The Sandbox of All Possibilities

“Know that you are merely a Child of God playing, without ceasing, in the sandbox of all possibilities called the Mind.” - The Way of the Heart

I’ve been reading an insightful and well-researched book about consciousness, and I’m wrapping up a chapter on conscious machines. Is it possible to create them? Is it even ethical to create them if we could? Is it ethical to destroy them?

We live in Eden. A planet thriving with life. It’s on the ocean floor, it’s on mountains, and it's everywhere in between. It even sprouts through our paved streets and sidewalks.

And we are surrounded by consciousness - in our neighbors, in our pets, in our friends, and in the birds of the sky. 

Daily we are giving to consciousness - our time, our thoughtfulness, our care. Daily we are destroying it - in our wars, in our selfishness, in our ignorance, and in our distraction.

And mostly, we’re simply ignoring it. Caught up in our own reactive thinking and feeling, mostly in some level of guardedness or defense. 

I look out and think I see a solid world with solid people, solid objects, and solid politics. 

I feel about those people and objects. I feel about those politics.

Our default, biological, inherited, and conditioned reaction is separation, distance, fear, disinterest. And it’s all impacted by the way I see the world. 

My seeing is largely created by my thinking. 

Before I open my eyes, what world do I expect to see? We mostly see the world we expect to see, one where we’re playing a life or death game to get ours, to keep ours, and my God to “make it.”

When I open my eyes, what world am I committed to seeing? One of pain, suffering, greed, hatred, destruction, struggle, and pessimism? Or one of peace, possibility, love, generosity, and optimism?

We don't perceive reality, we perceive our perspective of reality - our conscious and unconscious thinking.

What we perceive is communicated always. It's communicated in our feelings, it’s communicated in our personality, it’s communicated in our words and our choices. The world we perceive is communicated in our being. 

What world are you committed to seeing? It begins with your thinking.

I am committed to seeing a world that works for all life. A world where no one is worthy of my judgment or fear, and everyone is worthy of my Love, including all parts of myself. A world where all needs can be met, and perfect joy, perfect peace, and perfect love are available all, always.

Maybe there’s a world out there, or maybe I’m just in a simulated reality, a video game played by a “higher” being. Regardless, the infinite playground of the mind is available to me right now, and it’s up to me to choose what sorts of games I’ll play in that sandbox - we’re playing in it either way, whether we’re doing so intentionally or reactively.

So I commit to thinking less critically and more creatively. To thinking less analytically and more lovingly. To thinking less about the future and more about this moment - this perfect, beautiful, rare, and holy moment, a gift by Grace to this perfect, beautiful, rare, and holy life.

Much Love. ❤️

And Words Like These

(A poem by Hafiz)

Tilled ground the soft heart, and words 

like these the seeds,

and words like these the water, and 

words like these a sun.

Beneath the surface of this game, behind

the veil, all is working on your behalf.

Surely then you will rise up and embrace

what will make you most happy.

Songs We Never Practice

He had an incredible insight about his relationship with his daughter. Then I reminded him what it is to be a song-writer: 

He writes songs. He practices them. He performs them.

We need to do the same with insights: practice them.

If you ask him and other song writers, they often claim that they didn’t write the songs themselves - the songs were written through them.

Insights also usually show up that way - insights come from somewhere else, but they sit like truth within us.

...Someone says just the right thing, in just the right way, at just the right time.

...We come across a social media post that resonates deeply.

...We read a line in a book, hear a line in a song, see a line spoken in a show...

And it resonates. It’s clear and we feel it. It’s Truth.

Here’s how we often treat insights, though: like a song we want to perform, but one we never practice.

Imagine writing a song from pure insight and inspiration, spoken to you with the light of Grace, then never practicing it. One day you get on stage to perform it, and it doesn't go well. 

We do the same with insights.

"I guess the song just wasn’t great!" "I guess it wasn't Truth I felt at all."

Or perhaps you just never practiced it.

I’ve heard it said that insights are a dime a dozen. Said another way, Insights are Cheap.

But insights aren’t cheap - we cheapen insights by not practicing them.

We cheapen them by not honoring them. We cheapen them by forgetting them. We cheapen them by thinking they'll work on us without us being willing to work on them.

We think an insight is one-and-done. A get-it-and-forget-it. Like an enlightenment that just sticks forever.

And if it doesn’t stick, well it just wasn’t truth then, was it?

That’s a myth. 

Like a great song, insights need to be practiced, rehearsed, memorized, embodied. Otherwise, it’s just a fleeting experience.

My client? Here’s what he took away from this conversation: unconditional love for his daughter, blessing and wishing her and others well, optimism and hope - they’re practices. They need to be repeated. They need to be worked into the depths of our being. 

How do you think we learned to be pessimistic and fearful beings? Getting that repeated all around us. Repeating all that within ourselves. 

Insight is a song that needs to be practiced. We can’t expect to live it out loud and on stage when faced with challenges and difficulties - we need to train the mind, the heart, the body (and it's nervous system) to live the truths we know are true. 

They’re not one-and-done. They’re songs to be practiced. 

Practice on. 🙌