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Bells and Whistles Not Guaranteed by Tzvi Werther

8/27/2014

5 Comments

 
So the 3 Principles are supposed to change my life, right? Like a pharmaceutical, just read a book by Pransky, listen to two Sydney Banks clips, twice a day, for 10 days and...poof!, you'll transform into a pumpkin.

Not quite. But I would understand why you might think so. This post aims to clarify how the 3 Principles can make a difference in your life.
Picture
You see, when I hear yet another personal testimonial of how the Principles changed someone's life or marriage, from years of dysfunction and emptiness into ease and wellbeing - in an instant no less, I can understand how unbelievable and outlandish it may seem. (Just so you know, I'm still waiting for my "sky opening up and light shining down, with harp music in the background" moment). I too was initially struck by the feeling that maybe this "whole innate health thing" was just a farce.
But then I fell back to my tried and true test of authenticity. I checked to see if these people, who claimed enlightenment, were "good people" according to my own standards. I checked to see if they were "present" and I checked to see if they were "connected" and "happy". I found, most surprisingly, that they were all those things, way more often than me and so I stayed curious. What do they know that I don't?

It's this curiosity that propelled me in the direction of learning something new.

With almost every person who speaks about the 3 Principles, you'll hear, in one form or another, that two things have happened. Step 1: They woke up to something referred to as "the 3 Principles". Step 2: They noticed a much better feeling in life. They found themselves being "more connected", "happy" and "present".

What struck me was not just the order of events, but the lack of "doing" anything within their description of what had happened. At some point, they woke up to something they didn't realize before, and whatever they realized really helped them. Yes, they may indicate that they first heard about it from a really good facilitator or by attending a wonderful seminar, but there were others at the same speech who saw nothing new at all!

You see, there is no tried and true way to generate an awareness of something we don't yet see. There is no pill to pop. No alarm to set. No specific place to go. The only thing I can say with certainty, is that when I see someone else finding relief and hope through this understanding - I get curious, and if I truly want to understand it too, I might then choose to do a bunch of things that might help me understand - like going to seminars or reading books or a million other things.

But that moment of understanding, when the world looks absolutely different than it did a few minutes ago - is not under anyone's control. For some, all it takes is one conversation, for most it takes a more sustained immersion in these ideas, for others - they may never vividly wake up to the fact that our personal realities are generated by G-d, through us via Thought and Consciousness. 

I may never see any more deeply than I already do, that every single experience is an illusion. I may never see with more clarity the ludicrousness of a staying in a bad feeling. I may never gain a deeper realization of just how free I really am.

But I'm curious, very curious. And when I stay curious,

poof! 

What I seek arrives.

Guaranteed.
5 Comments
Anne cardey
8/27/2014 09:44:04 am

Just reading you piece. Very comforting and a nice reminder of how I know I'm one thought away from any feeling!!!

Reply
Tzvi
8/28/2014 05:14:23 am

Thanks for saying so, Anne.

Reply
Karen link
8/28/2014 03:15:29 pm

Love this! You are right on! And yes, it is difficult to explain but you got it right! Curiosity seems to be one powerful feeling that leads to discovery! It is always the feeling that leads the way!

Reply
Tika
3/15/2015 05:14:14 am

"Every single experience is an illusion". Wow, if that were true, then there could be no moral culpability. There must be a reason that some people get PTSD after being mugged. I'm sure it's not because the one who didn't get it thought it was just an illusion. Letting go doesn't mean it's an illusion. If everything's an illusion then there IS no good or evil. That notion kinda upsets me, b/c it says in the Torah that there is.

Reply
Tzvi Werther link
3/16/2015 06:53:49 am

Hi Tika,

I hope this helps clarify.

In Judaism, the Torah is the law. Torah teaches us right from wrong – it is our moral compass. Torah is the ultimate truth. This truth exists independently of our personal understanding of it. "The Lord gazed, (so to speak), into Oraysa (Torah) [and from it] created the world." (Zohar, Shemot 161:2) Before you and I existed, Torah was already true.

This is no illusion, in my opinion. It is ultimate fact. However, there is a catch. Truth and my personal understanding of Truth is not always the same thing. The human capacity to recognize Truth is only available through awareness. If we are not aware of something, no matter how true it might be for someone else, it won't be true for me - until I have my own gift of awareness surrounding that same truth.

The source of my personal awareness is through Thought & Consciousness powered by G-D. This fact can become easily obscured. We get tricked into the “illusion” that something else is the source of all the things of which I am aware. I call it an illusion because we can be tricked into thinking the source of what I experience, is the outside world. But it is not true. It's a trick, an illusion. The only way anything ever enters my awareness is through the power of Thought & Consciousness.

A person may have an experience of being mugged – gifted with the awareness of it through Thought & Consciousness – so as to know to protect themselves. The next day, Thought & Consciousness may bring along another experience, as if it is happening all over again. And again the next day. And the next. We refer to this debilitating experience as PTSD. The first step towards relief is to approach these episodes for what they are: creations of Thought & Consciousness. This might not be an immediate cure, but at least we would be honestly approaching the problem for what it is as opposed to what it isn’t. The past has no way to enter my present without Thought & Consciousness. Every experience is rooted in and originated from our ability to feel our thinking.

Even after we are awakened to the “illusion” and we begin to attribute our feelings to their true source – we are not absolved from them. I am gifted, through Thought & Consciousness that there is a G-D, a Torah, culpability and purpose.

To be honest, your question is valid, because when I wrote the blog post above, I was not fully aware of what I wrote to you now. It may have seemed as if I was leaning towards the hapless idea that "nothing is real" & "nothing really matters". But in hindsight, what I wrote it still is accurate.

Life continues to feel as if it is being generated from the outside. But it’s all an illusion. The “reality” is that the entirety of my experience is being generated from the inside – from G-D through Thought & Consciousness.

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