There are two types of knowledge, the knowledge you have and that your
soul has. Similarly, there is the knowledge amnesia patients have about
themselves and the knowledge they would like to remember. The knowledge
you have does not assist you in knowing your true identity and what your
soul has done. Likewise, the knowledge amnesia patients have about
themselves does not help them to remember what they have forgotten.
Experiencing various emotional experiences that stimulate an amnesia
patient's inner-consciousness causes him or her to remember what they have
always known. Similarly, your soul stimulates various emotional responses
within your inner-consciousness so that you can remember what you have
always known. That is why it important to silently observe how everything
affects you emotionally, as well as how you respond to those feelings.
Doing that assists you in understanding various cause and effect
relationships. That understanding is "soul knowledge." It
stimulates your inner-consciousness in a manner that allows you to
experience your soul and be consciously aware of it.
Everything you experience is based upon your perception. An alternation
in your perception changes what you experience. You soul uses that
principle to create events that emotionally stimulate you to observe and
challenge your perception. Not understanding the significance of these
experiences, thought ignores, rationalizes or intellectualizes them. Your
soul responds by repeating the experience over and over again until it
gets your attention. Thought perceives that these experiences are
obstacles or road blocks and either attempts to overcome them or to
suppress them. You soul responds by increasing the amount of stimulation.
Sometimes that intensified stimulation manifests as an accident, a serious
illness or a devastating disaster. You can assist the soul by observing
and understanding the cause and effect relationship of these experiences.
Debating, arguing or defending your perception creates conflict and
prevents you from raising your consciousness. Another source of conflict
is thinking, believing or deducing that you "understand" what
you know. Whenever you do that your query or investigation ends because
thought does not see any sense in examining what it knows. Whenever you
acknowledge that you do not know something, you instruct the mind to
observe and investigate. It is difficult to observe or investigate
anything for thought is either chewing on the past or focused on the
future. When it is not doing that, it is rejecting, denying or avoiding
anything that conflicts with its perception. On one hand, thought wants to
know something so it can end its investigation. That is why it seeks
answers and conclusions as opposed to possibilities and probabilities.
Although thought wants to end its investigation, it accumulates knowledge
so that it can substantiate or prove that its perception is accurate.
Thus, thought is constantly in conflict with itself or its environment.
Conflict creates conflict, never peace. That is why thought is unable to
resolve the conflict it creates. To have peace, you must begin with peace.
That is why it is so important to set aside at least twenty minutes a day
to allow the mind to quiet down. Thought will come to an end if you
attentively observe it. Quiet and attentive observation is meditation.
Many who meditate are aware of the fact. It also helps to schedule your
quiet time so that you are able to do it at the same time and in the same
location every day. The best time is when you can be alone and nothing
will disturb you.
Your desire to protect yourself from being deceived, used or
emotionally hurt causes you to create numerous facades. The more dependent
you are the more fearful you become. As your fear increases, you create
more defence mechanisms. You have done this so much and for so long that
you have forgotten your true identity and nature. They are buried so deep
within your consciousness that you are oblivious of them. And, your
unresolved fears prevent you from looking for them. Yet, you think that
you "know" yourself because thought falsely identifies itself as
being one or more of the facades you created. Like you, thought desires to
protect its perception. Unlike you, thought has had millions of years to
develop thousands of defence mechanisms. Some of them are blatantly
obvious, but most are difficult to see because they are extremely subtle
and cleverly disguised. Therefore, you cannot use thought, perception or
the condition mind to raise your consciousness or to discover our true
identity. These can only be achieved by using something that is not an
aspect nor product of thought or perception. Your soul has no relationship
with thought for it is none of these. Consequently, it is wise to develop
a mutual relationship with your soul so that you can challenge your
perception and raise your consciousness.
Unfortunately, everything I have stated so far is merely knowledge,
words that you can comprehend. Experiencing the reality of that knowledge
transforms it into understanding. If you allow yourself to embrace the
following ten premises, you will create various experiences that will
alter your perception. The more you embrace differences, the easier and
more rewarding life is.
1. Questions are more beneficial than answers. Just as each step begets
another, your path through life is determined by the questions you ask.
Each open-ended "what" and "why" question begets
another question rather than an answer. Thought, in its pursuit for more
knowledge, seeks answers. Answers never resolve anything because they are
more of the same rather than something new. "How" questions seek
knowledge rather than understanding. Asking "what" and
"why" questions changes our focus and allows you to understand
what you are observing. The understanding gained from one question causes
you to formulate another that assists you in gaining a deeper and fuller
understanding than its predecessor.
2. Everything is constantly changing. It is impossible to hold on to
anything in life for everything is constantly changing. Holding on to the
past keeps you in the past and prevents you from experiencing something
new. The past is the known. Challenging the known alters our focus and
allows you to "let go" of the past so you can experience
something new. Open-ended questions challenge the known and facilitate the
detachment process.
3. You have to stop what you are doing to see what you were doing.
Pursuing prevents you from seeing what needs to be seen. The slower you
move, the less blurred your vision and the more you see. Quiet and
attentive observation allows you to see even more. Such a view is free of
all distractions, especially thought. All your senses - every part of your
being - is focused on what you are observing. This qualitative sight is
commonly called meditation. The more you meditate, the more you function
with the soul rather than thought.
4. Everything serves a purpose or it ceases to exist. Nothing in life
is ever really wasted. Everything you encounter or do in life helps you to
grow and evolve. You unknowingly judge life, others and yourself when you
allow thought to label something good or bad, right or wrong. Looking at
everything as a possibility, a probability or potential resource alters
your focus. In turn, you cease to judge and begin to discover
opportunities you never knew existed.
5. You learn what is right by experiencing what is wrong. You live in
an imperfect world so that you can understand perfection. Nothing new
would ever be learned if you never erred. Your errors provide the
motivation, the environment and the resources needed to learn. Seeing err
as a potential learning experience changes your perception and reality.
The more you allow yourself to err, the less seriously you take yourself.
The more you do that, the more open and flexible you are. In turn, you
learn more and discover how enjoyable learning can be. Life becomes an
exciting adventure rather than dull and tedious.
6. You are always experiencing what you need to experience. Problems
and undesirable predicaments cause you to focus on what you perceive that
you do not have. Your pursuit causes you unknowingly ignore what you have.
Focusing your attention on what you have alters our perception. You cease
to pursue and begin to develop what you have. In turn, you assist the soul
in achieving its objective. Seeing life as your ally rather than your foe
allows you to achieve the impossible.
7. What occurred is not important; what is important is how you
respond. It does not matter what happened to you or who did it to you.
What matters is what you do about it. Focusing our attention on what
happened to you or who you perceive is at fault does not resolve anything
because it prevents you from observing your response and what can be done
about it. Attentively observing how everything affects you emotionally and
how you respond to those emotions changes our focus. In turn, you see what
you can do to resolve the problem and prevent it from occurring again.
8. You learn from observing and embracing differences. More of the same
begets sameness and stifles your growth. Sameness, the known and routines
provide a false sense of security and cause you to err. The more you err,
the more fearful you are and the more comfort you seek in the familiar or
the known. Disrupting your routine and embracing differences alters your
focus. In turn, you stimulate your growth and diminish our fears. The less
fearful you are, the more security you find in the unknown.
9. Everyone is doing the best they can. It is easy to criticize or
judge another, especially yourself. Your expectations of others and
yourself prevent you from seeing that everyone is doing the best they can.
Unless you can communicate with another's soul, you have no idea what
their soul desires to experience. Allowing others to be themselves and
experience their uniqueness changes your perception. You cease to critique
and begin to value and respect uniqueness. In turn, you become a
supportive ally rather than a derogatory spectator.
10. You are not alone. In the depths of your depression,
despair or anger it is difficult to see that others have experienced what
you are experiencing for life treats everyone the same. The more alone or
isolated you feel, the more difficult the task becomes. Your ability to
see, acknowledge and accept that you are not alone alters your perception.
It gives you the motivation, comfort and reassurance you need to
accomplish the task at hand.
You can contact the author David Zimmer at: david@whoisdavid.org
Also take a look at his website: Meet Your Soul
