As human beings, this question is never far from the center of our minds, especially when faced with challenges. In the face of diversity, it is natural to question our existence. Life can seem senseless at times given the confusion about the meaning of many of life’s experiences. Consequently, there is an ongoing attempt to make sense of it all by many, including me.
It is my contention, as it is many others, that we are spiritual beings manifested on earth for the purpose of having human experiences. This of course begs many more questions like, ‘how?’ and ‘why?’ and ‘to what end?’ And while it is difficult for the ‘created’ to fully understand the ‘creator,’ I do believe that it is possible to have some perceptions of our existence that can steer us in a direction toward self-fulfillment. The ‘how,’ I care not to expound upon, as my views on how are not essential to these discussions; and the ‘why,’ is explained by simply looking at our perennial nature, admittedly as humans, to always seek expression of ourselves.
Self-expression is the quintessential pursuit of human existence. So the end we seek, as spiritual beings manifested in human form, is no end at all, but to simply self-express. Consider this from the perspective of an actor. The sole interest of an actor is to self-express. The fact that many actors want to express themselves with an audience is ancillary to the core purpose of self-expression. Self-expression is the core purpose nonetheless.
So, given this constant drive toward self-expression, the question becomes how does this influence the lives that we live or the experiences that we create? The framework of the theater can continue to provide the context within which to view this perspective.
We are all actors on the stage of life. Once our grand entrance is made, we all but forget who we truly are or from whence we came. We have donned new, human roles, new directions with new goals to achieve within the scenes before us. Yes, written into our roles are some preset circumstances and characteristics with which we enter from stage left or stage right, but our interpretation of the roles, our expression of the human character is but of our own choosing.
When we chose our roles, and chose them we did, we didn’t question the circumstances, or considered the life challenges too difficult. We excitedly looked forward to the fun of expressing from our chosen human perspective. Consider the way we choose costumes for a costume party. It is all about the fun and excitement of a different form of expression. Just as we choose costumes with anticipation of the fun of expressing ourselves in a way that is so unlike who we generally are, as spiritual beings we choose roles with no thought other than, ‘it will be fun!’ We don’t stop and say, “What will the others say if I choose to be poor? What will they say if I choose to go crazy? What will they say if I choose to be a criminal? When the acting is over, when we return to the other side and become spiritual beings again, we turn to our human enemy and say, “That was fun, wasn’t it?” And our enemy turns to us and says, “Yeah, let’s do that again, but this time, I’ll shoot you, and you pretend to hate me forever.”
Farfetched? Maybe. But, think about it from an actor’s perspective. Ask them about the roles they choose. Ask them if they are concerned about what people will think of their roles – other than wanting to be seen as playing the role well. Ask them if playing a homeless man, or an angry man, or a superstar on stage makes a difference to who they really are off stage. Yes, they do learn from the roles they play, but does it ultimately change who they are outside of their roles?
Back to the costumes you choose for a costume party - what is the most prevailing thought on your mind when making a choice? I bet the thought is how much fun it will be to wear a particular costume. As spiritual beings, we have thought about how much fun it will be to play the victim or to play the villain or whatever role we choose.
When you are on stage, you are not thinking of who you really are off stage. If you are a good actor, you have your mind, your heart, and your entire being vested in your chosen role. That is what being a good actor is all about. And we have been good actors for many life times. However, the scenes are changing. Our play-acting is changing. We are entering a new period.
There is a shift in consciousness on earth. This shift in consciousness is allowing for an awakening to the truth of who we are. We are on a new kind of stage that is allowing our powerful, self-determining nature as spiritual beings to integrate with the human roles that we are now playing. We have always thought of ourselves as having a director that prescribed the stage direction. However, there is no director other than ourselves, and no particular direction that the actors are expected to go in. The ending is not written. The circumstances still exist, but the outcomes are unknown. And, most importantly, we are awakening to the realization that we are allowed to use the power of our spiritual ‘beingness’ to help direct our experiences.
We are in a better position now to write our own stories, to create our own directions, and decide our own outcomes; and to ultimately change our roles if we choose. We have the choice of using our Divine nature to live our human experiences in a way that we have not been able to before. I don’t mean this in the traditional sense of being kind to others and loving thy neighbor etc. I mean this in the sense that we are powerful, self-determining individuals that can determine our own experiences in a far easier way than we could before.
You see, many of us create experiences by default. We have thoughts and beliefs about the roles that we have chosen that have resulted in manifestation of experiences that we may not like. However, we are not stuck in our roles. We are not stuck with our life’s direction. We are in a position to create the kind of experiences that we would prefer, using our innate abilities as powerful, spiritual beings. It is the purpose of this Ezine to show you how.
What follows in this Ezine (http://Ezine.ADifferentPath.info) are tools and exercises that take you down a road of self-discovery, to help you better understand yourself, and discover the solutions that exist within you to create the kind of life that you would like and to have, the kind of fulfilling self-expression that we are all seeking. But don’t take my word for it. Ask the questions, explore the issues, and go inside and discover for yourselves what will give your life more meaning and fulfillment as you self-express.
All the best to you on your path of self-discovery and self-expression!
Yoham, Cathy. I struggled a bit with the kind of information that I should provide about myself for my readers. I thought, "Well the norm is to present your academic credentials and area of expertise." But then I asked myself, "Why do I have to go along with the norm? My ezine is about a different path. My book is about a different path." So I will present the description of myself through a different path.
I grew up in a very strong fundamentalist baptist family. My grandfather was a baptist minister, as was his father before him, and three out of four of my grandfather's sons became fundamentalist baptist ministers. So I grew up with the true 'fire and brimstone' philosophy of life.
However, it was very difficult for me to buy-into this view of life. From the time I was 12 I questioned the logic of the things that I was hearing. Much of the teachings did not make sense to me. And to add fuel to the fire, I started having metaphysical experiences at the age of 16 that didn't exactly jive with my family's teachings. So I started exploring a different path to be able to understand myself better and the way life was meant to be lived.
My college years were a sense of freedom for me because I had access to all sorts of minds, books, and philosophies. I delved into metaphysics in a big way. It was the only thing that made sense to me given the experiences I had been having over the years. You see, from the time I was 16 I was having dreams that would come true and then spirit visitations. So it was important for me to find a philosophy of life that fit my life experiences, and not force my life to fit a particular philosophy.
I have spent many years reading books, interacting with others, joining groups to get a better understanding of this metaphysical approach to life. I learned a lot by trial and error. Then 9 years ago I came across a group called Crimson Circle. It was there that I advanced my understanding of metaphysics to a profound point of discovery and experiencing. What I have learned as a result, and the way that I have developed because of it cannot begin to be conveyed.
What I have done is taken these learnings, and integrated them with the Psychology I studied, and the Human Resources Development I studied, and developed models and approaches that furthers the understanding of how we can live more fulfilled lives as spiritual beings in a human world.
I wish you all the best on your path of discovery and hope that my learnings over the years can be of benefit to you on your path!