38_Exploration One – Leading, being led, and what happens in between.

August 1, 2020

With nearly perfect timing, our subject falls in line with Maslow’s theory. She synchronously evolves at the age of seven from feeling powerless to her first real taste of power, and with that movement, introduces to the next phase of development.

Before we explore the logistics of that age, we must ask ourselves, what is the transition. The early building blocks of human experience begin with how we’re nurtured. Children are not at choice. They are not consciously storing cataloged information. All of the survival rules we have within us came from information that originated outside of us. You were not born with conscious knowledge of the language you speak. You were not born knowing how to walk or to run.

From this line of this reasoning, if we are to begin anew, we must start at a new beginning. In healthy development, the fundamental building blocks of healthy consciousness begin with knowing we are loved and supported. Before exploring the world around us, our first task is to know we are safe in that world. Like the rabbit, we must establish a path of safe return to a foundation where we know we will be fed, clothed, and guided toward this new life.

With correct development, this guidance must come from outside of us before it can come from within. We must learn something we do not already know. We must be taught how to exist in the world without guidance.

Our subject seems to have abandoned it, but it an impossible thing to shake at this age. She has decided to strike out on her own, to take care of herself, but she is not the first in her genetic line to do so. It is no less a rabbit hole than the addiction already programmed into her life, or the seething anger that will grow from her unresolved compassion. What she first learned as guidance is that no one will be there for you. It’s up to you to take care of yourself. Don’t count on anyone. You are in this alone.

As a natural reaction to this training, the only person she trusts is herself. Learning to trust ourselves is inherent to her next stage of development, but she has decided she is the only one she can trust. Her life is no longer just the trial and error process typical to ages 7 – 14. She has attempted to go all the way to adulthood. However, the adult pattern of her brain is a treacherous one. It is a world of pain and betrayal that she will experience until she can transcend the caste barrier that confines her.

To have all of the answers we need in our lives. It is fundamental we practice the craft of self-discovery. However, that path cannot begin until we have moved beyond the limited thinking of a child’s mind. We must be able to perceive something beyond our current understanding of reality to see new potential. Our subject didn’t come to this place individually. She was introduced to the concept by the doors Tami opened for her. She saw a suggestion and in it, a new opportunity to escape.

How she was able to move from one concept to the next is something we will examine as she matures. For now, we must all recognize a simple fact about human nature. Everyone has their own genius. We are just as wise as any sage or master teacher. The answers to everything we desire are within us. They still exist beneath the rules we have adopted and cry out against the way we limit them. Our suffering in life, the angst we feel, is not a natural result of existence. It rises in us because we know there is something better possible. If we didn’t think we could have more, we would not crave more. Longing is the natural function of the subconscious mind to spark evolution. Her soul is crying out for something different. Data, contrary to her family of origin, created the opportunity for her to experience it.

Releasing our current life to invest in a new possibility must occur with the transition of any developmental stage. We must decide to move from what was to what will be, especially in the function of identity. Maturation is a rebirth of identity. Various teachings throughout the world explore the concept of rebirth, and you may even have been through rebirthing experiences before, but I would like you to look at what renewal means with new eyes. I want you to consider the idea of completely rewriting your self.

Think of all the ways you’ve defined yourself, and consider what it took to release them. Most of us don’t remember the early transitions in our lives like our subject is experiencing here. Still, we’ve had moments of dramatic change, through the shift of a career or relationship, moving to a new town, having your children go off to college, or losing a position in society. Whether you choose the transition or it was thrust upon you, it required that you rewrite the way you defined yourself. Living a life of choice does not necessarily mean giving everything away, but it did ask you to take everything within yourself and examine it. It did demand you decide whether the old self still fit within the new experience of life. You chose what to keep and what to let go for good.

Some of those decisions were made consciously, but most were made like our subject’s was made through pure survival instinct. The idea was known to her only after her subconscious mind had let loose her connection life as she knew it. She released the story she had lived and surrendered to the potential of a new life. It was the last conscious decision she made for some time, but conscious or not, her subconscious mind knew it was essential to her survival. If it wasn’t, she would have never thought of it.

Whether we define our narrative as amazing or as miserable, it is a pre-defined teacher. It has rules and expectations below the surface, which may or may not align with our lives expressed at their most joyous.

Many people never change because they aren’t willing to let go of the person they’ve decided to be. In this way, they choose their suffering, and they do so for a very simple reason. Death. Before every rebirth, we must experience death. We must abandon an identity that has been established as a means of survival. The brain believes that if we change, we will die.

The most significant misconception of our species is that death is painful. The end of life has no pain. It is holding on to a life that is dying that hurts. Suffering is not inherent to life, and neither is death. It requires we let go. Imagine cleaving to a cliff edge, hanging on for dear life, as one might say. The longer you cohere, the more pain you experience. Muscles become fatigued, and joints give way. Now, think of letting go. There is no pain in letting go. We just won’t do it because we assume we will crash to the ground if we do.

Life is not progressive. It is expansive, so growth does not need to be wrong or painful. There is no crash at the end of a release. It is just the opportunity to set one thing down and to pick up another.

With each new age comes a new identity. Our subject has decided to abandon one with bright hope for another.