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January 20 - January 22, 2022
Do not let knowledge translate everything you experience.”
Instead of simply experiencing the joy and flavors of the wine, we are analyzing the flavor, trying to break it down and fit it into a context and language we already know. In doing this, we miss out on much of the actual experience.
Whatever we become attached to can begin to shape our future experiences and limit our perception of what exists outside our vocabulary.
Our point of view creates our reality. When we are stuck in our beliefs, our reality becomes rigid, stagnant, and oppressive. We become bound to our attachments because we have lost our ability to recognize that we have a choice to be free of them.
The more attached I am to my beliefs, the more difficult it becomes to see myself for who I am at this moment, and the less freedom I have to see life from a fresh perspective and perhaps choose a different path.
Self-judgment resides where self-acceptance wishes to be. Our attachment to these negative beliefs and self-judgments can become so normal that we don't even recognize them as condemnations anymore; we accept them as a part of who we are. But at a very basic level, our self-judgments are all consequences of what we believe about ourselves at our core—whether we accept or reject ourselves.
Let go of the attachment that you must obtain some image of perfection in order to be happy.
But at the very core of it, there is no one to blame, because a commercial, like self-judgment, has no power over us unless we agree with its message.
You can choose to view yourself from a place of acceptance based on the undeniable truth that you are already perfect and complete exactly the way you are right now.
From this point of view, you may still choose to make some life changes; but now the motivation to change is not because you hope to someday love yourself but because you already do love yourself.
I needed to stop judging myself for not meeting my own expectations and accept myself for who I am at this very moment. I began at the beginning, learning to love myself and giving gratitude every morning for being alive.
Second, you view life through the eyes of an artist and accept that everything is a work in progress, a never-ending masterpiece.
I do not make changes in my life today because I feel I must change in order to accept and love myself; I make changes to express myself and experience more of life, because I already accept and love myself for who I am.
“I am because I am at this moment.”
This is what freedom is: the ability to enjoy and be exactly who you are without suppressing yourself in the form of judgment.
But if we accept ourselves for who we are at this very moment, we change because we want to grow and evolve with life; love is no longer the condition for change, it is the starting point for change. This is the true meaning of unconditional love.
Just as I am responsible for me to the tips of my fingers, you are responsible for you to the tips of your fingers.
Harmony exists when we engage one another with respect, honoring each other's yeses and nos as we construct the dream of us.
I am only responsible for what I say; I am not responsible for what you hear.
A definition is created by consensus—and when enough of us say yes to that representation, we call this knowledge.
But this consensus is an illusion because the idea of immorality never stops being virtual;
When you let go of your attachment to the meaning and the perceived truth that you apply to words and symbols—mine, yours, and others'—you have the freedom to step back and decide for yourself if those meanings reflect your experience in life.
to see yourself as a perfect human being, and to realize that there is no object, idea, or knowledge that you need to be complete.
As soon as you see a game, you sit, watch, and enjoy it for those ninety minutes. You simply enjoy watching the game for what it is.
This ability to attach and detach easily allows you to invest an emotional side of yourself that will enjoy the ups and downs of a great game.
As your attachment grows, it can reach a culminating point where respect is lost even for humanity.
It's important to realize that when we, or anyone else, become attached to a set of beliefs at this level, it is easy not to see the humanity of an individual since we can only see the personalization of an idea that we stand against.
The Five Levels of Attachment can be applied to any form of information, and suddenly the consequences become far less trivial.
We require no knowledge to be our Authentic Self, and our awareness of this is what allows us to use knowledge as we engage the world, using our body through our mind as the vehicle that allows us to take action in life.
There is a moment when the Authentic Self becomes no longer an abstract term, but an experience.
Knowledge is alive in our minds precisely because we are alive, and that knowledge is the tool by which we can communicate with the rest of the world.
someone were to say or do something insulting when we are residing in Level One, the Authentic Self, it wouldn't bother us.
Because our love is not based on a behavior that we agree with or find acceptable, we love them even through such instances.
Do you engage in this choice with preference, or is it a rigid framework by which you judge your self-worth?
At this level we forget that the mask of our identity is an empty symbol—just like a word whose definition is subject to an agreement set by us and the use of knowledge in the Dream of the Planet. Just as language can change over time, so, too, can our identity mask.
When you are at Level Three, you confuse these identities with who you really are.
we have donned the mask of identity and forgotten it is a mask. This forgetting of who we really are, the Authentic Self, leads to some suffering, but generally not an inordinate amount.
Regardless of how it can appear, the driving force behind fanaticism is not hate or anger, but rather an extreme form of conditional love for self and others.
It doesn't matter what the belief system is, if someone is fanatical, they have let their happiness and acceptance of others be dependent on adherence to that belief system.
Fanaticism is the complete loss of respect for another living being, when we no longer see an individual as a living being, and instead only an idea or a number.
At the time, I could see that while our love was still there, our attachment to the ideas about what we thought love should be would ultimately come between us.
Going on a diet is not a condition by which I accept myself. Rather, I recognize the truth of my unhealthy state, and I decide to make a change—not because conditional love has forced my hand, but because I love and accept myself.
When it comes to being motivated by self-love to make changes in life, there are no musts or shoulds. The key phrase here is “I want to make this change for me.”
Although the voices of fanaticism are certainly the loudest, those at Level Five seem to represent the minority of the people with whom I have interacted in the Dream of the Planet.
Love and respect for self and others is the beginning to letting go of fanaticism.
Seeing that our life is worth something allows us to see that the life of another individual is just as special.
Remember, there is a yes at the root of every belief we have, but a no can be enough to change our beliefs.
Reevaluating our beliefs introduces the option to continue to believe or to change.
Toltec agreements, Be impeccable with your word Don't take anything personally Don't make assumptions Always do your best Be skeptical, but learn to listen
You are worthy of your own forgiveness, as much as you are worthy of your own love.
