"Therefore, he knows that his apparent limited condition has no real law to support it; it is simply an experience of consciousness.” (Ernest Holmes)
When I zoom out from any challenge and get a bigger view, everything within me shifts. I use vistas of nature to help transport my awareness to Truth. Each morning, as I sit for meditation, I gaze out the window across the ocean and I see the forest on an island not far away. As I follow this practice, I ask myself, “Is this limitation I am experiencing ‘true’ in Nature? What is the reality of Life that is being expressed in the forest, the ocean, the wind, rain, snow, sun…?”
Questions like these bring me to other thoughts: “The sun’s rays may be blocked by clouds, but does this grey formation of moisture diminish the rays of the sun?”
We are storytellers, creating narratives about the world as we see it, always!
I saw this black object on the grass in a park and I thought how perfect my experience of it was for this article. I was taken aback by my own stories that formed, instantly. But, what was this object really? Only shapes of black and clear plastic. Judgement and meaning came flooding forward as I imposed my interpretations. (I am sure you have your own, as you look at it).
My next thought was, “Wow, this is a brilliant example of a principle I would love to share, but dare I?” My stories about the object were so strong that they had begun to filter my next move. “Ok, this is good,” I thought.
When master metaphysician Ernest Holmes said, “… an apparent limited condition has no real law to support it,” what he is saying is, the stories we make up about the world around us are … just stories, “an experience of our own conscious mind.”
FACTS can really be quite boring, as far as they go. Take a toaster. We call it a toaster and we have all agreed that it is used to brown slices of bread. But when I look at the picture at the top of this article, the FACTS are: it is a three-dimensional rectangular shiny box with two rectangular holes on the top. There are 3 silver circles on one end with black shapes next to each. A flattish black and silver rectangle is almost at the top of a long slit, and a round knob with a silver strip through the middle has curved lines separated by seven single shapes around it. I could go on, but you get the point.
What about this picture (below)… do you know what the object represented is?
In the book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, the authors explain a ‘FACT’ as being that which is unarguable… what a camera would record, and that is all. A ‘STORY’, according to them, is arguable. It is filled with opinions, beliefs, judgements, interpretations, motivations and assumptions.
I once had a client try to convince me that she and her daughter were always ‘butting heads’. Finally I asked, “Are you literally taking your head and bashing it against your daughter’s head?” (The answer was, “No”.) “Then let’s discuss the FACTS and separate them from the story you are making up about the situation.” (Oh, we are all so interesting).
The stories we tell ourselves about what we see are not FACTS … EVER! You may be attached to your story, and may collaborate with others who will take your side, but this doesn’t make your story more Truth-full. Realizing this concept and applying it to our daily living can help us to separate the drama we experience from the facts of the situations we find ourselves in. At that point, we can then choose to ground in the spiritual Truths of Life that are all around us. I like to call this ‘the High Watch’… where we practice looking up and getting a bigger idea; stepping out of the minutia of daily living, and opening up to possibility. (And there is so much possibility!)
What stories do you make up when you see this pic of me?
PLANT THE SEED
CLICK HERE FOR AN AUDIO AFFIRMATION: https://youtu.be/scVoyIReXyk
From Jill’s office.