Have you seen those oriental or eastern images of the ornate demons, dancing around looking ferocious and foreboding? Well, that is the image that came to me recently while listening to someone explaining some interactions they had been dealing with.
I began to be entranced by all the ways that LIFE brings about our button pushers. Our focus is usually captivated by the dancing demon, the seduction of Maya, or our best friends criticism. All our attention is pulled out side of us, the drama ensues and we are swept up into the belief that the illusion is real, blaming or defending against the perceived attack.
Don't get me wrong. I am well aware that it is an experience that is being had. In those moments our perception of that engagement, with buttons pushed, and the demon still doing it's best to distract us, feels all too real! I too fall into my reactions. But here are a couple of questions to ask:
Why do I react when the person next to me seems not to notice that dancing demon at all?
Who is the 'I' that is in reaction?
What is the true invitation being asked of me through the button pusher?
Who is the button pusher &/or the dancing demon?
What is the true state of who you are?
The demon might pull my hair and I will become indignant and pained, so he decides to pull the hair again and again! Because I gave a reaction. The demon might pull your hair and you might laugh and walk away. The demon now changes up his jig and runs up to pinch you! Aha! Now, you turn around and face him, just as ferociously. He knows he's got your attention! But if he pinches me, it's just a gnat I am swooshing away. So what's up?
We are only going to react to what we have learned to be affected by. This doesn't mean if we both get into a wreck and break a leg, that we won't both feel the pain. But how we respond to the pain is a different story. It is a different story, because we literally carry these stories within us. The philosophy of karma explains this best. To be brief, we come into each incarnation predisposed to certain tendencies that ego will assume as part of the personality. Those tendencies and pre-programming will be buttons awaiting the button pusher! My buttons are different than your buttons based on our individualized souls past incarnations. Maybe I was a hair puller in some other incarnation. Maybe I reveled in upsetting others in that way. Maybe I was their dancing demon. Hence the sayings, "What comes around, goes around" or "An eye for an eye", which were most likely meant as statements of karma,action and consequence, not a literal act of punishment or revenge.
This leads us directly to the statement Dr. Gabriel Cousens makes at The Tree of Life. "The personality is a case of mistaken identity." We believe we are this body, these thoughts, our stories, the personality ~ the EGO. Ego is not a bad guy in totality. We need it's faculties to navigate this life in these bodies. But it is when we BELIEVE in this ego as who we are, we will fall prey to all the dancing demons! When I react to getting my hair pulled and it brings up my stories of victimization or self-pity, ego tries to defend the 'personality' by getting indignant or it may succumb to tears. This is the personality carrying out it's role on auto-pilot, identified to the ego/personality. This is the mission of us all . . . stop identifying with this level of our reality. Yes, we have the personality, but it is not who we are.
The invitation by each button pusher or dancing demon, is to stop reacting to and believing the lie of the small self. Instead to become acquainted with the True Self. Now, I understand that this line of thought may not make sense to everyone. We all start from wherever we are. But, with some investigation, I have faith that we all will see the perception I am coming from. It is difficult to separate these layers of the Self, to see them each clearly. But it does happen, and it is that experience that brings each of us into the KNOWING, rather than the philosophizing about what I am saying.
LIFE is the button pusher and the demon. LIFE is also the PEACE, UNITY & LOVE. Life is our teacher of lessons. But on the side of the coin where Maya, otherwise termed illusion, has hold over our perception, we need our buttons pushed to help us to get free of them. How do we get free. First, realize it isn't really personal. That each demon is in service to your seeing clearly. Next, stop reacting habitually, and start asking deeper questions about what is REALLY going on. What is the situation teaching you? Why are you reacting the way you are? What are the emotions or truths that are being revealed to you by the demon? Investigate whether or not you may not wanting to face an aspect of yourself. Look in the mirror.
Then, stop. Just stop and draw your attention in and ask your self 'WHO is experiencing this situation?' HMMM. This is the substance of most importance. We are so busy looking outside, watching and reacting in our own special ways to our demons. We believe the experience because it is jumping around in front of us and creating all sorts of uncomfortable emotions inside of us. We believe the experience is the truth, but really it is that which is EXPERIENCING, that is the Truth. Stop looking at all that noise externally for a minute. WHO is looking at it all? WHO is witnessing 'you' stopping to look? Seriously. Sit with this, close the eyes and just breathe and turn your attention inward to seek the WHO? This is as far as I go with words. This is where only you can pick up this trail. And when you KNOW, the words will be few.
The True Self is the purpose of all the spiritual practices we do. The more we practice, the more we experience this Self, the more we identify with IT and the less we are taken in by the ups & downs of the personality. The dancing demons lose their power. And why is this important? Well, once you visit this Self a few times, you'll begin to understand. But in words, we can say that if you desire Peace, Joy, Harmony, Love and Compassion to be your reality, then transformation through this seeking central in 'the way'. It is central in all versions of the Way.
Every time participants go into Yoga Nidra, they strengthen the connection to the WHO? the Self, the Source. Every time students join me for private sessions of Unveiling Soul Yoga, they discover what separates them from the expansion of Self, then they move through the blocks and gain new awareness. Every time I guide someone in the Zero Point process, they quickly dissipate old stories, thought forms and identifications, opening them up to more authentic ways of being. All of these vehicles offer a glimps or connection to that Source within.
We are all seeking Freedom, Love and Joy. We just haven't been taught how to achieve those qualities in a way that will last. In fact, we need to know that these are not emotions, they are qualities of being. In general, we haven't been shown what stands in the way, on all levels, which include ego, or how to heal from our past in this life or previous lives.
I hope all who have read this are encouraged to begin or continue this path of seeking. Each will find their own place of resonance, the methods by which to start the unveiling process. Each will know, because that voice within will lead the way. So in closing, lets all be as thankful as possible for our button pushers, our dancing demons and each opportunity they give us to wake-up, question and become conscious!
Peace~ Lotus
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