Tag: power

Fear and Power

My friend studied political science. He said politics was basically a scramble for power. But power is a need to control,,,, and a need to control is only necessary if you are afraid. So the scramble for power is really just a reaction to fear. If we really want to study political science we need to understand fear. Power is just the tail being wagged by the dog.

The irony here is that those that seek power often do so because they are powerless over their fear.

As a spiritual warrior,,, you will not develop real personal power until you develop awareness and win over your mind from fear.

 

 

Four Agreements Companion Book

A question from a subscriber to my on line course in Self Mastery,,,

Hello Gary,

I started reading The Four Agreements Companion Book yesterday and noticed that it had exercises like your Self Mastery program.  The first exercise in the book was dealing with image of perfection but I’m still about ten sessions away from your Image of Perfection session.

I am aware that the sessions in your program are in an order for a purpose, so I wasn’t sure if it would be okay to continue reading the book or not.

Should I… continue reading the book and do the book exercises with your program? or stop reading the book until I finish your program?

Thanks for your time,

Curious

Hi Curious,

The Four Agreements Companion book is great and I recommend that you read it.  However most people I’ve talked to that have attempted the exercises have gotten overwhelmed.   They see so much of their belief system so fast without first having control over their attention that they slip into a victim point of view.  That induces a feeling of overwhelm, powerlessness, and then hopelessness.   Then their inner judge kicks in and berates them for failing.   They lose motivation and close the book,,, stop the exercises…  defeated.   They end up feeling worse than when they started.

So that’s one of the reasons why I don’t start with the  Image of Perfection beliefs.  It’s also why I have people develop some other skills over their attention and beliefs before trying to change their whole belief system.  It’s like eating beef.  It’s much easier to do one bite at a time so you don’t get crushed by the whole animal.

By all means read the Four Agreements Companion Book.  But, I’d suggest doing the exercises in the Self Mastery before starting the exercises in the book.  And if you want to challenge and dissolve your Image of Perfection beliefs, (which is a necessary step to eliminating self judgments) then I suggest the using the steps in the Advanced Series of the Self Mastery program instead of the Four Agreements Companion book approach.   In the Advanced Series I not only walk you through changing the Image of Perfection beliefs, but also walk you through the different issues of resistance that come up to letting these go.

After that, you’ll be better prepared to do the exercises suggested  in the Four Agreements Companion book.

Hope that helps,

Gary

Original post at ToltecSpirit.com a Four Agreements resource for Spiritual Warriors
https://www.toltecspirit.com/2009/12/four-agreements-companion-book/

Personal Power

There is often an interest to acquire more personal power.  This approach becomes a common trap in a spiritual warrior’s path.  The desire to gather personal power is often a compensating strategy for that feeling of not being powerful enough.

When you gain personal power based in this motivation your “I’m not powerful enough” story is being fed.  Gaining personal power becomes a remedy that doesn’t address the source of the problem, and can even makes it bigger.

Turn your attention to your desires, and the fears, beliefs, and self importance that spawn them and you will have a chance to become free.

Personal Power of Responsibility

Nobody can determine what you believe but you.

The Greater Our Sense of Responsibility, the Greater our Personal Power
Throughout history humans have tried to place responsibility for their unhappiness outside of themselves. Most societies have long held the assumption that the ruling body needs to change in order for the human condition to change. This method has been tried unsuccessfully by hundreds of generations, each in turn trying to impose their particular form of “illumination.” Despite these efforts the human condition remains largely unchanged – societies filled with conflict and fear, and individuals suffering in pain. These conditions have become so familiar that it’s hard to recognize the pervasive levels of fear and the consequential suffering that we accept as a fact of life.

To put the responsibility of your happiness outside of yourself, places all the power over your own happiness in someone else’s hands. We commonly give this power to friends, lovers, family members, political institutions, and other organizations. Along with this power we set up certain expectations of those we have empowered. This is a perfect set up for disappointment, frustration, and all the emotions of suffering. It is the recipe for a broken heart.

When we take responsibility for our own happiness we relieve others of the burden of our expectations. They are then free to be what they want to be, without the fear that they will be punished emotionally or made to feel guilty for letting us down. We can accept people as they are, not as we “need” them to be in order to hold our shell of happiness. We can love them as they are, and don’t need them to be anything else. Taking responsibility for your own happiness leads you to unconditional love.

The journey to take complete responsibility for your own happiness requires that you take responsibility for all your emotions. This is an act of power that the victim mind makes to become a Warrior of the Spirit. After this, the Warrior never blames anyone for their own emotions. The Warrior knows that he or she is completely responsible for every emotion in their life. With that responsibility comes the personal power to win over the emotions of fear that cause suffering and choose love. When a Warrior recovers enough personal power, he or she, has the keys to unconditional love.

The truth is that you are completely responsible for your life. So often we forfeit the power of this responsibility through acts without awareness. A simple off hand comment such as, “He makes me so mad,” is such a simple way to give up this power. It is like casting a magical spell with the power of your word to give someone else control over your own emotions. This is black magic we use against ourselves when we are not aware of our actions.

Recovering your personal power is not an intellectual exercise. It requires action in changing your words, your habits, and your point of view. With enough personal power you can change your whole dream. You can change your dream to one of Heaven of earth. You are responsible for everything in your dream, and that gives you the power to change it.