It seems to me that there’s a fundamental issue everyone is dealing with, and that is that they know there is a better way to live but they fear this at the same time. Perhaps a small part of their consciousness believes it’s possible to transcend the confines of their existing lives. Perhaps a bigger part is afraid and apprehensive, because if it were true that there is a better way to live, they would have to find a path to getting there and this search could lead them astray and, potentially, to an even worse place.

Perhaps it’s the idea of venturing into the unknown threatens what’s already in one’s life (kids, wives, husbands, jobs). I don’t want to know the real me, what if the real me decides I secretly hate my wife, I want to molest my children, and I’ve been desperate to cross dress all these years! Perhaps the foundation of this “better life” is ultimately based in the belief of scarcity and there are limited resources (money, comfort, security) so not everyone can strive for what they want because where would we be if everyone did that!

In the paradigm our “normalcy” is founded on, they’re all valid arguments.

I’ve been lucky to have a number of friends and relatives that ask me questions like “how are you progressing on your spiritual journey?” Which gets me thinking about how I AM progressing on my spiritual journey…I feel that I’ve been blessed with having highly conscious, sensitive, caring people around me and through their inputs, I’ve gotten comfortable with creating a spiritual inquisition for myself and getting to which questions are most helpful to ask.

So far, I’ve got:

• Am I being nourished by my surroundings?
• Is my perception allowing me to absorb the lessons my surroundings are trying to give me?
• Am I adequately paying attention?
• What have I not yet seen?
• What am I dreaming of and why?
• Am I adequately expressing myself at all times? Are there times where I am not self-expressed? Where and with who?
• Am I inhibiting myself from dreaming?
• How many of my daily decisions and actions are driven by fear? By love?

This is the part that I find upsetting because it seems that not taking the initiative to explore our inner worlds and desires keeps us confined and ultimately compromised because we feel the pressure to be happy and find contentment in life, but don’t ever take the time to create a conducive environment for doing so.

Without this initiative we’re basically screwed because we’ll just become silently desperate, hollow and left yearning for any sense of acceptance and love. Which is a scary place, and I think most of us are already there to some capacity. No matter how many times you hear money doesn’t buy happiness you still see dudes in sports cars and women injecting fat from their butts into their breasts and face, and maybe they don’t know this, but they’re sick and they don’t know how to get better so they just have to keep on suffering and wait until something happens to them. And we haven’t even talked about (and probably never will) weird sexual issues, addiction, various support groups, cults, the overworked people, the perpetually busy people, the people who spend their entire awareness avoiding knowing who they really are.

And it’s hard work, it’s not easy to get vindicated from the shackles of fear because it’s such an integral part of how we frame our thinking. If I make the wrong choice in love, will I end up alone forever? Am I unloveable? Am I getting fat? If I make the wrong choice in general, will my future be bleak and will there be no joy in my days? Look at all those homeless people on the street, this could be me someday If I’m not careful!

This is real, this is the dialogue, this is what it looks and sounds like. It’s not nice and it certainly doesn’t have a trace of self love, faith or hope in it. It’s a desolate, barren wasteland we condemn ourselves to. It’s an impotent, arid, lifeless, alien planet. Don’t go there. Stay away. Don’t pour your creative energy into this, think of something else, think of what you want to build and create, not of what’s going to destroy you.

And also, let me just say that I love DreamWorks and have been so very proud of their creative and commercial success. They did this film about guardians, which is pretty fun because it features Santa, Easter Bunny, Sandman (who apparently creates dreams? I’ve never heard of the sandman before, but I like this idea.), Jack Frost and the Tooth Fairy. My favorite part is the villain who is (Jude Law) the essence and manifestation of fear! I’ve included the death scene of sandman because it’s a perfect representation of fear growing inside each of us, slowly crippling us to death.

If we treat it like they do in the 12 step programs, accepting that we are being crippled by fear and need instead to shift our focus on love and what brings us love is a good start.

AMIRITE?!