplants, and so on -- that were not available to our predecessors. It also allows us to live enlightened, fully awake, lives.
Now is the time to use this great power within us to wake up and perceive the world as it is, and not according to our current beliefs and values.
In other words, it's not our divine birthright to be powerlesss, we choose to live this way.
This is our wake up call for action. Whether we like it or not, we know it's time to do something about our feelings or succumb to our fears of victimization.
Regardless to the numbers of us who are unemployed, losing our homes to foreclosures, drowning in credit card debts or simply unable to cope with the vicissitudes of the economic calamities around us, we somehow, incredulously, find it difficult to believe what's happening is real. This all seems so surreal.
This surreal perception of reality is another example of why we continue to perpetuate victim beliefs and values. And why we have learned to live with the illusions defining us as victims. Unfortunately, too many of us find this as acceptable.
Meanwhile, the fears we have about the power of the illusions inextricably tie us to the confusion we're seeking to escape. So we remain powerless because we're too afraid to accept personal responsibility for creating and embodying the beliefs that sustain our powerlessness.
Our powerlessness or victimization is the way we perceive our existence in this world. And while we complain about our living conditions, we continue to search for solutions outside of ourselves. We don't trust ourselves to have power.
From a victim or a powerless perspective, many of us expect society or its designates to fix our problems. We have been taught to believe we're powerless and that authentic power exists in others.
So the truth about us has already been confirmed by our beliefs and values. This iinescapable truth is always present in our actions.
After awhile, we believe our problems were created by others. And because of the magnitude and duration of them, we cannot imagine that we're responsible for creating so much suffering. So, in a certain sense, we're sleepwalking in our lives, and we're never fully awake
Similarly, as sleepwalkers, we're always struggling to make sense of what's happening in the world. We want to know if this or that policy will harm us. This is the cave-like existence of victims who live in darkness, not fully awake to see where we're going.
Nevertheless, even with our pain and suffering, many of us believe we are powerless, because society and its surrogates taught us to think and act as victims. We don't really believe we chose to live on the bottom of society. No, someone placed us this position.
Some of us perceive our existence in society as minor contributors dependent on others to tell us what to do. We are here, but we're not here to do anything about unemployment, home foreclosures, credit card debts, senseless wars, and the untold violence against each other.
We are here, but we believe no one will listen to what we have to say. So we don't say anything. We're here without the vision to develop ourselves beyond the perceptions of powerlessness.
We're here, but we're afraid to be here. We're afraid to wake up from our illusory dreams.
Similarly, in a certain sense, we are living in the spiritual dark ages. While the world we live in has made gargantuan strides in science, medicine, electronics, and so forth, many of us have not worked on making strides in our spiritual lives.
For us to overcome our fears, we must revalue ourselves with creative power. While we can use the information from our spiritual and personal growth books to guide and inspire us to change, we must be the catalyst for the actions.
Unfortunately, some of us devalue our own power by believing our Creator (the unconditioned consciousness) is not present in our lives now. As victims, we're too afraid to believe it's not sacrilege to claim the divine power within us, and to use this power to revalue ourselves.
It's never sacrilege to use what we already have within us. It's foolish to suffer when we have the power to free ourselves from it. And if we don't use this great power within us now, then when do we plan to use it.
As humans, asleep or awake, our greatest strength is the power of our minds. This power allows us to conquer our fears.
It allows us to create things -- cellular phones, computers, airplanes, heart transplants, and so on -- that were not available to our predecessors. It also allows us to live enlightened, fully awake, lives.
Now is the time to use this great power within us to wake up and perceive the world as it is, and not according to our current beliefs and values.
In other words, it's not our divine birthright to be powerlesss, we choose to live this way.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Power to Liberate our Minds
Let's begin this day by pledging to wake up from the nightmare of victimization and powerlessness.
For us to become enlightened about who we are, and the power we have to overcome pain and suffering, requires an awakened mind. This awakened mind, which comes from self-discovery, provides us with the clarity to perceive ourselves without victim beliefs of powerlessness.
Some of us are aware of the great powers we have to envision ourselves as enlightened individuals free of lack, limitation, and struggle. We are cognizant of the brief moments of clarity we get unexpectedly during certain times of the day. These are the moments when are not focusing on our doubts, fears, worries, and so forth.
Similarly, some of us ignore these moments of clarity, because it's easier for us to deny that it's possible for us to be greater than what we're currently perceiving ourselves as being. And it's this lack of acceptance that inextricably tie us to our current beliefs preventing us from expanding our level of awareness.
As victims of powerlessness, it's never easy to accept ourselves as powerful. We have lived on the bottom of our societies for long that we feel its natural for us to live in this manner. So it's easier for us to accept our powerlessnes than to search for other possibilities to expand our awareness of ourselves and our roles in the world.
Nevertheless, after awhile, and after intense suffering, some of us find it difficult to continue ignoring the sporadic insights of clarity silently exploding within our consciousness. Now we want to know more about these moments of clarity. So we decide to pursue the meaning of this clarity.
As we go deeper into our inquisition, some of us get sidetracked by believing enlightenment comes from others. We want them to tell us how to get enlightenment. And after much time and effort, we begin to believe that it's impossible to completely enlighten ourselves, because we're too besieged by victim beliefs.
While the truth about power is found outside of our victim beliefs, it's still within the vast space of our minds. And unbeknown to many of us is the untapped power we have to conceptualize ourselves in any manner we choose. This is the power of creativity.
The power of creativity is simply the awareness to understand that we are the creators of all our conceptions. A good illustration of this power is to know that we are the ones creating ourselves as victims. The power creating and the created expression, in this case victim, are one; however, the power creating is greater than what it has created.
When we achieve the necessary clarity, we have the limitless power to conceptualize ourselves in any manner we choose. We can envision ourselves with enlightened or victim minds. Unfortunately, many of us are so limited by our current beliefs that we're unable to envision ourselves with power.
For us to move beyond this point of confusion, we must be willing to enter into self-discovery and understand, basically, what makes us tick.
For us to succeed, we must remain mindful that this is an inner search, not an outer one. Nevertheless, it's one all of us must make if we ever want to discover the limitless power within us.
Meanwhile, our search for authentic power always leads us to self-discovery, which is the path to enlightenment. While enlightenment is our goal, it is also something we already have within us, but we're unaware of its presence.
It's difficult to believe we were born enlightened and taught by our guides to become victims. Yet this is basically what some of us discovered about ourselves after spending several years in self-discovery.
And this is why it's important to remember that we are searching for something we already have within our intuitive (unconditioned by human beliefs) consciousness.
Similarly, we must also remain mindful that the enlightened awareness we seek to express doesn't have its roots in victim consciousness. So it's important to remember we must have compassion for ourselves as we go off on tangents by seeking enlightenment from society or from understanding the environment where we became victims.
While this type of information is useful in confirming victimization, it's true value is found in leading us to self-discovery.
Whatever paths we are currently on, we must become mindful of the actions we are expressing to achieve our goal. The intellectual gymnastics of victim beliefs are games we play with ourselves and others who believe in the same things we do.
When we achieve the clarity to understand that there's more to us than what we are currently aware of being, then we will have found the boundless creative space within our consciousness to express our great power. For us to discover this divine treasure, we must search for it while we're in self-discovery.
We cannot overcome victim beliefs by using these same beliefs to liberate our minds.
For us to become enlightened about who we are, and the power we have to overcome pain and suffering, requires an awakened mind. This awakened mind, which comes from self-discovery, provides us with the clarity to perceive ourselves without victim beliefs of powerlessness.
Some of us are aware of the great powers we have to envision ourselves as enlightened individuals free of lack, limitation, and struggle. We are cognizant of the brief moments of clarity we get unexpectedly during certain times of the day. These are the moments when are not focusing on our doubts, fears, worries, and so forth.
Similarly, some of us ignore these moments of clarity, because it's easier for us to deny that it's possible for us to be greater than what we're currently perceiving ourselves as being. And it's this lack of acceptance that inextricably tie us to our current beliefs preventing us from expanding our level of awareness.
As victims of powerlessness, it's never easy to accept ourselves as powerful. We have lived on the bottom of our societies for long that we feel its natural for us to live in this manner. So it's easier for us to accept our powerlessnes than to search for other possibilities to expand our awareness of ourselves and our roles in the world.
Nevertheless, after awhile, and after intense suffering, some of us find it difficult to continue ignoring the sporadic insights of clarity silently exploding within our consciousness. Now we want to know more about these moments of clarity. So we decide to pursue the meaning of this clarity.
As we go deeper into our inquisition, some of us get sidetracked by believing enlightenment comes from others. We want them to tell us how to get enlightenment. And after much time and effort, we begin to believe that it's impossible to completely enlighten ourselves, because we're too besieged by victim beliefs.
While the truth about power is found outside of our victim beliefs, it's still within the vast space of our minds. And unbeknown to many of us is the untapped power we have to conceptualize ourselves in any manner we choose. This is the power of creativity.
The power of creativity is simply the awareness to understand that we are the creators of all our conceptions. A good illustration of this power is to know that we are the ones creating ourselves as victims. The power creating and the created expression, in this case victim, are one; however, the power creating is greater than what it has created.
When we achieve the necessary clarity, we have the limitless power to conceptualize ourselves in any manner we choose. We can envision ourselves with enlightened or victim minds. Unfortunately, many of us are so limited by our current beliefs that we're unable to envision ourselves with power.
For us to move beyond this point of confusion, we must be willing to enter into self-discovery and understand, basically, what makes us tick.
For us to succeed, we must remain mindful that this is an inner search, not an outer one. Nevertheless, it's one all of us must make if we ever want to discover the limitless power within us.
Meanwhile, our search for authentic power always leads us to self-discovery, which is the path to enlightenment. While enlightenment is our goal, it is also something we already have within us, but we're unaware of its presence.
It's difficult to believe we were born enlightened and taught by our guides to become victims. Yet this is basically what some of us discovered about ourselves after spending several years in self-discovery.
And this is why it's important to remember that we are searching for something we already have within our intuitive (unconditioned by human beliefs) consciousness.
Similarly, we must also remain mindful that the enlightened awareness we seek to express doesn't have its roots in victim consciousness. So it's important to remember we must have compassion for ourselves as we go off on tangents by seeking enlightenment from society or from understanding the environment where we became victims.
While this type of information is useful in confirming victimization, it's true value is found in leading us to self-discovery.
Whatever paths we are currently on, we must become mindful of the actions we are expressing to achieve our goal. The intellectual gymnastics of victim beliefs are games we play with ourselves and others who believe in the same things we do.
When we achieve the clarity to understand that there's more to us than what we are currently aware of being, then we will have found the boundless creative space within our consciousness to express our great power. For us to discover this divine treasure, we must search for it while we're in self-discovery.
We cannot overcome victim beliefs by using these same beliefs to liberate our minds.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Rising from the Ashes of Pain and Suffering
Sometimes we find it difficult to get up after having been knocked down so many times. Sometimes the impact of our actions are so devastating that we want to quit. These are times when we have the greatest opportunities to stop and learn why we are suffering.
Many of us are unwilling to take the time to understand our behavior. We continue to search aimlessly for the next project to fulfill our illusory beliefs about success and failure. We, unfortunately, don't have the presence of mind to know that we are responsible for creating our own suffering.
It's very difficult to accept that we're truly responsible for our own suffering. And while we say we understand that we're responsible, we are somewhat timid in our convictions. It's a major transition for us to accept total ownership of our actions without believing others did not also contribute to the results.
Nevertheless, when we think about it calmly and clearly, we really don't want to claim responsibility for our failures or disappointments. This is due partly to our beliefs that there's always someone else involved in our actions.
We have been on the blame game journey for so long that it's difficult to stop. Many of us don't want to stop, because to do so invalidates our good actions. When we blame others, we believe our actions were commendable, and that we were victimized by others.
After having lived for a few years, many of us, at one time or another, find ourselves wallowing in our suffering. We have accepted our powerlessness and resigned ourselves to our fate.
We believe we're powerless because of the beliefs we're using to interpret the results of our actions. We have become too dependent on using our beliefs to determine the way the world really is.
Some of us forget that success and failure exist because of our beliefs and values about ourselves and others. However, in many situations, it's difficult for us to ignore the realness of the results before us. And it seems that we're always trying to interpret what's actually happening in every moment of time.
Those of us who are somewhat mindful of our actions have begun to face the facts that we really don't know the difference between our reality and our expectations. This is due, in part, to the way we interpret the results of our actions.
Whenever we do something, we expect some type of results. In many instances, we expect pleasurable or successful results. And if we don't get them, we immediately condemn ourselves. We complain over and over again about our stupidity.
Nevertheless, the real truth of our reality is hidden from us because of our beliefs. For us to perceive our actions and results from a clearer perspective, we must first change our beliefs. And to do this, we must be willing to enter into self-discovery.
We rise from our pain and suffering by our willingness to enter into self-discovery and taking the time to understand why we're acting with such powerlessness.
Self-discovery is where we come face to face with the creator of our suffering. And it's where we must face the fears preventing us from accepting personal responsibility for our actions.
Even though society and its surrogates taught us the beliefs we now claim as our own, in self-discovery we gain the insights to know that we can change them.
Similarly, for those of us who want to rise above the suffering, we must be willing to spend the time and energy working on understanding and changing our beliefs.
If not, we will continue to live with the pain and suffering while seeking things -- money, power, people, and so forth -- to lead us to an unknown blissful destination.
Many of us are unwilling to take the time to understand our behavior. We continue to search aimlessly for the next project to fulfill our illusory beliefs about success and failure. We, unfortunately, don't have the presence of mind to know that we are responsible for creating our own suffering.
It's very difficult to accept that we're truly responsible for our own suffering. And while we say we understand that we're responsible, we are somewhat timid in our convictions. It's a major transition for us to accept total ownership of our actions without believing others did not also contribute to the results.
Nevertheless, when we think about it calmly and clearly, we really don't want to claim responsibility for our failures or disappointments. This is due partly to our beliefs that there's always someone else involved in our actions.
We have been on the blame game journey for so long that it's difficult to stop. Many of us don't want to stop, because to do so invalidates our good actions. When we blame others, we believe our actions were commendable, and that we were victimized by others.
After having lived for a few years, many of us, at one time or another, find ourselves wallowing in our suffering. We have accepted our powerlessness and resigned ourselves to our fate.
We believe we're powerless because of the beliefs we're using to interpret the results of our actions. We have become too dependent on using our beliefs to determine the way the world really is.
Some of us forget that success and failure exist because of our beliefs and values about ourselves and others. However, in many situations, it's difficult for us to ignore the realness of the results before us. And it seems that we're always trying to interpret what's actually happening in every moment of time.
Those of us who are somewhat mindful of our actions have begun to face the facts that we really don't know the difference between our reality and our expectations. This is due, in part, to the way we interpret the results of our actions.
Whenever we do something, we expect some type of results. In many instances, we expect pleasurable or successful results. And if we don't get them, we immediately condemn ourselves. We complain over and over again about our stupidity.
Nevertheless, the real truth of our reality is hidden from us because of our beliefs. For us to perceive our actions and results from a clearer perspective, we must first change our beliefs. And to do this, we must be willing to enter into self-discovery.
We rise from our pain and suffering by our willingness to enter into self-discovery and taking the time to understand why we're acting with such powerlessness.
Self-discovery is where we come face to face with the creator of our suffering. And it's where we must face the fears preventing us from accepting personal responsibility for our actions.
Even though society and its surrogates taught us the beliefs we now claim as our own, in self-discovery we gain the insights to know that we can change them.
Similarly, for those of us who want to rise above the suffering, we must be willing to spend the time and energy working on understanding and changing our beliefs.
If not, we will continue to live with the pain and suffering while seeking things -- money, power, people, and so forth -- to lead us to an unknown blissful destination.
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