Saturday, March 18, 2006
Chapter 2-Taking Risks
The concept of trial by fire, alchemy, turning lead into gold, and choosing the harder path because of the reward it brings is an old one. Taking risks is a difficult path to understand and a difficult path to walk. Who wants to believe the "no pain, no gain" approach applies equally to spiritual life as it does to physical life? When we express desire to have mastery over our own lives what do we really mean?
The chances are that our vision of mastery includes the ability to accomplish physical goals we were born to do. We feel spiritual strength should overcome barriers that attempt to block us. For this reason we concentrate on spiritual things to the exclusion of physical realities and limitations. We attempt to build reserves of spiritual strength to help us in our times of need.
We have been taught and we believe to the point we no longer question. We are taught the superiority of spirit over physical and taught to deny the physical in favor of the spiritual. Let's take a closer look and see what is really happening. We will find the physical and spiritual are not to be so easily separated and each one has need of the other.
Each of us has individual past memories and experiences we draw upon. Each of us has a system of beliefs tailored to us individually. They may not be appropriate for someone else. We all walk individual paths.
These memories , experiences, and beliefs create a web or network within our psyche that allows us to travel consciously from point A to point B. We solve problems that confront us by reasoning or traveling this web or network until we arrive at the desired destination and solution. This web or network is our "computer program" that we can not deviate from or ever leave. One thought is connected to the next, connected to the next and so forth. This is the nature of associated thought and of mental reasoning. It is not possible to jump from point A to point B unless a mental connection of some type exists, an association of some type. We are imprisoned within the web or network of our personal memories, experiences and beliefs.
The chances are that our vision of mastery includes the ability to accomplish physical goals we were born to do. We feel spiritual strength should overcome barriers that attempt to block us. For this reason we concentrate on spiritual things to the exclusion of physical realities and limitations. We attempt to build reserves of spiritual strength to help us in our times of need.
We have been taught and we believe to the point we no longer question. We are taught the superiority of spirit over physical and taught to deny the physical in favor of the spiritual. Let's take a closer look and see what is really happening. We will find the physical and spiritual are not to be so easily separated and each one has need of the other.
Each of us has individual past memories and experiences we draw upon. Each of us has a system of beliefs tailored to us individually. They may not be appropriate for someone else. We all walk individual paths.
These memories , experiences, and beliefs create a web or network within our psyche that allows us to travel consciously from point A to point B. We solve problems that confront us by reasoning or traveling this web or network until we arrive at the desired destination and solution. This web or network is our "computer program" that we can not deviate from or ever leave. One thought is connected to the next, connected to the next and so forth. This is the nature of associated thought and of mental reasoning. It is not possible to jump from point A to point B unless a mental connection of some type exists, an association of some type. We are imprisoned within the web or network of our personal memories, experiences and beliefs.
# posted by banjo @ 2:42 PM 
