CONTENTS
A trite, non-usable understanding of this concept
It is like a basic mathematical truism - it works both ways
Perception and your conclusion are not reality nor the truth
OK, so you probably knew that, but...
The greatest of these, perpetuated and perpetuated, is...
Two basic approaches to get to what is reality
How will I know when I am operating from true beliefs?
The potential difficulty and the potential dilemma
Before we finish, at what level do you accept this?
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A TRITE, NON-USABLE UNDERSTANDING...
"I know! I know!. I know this already! I've heard it 100's of times!"
This is the reaction from many people, all of whom must have a trite, non-indepth, surface understanding of the pieces necessary to understand and implement this idea into one's life - and I can conclude this, for that reaction would not come from a person who fully embraces and believes and understands that statement.
Getting this concept fully and operating from it is a required piece for running your life effectively.
IT IS LIKE A BASIC MATHEMATICAL TRUISM - IT WORKS BOTH WAYS
In the law of cause and effect, we discuss how there is no effect unless there is a cause. Accordingly, I can look at an effect (a result or a resulting conclusion) and trace it back to a corresponding cause. There is no exception to the rule that there is always a corresponding cause - we just need to find it.
So we can go forward, seeing how a cause creates the effect. And we can go backward from the effect to noting the cause.
Yes, sometimes the cause is not immediately clear, but we can be sure that it is there.
We'll come back to this law in a minute, but first let's look at "filters".
PERCEPTION AND YOUR CONCLUSION ARE NOT REALITY NOR THE TRUTH
In this case a "filter" is something that particles (data) goes through on a selective basis and get interpreted. This always happens. It is physically impossible not for it to happen.
The key insight is, however, to know that "what you think you see is not reality." We are in trouble when we think that our filtered version of the data is the actual data in reality - but most of us think that our filtered version is the true version!
Many misunderstand the often misquoted version of "your perception is your reality", misstating it as "your perception is reality" or "perception is reality." But though your perception is real to you, it does not equal reality nor equal the truth - no matter how real it seems (or appears to be).
What occurs The filter The modified version
Reality → Filter → Your version
Life itself → No filter → Life is neutral
Plenty of good things in it
OK, SO YOU PROBABLY KNEW THAT, BUT...
You might already know the above concept, but you haven't accepted it as a reality (about your misperception of reality!). The proof that you haven't accepted it is that you still believe it is true that life is difficult and you still react often to the emotions produced from untrue beliefs being fired off by the brain.
How do know that?
Because you have an effect (your conclusion that life is difficult) that cannot be scientifically verified to be the truth, and, in fact, can be scientifically verified to not be true.
Therefore, you are holding on to believing a non-truth, even though you may say otherwise! Believing anything is true just because you believe it is true shows that you are not holding to the law of reality in this case: That all conclusions, perceptions, beliefs are potentially incorrect until proven via the scientific process, at least meeting the simple Truth Test.
Until you accept this, you will continue to hold onto old unexamined beliefs, especially illusionary fears, and be stressed and less than happy.
Or to put this into the law of cause and effect terms: If you are stressed and less than happy (the effect), you are holding false, harmful beliefs (the cause).
THE GREATEST OF THESE, PERPETUATED AND PERPETUATED, IS ...
A major source of unhappiness is trying to get happiness from "outside of us", from people behaving a certain way and circumstances turning out the way we want them to be. This is the source of suffering, per the Buddha. This also violates the law of control, wherein people waste vast amounts of energy for very little return
Let's look.
Reality → Filter → Life is not good, unless... (an untrue conclusion)
Reality, scientifically, is neutral and a basis for many opportunities
TWO BASIC APPROACHES TO GET TO WHAT IS REALITY
Approach 1 - Distinguishing the two from each other .
Like Michelangelo, we can "simply chip away all that is not David."
This means that we engage in the process of separating 1. reality ("what actually occurred in the observable world") and 2. what interpretation we added to it. (This is one of the key concepts that the highly recommended Landmark Education teaches.) One is "what happened" and the other is what we made up about it, often called a story (including a decision, or an agreement with an old decision, that one thereafter runs one's life on).
Approach 2. Operate only from that which is proven to be true and effective.
Here we simply find out what is true and discard what is not true.
Our "cue" for "what to find out about" lies in using the reverse of the cause effect law - deciding where one is not getting the desired results and simply backing into the beliefs that must be causing those results and then examining each one of those beliefs and/or looking for true beliefs that are the opposite of the untrue beliefs.
HOW WILL I KNOW WHEN I AM OPERATING FROM TRUE BELIEFS?
The answer lies in the law of cause and effect.
If your life is going very well and you are very happy and satisfied, then you are operating from what truly works. (Duh!) When you are no long "stuck" in any area of your life, you will know you have given up that which caused you to not have Freedom.
If your life is not going that well and/or you are not highly happy and/or not very satisfied, then you are operating from what does not truly work. Therefore, you need to unravel the filter's effect (the stories) from what is actual reality and truth.
An alternative way of surmising this is that the long stories, explanations, justification, repetitions of information about the past no longer are present in one's conversation.
For instance, what one says about one's divorce is simply: "I got married. I got divorced." Or "I grew up, now I get to be the creator of my life" (no story about the bad effects of someone or something persisting in the present).
The past stays in the past, never to be drawn on again, unless for a useful purpose that is truly contributory.
This does not occur simply as an act of will (fighting against opposing forces), but occurs as a "letting go" of any belief that the conclusions made about how the past justifies present behaviors and beliefs are simply seen as filtered conclusions that are not necessarily the truth.
THE POTENTIAL DIFFICULTY AND THE DILEMMA
Note that stopping the telling of all stories presents a dilemma and a difficulty for some.
The difficulty is in sticking to the "right" practice, as anything new will create the opportunity for failure, and the necessity to put the practice back in place, many times.
The dilemma is that it leaves you with nothing to fall back on out of habit and leaves you with no excuses or justifications of the cause being outside of you. (Beware to all victims: cause can no longer be outside of you. You will be left with being the sole cause of your life and not waiting for a hoped for rescue from people and/or circumstances.)
All that is left is "non-stories", which in turn leaves you with living only in the "what works vs. what doesn't work" world - which in turn catapults one's life forward when it is fully embraced and engaged in!!!!! (From this practice, you'll find that you get positive results in a relatively short time.)
BEFORE WE FINISH, AT WHAT LEVEL DO YOU ACCEPT THIS?
Option 1. All are a single holographic whole.
___ I acknowledge that I have a filter through which I see all things.
___ I now know not to base any of my conclusions upon beliefs that have not been
examined and determined to be true.
___ I commit to living my life based on only those newly embraced truths that
have been verified to be true, including the basic laws and principles in life
and in each area of human "being".
___ I understand that how I operate in life and the results I get in life are strictly
correlated (equivalent) to the level of truth of my conclusions.
___ I understand that keeping the same beliefs and expecting different results is a
version of the definition of insanity.
___ I choose to no longer "be" insane (by no longer insisting on operating
through those same beliefs).
___ I realize the vital importance of changing my untrue beliefs asap, for every
moment I continue operating from them I suffer.
___ I commit to diligently proceed on this, without delay or excuse, for this is
vital to my life and to my happiness.
Option 2, holding on to some exceptions.
___ I will continue to hold to "my truths" as being true.
____ I will continue to operate my life from them.
___ I accept that I will continue to get the same results in my future as I've
gotten in the past from living these "truths".
___ I "know" my conclusions are accurate as I am an intelligent person.
Completed this ____ day of _________________, ______
Signed: __________________________________
