A World of Meaning » self-worth

A Pain-free Life – Part 1 of 3

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:23:49 +0000

Physical pain is a big issue for a lot of people. We hear about many entertainers and actors who have admitted to becoming addicted to pain medication due to back injuries or other sorts of problems. Careful pain management is an important part of their recovery, and there are of course numerous approaches to both pain management and to healing the cause of the pain. Unfortunately, many people lack the time or money to obtain the best care and either end up with chronic pain, or drug dependency after the actual pain is gone.

There are many approaches to healing and dealing with physical pain. Medication is one, and it can make life tolerable in the short term. There are many sorts of physical therapy, and surgery, but unfortunately most mainstream doctors rarely know of, understand or believe in the alternatives that have helped millions. I myself have had great help at times with chiropractic, for example. It amazes me when I meet people who completely dismiss chiropractic without having experienced it, or because their doctor said it’s hogwash. I’ve used it for various needs for over thirty years and it saved me numerous times. Where a conventional doctor would have given me a pill and heating pad that would do nothing, my chiropractor did an adjustment and I was better in minutes.

There was however a time where my chiropractors ran into a challenge. In 2002, while at my brother’s for Christmas, I developed a case of sciatica on the left side that made the six hour holiday traffic drive home sheer agony. I had to stop every fifteen to thirty minutes to get out and stand just so I could keep from going crazy with the pain.

When I got back home to Las Vegas I went to my chiropractor, who gave me a stretching exercise, which was supposed to help in time, but after about a week there was a day when I stretched, perhaps incorrectly, and the pain got much worse and stayed that way. Needless to say I wasn’t happy with that chiropractor, and even a few more visits didn’t do much good. So I went to another, who was boasted of being the “sciatica king” but he just gave me the same stretching exercise that led to the worst pain, another who was okay, and another who made a little more progress, but as my funds were limited I had to limit my visits. Overall, I got little help from chiropractic in my case of sciatica. The real help came from within.

Let me note here that as you read you will come to see why these different chiropractors could not help me in this instance. They have helped me in many instances, and I still go to them when needed. But even at that, believe me when I tell you that I have seen nine different chiropractors over the course of thirty years and they are all different. Some are excellent; some are very much not, so don’t dismiss chiropractic based on one doctor or one story.

I even went to an osteopath, which is like a cross between a chiropractor and an MD, but unfortunately he seemed uninterested in really helping and gave me a prescription for Lortab, which worked a while, but when it expired after a week he wouldn’t renew the prescription because it could be addictive, and I was high and dry with my rather severe pain. When I called him a few weeks later he had closed practice.

Sciatica can be really bad. The pain I felt would usually be tolerable if I was standing, and a bit less so if I was sitting, but if I sat a while and stood up I would have a period of about five to ten seconds where I just about jumped out of my skin. At work I learned to anticipate this surge of pain and keep composure until the pain subsided. Again, I had no medication and this period of sciatica pain went on for about six months. Not fun.

This was going to be a trial, for sure. Being oriented to personal and spiritual growth I was prepared to look for important lessons with this powerful motivation. I found plenty. It was one of the best worst times of my life.

Next Post: A Surprise “Ending” to Agony

Are You Doing a Hancock?

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:03:50 +0000

Today I finally rented the movie Hancock, which is about a bum of guy with superhuman powers who gets a makeover. If you’ve seen it you will get all the references in this post. Is he from another planet? He doesn’t know, as he’s had amnesia since he woke up in a hospital some years ago. Sound familiar?

It should. It’s you and me. It’s all of us. We woke up in a hospital some years ago, not knowing anything about who we really are, and have been dabbling in our superhuman metaphysical-spiritual powers, but still often have felt like lousy bums, causing damage to ourselves and to others. We lack superhuman finesse, and too many people don’t like us for some reason – or we imagine they don’t, or we don’t feel all that lovable.

We stumble along, drunk on self-pity and somewhere between dissatisfied and disgusted with how others treat us for all our clumsy best efforts to do some good in this world. And it seems all we can remember are the troubles. Somehow we feel alone, as if the only one of our kind, not understanding who were are or why others sometimes treat us so poorly. We want to connect, to have closeness, acceptance, someone to love who understands us. In our stumbling spiritual vagrancy we feel hurt and lonely but don’t see the connection.

Yet in some way we are indeed a clumsy, drunken, ignorant mess. We need a spiritual make over. We need to give more thought to the effects we are having and how we are conducting ourselves – spiritually, in particular. We are divine beings. Our powers are immense. We are taught we can manifest love, friends, fame, riches. We can heal ourselves and others. We are told that we can even fly, teleport, visit other worlds, materialize gold and gems, commune with wondrous beings of other dimensions – that we are gods. “Ye are gods,” he reminded us. Yet we are a mess.

We do need a spiritual makeover. Just changing the outer won’t be enough. Our attitude must also change. Say. “Thank you, good job.” To others. Appreciate their efforts, even if their abilities are seemingly far less than your own. They are doing their best. Answer for our mistakes. Make amends. Be not reckless in our heroic efforts. Neaten up our outer presentation – don’t be a bum inwardly or outwardly.

And know others do need us. Without your light “crime” rises. Spiritually sober and sensitive to the needs of others to our own need to connect we will find our presence is very welcome and very much able to contribute and be appreciated.

The Achilles heel? Hancock has one. We do as well. For all our power, we need to choose our higher purpose over our personal, human passions. Getting too close to the human self, falling in love with it, “needing” something personal from another – this will only drain us of our divine gifts. Our strength is from within. No, we can still love and have and hold. But do so “from a distance,” meaning from our spiritual heights. Perched high above mankind’s constructions we can reach the moon and teach others the meaning of love so they can change the world. And our one-on-one love is divine and won’t drain or consume us because we have put our godliness and higher purpose above all personal needs. We have realized others need us and that more than anything we need to give our best. We need to fulfill our highest calling. Living only for our personal desires we would waste away into a vulnerability to the less-than-friendly attitudes of society.

We are drawn, perhaps by nature, to connect on a personal basis. From across the world we are brought together, perhaps by fate, but our lives are not ruled by fate. We can choose. And we must come to see that our spiritual love for those to whom physical nature draws us extends far beyond our need for them. With great effort we rise from the wounds we have received and throw ourselves from mankind’s constructions. We leap skyward, reaching beyond the roaring traffic of this world toward the moon of inspiration which reflects the light of a greater sun.

And in that light, removed from mere physical level relations we find our selves again and the world we loved so personally comes back to life, divinity flowing again through its veins and our own.

How do Anti-depressants Produce Suicidal Thoughts?

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:58:45 +0000

We often hear warnings of certain medications that are made for alleviating depression causing in some people thoughts of suicide when we would expect them to do the opposite. Suicide is clearly what one would expect of the depressed. Why would this happen?

It’s simple. People are depressed because they haven’t learned to process their disappointing experiences. They don’t have the understanding that would help them look at these events with equanimity. So they get depressed, and part of the process of getting through the emotions is feeling them. Antidepressants block that ability to feel, so the negative emotions backup inside their subconscious and can explode out as the deepest of depressions considerations, which is suicide.

Because they are blocking the person from processing the feelings and thoughts, these drugs do little to help a person do anything about their feelings. Issues have to be dealt with. To me depression is not merely a chemical imbalance but a belief and thought imbalance resulting in unresolved emotions. I’ve used mood correctors and found they interfered with my ability to do something about a particular dysfunctional way I see myself and/or my world.

To say depression is a “chemical imbalance in the brain” is like saying poverty is a financial imbalance in the bank account. It denies the cause of the depression by denying the personhood of the affected person, turning them into little more than passive passengers in their bodies, with no responsibility for learning to cope with life, examine their beliefs, behaviors and attitudes.

The fact is that people are depressed because of things that happen or don’t happen and at the same time they don’t know how to deal with it. The answer is not sedation with antidepressants but to learn to deal with it in a way that is both heartfelt and logical. When I was in my youth in the sixties and seventies people, if someone said he was depressed we asked him what happened, not if he is taking his medication.

Yes, there are cases where antidepressants are good as stopgaps to help a person get by, but the real answer is answers, not drugs. Suicidal thoughts mean answers are desperately needed. Chemically blocking emotions, again, treats people like they were merely victims of chemical reactions, not people whose beliefs themselves are causing the chemical reactions.

Every thought you have is based on a belief. Every thought produces emotions, and emotions produce chemical changes in the body. If you practice these beliefs, thoughts and emotions long enough you get into habits of them because the body adapts to those patterns, like exercising a muscle. And we can use our will to examine our thoughts and change our behavior and emotions. We are people. We need to feel and to think, not just take pills.

Another question and answer: Why do people want to take pills instead of take charge of their selves? It’s because they want to avoid blame for their problems. But logically that is a defective approach. If the problem is your mistaken, dysfunctional thinking, avoiding changing your thinking is just another mistake piled on top of the first, compounding the fault and by that sort of evasive thinking earning double the blame. But really, there is no blame, just a need to correct and move on.

Our world has become to enamored of finger pointing. Sue the bastard, blame your parents, blame your chemicals, and make someone or something else – like a pill – responsible for fixing the problem, because you didn’t have anything to do with it? No, we can’t go on like that. We are people, not passengers. We need to drive change in our own lives and say no to passivity.

There are additional ways to resolve depression using diet, exercise and good psychology. There are some great articles at Mercola.com with more ideas.

End Your Humble Refusal Of Good

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:48:55 +0000

Sometimes people may be yearning so much for something they want, such as companions, opportunities, financial blessings or new abilities, but they are consciously or unconsciously saying no to these good things out of some sort of humbleness, making what amounts to statements that are aimed really to assure the giver that they are not being self-aggrandizing in asking for and accepting what they want. This is a psychological tradition of sorts that is very ill-conceived.

When you say no to good, even when you mean yes, the result is that of the no answer. Refusal is leads to not getting. Acceptance results in fulfillment. Denial of self is a plague in our world. We have to realize two things: one is that the Universe (manifestation through consciousness and vibration) will give us what we want when we accept it, and the second is that in our desiring something we do in fact believe we should have it. All the self-denial and so called humble refusal is nothing but social groveling based on thinking you have to beg others to gain your reward, even if that reward is your heavenly reward.

The concern of the “humble” person using self-denial is not to be egotistical, but really he is being egotistical in that he has misconceived virtue and spiritual attainment – or whatever you want to call it. Egotistical means separate and materialistic, meaning you define yourself by ideas of separation and your attainment or refusal of things, situations and relationships in the material world. But you don’t need to refuse good in your life to make the highest social, psychological or spiritual attainment. You need to refuse to define yourself by these things. In fact, how you define yourself in the larger sense will determine what you attain, which you can see is the reverse of the egos way. You will thus manifest according to your self-definition and “spiritual configuration” of vibration.

This is all the workings of the principle of “as within, so without.” Your life will unfold around you according to your maintained consciousness/vibration and need for growth. But be sure that you are maintaining and attaining inwardly primarily for the reason of the essential value of those attainments. If you are doing it merely to gain outwardly then you are being materialistic. There is nothing wrong with responding to material needs with inner work to resolve those issues and fill gaps in your material life. Not at all. That would be just more self-denial. Only see that what is central is the qualities you embody.

This is the parallel to the Bible verse that says, “He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.” And I can testify that there is a very different vibe on doing it that way. It relieves you of the stress of material striving, which most are so useful they don’t realize it until they step out of it. It is a great strain on one to maintain that race against others, to fill the basket of life and perform materially, when all is solved in our inner attainment, both by relieving ourselves of ego’s desires in a competitive scenario, as well as answering our inner most virtue and true desire for peace and fulfillment.

The divine essence of the idea of humility is non-separation. It says, to put it in the Bible way, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” Not the illusory separate individual but the foundational Spirit that is our Oneness, which some call God. Humility means indeed not to aggrandize the separate self but it cannot mean to deny the embodiment its needs and well being. Saying no to good that can benefit all – including self – is not a virtue. Benefit must be shared by all or the Oneness is broken by separating self from that benefit, and the self remains in ego’s idea of separation. This is not your will. Your desire for good in the first place tells you that. And that will is “Thine” in Oneness.

So rather than unthinkingly responding, “No, I just couldn’t.” say “Oh yes! How wonderful and thanks! I humbly” (meaning not merely for myself) “accept and receive this goodness.” And in doing so you teach and spread that vibration to all the Oneness in embodiments, which is another wonderful benefit of accepting good.

Note: Remember always, when aiming to fulfill yourself, of the law that what goes around comes around. Wish all goodness and wisdom for others as well: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven” (consciousness) “may forgive you your trespasses.” That’s from Mark 11:25. It means that you are shifting from separation – aught means moral obligation and seeing others in separation as your source – to the Oneness/Father/God as non-separate source: vibrational cause founded in your consciousness. You are the gate keeper of your goodness. The Oneness is the deliverer of your good. You will live by the laws you pass on others and receive what you give in consciousness.

Finding Heaven On Earth

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:45:39 +0000

The only evil in this world is our own repetition of the negativity of others. We are exposed to judgment and all manner of negative behaviors and responses to what happens, including fear, all during our lives. We have to make the choice in each moment to respond to our experiences in a better way than we have been shown. We have been judged and didn’t like it, yet despite our dislike of judgment we learned to judge others and ourselves as if that were a virtue or socially useful behavior. How can we take on and continue a behavior we didn’t like to be exposed to in the first place?

When I was growing up I was picked on a fair amount. I picked up the habit of judging as I was judged, and for years treated myself as badly as the other kids did. I also learned to judge others in subtle and not so subtle ways. I was out of high school but I carried high school around inside me for a couple of decades. I had become my own enemy, all because of how others demonstrated how I should be treated, and how one treated others.

It should be obvious, but do you realize that having any sort of disapproval of what or how someone is doing something is judgment and is as harsh as any attack? How often do you see someone dressed a certain way and you “don’t like it” or “don’t care for it”? So what? Do you want to live in a world that is like your high school where anyone who was a little different was looked down on? And do you really want to do that to yourself?

Free yourself from others judgments by freeing yourself from judging others, and thus end your playing along with, yes, the only evil in the world. Don’t judge yourself. The best experience one can have is non-judgment – feeling accepted as you are, imperfections and all, but also accepting others just the same. Indeed the greatest imperfection, perhaps the only one, is judgment of imperfection itself. Even judgment of judgment is a mistake.

There’s that old saying, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” In separation there will be mistakes, deficiencies and plain old differences, but that is inherent in a world created out of our imperfect conception of ourselves and of reality. Yet the divine self, the true nature of our being in spirit, is unconcerned with the external time and space manifestations of separation. It concerns itself with its own inner state, which it maintains according to truth, and the reality of Oneness. When we attune to that and cease judgment we have eliminated that much more “evil” (non-love, non-truth, separation-thinking) from the world.

So what do you do? Experience. See and observe and feel without condemnation. Then you are a peaceful presence, rather than going around and striking others with your opinions or flagellating yourself silently as if that would impress anyone you would want to impress. You are now free and so are they; free from the battery of judgment you have endured for so long.

(Note: I was at a gathering a while back and a woman across the room whom I hadn’t met yet glanced at me and I felt her judge me for some reason. It actually felt like I had been batted in the head with a pillow! So you see, when you judge, you actually do impact others with subtle energy. It can also reinforce in others subconsciously that they are in an unloving world and that there is something wrong with them. Haven’t we had enough of that?)

When you were in school I’m sure you wanted good friends; people who didn’t judge you, because it felt good to be accepted for who you were. When others or your parents differed in their opinions of how you were living your life or judged you for some reason it didn’t feel good. You wanted to be accepted. Unfortunately we are taught to try to win acceptance by conforming, and oddly, sometimes that conformity is manifested by joining in the judgment and non-acceptance of self and others. Accepting judgments and feeling bad about your self or resentful are part of this as well. We are taught to seek acceptance but not to give it. This is the error of the world run by ideas of separation.

Remember that the world is backwards from spirit. We put the cart before the horse – before the engine of manifestation – which is our own spirit. Thus, if you want to be accepted you must accept others and self. Ego tries to get stuff for itself first. “I want to be accepted” it says, but really one best dwells on “I treasure the feeling of being accepted so I will accept myself and share that treasure by accepting others as they are.” Thus you center in your spirit, your own true state, without seeking something from others in time/space that you can create within yourself and share with everyone.

Also note that you can make choices without the condemnation sort of judgment. This is an important distinction. To observe that someone is living a negative pattern is not condemnation, and not judging doesnt mean you aren’t observing when it’s not good to be involved with that person in some way. Non-judgment is also a matter of remembering that each person has been through experiences that they didn’t have the tools to handle with grace and come away without being negatively shaped by them. And that you are the same in that respect. It also means that in loving them as they are without condemnation AND with choice will remove from their lives and the world the “abuse” that is condemnation and will aid them, others and you in rising even higher and with greater ease.

With no bargain to make, no compromise or sale necessary, you find you already have the greatest treasure: self-acceptance and non-judgment of others as your core of character. Your life is wrapped in the warm blanket of love and radiates peace and kindness toward all. This is heaven on Earth.

A Good Example of How To Make Dreams Come True

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:42:13 +0000

This is a really great video from youtube by a videographer in Chicago. It’s about making your dreams come true through simple action. We do need to do the inner work, and we do need to do the outer work. But really, it’s much easier than that, so it should be called play.

(No, that’s not me in the video, but he’s very talented and a popular channel on youtube. If you want more, search for wheezywaiter on youtube.com)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=92LBZmTQ-xg

Your Reputation with the Universe

Eric J Tischler — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:25:30 +0000

Embrace value or be embraced by judgment. To be respected you must be respectable. True quality is blameless, so seek to embody that. Fearing blame is not the answer. Instead, seek to embody the highest quality. Your reputation will follow suit and be visible to all but the spiritually blind, whose opinions are not to be considered.