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If we develop a compulsion to seek "security," we may actually be seeking-out barriers to success.
The mind can mistake restrictions for "protection," and let the world become a security-producing but overbearing "parent." Some find comfort in hitting a barrier to their success because it reaffirms the presence of an external, controlling force. This provides a perverted sense of "structure" craved by the insecure inner child who gropes for a stronger sensation of reality. He can only believe that something is "real" when it is abusive and limiting to the self.Everyone has a need to know the physical and social boundaries within which we have to maneuver. Yet, we must simultaneously have a full awareness of our Self, our abilities and our needs. Otherwise we're only capable of caving-in to these strictures. Barriers are not for us to surrender to but only to break through.
If we don't keep aware that spiritual power is always on tap, the mind becomes overwhelmed by these images of weakness. We'll always assume each fence which stands before us and each comment which contradicts us to be unbeatable. We will ascribe false power to the people around us, pathetically making "gods" out of tyrants who wish nothing more than to keep us fenced-in, inert, or even dead. This is why it is so crucial to have a full awareness of God being the only "authority," while simultaneously viewing your Self as the authority over your own situation. This gets rid of that old self-imagery of standing beaten and weak before an unconquerable clique of criminals. Emotions always tend to magnify our negative feelings about ourselves... even when we're voicing positive-sounding affirmations. If these affirmations are made emotionally, they are said out of a fear that they may be false.
If we develop a comfortable, "at home" feeling for operating within our spiritual Self while involved with the world, we can no longer be threatened by any external mayhem. Our lifeline is then fastened internally to the Source of Life. The external challenges are thus stripped of their power by our new awareness, and those old emotional ghosts now simply wither and die from neglect. We now maneuver about at will without seeking affirmation from others.
All that is left now is action: Seeing ourselves act out of our convictions is the resin which hardens this compound of internal awarenesses into an impenetrable shield. This is a serious component of healthy living which is missing from ordinary life, and it is an omission due solely to cowardice. The necessity to assert is critical to our well-being. To speak, yell, sing or just move freely without fear of reprisal: why would this seem so strange if it were not for our fear of other's reactions? We need to remind ourselves repeatedly, several times a day: satisfying the wishes of others will kill us. Every time we make a decision to withhold a comment or gesture, we are reaffirming to our subconscious that our own life and health are less important than appeasing the vacant concepts and comments of others. Every time we have a mysterious urge to ingest toxins into the body, that suicide-desire is directly traceable to the suppression of a healthy action which we judged to be "inappropriate" and subsequently withheld.
Conformance to social customs has never produced the healthful and fulfilling life we naturally seek. Those people with the veneer of polish and panache in this world are merely gift-wrapped parcels of doubt and neuroses, the contents of which the world never sees. It is not our place to be at the mercy of the unprincipled swine we had infamously given in to.
Situations do come up when we have to just pull out all the stops and trample on anyone who gets in our way, instead of beating up on ourselves physically (via toxins) or mentally (via submission). Go forth and seek that element of Life which waits to be added to that package of components which make up your fundamental "Reason to Live." Apply it with abandon, with absolute disregard to the dead weight of those who exist only to criticize and wear down the will, and just live fully. Any other course would be killing yourself out of consideration for THEM... a lifestyle which just falls a bit short of desirable.
When you catch yourself giving-in to despair during a moment of setback, realize that the ascendant state of mind you are working to cultivate is the only matter to be focused on. These are the moments when futility appears to be "rational." This is when two things must be borne in mind:
- one: achieving the goal you've established for yourself is your only reason for being;
- and secondly: futility is not an effective device for securing this success.
Your life is on the line. If you cannot pursue the things which make life worthwhile - which give you a passion for living - then you begin dying. We must never fear anything with which others threaten us. We must hold to that reason for being and fight incessantly - but shrewdly - and seize life.
• ^^ "The Valid Self" on Kindle ^^