Victims of our apparent position.

It would seem that more and more we are being lured into this ‘conspiracy’ of sorts, about who we think we are. Into the assumption of how we are seen by others, and we are killing ourselves over it. We are mentally unwell from the emotional blackmail we put ourselves through, over this imagination of what we think other people see us as. All seems a little unfair at best and disturbing at worst. We habitually beat ourselves to a pulp for some dreamt up narrative of how we think we present to other people. We throw rocks at the only person that has the actual capacity to care about us – ourselves.

The real trouble being that we have lost sense for the blows we inflict on ourselves. It all feels so normal now. We tell ourselves that we look like a fool lots of the time, and we have an absolute lack of choice as to what we think we can do about it.

Our loosely formed opinion of how we think we are seen by others – and the total lack of connection to our inner self has corrupted our souls and is keeping us from the essence of what is both truly valuable, and freely available in this time. It’s always been this way – this is not some new crime wave where we are holding ourselves to ransom for being a dickhead sometimes. It has always gone on, but the net effect of this illusion has become increasingly compressed over time. We live in a very condensed time frame, where change happens so quickly, and we are more on display to a larger audience than ever before. The final phase of our evolution – the juncture where the old is meeting the new emotional environment we will be living in. Where we are starting to understand the absurdity of what it is that is killing us, and how futile our attempts to overcome this defined pain by way of position or possessions. How pointless it really is that we torture ourselves in such a way, because of how we expect we are seen. And how ineffective our attempts to change this by rearranging the ‘furniture’ on the outside of us. How ineffective any attempt to deal with our perceptions, without engaging the subconscious mind and the inner work that connects us to our operating system.

If we are not waking up to the portions of our minds that are making all of the decisions and directing our attention, it is like we are trying to claw our way out of a muddy hole and for no good reason. This is an emotional turmoil that we will never buy our way out of. We can’t outrun it, or out work it. There is no danger in allowing it to catch and consume us – it is in fact our only way to freedom. The only way out is in.

We have been given a mind that can change the world around us into anything of our liking. A mind that can sense real joy when we allow ourselves to be calm enough to connect to it. It can transport us to emotions that could be considered otherworldly, but we are shamefully more interested in keeping up with a race that no one really wants to compete in. We’re more interested in Prada and glitter than in understanding that our minds can transform the world around us. Am I the only one who thinks that’s a shame – that our mental health is far more optional than we are making it. No, no – don’t slow down, be quiet, and connect. Grind your arses off to compete and get your nose in front, in a race that is no good for you and no one cares about anyway.

We have zero value for our connection or knowing what lies at the deepest levels of our mind and soul. For the feeling that can only be known in the quiet of our minds. It has been forgone for the noise and our relentless attempts to be seen as lovable and important in the eyes of others. Maybe we don’t sense this as being our pursuit. Don’t get it as we go about our best efforts at improvement – we’re just trying to be the best we can, aren’t we? Maybe we don’t agree with how much we all desperately seek to be validated – ‘that is not at all what we are doing here’. But until we realise the natural and subliminal compulsion, we have to be impressive - to have our efforts recognised in order to consider ourselves of value, then we will never even look to find out the only real place our value can be known. Of course, we do need to know that we have made a purposeful contribution to our tribe. That is intrinsically tied to our survival. But that is somewhat different to the race we think we have to compete in to be seen and valued.

Our treasure is inside us. So why is it so difficult to convince anyone of this? That this so called ‘heaven’ lies in the quiet of our minds. In our meditations, and our rationalisations that we have, not just done our best but gone over and above an acceptable level of stress to provide for our families and communities and be counted as worthwhile. We are valuable – we matter. But while we expect it can be told to us from the outside, we will forever remain lost and tortured. We will try even harder and move further from the perceptive mind itself – we might even think that we are approved of even less. What is inside us is an opportunity to know peace of the highest regard – but it will be squandered if all of our rationalisations are relative to our position. If all we strive for is to be seen as more valuable by our ‘work permit’ to direct others. By our drive for increased responsibility, attention, and the higher compensation that comes with it. Do we love the spoils that inadvertently come with this increased level of responsibility. That we don’t have time to give our attention to those unimportant pestilences of being overly concerned with people's opinion of us. In pursuing peace in this manner, feeling good must be considered a bystander consequence. But with having a real sense of connection – from knowing in our hearts just what it is that we are connected to, we can have the same gift of knowing our value from within. From being completely disconcerted from those who may think they can understand who we are and how hard we have tried to be helpful. In connection we are joyful and empathetic to the plight of anything that surrounds us.

We will never get the sense of what is within us while we ponder and squander our time in the relentless pursuit of approval. Such a shame that this very same misgiving has always remained at the heart and soul of what must occur to us if we were to ever know peace. It is harder than ever to avoid being lured into the spell of how we think we look – time and our surroundings have indeed compressed the net effects of our separation. But alas – the reward has never been greater. Because it stands in stark contrast to what relentlessly and mercilessly destroys our soul otherwise. It is right there beside us this thing that brings us peace. It is present in this moment, not the next. Not in the next goal, or better job – not in the next holiday or cold beverage. It is in the next breath we take, and the next quiet moment we spare ourselves to contemplate the mind that does the perceiving – and how we can be at peace with it.

Bless our souls – for now we are coming home. We are coming home to realise that there is no greater gift than the perceptive mind itself.