Whenever a human being becomes a battleground for the instincts, there can be no peace. We’re going to do a bit of a double-take on the same concept here. First, I will share this passage from a meditation book a friend sent to me. On Opposites: Before emptying, there must be fullness. Before shrinking, there must be expanding. Before falling, there must be ascent.
Hey! What you describe about your experiences and what came of them is very important. In my opinion, this is called emotional maturity. Fantastic! Every step we take towards our balance on an ongoing basis is valid. Especially when we talk about instincts, something we can only understand when we go through them. I completely agree with your comments.
Great article.👏 I had to hit rock bottom before I realized money wasn't everything. When I used to make tons of it, I thought it was all that mattered and that it would solve all my problems. It didn't, in fact made my life much worse. Now, I get by with little money and am happier than I ever was making tons of money. 🙏
Thank you for sharing that. I don’t ever want to go back to struggling to survive and struggling to get food and shelter because those years were horrible and lasted a long time — but I also don’t believe in trading my life for a paycheck either. That’s one life area right now I am struggling to find some balance in (very overworked) and trying to figure out what needs to change. I am very very glad to hear that you have found a more peaceful way of living. 🙏
There are certain situations in which things are intentionally, voluntarily, taken to utmost extremes, for a specific purpose of gaining strength, endurance, refining strength of will, learning to function competently in horrific conditions.
I am thinking of U.S. Army Ranger school, for example.
In some of these entirely voluntary schools, a 100 may begin and it is not uncommon for only 10 to finish.
The point being,
Those that endure, attain.
As I learned, often limits are imaginary.
Our capabilities amount to what we imagine they are, and what we are willing to attain.
Attaining goals is not necessarily about strength.
Rather, it is about determination, endurance, and adaptability.
Qualities that are all subject to the individual choice and will.
In the transition something is destroyed,
Doubt. Doubt is replaced by competence.
Competence establishes confidence.
That knowledge transforms your individual perception of reality.
That is why Warriors, went through the endurance, pain, and overcoming fear trials.
People, in regular life experience much the same in enduring and overcoming struggles, suffering etc. those that endure are competent, confident, capable.
That is who the meek are, in the Bible, when it says the meek will inherit the earth.
The meek know they have nothing left to prove. They are humble, the meek, do not brag, or bully, the meek lead by example.
Yes, I have lived a life of many many extremes, but eventually things always shift, even if only briefly. As far as the training that you speak of, I have experienced something very similar, although in a different context, but when I was in that situation, they were very upfront about the fact that they were putting us through what they were putting us through because they had the intention of breaking us.
The idea was to rebuild the human in their image (or their reprogrammed manner) which in many ways is what’s going on with that type of training as well, however, I never broke and became compliant, (again I’m not speaking about military training here This is a completely different situation that I have not discussed on Substack,) but it absolutely had an effect on me. I’ll tell you that much.
I was not the same person when I left that “Place”. For better or worse I had hardened a lot and learned how to make a monster of myself. Maybe I became one in some ways idk. It helped me to survive, and often still does, the trick is knowing how to take the armor off when you want to. Whole Nother story. I appreciate your comment. Thank you
Ranger school wasn't about breaking us , the instructors said over and over. If we break, we fail. It was about finding that within you, to rise and endure.
The fire isn't supposed to change you. It strips away what isn't you. Reveals, you.
We carry a lot of baggage in our heads and bear burdens , and wear armor to protect us.
The fire cleans all that away.
None of it had any use other than to distract you, disguise you, trap you in the maya,
Now that I do resonate with, that is said in my yoga training all the time. It’s always about becoming more of what you already are, and shedding all that you are not. My circumstance was not Ranger school. It was a bit more twisted and fucked up, perhaps I’ll talk about it here one day, but the philosophy you do speak of I’m familiar with and have a lot of respect for it. 🙏
I've always been a rather extreme person, either hot or cold on almost everything, very little middle ground. I've had to learn to care less about a lot of things just to maintain sanity. This makes a lot of sense. There's definitely some wisdom here that I can extract and apply to myself. Thank you for sharing it. 💕
I think I should probably take the advice of what you said and do as well. Not caring so much about everything. I had somebody point that out to me recently, and now that I think about it, a few people who have been close to me throughout my life have pointed that out, Heart may be in the right place but you’re gonna get yourself fucked up and burnt out by trying to take on the world or care so much about everything. Oh man. 😵💫
Very interesting ideas here! I think that instinct is written into us by time, across millennia. It is carved into our DNA and only exists because it has increased our chances of survival. So, it isn't our instincts that have gone awry. What trips us up is that modern life (big corporations & government) are exploiting these instincts for profit. We have an instinct to prioritize food because historically we wouldn't know when our next meal comes, but we are now presented with aisles of seed oil laden snacks and fast food dollar menus specifically designed to tap into the reward triggers in our brains. We have an instinct to procreate, but are presented with internet porn. The list is endless.
It is up to us to now use our rational minds to prioritize moderation. For my rebellious nature, this is much easier to do when I see that corporations, big pharma, and government that want to make my life "easier" are literally trying to profit off of my sickness and utilize me for their own purposes.
I do agree with this. Natural instincts will certainly be warped when we are not living in actual reality, but a synthetic replica that also happens to be weaponized.
Hopefully that makes sense, I just got off work so my brain is a little bit fried but yes. I would agree.
Valuable advice. It takes real discipline to maintain a constant, the urge to quicken the pace with almost everything we do nowadays often damages the product or action.
Hey! What you describe about your experiences and what came of them is very important. In my opinion, this is called emotional maturity. Fantastic! Every step we take towards our balance on an ongoing basis is valid. Especially when we talk about instincts, something we can only understand when we go through them. I completely agree with your comments.
Great article.👏 I had to hit rock bottom before I realized money wasn't everything. When I used to make tons of it, I thought it was all that mattered and that it would solve all my problems. It didn't, in fact made my life much worse. Now, I get by with little money and am happier than I ever was making tons of money. 🙏
Thank you for sharing that. I don’t ever want to go back to struggling to survive and struggling to get food and shelter because those years were horrible and lasted a long time — but I also don’t believe in trading my life for a paycheck either. That’s one life area right now I am struggling to find some balance in (very overworked) and trying to figure out what needs to change. I am very very glad to hear that you have found a more peaceful way of living. 🙏
Balance is the real trick. Isn't it?!
Dumpsterfire!! LOL yes... hahahaha
And even those have purpose and meaning.
Thank you!!
🙌🌸
Yes they do!! Sometimes can be the greatest teachers 🤣🙏🔥
Ain't that a painful truth!!! Im just glad I don't set the whole town on fire and can laugh anout it!!! 😂😂
There are certain situations in which things are intentionally, voluntarily, taken to utmost extremes, for a specific purpose of gaining strength, endurance, refining strength of will, learning to function competently in horrific conditions.
I am thinking of U.S. Army Ranger school, for example.
In some of these entirely voluntary schools, a 100 may begin and it is not uncommon for only 10 to finish.
The point being,
Those that endure, attain.
As I learned, often limits are imaginary.
Our capabilities amount to what we imagine they are, and what we are willing to attain.
Attaining goals is not necessarily about strength.
Rather, it is about determination, endurance, and adaptability.
Qualities that are all subject to the individual choice and will.
In the transition something is destroyed,
Doubt. Doubt is replaced by competence.
Competence establishes confidence.
That knowledge transforms your individual perception of reality.
That is why Warriors, went through the endurance, pain, and overcoming fear trials.
People, in regular life experience much the same in enduring and overcoming struggles, suffering etc. those that endure are competent, confident, capable.
That is who the meek are, in the Bible, when it says the meek will inherit the earth.
The meek know they have nothing left to prove. They are humble, the meek, do not brag, or bully, the meek lead by example.
The meek are far from weak.
A product, of going through, the extremes.
Yes, I have lived a life of many many extremes, but eventually things always shift, even if only briefly. As far as the training that you speak of, I have experienced something very similar, although in a different context, but when I was in that situation, they were very upfront about the fact that they were putting us through what they were putting us through because they had the intention of breaking us.
The idea was to rebuild the human in their image (or their reprogrammed manner) which in many ways is what’s going on with that type of training as well, however, I never broke and became compliant, (again I’m not speaking about military training here This is a completely different situation that I have not discussed on Substack,) but it absolutely had an effect on me. I’ll tell you that much.
I was not the same person when I left that “Place”. For better or worse I had hardened a lot and learned how to make a monster of myself. Maybe I became one in some ways idk. It helped me to survive, and often still does, the trick is knowing how to take the armor off when you want to. Whole Nother story. I appreciate your comment. Thank you
That's, interesting.
Ranger school wasn't about breaking us , the instructors said over and over. If we break, we fail. It was about finding that within you, to rise and endure.
The fire isn't supposed to change you. It strips away what isn't you. Reveals, you.
We carry a lot of baggage in our heads and bear burdens , and wear armor to protect us.
The fire cleans all that away.
None of it had any use other than to distract you, disguise you, trap you in the maya,
Now that I do resonate with, that is said in my yoga training all the time. It’s always about becoming more of what you already are, and shedding all that you are not. My circumstance was not Ranger school. It was a bit more twisted and fucked up, perhaps I’ll talk about it here one day, but the philosophy you do speak of I’m familiar with and have a lot of respect for it. 🙏
Have you ever read the poetry of Rudyard Kipling?
Jungle Book was not his best stuff.
I've always been a rather extreme person, either hot or cold on almost everything, very little middle ground. I've had to learn to care less about a lot of things just to maintain sanity. This makes a lot of sense. There's definitely some wisdom here that I can extract and apply to myself. Thank you for sharing it. 💕
I think I should probably take the advice of what you said and do as well. Not caring so much about everything. I had somebody point that out to me recently, and now that I think about it, a few people who have been close to me throughout my life have pointed that out, Heart may be in the right place but you’re gonna get yourself fucked up and burnt out by trying to take on the world or care so much about everything. Oh man. 😵💫
Yeah, we've really gotta pick our priorities. I was going to say pick our poison or battles, but I don't want to pick either of those things 😁
Very interesting ideas here! I think that instinct is written into us by time, across millennia. It is carved into our DNA and only exists because it has increased our chances of survival. So, it isn't our instincts that have gone awry. What trips us up is that modern life (big corporations & government) are exploiting these instincts for profit. We have an instinct to prioritize food because historically we wouldn't know when our next meal comes, but we are now presented with aisles of seed oil laden snacks and fast food dollar menus specifically designed to tap into the reward triggers in our brains. We have an instinct to procreate, but are presented with internet porn. The list is endless.
It is up to us to now use our rational minds to prioritize moderation. For my rebellious nature, this is much easier to do when I see that corporations, big pharma, and government that want to make my life "easier" are literally trying to profit off of my sickness and utilize me for their own purposes.
I do agree with this. Natural instincts will certainly be warped when we are not living in actual reality, but a synthetic replica that also happens to be weaponized.
Hopefully that makes sense, I just got off work so my brain is a little bit fried but yes. I would agree.
Haha, me too, and well stated!
Valuable advice. It takes real discipline to maintain a constant, the urge to quicken the pace with almost everything we do nowadays often damages the product or action.
So true— and I catch myself doing it daily. No easy feat but the awareness is half the battle won already 🙏❤️🙏
Perect...
Thank you for sharing a piece of your soul. I highly recommend the book "I'm Hakka" to understand how we got to the place we are.
https://books.google.com.eg/books?id=41JlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA147&dq=I+AM+HEKA+Wim+van+den+Dungen&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib65G0oM_1AhVqgv0HHbllCLIQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=I%20AM%20HEKA%20Wim%20van%20den%20Dungen&f=false
Thank you 🙏 ❤️