Seeing Through the Fog of These Times

SEEING THROUGH THE FOG OF THESE TIMES
by Martin F. Luthke, Ph.D.

Last night I was in for a surprise: Accidentally still wearing my reading glasses, I looked into the bathroom mirror. Wow! I discovered details in my face I did not know were there! The real surprise wasn’t the stray bristles on my eyebrows but that I had not been aware to what degree my eyes have been projecting a faulty or incomplete image of reality to my awareness.

Our minds tend to believe our senses, and yet the image of reality that is being projected from our senses is misleading. When children or animals first encounter mirrors it takes them a while to figure out that what they see is not really “out there.” Here lies the crux: When we encounter the world around us through our senses we never quite seem to realize that we are, metaphorically speaking, in a hall of mirrors. After all, it all feels so real!

Our senses are designed to perceive things in the periphery, as happening “out there.” Thus, if an ugly face looks back at us, we curse the mirror. This is the ever popular victim perspective: things “happen to us.” We fail to realize that the world mirrors back to us what we send out – that we are at the center of creating our own experiences.

Not only are we co-creating our perceptions in the “mirror” or “echo” sense, we also co-create them through our interpretations. Those interpretations are the computer programs that “make sense” of a myriad of data, filtering out most and assigning meaning to others.

There is no objective reality “out there” devoid of interpretation. As scientific experiments have shown the mere observation of an event can influence the event. Since these interpretative programs are influenced by emotional states, energetic (e.g., hormonal, astrological, or circadian) fluctuations, past experiences, collective agreements, past-life echoes, cultural and ancestral patterns, and a myriad of other factors one can safely state that no two people see the world exactly in the same way.

Thus, all “reality” is relative or subjective. To our ego minds this is an uncomfortable statement. After all, our egos are in cahoots with our senses in projecting the illusions of an objective reality out there. If another does not perceive the world as I see it, one of us must be wrong – which is threatening to the ego. “The whole world is crazy except you and me – and I’m not so sure about you!”

Furthermore, our egos are heavily invested in the idea of being right; after all, this is the foundation of our ego’s claim to power. Just like the Wizard of Oz, the ego uses a few simple tricks to hang on to its power, most notably the “self-fulfilling prophecy.” A simple example: We fear rejection by a love interest, mess things up royally, and receive what we expected. Our ego then says with a self-satisfied grin: “I told you so! Listen to me, you can trust my guidance.” What the ego doesn’t tell us is that it set things in motion so that the “predicted” outcome would actually manifest. (It is useful to remember that despite its protestations the ego is not interested in our well-being, it is only invested in its own self-importance.) In other words, what the ego fails to disclose is the simple truth, “If you don’t like what comes back from the mirror, make a different face!”

So far, we have briefly touched on some of the obstacles that make it difficult to see through the fog of our confusion: our senses, our interpretative programs, and our ego’s claim to supremacy. How can we get closer to seeing more clearly?

MEDITATION: Our senses, by definition, are designed to perceive differences -- differences in volume, pitch, brightness, shape, color, etc. They are not designed to perceive the oneness behind the differences. Our senses will not tell us that all is one, that there is unity behind diversity; this we can only realize through “extra-sensory” perception. We can open to such realizations in meditation, an intentional process of withdrawing our attention from the peripheral senses and focusing it instead on our heart, third eye, or another focal point. In so doing, we not only open to an awareness of the unity behind diversity, we also allow our energy fields to harmonize and balance. Instead of our restless minds chasing a thousand different thoughts and perceptions, we can feel the stillness and oneness – AUM – if ever so briefly. This is deeply healing to our hearts and souls, and educational to our minds.

DE-PROGRAMMING: The Buddhist tradition teaches the cultivation of the “beginner’s mind,” meaning an open mind that is relatively free of preconceived ideas and established programs. Our minds, so goes the Buddhist teaching, should be like an empty teacup because only a vessel that is empty can receive the in-pouring of wisdom. However, not only are our undisciplined minds usually full of old programs, they are also too restless. How much “tea” will actually end up in your cup if you flit about every which way?

Of course, letting go of preconceived ideas is not a new concept. What makes this mindset ever more important, however, is the fact that our old programming tends to be misleading. It is as if we had moved to a new continent and failed to update our navigational system. The guidance we are receiving from our old mental maps is no longer useful, in fact, it sends us down the wrong path every time. Our Higher Selves are urging us to perform some sorely needed system updates. Why is this so?

ONGOING TRANSFORMATION: “All of Creation is vibration” – all that exists is energy vibrating at a certain frequency. We are living in a time when the frequencies of all and everything are accelerating rapidly. This is the result of the influx of higher-vibrational energies into our part of Creation, a process that has long been foretold and that has been agreed upon by all the beings of Light involved, whether human, planetary, or extra-planetary. It is impossible to elucidate all the effects of this process of transformation: They range from the galactic to the geophysical (earth quakes, volcanoes), from the political to the economic (uprisings, loss of control, market unpredictability), from the psychological (confusion, depression, fear, anger) to the spiritual (easier access to the higher planes).

Our planet is undergoing a rebirthing process, whether we like it or not. If we do not wish to be swept away by the tsunami rolling towards us we need to learn to ride the tide of change. This can only be done if we lighten our karmic ballast, surrender our preconceived ideas, and let go of the old programs of anger, fear, jealousy, greed, hatred, and judgment. In computer lingo, we need to uninstall the old operating system, clean out our hard-drive, and go “online” to our Higher Selves to “download” more useful software. Time spent in meditation is invaluable for this system overhaul.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE. What makes this overhaul so tricky is that we allowed our systems to be “hijacked” by the “malware” of our ego minds that do not wish to give up control. We still get confused, afraid, cling to illusions of control, engage in old karmic response patterns, distract ourselves with addictive behaviors, and allow our “monkey mind” to run amok.

Any birth is difficult. Let us be patient, compassionate, humble, and grateful for the help that is available. To move the ego out of the driver’s seat and to let our Higher Selves behind the wheel is easier now than ever. We need to be still, ask for help, surrender, and trust. Be still, ask for help, surrender, and trust. Be still, ask for help, surrender, and trust.

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Ascended Masters Newsletter # 136. To subscribe to this free newsletter, please visit http://www.expansionpublishing.com/html/current_newsletter.html