(or: ‘The Power To Light Up’ – Part 2)
In the first half of the 20th century there was a Russian mystic called Gurdjieff. He was the teacher of P.D. Ouspensky, who talks about him in his book The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. In it, he touches upon the topic of reincarnation.
He poses that reincarnation is not what we’re often led to think it is:
He says that instead of being born as someone else, we’re rather reborn to relive the exact same life we’ve always lived… over and over and over again… until we make a significant choice at one particular moment to do something different from what we did life after life.
This is visualized quite nicely in the movie Groundhog Day, which you might want to watch some time if you can in case you’ve never seen it.
Based on this take, Ouspensky says that ‘hell on earth’ is living life the way we’ve always lived it, and ‘heaven on earth’ is breaking free of our long-standing inhibiting patterns.
And as you probably know, it can take an enormous amount of energy, passion, determination, and will to even see such patterns, let alone break free from them. And without the right information and orientation, it’s in fact virtually impossible. After all:
- As they’re often automatic and subconscious, such patterns are outside of our normal awareness to begin with, meaning we may not even know about them (yet).
- In addition, as explained in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introductory study guides, they significantly influence the way in which our brains filter incoming information, thus making up virtual ‘blinders’ that prevent us from even noticing them (<– even if we do know about them), or at least making it very hard and ambiguous to do so.
As such, they have a way of keeping themselves intact and settling in more deeply, thus weighing down on us ever more strongly. And this puts up challenges for us to ‘lighten up’ by transcending them and give ourselves the freedom to manifest the kind of life experience we long for.
While as a result we’re often inclined to revert to tools that promise to make such shifts on our behalf, such techniques usually turn out to deliver only arbitrary, ‘hit-or-miss’ results.
That’s not because they don’t have the potential to do so, but rather because they may not attend to our own unique requirements (<– more details in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series), and normally render us dependent on them because they actually mask the true competence and creative potential that we seek through them, and thus conceal the fact that we may not even need them.
Conversely, the technique you’re about to learn allows you to actually see the self-inhibiting patterns that impact and weigh down on your life experience, and puts you in a position of true power from where you can break free from them and regain the liberty and flexibility to create your life in the way you yourself deliberately choose… the kind freedom that you may not have felt for a long, long time (if ever).
It’s the one basic skill that’ll put you (back) behind the steering wheel in your own life, and that makes up the basis for awesome results from the application of pretty much any other personal empowerment technique.
This article explains what it is and how to practice it.
A Simple But Crucial Trick
We get triggered into our self-inhibiting patterns all the time. Thoughts, emotions, attitudes, behavioral urges, self-talk, etc. all ‘fire’ pretty much automatically when circumstances call upon them.
We may think we’re in conscious control of ourselves and our lives, but the great majority of our actions and reactions are practically ‘mindless,’ subconsciously driven responses to largely involuntary mechanisms in our ‘mind/body’-system:
Something happens to us, or someone says something to us, and boom: we react in some kind of kneejerk, preprogrammed way; we feel angry, frustrated, sad, guilty, belittled, and so on, and then follow through with corresponding action or inaction.
As we usually see our preconceived notions, prejudices and expectations confirmed (<– as explained in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series), in our emotionally-colored state we may…:
- Misread other people’s intentions…
- Say things we don’t really mean…
- Take actions that only make things worse…
- Do things that neutralize our previous success…
- Procrastinate when constructive action is required…
- Fall back into self-sabotaging and/or potentially self-destructive habits…
- Etc.
We then tend to justify our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and actions through all kinds of rationalizations that seem very plausible from our subjective and distorted point of view.
But even though we so strongly insist on identifying with them and think it’s really us who deliberately engage in them, the truth is they’re mostly subconsciously activated and involuntarily triggered by circumstances, while we ourselves have little conscious input in determining our reactions.
As a result, the life and ‘reality’ we create and our experience of it are almost exclusively determined by such ‘Egg Patterns,’ to an extent you may not even be able to realize (at least not yet if you’re not familiar with the technique you’re about to learn).
As long as we merely play out the ingrained, automatic patters of our egg, reality and its circumstances are in control of us, as opposed to the other way around.
Therefore, we can only break free from such patterns once we’re actually able to see and experience how completely identified we tend to be with them.
In other words, as a first step to ‘cracking our eggs,’ what’s required is an ability to ‘step back’ from the turmoil and emotional noise in our lives, and view our emotions, situations, and interactions from a much wider perspective than from within the turbulence of the experience itself.
And this notion applies in particular to our patterns of pain, frustration and dissatisfaction about our lives and our (perceived) inability to make constructive changes.
We all have this ability, and it’s leveraged by means of a technique that I refer to as the ‘Participant/Observer-Method,’ the idea of which is to apply our own ‘being conscious’ (<– i.e. our awareness beyond brain and body) to switch to two different perspectives, intermittently and/or at the same time:
The basic idea is that whenever you find yourself caught up in some kind of discomforting experience as a ‘participant,’ you don’t deny the experience by immediately forcing yourself to ‘think positive thoughts instead’ (<– as you’re commonly told to do).
Rather, you take a step back into the ‘observer’-role, from where you can:
- Momentarily free yourself from the pull into or captivity in the turbulence and content of the experience…
- … thus gaining an undistorted point of view that allows you to learn more about the source of the pattern that was triggered and the reason why it exists in the first place…
- … and putting yourself in the position of power from where you can apply additional techniques (as desired) with great accuracy and effectiveness to dissolve that source and the discomfort along with it, and undisturbedly reorient yourself towards constructive intents and courses of action.
As such, mastering the ‘Participant/Observer’-method is one of the most empowering things you can ever do. If there’s any skill you need to learn to actively make a difference in yourself and in your life, this is it.
And because it’s an inherent ability that we all possess, the steps to exercise and internalize the skill are relatively straightforward.
Here’s how to practice and become a master at it…
The Steps to the Method
The ‘Participant/Observer’-method is relatively easy to learn, but for most people requires step-by-step practice. Below is an overview of the steps to gradually increase your skills in applying this technique:
As you keep practicing this technique, you’ll find that you’ll get some awesome insights about yourself:
- You’ll see how absolutely consumed you tend to be with your moods, thoughts, emotions… (<-- For example, you’ll see yourself having an experience of pain, rather than being IN pain or even BEING your pain…)
- You’ll see how your ‘egg reactions’ eat up your passion and ‘dim your flame’ by filling the space with something else to do…
- You’ll discover that there’s more passion than you’ve ever imagined underneath your moods… more than enough to fuel whatever it is that you want to do!
- You’ll see that you’re not your emotions… not your feelings… not your thoughts… not your moods, but instead the silence in between… a ‘conscious essence’… something apart from them that’s more alive than you can possibly imagine!
- And you’ll begin to understand how you can make your mind your servant, rather than subjecting yourself to its (prior) rule over you.
Taking this ‘observer’ point of view enables you to see all this, because this is the part of you that’s not blinded by the emotional heat of the moment, but realizes that all is well even in the most discomforting states, as you’re really ‘infinite consciousness’ going through an illusionary experience that only seems real.
While so far we’ve only covered the basics of the technique itself, you’ll learn more about how to leverage the ‘observer’-perspective in the ‘Crack Your Egg’ introduction series (<– and even more so in the Crack Your Egg Program) in ways that make the “participant’s” experience of life more pleasant, productive and exhilarating.
To stick with the movie metaphor: you’ll become more than the participant, even more than the observer, by becoming the director as well!
In addition, we’ll expand on this practice in the next article in this series.
The Result: A New Relationship With Life
Once I personally got better skilled at the ‘Participant/Observer’-method, I ultimately literally saw myself. And then I saw myself seeing myself. And then I saw that I was seeing myself seeing myself.
This may sound crazy, but it was an absolutely remarkable experience of awesome clarity, where I was able to see ‘myself’ as separate from the ‘self’ that I thought I was, i.e. the identity that I had in this world.
When you experience something like this, it kind of adds a new dimension to your experience, a fourth dimension if you will that’s almost like a parallel universe to the one we live in.
This ‘observer’ point of view is the foundation for a completely new relationship to ‘life in general:’
- You’ll see that any ‘pain,’ ‘frustration,’ ‘exhaustion,’ ‘overwhelm,’ or whatever negative state that you may find yourself in is nothing but a strategy you’ve (unconsciously) taught yourself to mask something you implicitly feel threatened by, and certainly not a result of outer circumstances. And you’ll see that you can disable it whenever you really want and decide to.
- You’ll see that it’s a self-protective method of operation that constantly pulls you out of the present moment and covers up the fact that you have a big hand in personally creating the nature of your own life experience…
- You’ll see that it’s a subconscious defense mechanism that blinds you from a truth that you may find hard to face, as it leaves no alternative but to take full responsibility…
- In fact, you’ll see that it covers up your fear (<-- and in many cases your being totally terrified or even scared shitless) of being ‘All You Can Be.’
In the well-known words of Marianne Williamson:
In other words:
‘Crack Your Egg,’ lighten up, and unleash your ‘flame!’
For me Henk you continue to inspire and amaze. I am blessed to have you as a part of my life. I sometimes think you are sitting on my shoulder giving timely coaching thru your emails. Thanks to you, I have had some great incites of late as to why I have not been manifesting the life I would like to create. I really appreciate the reminder of Mariannes’s quote about our fear of being our greatness. I find it to be very true for me. Hopefully, I will remind myself of this often.
YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!
It would have been nice if you had put a link in the second part to be able to pull up the first part, thus being able to read the complete article. As you can see, I’ve found the article well beyond it’s creation date. Otherwise, you seem to have provided links to other ideas that might help someone to better understand the article itself. Bravo
Henk, there is a 21st century quantum variant on the Gurdjieff reflection in physicist David Deutsch’s book ‘Fabric of Reality’: We exist in multiple versions, in universes called “moments”.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Great article, as always. I am a true follower, already for quite some time. We have a similar thinking, one of the things I agree so much with is that you often mention something about this rage of “think positive thoughts instead”. Even people are addressed as negative or positive people in this trend of thinking. I find it a very wrong track. But Henk, may I emphasize the necessarity of having those moods, pains, thoughts and emotions? That is one dimension. People should not think it must not be there at all. I think wat you mean in short is to develop the muscles (spritual and mental) to be able to move in and out of dimensions and to build up this 4th dimension. To be above and beyond all illusions, the identifying with all kinds of circus. This new state is really great and makes one quite happy, under the strangest, hardest circumstances. One of the times I was able to experienc such a thing was exactly when I was in awful lot of pain, seeing my own leg living its own life as I had absolutely no control of it after an accident. That was me, seeing myself in pain, seeing myself operated and being curious instead of being afraid.
“that you have a big hand in personally creating the nature of your own life experience…”- YES. That it’s about “no alternative but to take full responsibility…” – YES. I could not agree more, with both. But being all you can be is also the darkness, it means we have day and night, not only day. That is a full life. So I would add to what Marianne Williamson said that to come to your light, your full glory, you must be prepared and brave enough to go through the darkness of the night. This duality is so nice to see in The Phantom of the Opera, actually we could think it is mainly about the soul of a young woman, manifested in 2 suitors. Poets always new this too, somehow you have to earn your light – or very now and then you are born with much of it but even then you are a human, living on this earth, so you have also darkness within you. My other favourite in this respect is The NeverEnding Story (Michael Ende). Children don’t only shine, they fear a lot, struggle a lot etc.
The full responsibility means really full, not half. I do not want to say I am now free from all fears, not at all, but I came to my Light, my Power mostly or maybe always through darkness. So can it be that they are actually the same? The 2 sides of the same coin?
The dark can lead you to the light if you allow it and don’t run away. I was each and every time scared to death…
I think I was not afraid merely of my light but being ME, my Full Me, everything in me. Being responsible for the full me….whatever it brings or does or chooses. Limitless freedom and power if you like. So the truth is, for me at least, is more the first part of what Marianne Williamson said: “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” The power frightens us, whatever it means, good or bad. I had not one experience but several when I could turn my Light into Dark within a short time with a power and energie that you could compare to a tornado, literally turning around and destroying things around me. I can use this both positive and negative, it’s up to me. Is it strange I’m afraid of my power and shouldn’t I be? As we talk here about the fact that I have to choose the light and creation, so choose goodness and not the reverse side of the coin which is also from God otherwise it would not exist ….And actively choosing is not merely observing. So maybe there is a 5th dimension, kind of moral….
And has anybody thought of the laziness of the soul which prefers to keep everything small instead of learning to master this power and be fully responsible? I never understood before why laziness is one of the main sins in the Bible – now I know why.
Thank you Henk for the possibility of thinking along with you. I enjoyed it a lot!
Edit
As usual, a fascinating article! Having a fair interest in reincarnation, a lot caused by some intuitive, personal experiences, I will agree with the Russian mystic, Gurdjieff, that we tend to reincarnate into the same situation until we learn the lessons meant to be learned.
You say: “While as a result we’re often inclined to revert to tools that promise to make such shifts on our behalf, such techniques usually turn out to deliver only arbitrary, ‘hit-or-miss’ results.” Having fallen into a couple of those traps myself, I am sensitive to that topic and wish that more could be done (like you’re doing) to convince people not to be so mentally lazy and depend on someone/something outside of themselves to solve their spiritual problems.
You say: “Therefore, we can only break free from such patterns once we’re actually able to see and experience how completely identified we tend to be with them.” Right on!
Keep ’em coming, Henk, your’e doing the world a great favor! Bless you!
I printed your message Henk, and will sit with it this evening and enjoy it as much as I
enjoyed everything you wrote.
Thank you for your wisdom and your generous really free messages that mean so much for me.
Giselle
You sent a very uplifting message. Now, I feel, I’ll be able to see myself as I am. It’s a big thing.
It seems we are complicated people,on a simple planet.
Thank you for adding to your “stop” concept. You are delivering life-changing information!
marvin
Thank you Henk, as has been stated here already, this is something we should/do know already, it’s just that it’s been “groomed” out of us so that we “may be like everyone else”, i will use these steps.
Awesome as always! Thanks, Deb
Thank you for letting me know what l should aready know and with practice will gain again.Thank you.
Thank you , Henk . I do believe that nature and humanity poses a related congruence to each other. Man and nature are the same ….a balance in the ecosystem that co exist with each other. Without nature we are none. Wow thank you, for the enlightenment .
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. HOORAY!
Thank you Henk. Im going through a dark time in my life and your article has given me new hope and a new perspective.Bless you
Henk you are a huge inspiration to me. I have shared some of your insights and people where blown away. Thank you. I will certainly practice this wisdom and see myself turnaround to the real me, the I am I should be.
Thank you Henk, for your article, which speaks volumes. I am inspired and have learnt so much to help me in my development.Continue to inform and to inspire those who are geared to learn.
Wisdom SHOUTS! I must say that I have been working on observing myself for quite some time now-ever since I have been going through some valleys in my life with so many negative people and circumstances that I truly do not have full control over at this time. I constantly speak to myself and look back at scenarios that have happened and observe myself how I reacted or did not react, whether because it was from fear because of the circumstances I am in or is it because I am losing my voice because of how I feel about my negative circumstances. Thank you for your sacred advice and examples. The universe is shining through you!
Thank You for sharing. I feel so blessed to be connected to you and your wisdom.
Thank you fir sharing. This is definitely food for the mind. I feel so blessed to be connected with you and your wisdom.
Awesome Article! Thank You! This made me stop in my tracks and really think deeply about all that has happened in my life! I’ve had many a haha moment lately and I’m learning to STOP, breathe and accessing the moment, is it real, is it important or its just ego trying to steer me into the negative zone! I guess the old saying that wisdom comes late in life is true!
When you have chased your tail many times without success, you get tired of doing it!
Thanks Henk, I always enjoy reading your material, an interesting concept, the Paticipant/Observer as you put it. I imagine myself in one of my horrible moods and at the same time stand back and observe my attitude and what takes place from there on. It’s frightening, but a remarkable idea well thought of, I can imagine the wisdom and knowledge one must have to come up with ideas like this. You have intrigued my curiosity and expectation of things to come and I’m patiently waiting for your next article. I appreciate receiving this material from you Henk; you’re an inspiration to many of us out here who are lost in the wilderness and can’t find our way home. Some of us are waiting for divine intervention to solve our problems because we haven’t the slightest clue how to fix our personal lives. You give us hope Henk and more importantly you care a lot for people, so on that note I wish you GOD speed ahead and many blessings to come your way.
RayB.
Thank you for sharing this inspirational message with me. I AM privileged and so very blessed just for receiving it. Thanks again.
I have read your articles for years and always loved the delivery. I thank you for this very insightful article. I have known about it, and this is a reminder which has been explained very clearly. Thank you!!
Thanks for the reminder. I really really needed to hear this.
Karin
Honrstly, this is revealing. If greater populace can be a spectator of themselves, they can curb their emotions, greed, lust and hunger for power and positions at all cost. Thank you
Hi Henk,
simply to view our lives and our actions and interactions with the external world in an objective and non-judgmental fashion or in other terms-Mindfulness It is a true gift of a meditative life.
You are right on point!! So clear so concise from that alternate perspective is just so right on that it is mind blowing in and of itself…we are “afraid” of ourselves do to the fact that we are “trained”, “confined”, “confounded”, “conceptualized”, “molded”, “manufactured” into “who” we think, thought, realized by all the upbringing in all that is surrounding our precious lives as we are born into this world “clean” and of God’s beautiful light…be around a newborn and you are “captured” into that energy of God’s light…until all the molding and manipulation that surround us from that age of about 7 on…..but this new realization breaks down and ultimately destroys all of that which we “thought” should be us when in fact it is not even close….be BIG in this world to help others as well be BIG and then the whole worlds energy will shift many fold from that happening…Thanks again Henk aka “Eggman” from some “egglets” in SD.
Dear hank, this much needed insight is deeply appreciated. I will remember it and most importantly apply it the next time I feel out of control. this awareness method needs to be exercised like any other muscle until we can call it on command.
hi,
i sow the Groundhog Day that time i felt like crying because i knew my life was just that. and i cannot manage to jump out of empty circle.
thank you
A great article, its worth every word!
I always enjoy your articles and gleaned some very good information from them:) Thank you!
Dug it! 🙂 Good reminder to get our day(s) off to a great start…Great Source Energy-send! 🙂
Cheerful appreciation~~~
I am impressed,it is worth reading and understanding…..
I now know why I felt compelled to open this communication in my inbox tonight! Thank you! It opened my eyes to something I could not quite grasp before I read the article. I am reading it again, as a matter of fact. It is something that I know is not new, yet it feels new to me. I just feel such a big wave of relief after having read it! Thank you!
Very deep-thought councious-awarness look
being is correct!!!
MY REVIEW SHALL RECIPROCATE THE CONTENTS OF THE ARTICLE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE-PREVENTION MAGAZINE ISSUE FEB.2014 EDITS-HEALTHY EVER AFTER: SYNOPSIS BEING-COUPLES END UP LOOKING LIKE ONE OTHER. I SHALL EVOLVE A DISTINCTLY MORE OBJECTIVE VIEW:TO THE DEDICATED COUPLES,THE SECRET OF BEING TOGETHER-FOR LONG,IS ESSENTIALLY THEIR CONCERN FOR CHILDREN,WHO HAVE ESTABLISHED AN IRREVERSIBLE BOND BETWEEN THEM.NEVER STOP! THEIR FINANCIAL SUPPORT, ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE,SOUND ACADEMIC CAREER,THEIR WEDDED FUTURE LIFE THROUGH CONSULTATION& HOLISTIC -ANCESTRAL CONVENTIONS .THESE ARE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEIR OWN FAMILY WHICH CONSTITUTE THE NEED OF TOGETHERNESS AS WELL AS THE COMPELLING ATTRIBUTES,COUPLES SUM UP LOOKING LIKE ONE ANOTHER. SOME SCREENING TESTS FOR HIM-& HER HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE INTELLECTUAL GUIDANCE .DONT STOP ! YOUR SENIOR READERS SHALL RECOLLECT A JOKE PUBLISHED IN READERS DIGEST-DECADES AGO: ;OLD COUPLES DISTINGUISHED BY VIRTUE OF THEIR GOLDEN/PLATINUM JUBILEES TEND TO BEHAVE ALMOST LIKE A BROTHER& SISTER. STILL NO STOPPING. A LONG WAY TO ACCOMPLISH THE CONCLUSIONS YOUR ARTICLES HAS POTENTIAL SIMILARITIES :AN ARTICLE WORTH REMEMBRANCE & LIFE(IS) LIKE THAT. SHAM SUNDERAZAD MUMBAI INDIA
Born allknowing but unconscious to allknowing conscious, that’s the way. Freedom, grow and joy are the tools. Therefore we need reíncarnation. There is no life the same, otherwise you can’t grow. Nevertheless thanks Henk for your attention
Wow…this article has, as so many of your articles have previously, captured me.
Everytime I receive your article, I feel that, for me, its the ultimate and then I see another that gives me that very same feeling…as this article has and more.
And now to internalize it, to practice being an observer.
You have explained the “how to” so eloquently.
Thank you for all you have taught me.
God Bless
thank u very much ,I realised that our deepest fear is not that we are enadequate,we really are powerful beyond measure! I am gonna stop and look ,I am never getting lost in all I am used to do,I am gonna be all I can be! shuuu!! HENK u are GODsend!
Thank you Henk: I have pd $100s of dollars for less usable information than you are giving away for free. I look forward to being “All That I Can Be”.
Dear Henk,
You’re spot on as always. The quote from Marianne Williamson sums up what I’m going through at the moment and thanks for sharing that.
I love and appreciate you more than words can say.
Thanks,
Mia
Thank you for your insights. A very important factor in beginning this work of self-change is the power of forgiveness because in my experience forgiveness doesn’t work without the belief in reincarnation. When I realized that reincarnation means that we hurt others in past lifetimes and come back to make things right, a lot of the heaviness I felt was released and my attitudes changed and continue to change with more releasing in doing, being and having. Thanks again.
Thank you Henk for this article, I was just confused with myself as to what I should do next cos, I seem to repeat the same habits over and over. No matter how hard I try, I guess I don’t see myself as I am.
This afternoon I was thinking and wishing if only things were easier, life would be enjoyable to live and appreciate every thing under the sun. I had too many things running in my head as to how I would pay bills, food, commitments, job not completed and the list goes on.
You just sent this article at the right time so I will go home read it practice it and would want a change in my life for good things to happen.
Thank you so much with love
Maria
I’d like to speak to JoseAnn first. You might have missed a point along the way. We were all created in God’s image and likeness therefore we are Co-Creators. We all have been given gifts to give away however most humans do not believe that or they would believe that all things are possible and manifest them. They would believe that they were given gifts to give away and not to keep so that we all would be responsible for creating a beautiful order in the world where all would be one in peace. Service is the name of the game.
Thank you Henk, you are so wise and share your wisdom in such a creative, simple way. It makes so much sense!! Thank you.