EVOLVING INTO ADULTHOOD
In childhood, our inner structure is formed unconsciously as a result of the influences from the world we experience around us - from parents, family, school, media, politics.
This structure does not disappear when we become an adult. The decisions, beliefs, stories, and patterns, all remain there and become hidden under the cloak of the pieces of paper that show how we’ve ‘grown up’ - the diplomas, the degrees, the licenses, the certificates, the awards, the photos.
None of the institutions in Mainstream Culture from which these papers come, offer the space to examine the inner structure, so what we do is pile new floors on top of the same foundation that we built during childhood (and even before then). It’s like adding more and more new stories to an ancient building - probably not a very safe strategy.
TRUE INITIATION
The process which calls each of us to look at this inner structure is what I will call a True Initiation. Although Mainstream Culture doesn’t offer them, they exist. These kinds of journeys are only available at the edges. These are the activities you hear about that your family & friends would think you were crazy for considering.
It’s almost as if being called crazy is a measuring tool for True Initiation, and in some ways it absolutely is. If your family & friends are willingly indoctrinated into Mainstream Culture, and you have to go to the edge to find True Initiation, then they should reasonably fear for your wellbeing. Because to an indoctrinated person, going to the edge means you could fall off and die.
Why go for it?
The simple answer is that you won’t die. At the edge is actually where you begin to live.
Anything that is not the edge is a repetition of what has already been. It is mechanical, and that which is mechanical is dead (This is not an argument against having a daily practice because committing to a daily practice may be one of the edgiest things you could do. For others, abandoning their daily practice may be the edge.).
This is not about what’s right or wrong. It is about choosing to go to the hidden places where we must meet our deeply unconscious ways of being.
As an example of what happens when we don’t go within, we are told the story of the Puritans journeying off to discover a new world. They were explorers seeking the next frontier with a desire to create something new. It is true that they wanted to create something new, but they were not explorers. They were refugees of a horrific culture that tortured, mutilated, and enslaved anyone who did not conform. They ran away to create something else. The result, however, was a carbon copy in the “New World”. The foundation of the United States of America was formed by a traumatized group of people unconsciously propagating the same behaviors (torture, mutilation, and enslavement) that created their own trauma.
Why?
Because just saying “I’m done with this” does not make the inner structure disappear. It just makes it unconscious or as the spiritual community would say, ‘leaving it in the shadow’.
Creating something different requires a conscious dismantling & rebuilding process. The former precedes the latter. This means that the dismantling process goes first. It is the doing of undoing.
YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE
The inner structure is wisely built with blind spots. These are meant to make it all make sense. This is why you need a team to reflect back what you can’t see about yourself.
On the other hand, a team is also the easiest way to remain blind. A team that is about reinforcing and collective head nodding may be one of the most dangerous forces in this world - collective reinforcement.
THE ONLY WAY TO START IS TO GO!
All of these words can lead to a lot of confusion. This is one of your inner structure’s most powerful strategies to make sure that nothing happens. And yet, you can only take the next step on an evolutionary path. That’s because each next step on the path is only revealed by taking the one that precedes it.
So, GO!
