Transformative Shifts

 

    “While the cartoon is clearly poking more fun at mathematics than psychology, the same three-step formula often seems to apply whenever people undergo a transformative shift in their life. 
    Step One: They live their life, doing the best they can but often drifting or even floundering along the way. 
    Step Two: Then a miracle occurs … 
    Step Three: … and somehow their life is completely different. They go from inaction to action, from stuck to flowering, from limited to free, from miserable to happy. They’re no longer driven to drink alcohol or go shopping or take regular hits of their drug of choice. Before long, their career takes off, their relationships improve beyond all recognition, and their creative output soars. 

     We all know at least one person who’s experienced this kind of transformation in their life. Perhaps it’s a friend or family member who ‘found religion’ and really did begin to live a kinder, gentler life. Or someone who was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or had a near-death experience and began to experience more gratitude and to appreciate the simple things in life. 
    Sometimes, the cause of the transformation seems more random – the person read something in a book, or heard someone say something that somehow struck them at a far deeper level than may have been intended.

    Syd Banks reportedly experienced his first major insight while hiking with a fellow participant on a weekend seminar. In the midst of an argument over which of them was more insecure, his companion told him, ‘You’re not really insecure, Syd – you just think you are.’ Somehow, that innocuous, almost comical statement made nearly 40 years ago triggered a series of insights into the nature of Mind, Thought, and Consciousness which led to the development of a whole new field of psychology.

    Such transformations are not the result of an intervention, but rather the effect of a shift in our level of consciousness.

    Most of us experienced at least a temporary shift in our level of consciousness the first time we fell in love. Suddenly, the world seemed a more beautiful place. We were inspired to write poetry, or to draw pictures, or create things that reflected the beautiful feelings we felt inside us. 
    Because we attributed those feelings to another person, we often returned to our habitual level afterward. But those feelings don’t come from outside us – they’re a part of our essential selves. When we see the fundamental truth of that, the shift in consciousness becomes permanent and new levels of seeing become available to us. That transformative shift comes to us via insight – literally ‘sight from within.’

    Insights are those wonderful ‘Aha!’ moments when we’re able to see something about ourselves, our life, or life itself in a whole new way. People often call them ‘light-bulb moments,’ because we see things in a new light that makes them look less fixed and less scary than before. If there’s anything to be done, we do it without the need for any additional debate or willpower. 
    In these wonderful transformative moments, we discover a fresh new way of seeing something that we may have been looking at for ages. We suddenly ‘get it’ – not intellectually, the way we might understand a concept, but at an almost cellular level, the way we either get a joke or we don’t, even when we know that it’s supposed to be funny. Quite simply, insights change our world.” 
    Michael Neill “The Inside Out Revolution. The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever.” Hay House, 2013. EXCELLENT, CONCISE, IMPORTANT BOOK!

 

Michael Neill (above) is a student of Sydney Banks (below)

 

    "There are an infinite number of levels or states of consciousness. The way we observe and react to reality as a whole is directly related to the level of consciousness from which we are functioning. Let me give you an example: It’s one of those days when you wish you had stayed in bed. You’re in a bad mood and everything seems to go wrong. You might even feel the entire world is against you and, as far as you’re concerned, it’s someone else’s fault for making you feel that way. Of course, when you have days like that, nothing you do goes well. 
     Now here is a strange thing: You go to bed feeling awful. The next morning you wake up and – lo and behold – you’re in a better mood, and you are relieved to realize the whole world isn’t against you after all. 
    Now think about it, the world hasn’t changed. It’s the same old world out there; what has changed is your level of consciousness, which has come back to a more logical state, enabling you to see life with more clarity & understanding.

    It is very important to remember that the gift of Consciousness has no form or power of its own; how you use it is strictly up to you. This gift gives us the ability to recognize that there are different levels of existence.

    Levels of Consciousness are similar to an outside elevator on a tall building. It goes up and it goes down all day, every day. The higher the elevator car ascends, the more can be surveyed. Views that may be blocked from the fourth floor can easily be seen from the tenth. 
    Similarly, the higher your level of consciousness, the more understanding will be in your heart. The higher the consciousness elevator ascends, the more you see and understand, allowing you access to more common sense, insights & wisdom. That is, when your consciousness ascends to a higher level, it assists you to see beyond whatever misled thoughts were obscuring your vision yesterday. 
     Now consider that if someone were trying to explain such a psychological elevator ride – say, to the twelfth floor – to a person who had never been above the second floor, the conversation would appear mystical for the simple reason that they would be talking about the as yet unknown. 
    You can try to analyze or explain Consciousness forever and you will never achieve your goal – guaranteed! If you continue to try to analyze Consciousness, you will never come to the end of your futile journey. The important thing is, now that you know Consciousness exists, forget trying to analyze it and simply use it."
    Sydney Banks "The Enlightened Gardener" Lone Pine Publishing, 2016. SKILLFUL INTRODUCTION to Sydney Banks' PROFOUNDLY BENEFICIAL INSIGHTS   

 

    Many of us assume that if we can't understand every step of an explanation, then it's nonsense and we instantly abandon the subject. At the same time, we take for granted & make daily use of an almost infinite number of phenomena - INCLUDING LIFE'S MOST IMPORTANT ONES eg LOVE, TRUST, MEANING, etc - which our innate wisdom knows intimately, but about which we have little or no intellectual understanding. Yet we innocently remain emotionally attached to the illusion of our rationality.

    “You are a worldly adult. You have spent your whole life letting go of the innocent dreams that made your childhood so warm and hopeful and full of certainty. Dream by dream you let them go. We all do it, to shield ourselves from disappointment. It’s easy to shed them. Not so easy to get them back.” 
    Fiora Gandolfi, “Fiora’s Niche.” by John Berendt, in “An Innocent Abroad. Life-Changing Trips from 35 Great Writers” ed Don George, Lonely Planet, 2014.