Whether humans come from this background or that background,
Whether they have this personality type or that personality type,
Whether they are rich or poor,
Whether they are popular or isolated,
There is a singular powerful factor that consistently destroys lives and prevents people from truly moving forward.
That factor is: DENIAL.
This is present in virtually every human on the planet.
From the fired-up activists to law enforcement,
From advanced spiritual teachers to lifelong seekers,
From the deeply religious to the deeply atheistic.
Everyone gets caught in their own perspectives
and literally feels threatened when a new perspective appears
with a different approach,
different sentiments,
different logic,
different feelings.
The phenomenon of “confirmation bias” is to seek evidence that the current perspective is the “correct one”.
The adamant grasping for proof that we are “right”.
Because humans tend to equate being “right” with being “valid” and therefore “useful”.
This whole thing is a game. A silly and highly destructive game.
The fact is, it doesn’t hurt to embrace 2 or 3 or more perspectives at once.
It can only help.
Of course, if a perspective is not useful, toss it out. The point is to get out of your comfort zone and try on different identities. Follow what feels delicious.
Triangulating perspective creates a vastly wider array of options.
If someone does not regularly interchange perspectives, they will become sick. Simple as that.
One perspective is toxic to the human body.
The body’s energy flows only in one direction, one pattern, with no way to alleviate the stagnant pools.
Like a river, even if it is flowing powerfully in the Southern direction,
pools of muck and debris will still consistently form on the east and west banks.
Humans are not like rivers, because there are not permanent shapes to our thoughts. They can change and change and change all day long. We can adopt any number of roles and our perspective can shift in healthy ways to clear out all of the blockages we’ve been experiencing.
So, that raises the question…why do people believe they benefit from denial?
“Pride” is one of the big answers. There is an imaginary situation, rampant on this planet, which causes people to want to “save face”, to avoid “being shamed” for being “incorrect”.
In truth, there is no such thing as correct or incorrect, there are just different perspectives.
A fish underwater might appear blue from the surface. And yet while scuba-diving, it appears green. Right, wrong? Blue, green? Different answers for different perspectives. Without shame as a factor, the “right” answer really doesn’t matter.
Letting go of the need to “be right” and most especially to “appear” right is an incredibly deep process. Throughout this process, the mind will play tricks on the individual. For example, it might say “It is “right” to let go of being “right”. Obviously, that is just more of the same.
The mind might say “Other people are not letting go of being right, they aren’t doing it right!” This is more of the same.
This is where radical self-responsibility comes in.
Owning our experience is not for other people, it is the deepest gift we can give to ourselves first and foremost.
These principles are all relevant even if we are living alone on a desert island. This is not about proving ourselves or attaining a certain status in any way.
This is about “coming clean” to ourselves, getting honest with our thoughts and beliefs, and really becoming ultimately humble to life through a sacred burning process. Literally letting all of our ideas and constructs burn away into nothing so that we may emerge NEW from the ashes.
There is no getting away from the fact that we are all in denial in some way, and more than likely life has been TRYING to tell us for YEARS and we just do not want to hear it.
NOW IS THE TIME TO LISTEN!
What is life trying to tell you?
