Create Before It Exists

In the Bible, there’s a story near the end of the life of Jesus that has been inspiring me lately.

Jesus was nailed to the cross and was hanging. He looked at the soldiers who put him there, and he looked at the gathered crowd, and he said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I imagine the cross was previously lying on the ground with Jesus upon it, while a soldier hammered nails into his hands/wrists. And I imagine that Jesus, an enlightened being, looked upon the soldier not with hate, but with forgiveness, compassion, and love.

Somewhere inside each of us, we know that living a life of blame, resentment, frustration, anger, hostility, and cynicism in any way lacks integrity. Some part of us, perhaps well-hidden for many of us, sees that it’s inauthentic and a resignation to live at the effect of our circumstances to the extent that most of us do.

“You are not a victim of the world you see."

- A Course in Miracles and The Way of Mastery

Blame. Resentment. Frustration. Anger. Hostility. Cynicism.

These emotions come from being a victim of the world we see. They’re a defensive reaction to a circumstance (and world) that looks dangerous.

Our inclination to be a victim isn’t wrong. It’s natural, and it’s a habit. And being a habit, we can break it.

Living life in reaction to our circumstances = living life as a victim to our circumstances.

When we are being a victim of the world we see, it’s “the world” that seems to cause these emotions in us - other people, the weather, politics, the body, the past, the psyche. 

That includes our internal circumstances…

Guilt. Shame. Resignation. Insecurity. Fear.

Yes, those are the emotions of a victim of the world too. They’re the emotions of a victim of the inner world.

Being a victim of the world is being a victim of our own judgments. 

This is powerful and subtle! I’ve felt and seen the impact this truth can have on our lives.

What do you see when you look at your life? 

What do you see when you look at your family? 

What do you see when you look at your friends?

What do you see when you look at politics?

What do you see when you look at the state of the world?

It’s NOT what we look at that matters! What matters is what we see when we look at it. And we have much more agency over what we see than we might think.

What we see is determined by who we're being.

Being a victim of the world we see comes from being judgmental. When we’re judgmental, we’re being hostile, and we condemn and attack what we look at - whether we’re looking at others or ourselves.

From a judgmental way of being, I see problems. I see things I like and things I don’t like. I see nice people and mean people. I see comfort and discomfort. I see success and failure. I see waste and excess. I see abundance and lack. 

When I am intentionally being that this moment is beautiful and perfect, everything shows up as beautiful and perfect.

What we see is a reflection of our own being. We are not seeing the world as it is.

So what can we do about this? 

First, we can get responsible for how we’ve been (unintentionally and unconsciously) being and seeing.

Second, we can begin to intentionally create how we are being and how we are committed to seeing the world.

Daily my mind gets blown by the experience of these truths. The path to mastery is a mountain without a top.

Create before it exists.

Lead before it goes astray.

A tree too big to embrace is born from a slender shoot.

A nine-story tower rises from a pile of earth.

A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.

- The Tao Te Ching

Much Love. ❤️