Be Conscious — You absorb whatever you focus on.
The powerful relationship between your fear, your focus, and your free-will.
Your choice of focus — fear or joy.
The most consistent and fundamental choice you are continually making is the choice of what you are focusing on. Our experience of reality presents us with the infinite potential of creation, and we each create our life by navigating it.
Whatever it is you choose to focus upon is you directing the unfolding of your reality.
In just the same way that a car moves towards wherever you steer it, you are energetically and psychologically moving towards whatever you are focused on. To move towards anything is to be on a journey of coming to know it better.
One big difference between human focus and steering a car is that cars have brakes to bring them to a stop. Within the human experience, although you can do your best to put everything on hold, you are always energetically traveling towards your focus. The only way to stop moving towards something is to either focus on something else or become unconscious.
While conscious, our perception never stops, so neither do we. You are always traveling into your perception. You are always receiving and integrating information from whatever you are looking at.
Whatever you are focused on, you are absorbing.
When this is understood, the power of choosing what we enjoy instead of what we fear becomes clear. A simple understanding of this process would make it seem that if you focus on the things you fear, then you will lead yourself to more fearful experiences. And, if you focus on what you enjoy, then you will have more joyful experiences. However, this basic understanding of our focus points more towards the early experience of being human because it was a time when human life was polarized in a simpler way into choices that were more clearly either following your passion or falling further into fear.
The human experience is a highly developed system. There has been evolution and specialization in almost every area. It has therefore been significantly transformed from its original state and the mental fears we deal with today are far more complex than the more instinctual and associative fears from past times when we lived in a more primal way.
To be able to consciously move our focus from what we fear to something we enjoy (meaning our fears are no longer controlling us) is a cornerstone of learning to master your focus. However, the human experience is far more than a challenge to focus on what you enjoy rather than what you fear.
Eternal consciousness designed this experience to be invigorating and expansive, not a constant test with a right or wrong answer.
The very nature of fear has evolved over history to become something less instinctual and simplistic into something more mentally convoluted, nuanced, and particular. In describing it as such, I am not saying we have gone down the ‘wrong’ path. I am pointing toward us evolving into something far richer and more complex — something that is more like a maze to navigate than an adversary to flee or fight.
The level of fear we now experience is not some unfortunate by-product of being embodied consciousness. Our experience of fear is a prize, and the transformation of that fear is one of the primary qualities of human life we have come to experience.
SUMMARY: The most profound choice you are ever making is the choice of what to focus on as you steer the unfolding of your reality. Whatever you are focused upon, you are absorbing. Although the ability to shift your focus from things you fear towards things you enjoy is a key part of being conscious, life is not purely about focusing on joy rather than fear.
A part of the human experience we have significantly evolved is the experience of transforming our fears. We have evolved it from an instinctual fight-or-flight response into an emotionally charged maze that we have the power to transform (learn and resolve). This is not a mission for some greater good or to arrive at some future destination. We do this because it is our joy.
How we love creating fears to face.
Deep within us, we know and feel that life should be about joy. Because we tend to see fearful experiences as being the opposite of joyful ones, we can end up labeling fear as a ‘wrongness’ that should be eliminated. When fear is prevalent, this leads to an experience through which you are resistant to life, and seek to control it in order to minimize feeling fear and maximize feeling joy.
When we have such a finite view of what we are, it becomes ‘the norm’ to experience ourselves as controlled by our fears in this way. However, when you view yourself as eternal consciousness, you will enjoy the richness that arises through the transformation of fears, just as much as you enjoy the more obvious, positively labeled human experiences.
Overcoming fears has become as intrinsic to the human experience as finding of love and passion. Without the realization that you wanted to experience fears within this life, you will always feel yourself to be, at some level, a victim of it — a person controlled by your fears. To leave the state of victimhood is to understand that you are both willingly and joyfully creating every aspect of your life — even those aspects causing you to feel afraid.
This is the realization that you are an empowered creator — not the ‘fallen being’ described in many religions.
Even people who have left the conditioning of religion still tend to believe that we must endure experiences we do not want in order to be granted the experiences we do want. This is the limited idea that we must endure the dark cloud in order to experience its silver lining (which is to view things through a polarized lens). You have the ability to experience any variation of your life you can imagine.
Your reality is the precise manifestation of your choice, and you did not make a single compromise in its creation.
Two of the most profound experiences you can have on Earth are first … realizing there is only one eternal consciousness that we are each an expression of, and second … realizing that every aspect of life you have ever experienced is not only exactly what you wanted, but of your own creation. Many people are resistant to recognizing themselves as the creator of their reality because it takes away the comfort of blaming other people (or other forces) for what you do not like about your life.
Blaming others, no matter how logically justified, is a state of disempowerment.
We have each chosen experiences that left us with fearful beliefs because within those fears is an experiential journey. Where that journey will take you is beyond where you were before you began. For example, a person who overcomes a fear of dogs contains experiences that are different from someone who never feared dogs.
We enjoy facing and transforming our fears because we enjoy the process of how it transforms our experience of self.
When you look at the entertainment industry, it is clear we enjoy watching movies about overcoming obstacles, hardships and fears, far more than movies without this kind of overt drama. If you cannot believe you would choose a particular fear, then ultimately you can only see yourself as a victim of that fear, forced to either live with it or face it.
Do not fear taking complete responsibility for your life. See that you are that which chooses every one of your experiences. This is the path to transform your experience of fear itself.
SUMMARY: Deep within us, we know life is about joy. The deeper realization is that even though we may complain while within fear, we find great joy in facing, navigating, and transforming experiences that evoke fear within us. We desire both the process of transforming our fears and the feeling of self that the journey of transformation leaves us with. Our choices of entertainment clearly show we like challenges and drama, far more than stillness and harmony. There is nothing wrong or inferior in this.
3) Seeing fear clearly.
If approached with awareness, focusing on a fear does not necessarily propel you further into that fear. When we face a fear, there is always the choice of how we choose to interpret what we are experiencing. Like all choices, this is a creative act.
Perception is a creative act.
Perception is not a report of what you objectively see before you. That is the experience of a scientist’s measuring tool (the physical measuring ruler is the God of science — it rules and is worshiped as the only truth). Instead, when seen as an act of consciousness, perception is a choice of how you want to interpret what is before you.
What meaning do you wish to assign to the experience of your perceptors?
The meaning you assign is then what determines the trajectory of your focus, which then determines the direction in which you are steering your life. In any situation with emotional significance, this trajectory will either reflect a choice to allow (enjoy) or resist (fear) the experience.
When we focus on one of our fears, there is always a choice. You can either use how you are interpreting what you are perceiving to send you deeper into fear, or you can use it to become more conscious of the feared thing, through being open to new information, such that we come to better understand it. Because reality is a reflection, becoming more conscious of anything will only ever lead you to realize that it reflects something within you, and that any fear was caused by a lack of understanding — either of it or yourself.
The absorption of whatever we are focused on is not inherently positive or negative. For example, if you spend a lot of time looking at murders it could make you incredibly fearful of the world as a murderous place, or it could lead to an in-depth understanding of what leads to murder — or how to identify a murderer — such that you feel safer in the world.
Different angles of perception on the same event lead to different experiences of reality.
A person who studies murder with passionate curiosity and a positive view of our innate nature will have a very different experience from someone who seeks to validate their belief that everyone is murderous and cruel by nature. We tend to create experiences of finding what we are looking for.
Because perception is a creative act, you are continually choosing to create experiences that possess the potential to either empower or dis-empower you. This is the basis of one of the most powerful spiritual teachings — know thyself. It is the realization that the best route to knowing everything is to know yourself, because you are an expression of eternal consciousness.
There is nothing in existence that, when understood, is feared.
All fear is caused by unconsciousness of what is rather than consciousness of what is. This is the realization that there is no force of darkness or evil outside of you that can be called ‘other’.
All we may experience as a darkness within us is the shade caused by temporary unconsciousness. All unconsciousness is temporary because all systems are circular in nature and always eventually return to their starting state. Because all unconsciousness is temporary, there is no need to fear it, as you cannot become lost or trapped within it.
SUMMARY: In facing fear, there are two choices: go further into that fear by interpreting your reality through a lens of victimhood, or interpret your reality through the empowered perspective that you are willingly choosing to experience it in your exploration of self. Within any fear, there is the potential — through knowing it better — to see it is a reflection and that whatever it is you feared about it was based upon a lack of understanding. This is why looking at your fears without consciousness is to fall further into negative interpretation, thereby further cementing the fear-based meanings you live within.
4) How fear creates conflict.
We most commonly experience choice in the expression of our preferences — the choice of how we take our coffee, for example. Choices like this do not seem to be particularly consequential in terms of the direction our life is taking. However, because fear is such an intrinsic part of the human experience, the choice of either going further into or out of fear is always present at some level.
For example, if you don’t order your coffee the way you enjoy it most, but order a lower calorie option instead, then fear-based beliefs are at work. This does not make the healthier option ‘wrong’ because there is a fear; it just means it is reflecting a fear that is in the process of transforming. In our example, the choice may be the result of an increased consciousness of a tendency to emotionally eat and could thereby feel empowering. Or it may result from eating a whole tub of ice cream earlier that day (when you only meant to have a little), and therefore stem from feelings of self-loathing.
See here that even in the empowered option, it still holds true that the person is exploring their fear-based issue. They are, however, bringing more consciousness to it through an empowered point of perception. This kind of dilemma is within the heart of the human experience because of how our fears permeate our perception. Although we typically have no frame of reference, to have fear operating within our perception is not unusual.
For example, our spirit exists in a state where whatever it wants is instantly experienced — there is no question, it is just ‘how it is’. Our spirit does not even have a choice to not ask for what it wants — so you could even say it was imprisoned within the experience of its own wanting until it discovered the potential of being human which includes the choice to experience things that appear to be contrary to what is wanted.
When you do not contain fear-based limiting beliefs, wanting and asking are the same thing.
Only in a reality like the Earth can you want a sweet, creamy coffee, but instead choose to ask for a soy, decaf latte with artificial sweetener. This does not make being human a bad thing; this potential makes being human an extraordinary thing. Remember here that this does not make things like artificial sweetener a bad thing. It is all about where the choice for it comes from. For example, another person may fearfully choose the sugar because they believe the sweetener is carcinogenic. It is, therefore, never about what you choose; it is about why you choose it.
The distinction that is being pointed to here is best expressed as the separation of your will and your desire, such that there can be a contradiction between what you desire and what you actually set about willing to happen. You can will for something to happen that you do not desire, or you can desire an experience that you choose to not focus your will upon.
For example, you may desire to tell your boss they are a bigot, but you do not will yourself to say the words when you are standing in front of them because of your fears. Or you may focus your will towards earning extra money because you fear not having enough, when you really desire to spend that time on a personal creative endeavor.
This divide between will and desire can be seen partially as a split between the inner and the outer — with desire being what we ideally want in relation to our deepest feelings, and our will being a force of intention that is made outwardly visible through our words and actions. When understood through these definitions, our desire is what we would ideally like to happen, and our will represents our highest belief (limited by our fears) about what we have the power to create. As such, our words and actions will always reflect our will, but the manifestation of that will may be more a reflection of our fearful beliefs than our heart’s desire.
This distinction between will and desire is a construction of the human experience. This does not inherently make it bad or wrong; it is just the realization that in most realities, you simply will for whatever you desire. From the perspective of other realities, the very idea of not willing for what you desire would be seen as a form of delusional madness caused by unconsciousness.
Often, we desire to thrive, but we do not bother willing ourselves to thrive because we don’t truly believe that is a possibility. Instead, we will ourselves to survive and merely carry a hope that this may lead to us thriving. When seen clearly, that ‘hope’ is not hope at all. It is the fear-based disbelief that cuts off our thriving.
You must believe in your ability to thrive for thriving to be reflected.
The distinction between will and desire only arises when a person carries a fear-based belief that what they desire is not obtainable or would be too painful to obtain. This is to understand that the only time there is a distinction between our will and our desire is within the presence of fear. When this happens, the mind then goes about working out the next best thing (which represents a compromise of the desire).
Going back to our earlier examples, instead of telling your boss they are a bigot, you may mock and belittle them to your work colleagues. Instead of spending more time on your creative project, you take on extra paid work telling yourself this choice will financially support your creative dream down the line. In this situation, the person fears not having enough money, more than they fear feeling creatively unfulfilled.
Because all fears are based upon unconsciousness of your infinite potential, every fear within you represents a potential journey out of fear. Every fear represents a journey to a wider, deeper experience of the self you are choosing to be in this life. The deepest understanding of fear comes when you see the value of how it makes qualities and things in your life matter to you.
Your fears are not thorns to be tolerated as a part of the human experience. They are what makes the canvas of life so exciting and engaging.
SUMMARY: In life, we often find we make choices to achieve goals we are not truly emotionally invested in — while taking little action towards creating the reality we truly desire. This arises from fear-based beliefs that tell us what we desire is not possible. Only in fear do we willingly make choices that work against our own desires. Fear is the only difference between what we will and what we desire. All fears are rooted in unconsciousness (lack of knowledge) about what is feared. Fear has introduced conflict into our choices because, as well as seeking what you positively desire, you come to desire the avoidance of what you fear. Though free-will and choice are typically thought of as the positive expression of preference, what I hope I have illustrated is that it is more accurate to see them as experiences of navigating our desires through the fears that mask them.
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