The Power to Light Up
In the first half of the 20th century there was a Russian mystic called Gurdjieff.
He was the teacher of P.D. Ouspensky, who talks about him in his book The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. In it, he touches upon the topic of reincarnation.
Please note that the purpose of this article is neither to discuss the existence, nor the ‘what,’ ‘why,’ and ‘how’ of reincarnation. Ouspensky’s take on it merely makes up a nice introduction for the topic of this epistle.
He poses that reincarnation is not what we’re often led to think it is:
He says that instead of being born as someone else, we’re rather reborn to relive the exact same life we’ve always lived… over and over and over again… until we make a significant choice at one particular moment to do something different from what we did life after life.
This is visualized quite nicely in the movie Groundhog Day, which you might want to watch some time if you can in case you’ve never seen it.
Based on this take, Ouspensky says that ‘hell on earth’ is living life the way we’ve always lived it, and ‘heaven on earth’ is breaking free of our long-standing inhibiting patterns.
And as you probably know, it can take an enormous amount of energy, passion, determination, and will to even see such patterns, let alone break free from them. And without the right information and orientation, it’s in fact virtually impossible. After all:
- As they’re often automatic and subconscious, such patterns are outside of our normal awareness to begin with, meaning we may not even know about them(yet).
- In addition, as explained in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introductory study guides, they significantly influence the way in which our brains filter incoming information, thus making up virtual ‘blinders’ that prevent us from even noticing them (<– even if we do know about them), or at least making it very hard and ambiguous to do so.
As such, they have a way of keeping themselves intact and settling in more deeply, thus weighing down on us ever more strongly. And this puts up challenges for us to ‘lighten up’ by transcending them and give ourselves the freedom to manifest the kind of life experience we long for.
While as a result we’re often inclined to revert to tools that promise to make such shifts on our behalf, such techniques usually turn out to deliver only arbitrary, ‘hit-or-miss’ results.
That’s not because they don’t have the potential to do so, but rather because they may not attend to our own unique requirements (<– more details in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series), and normally render us dependent on them because they actually mask the true competence and creative potential that we seek through them, and thus conceal the fact that we may not even need them.
Conversely, the technique you’re about to learn allows you to actually see the self-inhibiting patterns that impact and weigh down on your life experience, and puts you in a position of true power from where you can break free from them and regain the liberty and flexibility to create your life in the way you yourself deliberately choose… the kind freedom that you may not have felt for a long, long time (if ever).
It’s the one basic skill that’ll put you (back) behind the steering wheel in your own life, and that makes up the basis for awesome results from the application of pretty much any other personal empowerment technique.
This article explains what it is and how to practice it.
A Simple But Crucial Trick
We get triggered into our self-inhibiting patterns all the time. Thoughts, emotions, attitudes, behavioral urges, self-talk, etc. all ‘fire’ pretty much automatically when circumstances call upon them.
We may think we’re in conscious control of ourselves and our lives, but the great majority of our actions and reactions are practically ‘mindless,’ subconsciously driven responses to largely involuntary mechanisms in our ‘mind/body’-system:
Something happens to us, or someone says something to us, and boom: we react in some kind of kneejerk, preprogrammed way; we feel angry, frustrated, sad, guilty, belittled, and so on, and then follow through with corresponding action or inaction.
As we usually see our preconceived notions, prejudices and expectations confirmed (<– as explained in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series), in our emotionally-colored state we may…:
- Misread other people’s intentions…
- Say things we don’t really mean…
- Take actions that only make things worse…
- Do things that neutralize our previous success…
- Procrastinate when constructive action is required…
- Fall back into self-sabotaging and/or potentially self-destructive habits…
- Etc.
We then tend to justify our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and actions through all kinds of rationalizations that seem very plausible from our subjective and distorted point of view.
But even though we so strongly insist on identifying with them and think it’s really uswho deliberately engage in them, the truth is they’re mostly subconsciously activatedand involuntarily triggered by circumstances, while we ourselves have little consciousinput in determining our reactions.
As a result, the life and ‘reality’ we create and our experience of it are almost exclusively determined by such ‘Egg Patterns,’ to an extent you may not even be able to realize (at least not yet if you’re not familiar with the technique you’re about to learn).
As long as we merely play out the ingrained, automatic patters of our egg, reality and its circumstances are in control of us, as opposed to the other way around.
Therefore, we can only break free from such patterns once we’re actually able to see and experience how completely identified we tend to be with them.
In other words, as a first step to ‘cracking our eggs,’ what’s required is an ability to ‘step back’ from the turmoil and emotional noise in our lives, and view our emotions, situations, and interactions from a much wider perspective than from within the turbulence of the experience itself.
And this notion applies in particular to our patterns of pain, frustration and dissatisfaction about our lives and our (perceived) inability to make constructive changes.
We all have this ability, and it’s leveraged by means of a technique that I refer to as the ‘Participant/Observer-Method,’ the idea of which is to apply our own ‘being conscious’ (<– i.e. our awareness beyond brain and body) to switch to two different perspectives, intermittently and/or at the same time:
Perspective #1 - The ‘Participant:’
The ‘participant’ is the part of us that’s actually living the experience of life on this plane of existence through the ‘body.’ This part undergoes the thrills, chills and storylines of the ride, like a character in a movie.
It’s identified and fused with the experience, and in active relationship with the content from an inside-out viewpoint.
Perspective #2 - The ‘Observer’:
The ‘observer’ is the part of us that’s able to step back just a bit, and watch the ‘movie of our lives’ like a member of the audience.
It’s disidentified and defused from the actual experience, and as such has no relationship with its content, as it merely notices from an outside-in viewpoint.
The ‘participant’ is the part of us that’s actually living the experience of life on this plane of existence through the ‘body.’ This part undergoes the thrills, chills and storylines of the ride, like a character in a movie.
It’s identified and fused with the experience, and in active relationship with the content from an inside-out viewpoint.
Perspective #2 - The ‘Observer’:
The ‘observer’ is the part of us that’s able to step back just a bit, and watch the ‘movie of our lives’ like a member of the audience.
It’s disidentified and defused from the actual experience, and as such has no relationship with its content, as it merely notices from an outside-in viewpoint.
The basic idea is that whenever you find yourself caught up in some kind of discomforting experience as a ‘participant,’ you don’t deny the experience by immediately forcing yourself to ‘think positive thoughts instead’ (<– as you’re commonly told to do).
Rather, you take a step back into the ‘observer’-role, from where you can:
- Momentarily free yourself from the pull into or captivity in the turbulence and content of the experience…
- … thus gaining an undistorted point of view that allows you to learn more about the source of the pattern that was triggered and the reason why it exists in the first place…
- … and putting yourself in the position of power from where you can apply additional techniques (as desired) with great accuracy and effectiveness to dissolve that source and the discomfort along with it, and undisturbedly reorient yourself towards constructive intents and courses of action.
As such, mastering the ‘Participant/Observer’-method is one of the most empowering things you can ever do. If there’s any skill you need to learn to actively make a difference in yourself and in your life, this is it.
And because it’s an inherent ability that we all possess, the steps to exercise and internalize the skill are relatively straightforward.
Here’s how to practice and become a master at it…
The Steps To The Method
The ‘Participant/Observer’-method is relatively easy to learn, but for most people requires step-by-step practice. Below is an overview of the steps to gradually increase your skills in applying this technique:
Steps To Learning The Practicipant/Observer'- Metod:
Steps To Learning The ‘Participant/Observer’-Method:
Step 1:The next time you feel overwhelmed, exhausted, frustrated, resentful, ‘wrung out,’ etc… just say to yourself: “See it through!”
That’s the first step: just decide to see it through, hang in there, and see what happens… until it passes over.
Notice yourself making that decision. Mastering the conscious act of deciding to ‘see it through’ marks the point from where you can take it up a notch with the next step.
Step 2:
Apart from the above, consciously stop what you’re doing (at least) three times a day. It’s as simple as that: whatever you’re doing, just ‘wake up’ from it and stop. I can’t describe this in any more straightforward terms. This step is the simple act of waking up and disidentifying.
To illustrate: we often get caught up in the things we do, and basically ‘lose ourselves’ (i.e. our consciousness) in the activity. And that’s not always a bad thing in and of itself.
But practicing our ability to ‘stop it’ and to ‘step out’ for a minute during ‘regular’ activities gradually increases our skill and the probability of being able to do so with the same efficacy during the kind of emotional experience that has a history of stirring us up.
So ‘stopping’ at random like this will train you in your ability to step out of what you’re doing and become conscious again, i.e. fully aware. You just STOP, whatever it is you’re doing. And any time of the day is fine.
Step 3:
Once you’ve developed some skill in ‘deciding to see it through’ and ‘stopping it,’ now learn to ‘wake up and disidentify’ during more intense states of emotional arousal. For example, practice ‘stopping’ in states like these:
- You feel completely consumed by something you’re doing (positively or negatively)…
- You feel frustrated…
- You feel overwhelmed…
- You feel exhausted…
- You feel angry, or even raging…
- And so on…
As you keep practicing this technique, you’ll find that you’ll get some awesome insights about yourself:
- You’ll see how absolutely consumed you tend to be with your moods, thoughts, emotions… (<-- For example, you’ll see yourself having an experience of pain, rather than being IN pain or even BEING your pain…)
- You’ll see how your ‘egg reactions’ eat up your passion and ‘dim your flame’ by filling the space with something else to do…
- You’ll discover that there’s more passion than you’ve ever imagined underneath your moods… more than enough to fuel whatever it is that you want to do!
- You’ll see that you’re not your emotions… not your feelings… not your thoughts… not your moods, but instead the silence in between… a ‘conscious essence’… something apart from them that’s more alive than you can possibly imagine!
- And you’ll begin to understand how you can make your mind your servant, rather than subjecting yourself to its (prior) rule over you.
Taking this ‘observer’ point of view enables you to see all this, because this is the part of you that’s not blinded by the emotional heat of the moment, but realizes that all is well even in the most discomforting states, as you’re really ‘infinite consciousness’ going through an illusionary experience that only seems real.
While so far we’ve only covered the basics of the technique itself, you’ll learn more about how to leverage the ‘observer’-perspective in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series (<– and even more so in the Crack Your Egg Program) in ways that make the “participant’s” experience of life more pleasant, productive and exhilarating.
To stick with the movie metaphor: you’ll become more than the participant, even morethan the observer, by becoming the director as well!
In addition, we’ll expand on this practice in the next article in this series.
The Result: A New Relationship With Life
Once I personally got better skilled at the ‘Participant/Observer’-method, I ultimately literally saw myself. And then I saw myself seeing myself. And then I saw that I was seeing myself seeing myself.
This may sound crazy, but it was an absolutely remarkable experience of awesome clarity, where I was able to see ‘myself’ as separate from the ‘self’ that I thought I was, i.e. the identity that I had in this world.
When you experience something like this, it kind of adds a new dimension to your experience, a fourth dimension if you will that’s almost like a parallel universe to the one we live in.
This ‘observer’ point of view is the foundation for a completely new relationship to ‘life in general:’
- You’ll see that any ‘pain,’ ‘frustration,’ ‘exhaustion,’ ‘overwhelm,’ or whatever negative state that you may find yourself in is nothing but a strategy you’ve (unconsciously) taught yourself to mask something you implicitly feel threatenedby, and certainly not a result of outer circumstances. And you’ll see that you can disable it whenever you really want and decide to.
- You’ll see that it’s a self-protective method of operation that constantly pulls you out of the present moment and covers up the fact that you have a big hand in personally creating the nature of your own life experience…
- You’ll see that it’s a subconscious defense mechanism that blinds you from a truth that you may find hard to face, as it leaves no alternative but to take full responsibility…
- In fact, you’ll see that it covers up your fear (<-- and in many cases your being totally terrified or even scared shitless) of being ‘All You Can Be.’
In the well-known words of Marianne Williamson:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It’s our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves: ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We’re all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
We ask ourselves: ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We’re all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
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