Help
Sign In
awakening
August 2009 
Liberate yourself from 'mechanicality'
Posted on Sep 6th, 2006
by 
Jamie
Jamie
The Sufi mystic Idries Shah said, "I advise you to avoid the confused thinking which results from accepting second-hand ideas, and do some thinking for yourself." He also spoke of freeing one's self from "the mechanicality of conditioning."
Similarly, Deepak Chopra, in the Seven Spiritual Laws, wrote, "In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty ... in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning."
We can see all around us the costs, causes and effects of the perceptual prison of mechanicality and conditioning, which operates in stealth for many, many people. We see it flourishing, and wreaking havoc, on the world stage right now.
And we see its opposite growing like beautiful, radiant, fragrant flowers in the deserts, all around the world, in the hearts and minds of those who are awakening, shaking off the mechanical, and embracing a more holistic and holographic perspective.
To 'come current' and become aware of these old programs of conditioning -- your own jailers in the perceptual prison -- is to throw one's self into a dark night of the soul. That's what the dark night is -- a period of deconditioning of all that is not truly you, all of the false and limiting conditioning, all of the learned mechanicality, and the revealing of the more present, radiant, brilliant, true you.
This is the wisdom and the gift of the dark night -- the Mother of all transformations -- for those who have the courage and fortitude to persevere into and through it, leaving the 'mechanicality of conditioning' behind. As the poet Theodore Roethke wrote, "In the dark time, the eye begins to see."
Most people fear the Dark Night, because it has been associated with suffering. This is often true, but 'Darkness' has long been a code word for the wisdom from the Unseen, from Sophia, from the deep well of Divine grace and potential. We who have walked 'the starless road' for a bit have found ourselves surprised by the unexpected allies, guides, and sparks of light that illuminated the Way. Don't fear releasing what is not you.
Wishing you an opened heart, a liberated mind, and eyes that see anew.
Until next time,
Jamie
Similarly, Deepak Chopra, in the Seven Spiritual Laws, wrote, "In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty ... in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning."
We can see all around us the costs, causes and effects of the perceptual prison of mechanicality and conditioning, which operates in stealth for many, many people. We see it flourishing, and wreaking havoc, on the world stage right now.
And we see its opposite growing like beautiful, radiant, fragrant flowers in the deserts, all around the world, in the hearts and minds of those who are awakening, shaking off the mechanical, and embracing a more holistic and holographic perspective.
To 'come current' and become aware of these old programs of conditioning -- your own jailers in the perceptual prison -- is to throw one's self into a dark night of the soul. That's what the dark night is -- a period of deconditioning of all that is not truly you, all of the false and limiting conditioning, all of the learned mechanicality, and the revealing of the more present, radiant, brilliant, true you.
This is the wisdom and the gift of the dark night -- the Mother of all transformations -- for those who have the courage and fortitude to persevere into and through it, leaving the 'mechanicality of conditioning' behind. As the poet Theodore Roethke wrote, "In the dark time, the eye begins to see."
Most people fear the Dark Night, because it has been associated with suffering. This is often true, but 'Darkness' has long been a code word for the wisdom from the Unseen, from Sophia, from the deep well of Divine grace and potential. We who have walked 'the starless road' for a bit have found ourselves surprised by the unexpected allies, guides, and sparks of light that illuminated the Way. Don't fear releasing what is not you.
Wishing you an opened heart, a liberated mind, and eyes that see anew.
Until next time,
Jamie
Access: Public
