In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.

—Lee Iacoca, American Businessman, 1924 to present

Ok, the health of the United States and its sagging economy is getting to me and everyone I know.  After saying this online in one forum, I got resounding agreement from the group because, at this point, everyone has been affected in some way or another.  The stock market, the recession, the economy, job losses, lost investments, war, bankrupt states, mergers, sub-prime mortgages, social security, the health of the governments and schools.  Prices are going up, incomes going down.  Add this together and it spells stress.

Pick up a newspaper, listen to the radio, turn on the television and you are bombarded with dismal news and crisis.   It is no wonder that many people are in crisis, domestic violence is way up.  People have real tragedy from lost jobs, houses and retirement income that were once secure.

Being stressed out has become a national epidemic which has significant long term negative effects to our health.  Chronic stress, which we cannot avoid at this time in our life, has been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease and many other illnesses.

In times of life crisis, the first thing I do is go back to basics.  Eating right, getting enough sleep, and mandatory physical exercise everyday. It is not actually the stress that kills us, it is our reaction to stress that is the killer.

And, even more important than staying mentally and physically active, is keeping matters in perspective by staying focuses on the present moment.  By forming strategies to improve your situation in the present, you can master movement into a new position.   Acquiring a positive attitude is a mental habit that is far preferable to sitting around thinking about the worst case scenario and imagining yourself walking into that terrible scenario.

Generally, we can feel better about things when viewed from gratitude about the good things that we have in life, whatever they are. Not to be too obnoxious, but I can even build a case that the stress is a good thing because it can motivate us to make some long overdue changes to our life.  But the main thing is to build a habit of not sitting and stewing over the bad investment, poor choice of marriage partner, lost job, or sunken property value that is now afflicting us.

Reviewing the situation over and over again creates anxiety and increases the stress.  This reaction constitutes worry and anxiety which, over time, can negatively impact the immune system and weaken resistance to infection and the ability to recover.  Pretty soon sleep is affected or addictions invoked which only makes it worse.

The stress source itself is not the problem, it is the way we view it and keep it unresolved in our mind.

Are there compulsive behavior patterns that have emerged?  Mindless eating, drinking, smoking?  Buying things that you don’t really need but want?    It is really fantastic to notice what sometimes goes on automatic and become mindful and aware of it –and change for the better.   And, there are so many ways we can change for the better.

If you like, turn off the television and the radio in an effort to stop listening to the bad news distributed by the media.

Doing something simple like taking a walk or exercising can be a great help.  There are many other ways of focusing time and attention to productive and clarifying strategies.  Read.  Eat well balanced meals. Take some time for yourself.  Productive methods of mental management can calm us and move us mentally to a more positive attitude by taking our mind off our problems and learning something new.

They say that exercise increases the endorphin or “feel good” levels in your body while stress increases the cortisol or stress hormones which set about tearing metabolic systems down.  Do things that make you feel good.

Spend time with people who support you and love you can be a great way to take your mind off your problems.  Play. Talk.  Laugh.  Do something together.  Start celebrating the good things that life offers with the people who really matter to you.

Learn for yourself that you are not your job, your house or your finances.  You are a beautiful human being.

Everything should turn out fine in the end.  We come into this world alone and empty handed and we end up leaving just the same way.  The goal of life is to achieve happiness and joy despite all of the trials and tribulations that each of us encounters along the way.

You do not control the future and cannot predict what might happen next.  All you can do is steer the boat in the direction that you want to go and let the wind fill the sails to take you where you may want to go.

What an incredible turn of events we are experiencing now.  If you ask me, this scene is all about learning precisely what is important in life and putting the emphasis to those things.

On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

—Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, 563-483 BCE

Now is a stressful time in the United States for many people as much of our infrastructure is caving in to to inevitable and necessary changes.   As a result, ordinary people are experiencing loss as companies and governmental agencies liquidate and fold, downsize and the like.  And the credit crisis hits just about everyone as home values plummet, stocks dip and salaries are lowered.

I guess I am bringing this up because I was really annoyed when someone I care about lost his job and the people at this company were pumping him for information about various people and situations in the company.  The co-workers were totally without any regard for this guy’s feelings of loss and abandonment.   These people were both rude and insensitive.   But, more than rude, they lacked the necessary empathy and awareness that this person was in a state of shock and despair.   They were not mindful of the situation of the other party.   Or didn’t care.  Believe me, my friend noticed how they acted and probably will never forget.   When we are in pain, even minor actions on the part of innocent parties can be amplified in the mind.

The way we perceive stress and how we react to our perception can determine how stress affects us physically, mentally and emotionally.  Stress reactions can be stimulated by anything that we believe to be a threat from verbal discussions, as with my friend, to jumping out of an airplane for fun.  The body is filled with stress hormones (like cortisol) and adrenaline which causes the heart to race along with many other reactions.  Constant stress can cause many (even, perhaps most) diseases including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, stroke, gastrointestinal problems, diabetes, asthma, headaches, depression, insomnia, fatigue, eating disorders—and more.

The Buddha lumped a lot of this together and just called it suffering.

Meditation practices common in eastern philosophy are exactly what modern practitioners are teaching to decrease harmful behavior leading to diseases and emotional breakdown.  These ancient practices have been proven to reduce stress, improve health and increase happiness and compassion.

If my friend’s co-workers had been more mindful and compassionate, they never would have said half of the things that they did which caused so much pain.  They would have been mindful of the situation and not just thinking of themselves.  But, they have to stay in the moment, on purpose, paying attention to every nuance with total awareness.

Mindfulness involves stopping the habits that keep us stuck in the “reactivity” that causes suffering to others and to ourselves. The Tibetan Buddhist author Pena Chodron says that “the root of mindfulness is experiencing the itch as well as the urge to scratch, and then no acting it out.”

Staying in the moment is key.  Staying in the moment, not the past, not the future is what enables us to be able to pay attention to today, to what we are doing and experiencing what we are feeling in our bodies–what we think in our minds.   We can learn what we do by habit.  By ritual.  By rote.

When we pay attention to what we are thinking and doing we can break the cycle.  We can become conscious again.  This does not necessarily mean that we will be happy about the situation.  We may become aware of a pattern of negative thinking or unconscious behavior.  But, by first recognizing the pattern or activity, we can change it.

So, while you might want to run away to an ashram or retreat to learn Yoga and meditation to change your life, you don’t have to do that to gain the benefit of mindfulness.  Luckily there is great research going on in the medical community that identifies the effects of mindfulness on the body.  There is much for us to learn about how our mind affects biology.   But, there already have been hundreds of studies that can demonstrate that mindfulness practices can reduce the negative physical and emotional consequences of self induced stresses.  The result can be less pain and suffering from chronic disease, improved impulse control, better mental health, better communication and emotional regulation.

But, in the meantime, we all need to practice awareness, compassion and empathy by putting ourselves in our neighbor’s shoes before we speak a word.  A little compassion and support goes a long way.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

—Henry David Thoreau, author, 1817-1862

So the Fool has arrived into balance.  And then what?  While he has come far in establishing harmony in his life, his life may well be far from over.  But he has his health, peace of mind and has met many encounters with difficult and and trying circumstances.  Perhaps this Fool has mastered life.  Perhaps not.

The Devil is not necessarily clothed in horns and a red suit showing us the way to evil outside of our self.  The devil can represent the ignorance, hopelessness and arrogance that we each carry.  Sometimes the mundane and ordinary concerns of the material world bind us to a life that does not produce any gifts to mankind, personal growth and learning.  If we are a dentist duly performing our duty day after day, it is hard to see anything beyond the need to provide for our family, pay the mortgage,  socialize with friends and thus go on like this day after day.   These material needs may be innocent but represent such security that most people cling to them as if they are the most important part of life.  This system is so common and so compelling that it represents the better part of the mass of life unlived as Thoreau claims above but it is a form of slavery and avoidance.  My point is that while we Fools do need to get a handle on the basics of existance, to stay stuck in this place is like playing the first part of the movie over and over again and never seeing the conclusion because you are afraid to go there.  The price that our Fool pays is very dear, because the material existance leads to an empty life of despair.  What do they say?  Many people are living a life of quiet desperation.  That life is the devil within us.

Sudden change seems to be the release from this type of self made prison.  Sometimes we call these changes midlife crisis.  Sometimes divorce or disease or job loss forces change upon us.  But, upon us the life we have built so carefully year after year comes crashing down.  Ususally a monumental crisis forces us to look within and then change.  While these sudden changes are generally emotionally traumatizing for a period, only large crises can generate sufficient power to shake some people to the core to see what is really there.

Like a lightening bolt hitting us, we are humbled by the force that we do not control or contain.   With this force comes the truth revealed about that situation.  And the Fool can see that some of his former beliefs were based on false impressions.  The job, diseased body, death, or disfunctional partnership emerges as the culprit to show us that nothing is permanent and that everything changes.

No longer disguised in our former life, the Fool emerges with a serene calm.  Inspiration and hope are restored as our Fool places his future in the mystery of life knowing that everything will end up alright.  The Fool is a stronger person who is at peace with the world.

But, no rest for the weary Fool.  That peace that comes from tragedy cannot last forever either.  It is in those dreamy and calm moments that our Fool can become susceptable to fantasy, deception and distortion based upon a false and dreamy picture of the future.  Like the moonlight, the creative imagination is only a reflection of the mind and can wander into fantasy of exuberance or of fear and anxiety about the future causing the Fool to feel lost and bewildered.

But, a little further down the path, clarity arises with the light of the Sun on a new fresh morning.  The Fool is nearly ready to start on a new life with cheerful energy and enthusiasm.   He has been humbled but has the self assurance to stand up and face a new day.  A strong Fool will draw to him everything he needs to understand and realize the goodness that the world can bring.

As if reborn anew, the ego was shattered, allowing the true self to shine through.  Joy is experienced as this Fool leaves the rotting corpse of the ego and its whole manifest universe behind.  The game that was playing out was a drama built by the self for actualization and is no longer needed.  The Fool is cleansed and refreshed, a better and wiser person, able to choose which values to cherish and which to discard.  This lucky Fool emerges victorious as he better understands his values and purpose in living this life.  Doubt and hesitation is replaced with the energy to create his own reality and follow his true dream.

Re-entering the world with new vitality and more understanding the Fool has become whole again.  The false world vision of the ego has been met head on and crashed to the ground and the true self has emerged with a smile and a wink.  Happiness and fulfillment are the result regardless of material situation.  The Fool has learned that nothing is permanent and that we come to this world with nothing and leave that way.

This realization allows the Fool to give of himself freely and render service by sharing the gifts that he has developed.  Thus, his accomplishments are many.  Our Fool has found the meaning of his life and the courage to pursue it.

This cycle ends and another cycle begins in a never ending game called life.  A new Journey begins.

“He dares to be a fool,

and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom.”

–James Gibbons Huneker, music writer and critic, 1857-1921

This life is but a projection of our consciousness as if by mirrors and a reflection of light and sounds.  The Fool is trapped in his own mirror and the journey is not what we thought it should be.  As the Fool progresses on his journey to self realization he is sooner or later to ask himself the question, Why?

This section of the journey is only too common as it is visible in world economies, war, abuse of power and even in the very visible lives of our royalty and movie stars.  This phenomenon explains why journalists focus on the bad news or the fallen lives of former heroes, pop stars and even Presidents of companies and countries.

The Fool becomes obsessed with that question why.  The search for an answer is not out of idle curiosity, but out of the deep need to find out why people and systems suffer and die.  This next stage is extremely important to go through completely to get to the truth or the Fool will end up in another replay of a similar drama, but likely worse.  The only cure is to look inward to understand the feelings and motivations that led to the situation in the first place.  What is the lesson that was there to be absorbed? In this phase the only thing that will satisfy is a period of solitude and reflection away from the relenting and frantic activity that society presents to us on a daily basis.  This is when the Fool can change from a human doing to a human being, if given the chance.  Sometimes, the Fool can seek a teacher for guidance or direction if he is stuck.  But it is inevitably his unique problem to solve and issue to resolve and he or she must become a Hermit for a time.

After a period of soul searching, the Fool figures it out.   A smart Fool can see how he has set up his own drama in all of its intricate design with patterns and cycles designed purely to bring out the lesson required from our most mysterious universe.  The experience seems perfect to awaken the necessary process of change to improve the perception of the Fool.  The perspective of the Fool has widened, the understanding deepened with the result of the sequence of events being a turning point of change.  After this period of assimilation, the Fool redirects his energy in a new way having a renewed sense of purpose and a broader and wiser plan.  The wheel of fate has turned to bring movement and action again.

Learning about cause and effect usually brings us Fools to these turning points in life.  When we take responsibility for our past actions and decisions, we can ensure a more steady course in the future.  If we correct our mistaken beliefs or understand what a more fitting lifestyle might be for us we may be able to take a course correction, large or small and move forward toward growth and insight.  That means taking responsibility for the decisions that got you into this boat.  Or, we can slip into the same old thinking and take the familiar and easy road to repeat the unconscious choices that got us there in the first place.  That familiar route is what closes personal growth and keeps us stuck in the same rut.  Moving onto a new path takes courage.

With no other choice but to continue searching, the Fool has learned that life is not so simple.  Humbled, he moves forward.  Feeling defeated, he relinquishes control of the circumstances and just follows where life takes him.  Amazingly, even though the Fool feels extremely vulnerable having given up control of life, things seem to continually move along and he feels good, free of the burden of driving his chariot.   Peace comes to the Fool.  Free at last.

Knowing that secret, that life is bigger than anyone dreamed before, the Fool begins to pare down and eliminate the bad habits and attitudes that caused him to swing back and forth on a seesaw of moods.  The more mature and stable Fool emerges from this transition to a new and higher state of being.

Balance is what the Fool requires after realizing that giving up all of life’s pleasures is not necessary either.  Tempering the extremes, balance and harmony ensues and with this equilibrium is a new appreciation of moderation in all things.  Finally, the Fool experiences true maturity and centers himself into a healthy set of attitudes bringing with it the well being that life should have.

But the road does not end here…..life is full of surprises.  The world has many messages.  The Fool’s journey continues.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose.”

—Jim Elliot, author, 1927-1956

We all travel a road, a journey to self actualization and realization. These trips are long and complex requiring detours, deceptions, backups and restarts.  Very few people experience consistent and smooth progression.  Every person has his or her unique path but the milestones and growth experience may be universal.  The Tarot calls this the Fool’s Journey as if it is a metaphor for our journey through life.

Some of us are born with innate gifts in one area, but blind in another.  We can be an intellectual genius and an emotionally immature child.  Or, perhaps you have known people with immense wealth and power but who never know love.  There are others who wander lost, bewildered and afraid to journey.  These people are contrasted by some interesting souls who are creative, action-oriented, risk takers and confident.

The Fool’s Journey is not orderly and is sometimes so lengthy that it cannot be perceived on a daily basis with the truths that are offered only revealed in retrospect.  We skip lessons or refuse to learn the lesson and then fail to reach our potential.  When we are blind to the lessons by ignoring the signals to look inward we might have to repeat and repeat the same situation in a new way until we see what is going on and thus surrender our notions to the depth of the experience.

Many times we try to overcome the difficulties encountered on the path but fail repeatedly.  No matter what the lesson is and no matter what the pattern of discovery is that is what we are here to do and cannot avoid in order reach our true potential.  Even the most successful, powerful and visible people are here to do the same things that the ordinary mortals do–for some reason their journey is public and not private.  Not better, not worse.  Just different.

We start as the Fool, in the beginning.  Innocent and with faith, we are simple souls embarking on a journey expecting a positive outcome and unaware of any hardship or pain that he or she might encounter as we venture out to learn the lessons of the world.

After commiting to the path–a school, a marriage, a child, a lifestyle, a new city–our Fool encounters the great balancing forces of the universe–the forces of opposites.  We awaken to the conscious awareness given by the Magician that allows us to impact the world we have before us with concentration of will and our power.   We also encounter the creativity of the feminine and fertile ground of unrealized potential that springs forth new life.  Both are needed, as father and mother to create new activity.  Each pole, positive and negative, male and female, are needed for balance.  Without the negative we cannot see the light and without the light, we cannot create anew.  So, with trial and error, we forge forward into the new experience.

As this Fool gains more awareness of his environment he gets to understand the surroundings and explores and delights in the new situation.  Our Fool is meeting the Empress, representing the earthly mother who surrounds us with support and nurturing.  But as soon as we meet this experience, we also experience the Emperor who represents structure and authority.  So we feel some restriction but also security from patterns and lines of demarkation around the experience.  Another way of putting this is that we have boundaries and rules in each stage of life that regulate behavior in the society that we find ourselves that are somehow necessary for our well-being.   We find ourselves somewhere where there is a figure in authority who will enforce our behavior.  No matter what system you find yourself in, somehow there is a built-in check and balance system.  In this way, the Fool learns and understand his purpose and boundary conditions.

Eventually, this Fool strays into the larger world and educates himself about the world he finds himself in.  Taking in information about this world, he will develop a personal belief system.   The new Fool has been indoctrinated, educated, and trained in the practices of this society and has become a part of the culture.  The Fool cannot help but identify with his group — is this a family, religion, country, company, school–and this group give him a sense of belonging and enables that feeling of separation or aloneness to dissipate.  The Fool enjoys the experience of this group and conforms to the culture or must move to another group.

Most people yearn for intimacy at some point in their life.  And this urge is powerful.  Sometimes intimacy is confused with sexuality, which is also an extremely powerful urge.  The young Fool begins to look for relationship.  And these relationships are formed with other Fools with similar belief systems and values. The relationship, once found, helps to balance individuals who become a half of a symbiotic relationship.  These relationships are especially important with those who need the comfort of another to feel whole because they are not entirely self aware and constantly experience the loneliness from separation.

Just past this adolescent phase, the Fool steps into adulthood.  Feeling masterful, the adult Fool has a strong identity with his experience or group and through discipline and willpower, repeating what has worked well in the past he feels that he understands his environment.  The ego feels victorious.  We have the exuberance of a happy child.  This is what we went through when we had the stock market bubbles….unjustified success and the feeling of self satisfaction.  You have the assured confidence of a winner and the feeling that this will never end and that somehow you did something good to deserve applause. This is the ride up on the Chariot of life.

Eventually, this ride up at the top presents challenges.  Some challenges are darn hard.  Some cause bubbles to burst.  Some challenges are amazing serving the purpose of reversing the previous thinking that had been ingrained in our belief system.   We have to draw on our inner strength to go on despite amazing setbacks.  This can represent ill health, job or relationship losses, children who don’t turn out the way we thought they should.  In comes a whole new phase of life requiring new attributes of patience, tolerance, and stoicism.  A kinder and softer power prevails as intense feelings temper the exuberance of the previous phase.   It is in these times that we realize that we do not control the world.  There seems to be more to life than that. It is in times like this that people begin to believe in a higher power.

What next, what hardships to I have to overcome, why is this happening to me?  The Fool cries like Job did.

More in the next blog entry….the Fool’s Realization.

“There is a difference between happiness and wisdom:

He that thinks himself the happiest man is really so;

but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.”

—Sir Francis Bacon, English Lawyer and Philosopher, 1561-1626

We are all fools of a sort.   Life issues us days upon days to wander, learn, love and be productive. Sometimes we take advantage of what life offers.  Sometimes we squander our good fortune.

Life is a journey that takes us through all kinds of adventures while meeting a series of individuals in situations that present themselves along the path.  We enter each doorway on the path expectantly, like a Fool at the brink of a precipice surveying the horizon ahead.  We don’t really know what lies ahead, nor do we really know from whence we came.  It is our folly, our ideas which got us to this point in the first place.  Naive.  Ready to see what will become of the adventure before us.  And we begin, again, another Fool’s Journey.

It is if life itself moves in a great circle.  Ever expansive or ever contracting….the fool can choose.  But, only one thing is clear:  everything moves, everything changes.  It is a law of nature.

The Fool represents the beginning of the journey into the unknown.  When we begin a journey we are innocent and spontaneous.  We have been given a fresh start for new potential from this important opportunity.  What is it?  A new job? starting college? A new romance?  A new baby?  Each time we start into the new adventure we have significant and unexpected circumstances assail us without any planning.  We are pure excitement in this new phase of life.  This new beginning can lead us anywhere.

We might feel confused, dazed from lack of clarity since we have no experience from which to proceed.  Clinging to the ways of the past are a mistake because they are old and worn ideas and methods of relating and coping.  It is time to move forward into a new direction because the Fool is ready to start a new life cycle.  We lose control.  We have to trust that we will be able to cope with our new circumstances as they arise.

The more that we are able to embrace the Fool into our daily life, the more that we are able to innovate, travel, envision, master, dream, and wander.  The more we are able to trust in life itself, the more free movement becomes available to us.  Life is secure when we embrace our Fool.  We can trust life to take us to heights that we never imagined that we can go.

The characteristic feature of synchronistic occurrences is meaningful coincidence, and as such I have defined the synchronistic principle.

This principle suggests that there is an inter-connection or unity of causally unrelated events, and thus postulates a unitary aspect of being which can very well be described as the ‘unus mundus’ –one world.

C. G. Jung, Collected Works

Have you experienced situations so bizarre, so amazingly strange that it just could not have happened by coincidence?  Chance meetings with people you have been thinking about?  Or, the telephone ringing just as you have a thought about someone?  Or even more….long drawn out sequences of events that you cannot plan or anticipate…. Carl Jung called this synchronicity….it is also Kismet, serendipity, fate, destiny and more.

Now, it is also not clear that everything in this world happens synchronistically.  We people have free will and manifestly decide many factors that set our lives on a course.  We must paddle, if you will, through the whirlwind we call life.  Headwinds, setbacks, troubles, and fortune assist or hold back our progress.  It is as if we are adrift in a current that pushes and pulls us with information bombarding our senses, should we choose to recognize it.

These situations, pulled out of everyday life, are so amazing and so mysterious that it always reminds us of the magnitude of the universe (or universes) in which we play such a small bit part.  These situations also serve as reminders that we are not in control of the life to which we so dearly cling.  We come into the world small, helpless and with no possessions–and we exit that way, too.  Our job is to notice, listen and learn so that we can grow from the many experiences that we will have on this earth.

In the fullness of time, the reasons and the passion of the experience will flower.  We can’t make it happen any faster or slower….experience is not ours to manage, just to savor, learn from and enjoy.

Maybe the lesson is to let go and just let it be as it shall be.

People are like stained-glass windows. 
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, 
but when the darkness sets in, 
their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
…

—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. 1926-2004

Life is a precious gift.

Not a minute of our time can be wasted with useless activities or negative habits.  When we are lost in our youth, time seems endless and many squander time away in endless circles of unproductive action.   Then, one day, we are older…time seems more precious.  The days do not seem so endless anymore.  Where did the time go?

Life is complicated.

People come and go, stages of life are thrust in front of us, new challenges await us to be digested and conquered. Every situation and person we meet teaches us more about life and our self.

Some people play at life as if they are a victim of their emotions.  These emotions are below the surface, boiling and directing the unconscious actions of the individual.  Not thinking, these individuals hurt with their words, take without giving, act as if they are more important than everyone else and are selfish, needy and greedy.  They are not aware that anyone else exists. Or they live in constant pain and suffering which does not allow them the ability to look outside of themselves.

With a mindful state of consciousness we can snap the chains of the past that keep us imprisoned.  We can begin to see that we are in the state of wakeful dreaming.  That we have created our own prison.  That we are fighting invisible demons.

And from mindfulness we can move to a state of right actions, beginning to see outside of ourself to come to the aid of others.   The path of truth requires that you keep your word.  Impeccability.  Right action. Kindness to others. No lying or stealing or cheating.  Become a dream maker working on behalf of other people, never a dream breaker.

You can take the inner path.  This is the path of true riches and gold.

You must want to transform.  You must get acquainted with your true self.  We are living in a conscious universe where every element is aware of itself. Discover and live out of your true will.

We can become an Ippisimus; a person most in touch with his true self, free from limitations and living in perfect balance with the manifest universe.  Integrate your consciousness–unconscious, subconscious, conscious and superconscious minds into one.  The Buddha claimed that he had total recall of his many lives when he reached the state of enlightenment by integrating his consciousness.  By bringing out the divine spark  of light in us we can unite it with our conscious self for a deeper and richer human experience.

The levels of the human mind and consciousness are not distinct, separate and isolated….the superconscious mind is a product of the unification of the unconscious and conscious mind of the person.  The route is directly through the unconscious because that is the largest element and where the most energy remains for our use, dormant.  Transformation comes when everyday consciousness becomes aware of what lies below and is able to utilize the energy  and give it form, direction and meaning.

How to we get to the path of the transformed personality.  We have to look at the mask that we have created with our ego.  We have to see that that mask is not who we are.  We have to re-define our self image and values.  We have to define our SELF for ourself.   Who am I?   One way to do this is to write a personal constitution.  And then, become the person you aspire to be.

It is extremely common for people to wonder about the meaning of life when they reach middle age.  When people are young they are primarily concerned with finding victory over the basics of life–school, achieving success, finding a partner.  But once a level of success has been reached, then, sometimes we wonder about the value of it.  Hopefully, taking stock–who am I underneath this image, these possessions?  Today, many younger people are already on the path and asking these questions.  They want a sense of meaning and an inner essence.  And more and more people find that the way to answer these questions is to look inside, deep within our self.

The light of the unconscious mind beckons us to go within for the answers under the cover of the conscious mind.  By finding this center, we can slowly gain access to and release the light by following a process of self discovery and self awareness.

Every breath we take is filled with life, energy.  By understanding that every breath is a precious gift, we can begin to appreciate what this life is all about.  As I said earlier, there is not a minute to waste.

“Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.”

George Gurdjieff  1877-1949

We work hard to get an education, to make a living and take care of our family.  We want to realize our full potential.  But, who has time?  Just as we take steps to move up the pyramid, things always seem to get complicated and slow us down or get us off track.

Abraham Maslow, himself, stated that “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”  This is because people at heart want to achieve and grow toward self-actualization.  When we stop growing, we get unhappy and unhealthy.

We strive to be the best person we can possibly be.  Most people really try hard to succeed in life, often exhausting themselves in the process.  To go beyond and above the basics to the top of Maslow’s pyramid is our goal.  Some people find success at life so difficult to achieve that they do not even try to grow beyond the needs of daily life.  Because to integrate the lessons of life that push us higher takes a great deal of courage and impeccability in with our actions and our words.

For most of us, every hour of our life is consumed to satisfying the basics and with the material issues.   Nevertheless, we have to run very fast to stay even in this non-forgiving economy.   Forging onward toward achieving the top of Maslow’s pyramid is a challenge, to say the least. Life continually provides us with situations to learn, to grow emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually.  Life knocks us on the side of the head and causes us to step back or rest.

Self-actualization means a complete understanding of who you are, a sense of completeness.  It means that we no matter what hand life deals, we have to take the time for self-examination and reflection.  When we take the time to do this evaluation, self-actualization is the result. Self-actualization is easily within reach.  We just need to take the time to let in a little light.

Life gives us choices each day but we only have a certain amount of time to drive toward growth.  The idea is to confront, examine and dissolve the negative characteristics that detract from our natural buoyancy.  By looking inside our mind we can see both good and evil impulses and thought patterns. We can hear the harsh critic of our ego self.  But our true self and being is not that ego self, not that noisy, scared, critical voice.  It is not necessarily the complex and dramatic weave of interrelationships and patterns that present themselves to the mind’s eye.  Each of these choices and life situations gives us the chance to free ourselves from that noisy voice to the calm observer who represents the grace, calm and dignity of our true self.

True magic happens when the individual gains that confidence and grace from self-actualization.  The magic is the magic and grace from the self.  By getting better acquainted with your true self, the one who has been there all along through all the ups and downs of life you can discover the answer to the most baffling puzzle in the universe:  who we are.  After discovering this hidden and wonderful part of yourself life becomes much better because you will understand the mysteries of life itself.

This is what mystics and alchemists talk about when they talk doing the “Great Work”.   Mastery over the great work gives you a command of your universe, which is yourself.

There is a great difference between mastery and ambition or achievement for one’s personal ego esteem needs or material gains.  While everyone has material needs, and having sufficient means or ability to take the personal time to grow is terrific, often material gain goes unchecked and some people will experience such significant abundance that it turns to greed or self indulgence.  The trouble with this type of success is that you can never become satisfied.  You can never reach a final goal.   Financial accumulation becomes another addiction with an unfillable void.  You keep rolling the stone of Sisyphus up the mountain and as soon as you get there it rolls down and you have to roll it up again.

True potential and self-actualization is the recognition that one has the ability to achieve anything we want and that the joy of this co-creatorship is the secret to Life Itself.  We have the innate ability to know everything inherently and to do anything we want in life yielding fruitfulness, abundance, peace and prosperity and bringing forth anything we need.  This is the grace of self actualization.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

—Albert Schweitzer, Theologian, musician, philosopher and physician, 1875-1965

Some people are born to greatness.  Most of us have to work at it.  If you suspect that you fall into the latter category, as most of us do, you can hit the mark faster if you have some idea of what success is and how you can get there.

If you assume that an ideal strategy for planning a life rich in achievement is to merely find an achiever and then do everything just the same, you would be right.

Almost.  The problem is that success is defined individually.  It doesn’t come in “one size fits all.”  Many people think that they want the kind of success that they perceive others to have, without really understanding what it is or what it took to get it.

As much as it seems an interesting prospect, we can’t slip out of our own life and into the life of another, no matter how attractive or successful it might seem.  And there are still more practical impediments to morphing yourself into an achiever you admire.  In a fast paced world, most people at the top are behind closed doors or hidden behind a wall of agents, and intermediaries.  Not only is it nearly impossible to gain access to a celebrity or a mover and shaker, but it is likely that the person will not have the time to teach you all that he or she has learned in a lifetime, even if it could be articulated.

Even without direct access and endless time freely given, achievers have a lot to teach us.  One way to learn the secrets of success is to study achievers from the past. We can learn from them because these people hold still within the pages of books.

Historical perspective has validated the timelessness of their insights and brilliant outcome of their ideas and work.  And commentaries on their lives can add depth and insight to enrich our understanding of their essential nature.

As Edison learned from the pages of his books, and as I have myself learned from Edison and others like him, the real keys to success are passion and commitment.  This is where we start.

To be successful, perhaps we should first understand what success really is and how to recognize it when you have it in your grip.  So many people are changing jobs or even changing careers incessantly, I have started to call it “looking for utopia”.  When the key to success is so simple and right in front of our eyes.  Success is defined as simply as completing something to your satisfaction.  No more.  No less.   Just doing your best.

If you deliberately set a goal, achieve it, and are happy with the outcome, you are successful and should congratulate yourself.  Of course, there are various scales for successes, both large and small. Certainly, while finally getting a cluttered desk in order is a success, but let’s face it, it’s a small one.  Landing on Mars or curing cancer, however, would be bigger and some might argue, more worthy.  But that’s the point.  You decide.

If you are an achiever, you would set your sights fairly high.   But you still, simply, do your best.  I have been studying with great interest what the formula for so much professional and financial success that comes from the engineers and business people alike who live and work in Silicon Valley.  What I discovered is that the most stunning successes begins with passion.

Passion is an intense desire, wanting something so badly that you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.  It is the most positive of all obsessions … especially when it’s shared.  It literally creates the corporate culture and bonds like-minded people together.  Although passion is enormously helpful for getting started, it’s not entirely the key to success.  Nor is it enough to get you there.

Couple passion with commitment, and now you’ve got lift-off.  As in Edison’s lab, passion is the small spark that ignites a team to action, but commitment is the fuel that keeps the flames alive.