It occurred to Me about 10 times today that I should have included an example or two in last night's post. Of course, a couple of commenters had the same sensible thought. So here goes.
Consider the following statement:
We are what we let go of, not what we hold onto.
That is the sort of statement I will throw out to My girls, not for them to accept blindly, not for them to believe, but simply for them to think about in a non-pressured, time-independent way.
Then, as time goes on, something will happen that will reinforce the statement. Some other topic of conversation, something that happened to one of them at work, or in some other area of their lives, something that happens in a scene . . . it could be anything. I never know when the oppportunity will come up to hammer on that nail a little bit more. I try hard to always be ready to seize upon these opportunities.
The girls of course immediately know that something's coming, because I'll say . . . "you know how I'm always saying . . . ?" And then I'll go on to explain how I see what just happened connects to a concept we've previously discussed.
In the specific example I stated, there is of course a "goal," if you will. The goal being for them to accept, moreover, to know in their hearts that an important step of moving along the path of submission (and along the path of being a happier, more aware people) is to be able to let go of things, to truly let go of them and not miss them when they're gone. And eventually to train them to be able to do that, to do that without thinking about it. But there is no way to just keep saying that over and over again in straightforward terms and make any progress. Something in human nature reflexively rejects highly foreign concepts when they are plainly stated in professorial fashion.
But a mysterious, seemingly impossible concept, has a built-in "hook" that advances learning -- this is the "trick that is known to be a trick" that I spoke of last night. As the elucidation moves along, it becomes clear that what is to be let go of are things no sane person should want to hold onto anyway. And so, little by little, what was introduced as an impossibility becomes not only possible to contemplate, but possible to achieve.
2 comments:
To think about such statements as you make, "in a non-pressured,time-independent way" ..(easy, leisurely manner?) may be of great use. Like grit in an oyster, it may serve as the centre of a future pearl. But aren't you hitting them with rather Delphic obscuration? Don't you run the risk of becoming Lenora, Mistress of nebulosity? Do you punish them by striking with a conundrum or two? I haven't the wit to be so cruel!
Honestly, everything I say to them I present as objecyively true, and accurate as stated. They are never a form of punishment, or a game. It's simply the way, in My experience, the way that certain things are most effectively communciated (with the abiding proviso that time per se is not an issue.
As for nebulosity, I always try to reinforce the concepts with conrete examples from normal day to day life. For istance, many "lessons" emerge from talking with the girls about things that happen to them in the workplace. Conversations about dealing with difficult people in daily life, it turns out, often leads to an enlightening discussion of one or more "conundrums."
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