An attitude is an approach. It is the result of an internal conversation we are having with ourselves. An attitude is 100% in your power, even if you don’t feel you can change it. And true: you don’t change it directly. You change the conversation, the things you say to yourself.
We are taught in the Tree of Knowledge culture to have a strong “why” for our actions. A reason, and agenda, a purpose to what we want to do.
This attitude will keep you on the Tree of Knowledge, and will keep you wretched: the Tree of Knowledge is the home of wretched living.
For people who have a real hard time conjuring up a big why out of nothing, this may be good news.
For people who have invested a lot into growing their desire, visualizing, vision mapping, mind movies, and other happy horse shit, this is going to be really hard, and will feel unnatural.
The attitude that will help you climb the tree of life is the same attitude a guy, George Mallory, a mountaineer, had for climbing Mount Everest…
He said: because it’s there. (Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question “Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort “Because it’s there”, which has been called “the most famous three words in mountaineering”)
It is part of a healthy human nature to strive. It is how we got to be, the species, who the species is… I don’t mean you personally.
You personally may have no signs of the spirit moving inside. You may be completely numb, like dead. You may just want things that you can buy.
But human nature is way beyond that… whether it is verbal or not.
What happens if you bring your big wants, your visualizing, vision mapping, mind movies, and other agenda to your quest?
First off: how do you recognize it? When I ask you why, you have an answer.
You have an in-order-to… to get you to something or someplace other than the thing is going.
- You want to learn something so that you can make money.
- You want to make money so that you can travel.
- You want to become calm, so that you don’t suffer when someone teases you.
- You want to lose weight so you can wear your clothes you wore years ago.
- You want to look good so you look good on your high school reunion.
and so on… the examples are endless.
I may buy a book because I hope that it will have the information that help me teach you to see… but if I carry it into my reading of the book, the book is tedious, and I don’t enjoy it.
The reason to read a book is to read that book.
The same reasonableness is what is active when you have all the reasons in the world not to do something. It is the other side of a reason to do… the same attitude.
Foreplay is a great example. I had a boy friend who learned somewhere that foreplay will make me want to have sex.
It was demeaning, and I refused to have sex…
When you study in high school to get high grades, you didn’t learn anything.
The way to learn something is to learn something for learning’s sake.
Climb the tallest mountain on earth for the challenge of it, for the pleasure of it.
Every time I do a course, I have to go through the hell of having an agenda.
Not that my agenda is disrespectful, or sinister, no. but it is an agenda nevertheless, and it leads me to the Tree of Knowledge, the world of the wretched.
Recently I have been succeeding to teach for teaching’s sake, talk for talking’s sake, share for sharing’s sake, and laugh for laughter’s sake.
Life is a lot more enjoyable, and guess what, people are learning, and they may even have a good time too… to the degree that they can put aside their agenda.
I am responsible for my behavior. You are responsible for yours.
No one can get off your agenda horse… only yourself.
By the way, this is the third myth Landmark Education says you want to avoid. Because…
“Because” is a way to avoid responsibility.
When you can point at the cause of your action, and that cause is not you, you are not being cause. You are an effect, and you have handed over your power, all your power, to that thing.
It is going to feel disempowering first. Trust me, in the beginning you’ll feel that i have taken the wind out of your sail.
It is just a thought. Give it time, give it a chance.
After a while you’ll have a whole new experience of yourself as the master of your universe.
good work, Baheej. Let me know how it is going with the reminders. Make them funny.
I laughed out loud after reading this. Almost as if something else was doing the laughing. I can see doing things for the sake of doing them. Perhaps, the agendas that I would usually want may, in some cases, end up being a by product of just doing the thing for the sake of doing it, or maybe not. This agenda issue seems like the pre-judging that I’ve been doing which ultimately keeps me from all that I could potentially be, do, or have. I’m going to keep reminders of this TO KEEP REMINDERS OF THIS. lol
Yes, yes, you are getting it. congratulations.
As I’m reading this, I am breastfeeding my 10 month old at the same time.. and I looked down to her and realised that I have been breastfeeding her because, for one, I believe it’s better for her.. But I also can say that I haven’t been enjoying the breastfeeding wholly, as it feels like hard work and then I’ve felt guilty about not enjoying it.
But then if I say I breastfeed her because I do.. I can feel the whole dynamic changes. But I can’t quite put words to it.. there is an oh-shit-moment.. and fear.. if I’m onto something, the implications of this go far.
But but.. I breastfeed and it can be hard AND I can enjoy it?!