“Without change, there would be no butterflies!”
-Colin Grady (TheGradyInstitute.com)
But are you really ready to change?
Are you willing to let go of old ideas… old worldviews?
We all await the tremendous transformation… the incredibly powerful experiences… but there is a lot of less-than-glamorous practice that typically comes before those incredible transformations…
It’s important to note that a butterfly starts out as a caterpillar.
Does a caterpillar spend all its time dreaming of the moment it will become a butterfly?
It doesn’t appear so. It looks as if the caterpillar is content being a caterpillar… and when it is time to become a butterfly, it builds its cocoon and allows the transformation to occur.
The dramatic shift tends to be that of perception. It is a powerful transformation of perception to stop playing the game just because you want to win… and start playing the game because you love playing the game!
Will you take responsibility for transforming your perception to achieve True vision?
A Course in Miracles: Day 28
The game for Day 28 is:
Above all else I want to see things differently.
This idea gives the previous game a little more specificity.
For today’s game, you will want to practice about 6 times during the day, for about 2 minutes per session.
- Start by repeating the idea to yourself “Above all else, I want to see things differently”
- Then apply it to what you see around you “Above all else, I want to see this ‘X’ differently” (where X is the table, the wall, your hand, the window, the TV, or whatever else you see in your immediate area)
- Do your best to give each object equal attention and sincerity
- Do this exercise slowly
This is another step toward overcoming the ingrained sense of ’separateness’
A thought from ACIM:
In saying “Above all else I want to see this table differently,” you are committing yourself to seeing. It is not an exclusive commitment. It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less….. You could , in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.
There is a similarity in Vipassana many traditions tend to prefer a specific focus, but liberation can come from any focus if it meditated upon with enough awareness and acceptance.
Once you see the deeper meaning of the Universe anywhere… you will begin to see it everywhere…
William Blake seemed to be making a similar point in his poem:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
ACIM begins to have a holographic effect as well…
All you have to do is keep coming back, keep playing with the ideas, keep smiling into your challenges and triumphs along the way… and you can ‘hold infinity in the palm of your hand’ as well!
When you consistently play games of growth, transformation of consciousness is inevitable!
When you keep coming back, you can’t help but become the butterfly…
Here’s to the journey… and the transformation!
keep smiling,
Ben
