Chances are, most people who are reading this article have a sense that their beliefs contribute to shaping their reality. Your brain is a wonderful problem solver, but not always the most adept Master. Imagine a day in which you have particular plans and you have already decided that you are going to be delighted by the end of it. All is well and good, until you find yourself in a traffic jam and begin to growl that you are going to be late getting there. Just to make things even more interesting, there is a detour you didn’t count on, you miss a turn, end up on a pot holed road, and your car falls into one of them, causing a flat tire and then….it begins to rain. “What else could possibly go wrong?” You discover that you never replaced the donut tire the last time you had to change a flat and you are stuck. Your entrenched and perhaps oft repeated belief is “These things always happen to me.” “I have the worst luck.” “Life is out to get me.” Pretty soon you may think you were ‘born under a bad sign’ and take on the identity of victim.
It is what we think we know that contributes to our beliefs and our actions follow suit. Do you really want to live this way, when there are other options available? We each experience what I call ‘spiritual amnesia’ which is forgetting that all is in alignment if we allow for it. Tranformation from what we thought was so, to what is possible is available in the form of a new book called The Five Levels of Attachment: Toltec Wisdom for the Modern World
The author don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. lives in the light of such awareness, part of a lineage of Toltec Masters of Transformation. The son of don Miguel Ruiz who is best known for writing one of the iconic texts of psycho-spiritual growth: The Four Agreements, he studied with his father and grandmother and then made his own way into the world, carrying what he learned like so many seeds to be scattered on the winds.
In his book, he explains that attachments form from beliefs and then turn into our chosen identity. Unless we are aware of that pattern, we may go through life on auto pilot, at the whim and mercy of circumstances. I invite you take a look at the Five Levels to determine if they seem familiar in terms of your own world view.
Level One: The Authentic Self
We are living beings regardless of our knowledge, which exists only because we exist. The Authentic Self is a name given to that living being that is the full potential of life. It is the name that describes the force that not only animates our body, but also gives life to our mind and our soul. The Authentic Self is always present, and it is only our attachment that keeps us from remembering this is who we really are.
Today I had the perfect opportunity to practice the concepts in the book. There were a few situations over which I had absolutely no control. I set intention, did the necessary leg worka and then needed to surrender outcome. My watch phrase for the day was “the event will go as the event will go.” I walked into my day job as an addictions counselor and wrote that word on the white board in the group room in big letters SURRENDER and then we spoke about its meaning in our lives. Surrender doesn’t mean giving up, but rather, giving over. I have come to think of addictions as attachments that sink their claws into us. How often are we attached to outcomes, people and experiences? Only every day? How do we relinquish them and find our way to freedom? Listen in to my interview on It’s All About Relationships, with don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. this Thursday April 4th at 8pm est on Vivid Life Radio. www.vividlife.me
Written by Edie Weinstein
Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW (Bliss Mistress) is a colorfully creative journalist and interviewer, internationally known transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, Bliss coach and the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary. Over the past 25 years, she has interviewed such notables as Jack Canfield, Marianne Williamson,Dan Millman, Shirley MacLaine, Ram Dass, Ben & Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is a regular contributor to Beliefnet, Elephant Journal, Wisdom Magazine, The Whirling Blog, Identity Magazine and Bellesprit.
2 comments
I cannot thank you enough for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Thank you…glad you liked it. Please join us each week on the show at 8pm est Thursdays http://www.vividlife.me. Always amazing guests and fascintating conversation. Miguel had such a good time that he asked to come back on the show…it will likely be some time in August. <3