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Taking Control of Your Life February 20, 2007

Posted by The Probabilist in : [Articles], Consciousness, Personal Growth, Philosophy, Purpose, Relationships, Beliefs, Time , 4 comments

Life is undeniably a pretty complex term. When we look at all the different aspects of a human being’s life, what we are responsible for and what we can or can not control, the list can grow quite long and into many layers of details. Take for instance circumstances, emotions, skills, diseases, other people’s behaviour, luck, success and happiness. How many of these, and to what degree would you define to be within or beyond your control? An even greater question that I’ve been battling lately is the question of how much we as human beings are supposed to take control of in our reality in the first place.

Some books and teachings say that we should just let go of our desires, live simple lives and give up the thought of taking control of our destiny - that everything is going along just as it is meant to, which means that trying to alter things is futile and a waste of energy. In other words, life is meant to be a humbling experience where the solution is simply to enjoy our stay on this planet and live with care and love toward ourselves, others and the Oneness of all that exists.

Another way of thinking is that this whole reality is your own creation and you (read I) are fully responsible of all that goes on in it. Therefore, it’s obvious that there’s a lot of cleaning up to do with all the misery and catastrophes that occur every single hour and minute of every day. This revelation either breaks you if you don’t even have the strength to take care of yourself, or it has the power to create a great human being out of you that actively improves the world - through internal or external means (self-improvement or altruism).

Option 1 resembles more of a theistic approach and option 2 an atheistic approach, but it doesn’t have to be that cut and dried. The underlying question is if you have the full control of your reality or if it’s beyond your reach, found in something or someone else’s control. It’s all a paradox that seems to circle on endlessly when you think about the human levels of consciousness as explained by David Hawkins. In broad terms, people below the consciousness of 200 are denying the responsibility of their own life and need to grasp this revelation to reach neutrality. However, to get past the mid levels and reach unconditional love and enlightenment, you have to more or less again give up the control that your ego and corporeal body has access to. So what then is the answer, should a human being strive for control or not?

I wasn’t able to push this question forward until I started asking myself what the word control really means and comprises of. The traditional explanation would for instance consider having control of a car. It then means that you’re the master of the car’s movements and nobody else is able to influence it. This I would name ‘direct control’ and it follows in suit with the subjective reality perspective that everything is happening due to your own thoughts and actions - that circumstances, emotions, skills, diseases, other people’s behaviour, luck, success and happiness are all within your control.

However, I’m also convinced that ‘indirect control’ is an equally powerful concept and a very acceptable mind-set as well. This is the power of being a master at how you relate towards everything - even though you accept that everything is beyond your control. Your control is therefore strictly internal and in a way, you control the external occurrences because of your own relationships towards them. In this case for instance, cold weather does not have control over you because it does not bother you. You are in total acceptance of your surroundings and thus, you are the one in control. It’s still a kind of control after all even though the outcome is beyond your reach.

So what this all boils down to is a separation between internal and external control. Now if we look at the small list of concepts I presented earlier (circumstances, emotions, skills, diseases, other people’s behaviour, luck, success and happiness), we notice that all of them are within one of our ‘controls’ and that in the end, you don’t have to choose one form of control over the other. They can both co-exist and you just choose one according to the nature of the issue. I’m sure you’ll find out which concepts require direct control and which require indirect control.

Many people find themselves out of life balance when they only rely on one form of control. They get mad at the universe or themselves when there’s no single solution to all of their daily matters that they want to control. Fortunately, there is a solution for how to take control of life, but it takes time and effort to master both kinds of controls for improved life quality.

Or were you more inclined to find an answer to which of the two introduced teachings are more correct? Life isn’t a goal or a destination you strive to reach. It’s a path and an experience where there is no past and no future - only an endless amount of the present moment. Life wouldn’t be very exciting if all our questions were answered, but I hope that you start to recognize the two kinds of controls that you may use and slowly master from now on to make the best of your life and the present moment. This matters more to me than finding answers to all the questions I can think of.

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

Way of the Peaceful Warrior February 19, 2007

Posted by The Probabilist in : [Books], Consciousness, Exercise, Gratitude, Goals, Personal Growth, Philosophy, Purpose , 8 comments

Dan Millman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior is the first book I’ve read this year that can be labeled as fiction. First published in the early 80s it’s a autobiographical novel blending in the author’s own experiences as well as fiction to remind us of life’s greater purpose and possibilities.

It is the story of Dan, a young gymnast moving to San Francisco for University studies and starting life on his own in ways he could not have imagined. Although very successful in acrobatics, his overall life does not offer any remarkable and memorable moments. Instead, he only seems to find some degree of peace and satisfaction from his training while all the rest is just blending in with indifference, mediocrity and unawareness of what awaits him.

Troubled by a reoccurring dream, he takes off into the night and stops by a 24/7 gas station where he meets an old, but swift man whose words and answers perplex and frustrate Dan. Still quite intrigued of the man’s behaviour, he decides to return to the gas station each night to find out why the old man seems to be the one in his dreams and why he constantly manages to outwit and outperform Dan who is three, four times younger than him.

Slowly but steadily Dan begins to listen to the man’s teachings, whom he calls by the name Socrates. Dan’s gymnast career seems to come to an end when he severely injures his foot, but given the newly awakened spirit, he starts to push his limits to not only start exercising his athletic abilities again, but also to become a master of life and unreasonable happiness. The path of the peaceful warrior doesn’t appear easily, quickly or rationally, and Dan gets to live through quite a number of demanding tasks and tests in order to reach his ultimate calling and be who he is meant to be.

There’s a great message to be found in this book and I enjoyed every page of it. As the tagline goes “A book that changes lives”, I’m inclined to agree with that statement and also recommend this book to anyone of any age. It speaks of the course and meaning of life, how we should relate to different occurrences in our lives and how to face the inevitable destiny we all have to one day. Get your own copy and find out if your level of consciousness is in balance with the way of the peaceful warrior.