Is Your Life A Truman Show?

In the process of awakening to higher consciousness, things start
to break into our world from the “outside”… 

Strange happenings that seem out of the ordinary. Strokes of good
fortune. Bizarre coincidences. Symbolic messages. The further you
progress on the spiritual path, the ever more common these
become.



If you ever have the opportunity to watch a film called “The
Truman Show”, starring Jim Carrey, you should do so. It provides
a fascinating metaphor of the process of spiritual awakening.
The hero, Truman Burbank is the unwitting star of a cynical 24
hour “real TV” show that has bèen following his every movement
since his very birth. His entire world is a dome-enclosed island,
complete with fake sun and moon. Every major incident in his life
has bèen carefully stage managed by a cynical TV producer for
maximum worldwide viewing figures of “The Truman Show”. Truman
himself is blissfully unaware that his entire world is a
fabricated fake. He has nèver left the small island he was born
on, but always dreams of running away to a tropical paradise on
the other side of the world. 

Every now and then, something breaks in from the outside and
tries to alert him to the delusion he is living. It all builds up
to a crisis point where Truman finally begins to question his
“reality”, and finally challenge it, and seek to break out of it.

Our lives are a bit like that. We also live a false reality; a
construction of our own senses that seems so real, but actually
breaks down completely under examination. Many of us strenuously
avoid the subtle messages that are always trying to come through
from the greater reality beyond. Maybe we prefer the safety of
the comfortable world we have created. Maybe we don’t even
believe any other world could even exist.

Deepak Chopra describes Synchronicity – the appearance of
meaningful coincidences in your life – as a sure sign of
spiritual progress. It would seem that the further along the
spiritual path you travel, the more often you experience such
remarkable meaningful “coincidences”. However, you can also use
the same principle to manifest what you desire, from the formless
substance of the universe, through the power of thought alone. As
the universe imposes its thought upon you, likewise you can
impose your thought upon the universe.

Awareness is the key to spiritual awakening and unfoldment.
Remain awake to the strange phenomenon breaking in from the
“outside” in your life, both in your physical realm as well as in
the realms of thought and intuition. Actually, there is no
“outside”. You are bigger than the world you see or have created
for yourself through your ego delusions. You are actually in
contact with that infinite world at all times, although you may
be totally unaware of it.

The key secret lies in “waking up” from the dream of everyday
life and earnestly seeking the truth with all your energy. A key
point in the Truman Show came when the cynical TV producer
admitted that if Truman really wanted to, i.e. if he exerted
every effort to break out of his fake world, then there was
nothing that anybody could do to stop him.

It’s that way with us too. The reason we don’t break frèe to
enlightened consciousness is because we like conventional
consciousness well enough. It’s just too much effort to try
anything else. After all, there are the bills to pay, aren’t
there? And what would the neighbors say? And besides, where are
you going to find the time for all that extra spiritual stuff?
And so on…

In the film, Truman is terrified of the waters that surround his
island. Years back, the TV company staged his father’s “death” by
drowning when Truman was still a little boy. This served the
ultimate purpose of keeping him on the island forever. Moreover,
whenèver Truman starts to make any serious efforts to leave,
strange “coincidences” (created by the TV producer)conspire to
prevent him. It’s as though he is simply not fated to ever leave.

Well, our own ego does the same with us. It fears its own death,
and cons us into believing that its death is also our own. It
sets up belief barriers that we dare not pass at any cost. We
stay in our comfort zone – our own little island of safety- in
every area of our life, no matter how uncomfortable that “comfort
zone” may actually be. Examples abound. Money. Security.
Marriage. Following convention. Why take any risks in life? Why
rock the boat?

Some people give up everything to follow the spiritual path with
their entire lives. Others put in about 15 minutes of meditation
a day, read the odd self-help book now and again, and consider
themselves “already enlightened” in the midst of their
conventional consciousness. Oh well!….

In the end, Truman has to face, and overcome, his long-standing
terror of water. He escapes from the island in a boat. The TV
producer throws a massive storm at him. Then a terrifying tidal
wave capsizes the boat and virtually drowns Truman. But not
quite… He survives to find the exit to the dome enclosing his
world. Despite last minute attempts from the illusion-maker to
scare him into staying, he steps through into the unknown,
leaving beyond the world of comfortable illusion he had known all
his life long.

Again, we see close parallels to spiritual awakening; commonly
called Enlightenment. Spiritual traditions also talk about the
need for death of the old to make way for the birth of the new.
The symbol of water baptism (which, interestingly, is used in the
film) is the Christian image of this; submergence into the deep,
dark waters of unconsciousness and reemergence into new life. 

Very frequently, the deepest spiritual moments – the point at
which we come closest to touching our true divine essence – ARE
those of profound difficulty and challenge in your life. That is
another reason why the ego consciousness is terrified of such
“negative” events, and wants to keep you far from them. It knows
that at those critical points, you come very close to God and
hence to liberation. That is definitely NOT want the ego nature
wants, as this would spell its own demise, and so it acts to keep
you forever slumbering in the world of the comfortable and the
known.

Mystics talk of “the dark night of the soul”; that period of
deepest darkness and inner searching prior to the dawn of the
light of spiritual liberation. It is the point at which we have
to confront our deepest fears and inbuilt prejudices, and
overcome them (even as Truman did) in order to step into a new
reality.

OK. You may not be living your existence out in an artificial
dome in front of billions of TV viewers. Yet, in a very real
sense, your life is very similar. Instead of a cynical TV
producer, you have the ego consciousness – that artificial
creation of yours that helps you deal with the physical world,
but is not the real YOU at all. The reality you take to be so
real keeps being “invaded” by strange meaningful coincidences
from the outside; increasingly so, as you begin to wake up. You
may sympathize deeply with the cynical exploitation of Truman in
the film. Yet, you should also spare a thought for the way a part
of your inner psyche mercilessly deceives you, exploits your
worst fears, and keeps you drugged; forever wasting your divine
potential on trivialities that count for nothing in the long run.

You too, if you are to ever wake up from this self-imposed
fantasy world, must also get serious. You too must be relentless
and face your worst fears. Be determined to find a way out.
That’s what the ego, like the TV producer in the Truman Show
fears the most. Because, if you were every to get REALLY
determined, and give it your all to the very point of no return
and beyond, there is nothing anybody or anything could do to stop
you from succeeding.

And that’s not fiction. That’s fact!

Copyright 2004. Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.

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Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of “The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self”. His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul’s purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook “Inner Light Outer Wealth” at:
http://www.aksworld.com/AspireToWisdom.htm?imk=Blog _______________________________________________________________

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Is Your Life A Truman Show?
Is Your Life A Truman Show?