Death is a great leveler. Actually, let me rephrase that: fear of life is a great leveler. Death merely represents a transition from one state to another, and is no more dramatic than closing your eyes to go to sleep. Up until that point you are still very much alive, as you are after it. I have written about this many times here, so those of you who read my work will know what my views are regarding the issue of life after life. Those of you who are new to my blog and The Daily Channel, I would urge you to read my posts under the headings: “The Daily Channel” and “Metaphysics”.
When we talk about death, what we are really expressing is our fear of pain, loss, rejection, limitation, restriction, aggression, desperation. However, all of these fears are states of mind that we choose to focus upon, and that reflect the expectations of the cultures that we live in and abide by. All of them are learnt behaviours, and none of them is immutable. It isn’t to say that the effect of our fears is not tangible and very real for many of us, but that of its very nature it stems from a concept of accepted limitation, and by that I mean a limitation that we personally accept and subscribe to based on what we believe is ‘right’ and appropriate according to our own personal circumstances.
In expressing our fears we are really telling ourselves and others at that particular moment:
“I can’t.”
“I won’t.”
or
“I don’t know how.”
And that’s ok. But as you may know I take a very pragmatic view of such limited thinking, because as humans we are all imbued with an imagination that can think beyond any circumstance, and where limitation is just an inhibitor to progress, or in social terms, a way of defining concepts and thus enacting/enforcing measures of control.
I’m raising this issue now in response to comments that I have received recently with regard to certain posts, and due to my own personal circumstances that have urged me to ask particular questions. I believe that it is important to think beyond the restrictions that we often place upon ourselves and those around us due to an inability or blank refusal sometimes to take responsibility for our thought processes, and thus think differently. The one way in which we are not restricted is in our ability to make choices no matter how difficult our circumstances may seem to be.
A concentration on what we fear only serves to perpetuate what we fear. There is no positive outcome to that. If I insist on accepting a fear as a delimiting factor in my life, then I cannot hope to progress beyond it and find a resolution wherein I am of a more positive state of mind.This is often further perpetuated by a notion of “It’s out of my control”.
Things are only out of your control if that is what you choose to believe.
“Yes but…”
Yes but what exactly?
Until you are prepared to think beyond your current limitations, no matter what they may be, with the use of your imagination no less, then you will be beholden to them and you will limit your potential to experience something different and perhaps better.
It is human nature to be spontaneous and innovative and to generate new experiences that bring us pleasure and allow us to express ourselves creatively in a way that is healthy for us and those around us. When that impetus is stifled then we become unhappy, we withdraw, and become unresponsive to the world around us. We develop fears, we fall ill, and life seems anything but positive and exciting. Yet the at the very root is our own voice reinforcing that state of mind:
“I can’t.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t know how.”
What I advocate through my writing and the work I do, not to mention a lifetime of direct personal experience is that our own personal circumstances are designed to enable us to express ourselves in the best, most creative way possible, and that part of the challenge is to find a resolution to that which limits us, to be able to turn a seemingly negative situation into a positive experience that in turn creates new opportunities and ways of exploring and experiencing life in a more joyous, and fulfilling way.
For the past forty years I have lived with a condition that frequently causes me extreme physical pain, limits my mobility, and at times my ability to function coherently.A condition that only in recent years I have discovered may end my life abruptly and without warning according to current medical science. You can imagine then, that at times my ability to stay positive and focussed is tested to the limit.
You will often find me within the privacy of my thoughts saying my goodbyes, and preparing myself for what happens next as my symptoms escalate and warn me of impending danger. But I remember at such moments that nothing in life or death is insurmountable, that it is my choice to envision myself in perfect health, physically and emotionally, and that there is a lot more living that I wish to do without the encumbrance of negative thinking.
I feel given my unique perspective that it behooves me to take a few risks and challenge my own beliefs including that of others in light of espousing a more creative, positive frame of mind. I feel I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t ask pertinent questions as I have the inclination and the opportunity. As I believe that I create my own reality, then I have to ask myself why I have created my current circumstances? What purpose do they serve? I owe it to myself to listen carefully to the internal and external responses that I get.
The one thing that all lines of personal inquiry seem to boil down to no matter which perspective you come from is that focussing on quality of life is extremely important in maintaining good physical, mental, and emotional health. In fact the decision to think positively is the most important thing you will ever do. It is a question of life over death, health over dis-ease, and happiness over fear. It is simple to change those core assumptions to,
“I can”
“I will”
“I trust that I know how.”
without questioning your integrity.
Honestly,what do you have to loose by doing so?
Reinforce these statements enough and they will become habit, and you might find that they don’t seem so difficult. You will most certainly begin to see that your experiences have changed to match them. Once again, your beliefs follow your expectations. Honour who you are and cut yourself some slack. You may not know how to change everything right now, but your every breath deserves willingness to try. Why limit yourself if you simply don’t have to, unless you’re stubborn of course? 😉
Peace…
M/Ish
IshaiyaFreshlySqueezed 
Can’t fault the sentiment.
Thanks for reading, much appreciated 🙂
I like reading them. I still think you should package these and do a Jane Roberts.
I’m working on it, I’ve almost got a complete chapter that I could send to a publisher. But it’s fun to post bits as I write, just to see what reaction I get, so far a mixed bag. May have ruffled a few feathers along the way too. All in a day’s work I guess. 😉
I have so much to say, but none of them is words. I wish I could think away your physical ailments, or believe hard enough that they will disappear. Then again, perhaps I can. I may be unsuccessful, but I will die with that hope on my lips.
We’ve discussed most of your views. I’ve learned from a lot, and debated others. I think one piece that stands out is that it places responsibility of our “bad luck” on us. However, what I think people fail to see is that you are focused on the positive aspects. In other words, you place responsibility on recovery, seeing the positive, thinking your way out, and enabling yourself on the individual.
We, in pain or despair, wish to whine, “But Maria, you’re blaming us for the horrible X that happened to us.” I’m learning that isn’t what you’re saying. Instead, I think what you are saying is that we need to shift our focus away from the blame or cause of the pain. If we accept that what has happened, simply is, for instance, we can use our energies on focusing how to use that.
Collectively, we can debate endlessly on why bad things happen. All religions touch on it, most philosophies address it. None, in my opinion, has a good answer. Perhaps that is because it doesn’t matter. If you believe, for instance, that nothing is random, and I believe that many things are, we can unite at the place where we both focus on maximizing ourselves irrespective of where we have ended up. And, if we’re doing that, it’s not unusual to find that even the shitty things that happened to us can be used to help us or someone we meet in the future.
Perhaps the resolution of the debate is that even if something “random” happens, if you are focused on shifting all energies to the positive, you will find a place where the random bit needed to happen. I’m supposing that you are saying that even if we don’t have the power to keep bad things from happening to us, we have the power to control whether we are the victims or the beneficiaries of it.
The poor woman who is randomly attacked on vacation certainly isn’t the cause of her attack, nor does she deserve it. But if she rises above it, and in turn counsels others who have been attacked, then her attack is a necessary event in the future she chose. I suppose, then, we must look ahead at the multiple timelines that lay ahead and determine which ones are positive, given what has happened.
If we do that, then indeed, what has happened is what must happen.
P.S. If I still got this wrong, don’t be annoyed. I’m climbing up to where you are, but the hill is steeper for some of us than for others.
Until the day I die I will continue to maintain that nothing is random, and nothing happens by accident, irrespective of what others believe. I have experienced so much in my life that has proven it to me repeatedly. I only wish to share what I know because I am a writer and a philosopher, and for as long as people are interested then I will keep putting it out there.
You are right in saying that my intent is a positive one, and I only wish for people including myself to see the beauty and the creativity in life, and to not see everything as an obstacle, because it simply isn’t necessary to create so much stress in one’s life unless you get something from it.
In my mind blame and responsibility are not the same, even though on the face of it they look similar. Blame is a product of guilt, which in turn is a product of fear. Responsibility is a product of empowerment and no fear.
To claim that things are random, as a statement of fact is like saying that you cannot be responsible for something you don’t understand, and really it’s an admission of ignorance and an unwillingness to learn. However, if the claim is that things are random in relation to what I or someone else has claimed to the contrary, then it is an act of defiance that says: “I do not accept what you say because I would like to find out in my own way if what you say is true or not”, which is fine and is at least a sign of willingness to learn. Either way I am not responsible for the reaction that my work generates in others, that’s for them to work out for themselves. It wouldn’t be fair for me to be responsible for the wellbeing of everybody I come across as well as my own.
I hope you don’t feel like I was disagreeing with you. That wasn’t my intent. Instead, I was attempting to form a bridge to more “traditional” schools of thought.
I have no way of knowing, nor does anyone, whether everything is random, nothing is random, or the truth is in between. So it comes down to belief and faith. Yours is as good as any, and you should hold onto it no matter what. True faith comes from a higher place. And while I may argue for the randomness of events, I also have to concede that I have less faith than you.
So, perhaps therein lies your proof. 🙂
I didn’t think you were disagreeing, neither was it my intent to come across as arrogant if I did. I used to partake of the more ‘traditional schools of thought’, but I soon discovered it was fairly limited in its scope.
Although it may be easy to claim that there is no way of knowing whether anything is random or not, that again is a matter of subjective opinion, and the fact that I can claim that it isn’t happens to be enough for me, because it I find that is a model that works. Mathematically and scientifically there is order to everything, from the complex geometry of a snow flake to the perfectly formed nautilus shell, or human body that can be divided perfectly by 1.618, the golden section. It is ludicrous to think that anything is random at all when there is so much apparent order in our measurable physical existence. Everything pulses with the energy of the universe in perfect rhythm, with different time signatures that somehow interconnect in synchronous harmony.
My proof lies in years of research and personal experience, both from conventional schools of thought and my own sources. So it isn’t me that requires proof at all. I already believe what I say I believe.
I don’t think you have less faith, you just haven’t had my experience in life. It is difficult to believe something you don’t have personal experience of, and that’s all it comes down to. Unless you do of course…
🙂 x