ARTICLE OF THE MONTH:
Developing Inner Peace as the Nucleus to Global Peace – Part 2
by Ariel & Shya Kane
There are three ideas or principles that have been profoundly useful to people who are interested in dissolving mechanical behaviors and reclaiming control of their own lives. In Developing Inner Peace as the Nucleus to Global Peace Part 2 let’s look at these Three Principles of Instantaneous Transformation as a support structure for creating inner peace. As we said in Part 1, the impact on the world of one centered individual cannot be underestimated.
Have you ever noticed that there are things that you don’t like about yourself or that you have tried to fix or change in order to fit some idea that you have, which of course was culturally derived about what a better you would look like, and yet they are still there? The New Year’s resolutions about improving or changing this or that continue one New Year after another and yet, the “problems” never seem to completely dissolve, disappear or go away. This observation is the basis for the First Principle of Instantaneous Transformation: that anything you resist, disagree with, want to change about yourself, will, in fact, persist and grow stronger, last longer and dominate your life.
Let’s talk about the Second Principle of Instantaneous Transformation. The second principle creates a possibility to give up striving to achieve what one thinks about as needed in order to live in a state of well being. It states that no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. This means that you can only be exactly as you are in any moment of now. You cannot be different than you are in each moment. If you are sitting in this moment, you cannot possibly be standing at that same instant. If you are feeling sad it is impossible at the same instant to be feeling happy. You can only be as you are right now. If you see the truth of this statement, then we can further postulate that in the moment previous to now, you could have only been the way you were then and from that the only conclusion is that every thing that you have ever done in your life could only have happened exactly as it did. Now of course, you can think you could have done things differently. We are not suggesting that you do not have the thoughts that you could have done things differently or fantasies that you could have done things another way. What we are saying is that, in reality, what you did or what happened is all you could have done or all that could have happened because it did. If you extrapolate this idea back in time you will realize that extends to all of the other people in your life, including your parents. They could have only done the things that they did. And your parent’s parents, etc could have only been the way they were and have done the things that they did.reclaiming control
People frequently blame their parents for the current state or condition of their lives. This has been a socially acceptable way of relating to the circumstances and situations of our lives but it totally lacks personal responsibility and in fact, each human being is personally responsible for his or her own deeds and actions. It is a challenge to give up blaming one’s parents because there is so much agreement that they are responsible for how we turn out. And as long as people use their parents as a touch stone to compare their lives to, they will never be able to discover their authentic self. As a result the illusive state of inner peace will remain forever out of reach.
Let’s look at the Second Principle of Instantaneous Transformation once again â No two things can occupy the same space at the same time. In other words, you could only have been the way you were and have done the things that you have done. This idea frees one from having to feel guilty or cast blame on ourselves or on our parents. Given our propensity to judge ourselves, for what we did or didn’t do, or how we should or should not have been in a certain situation, the second principle allows us, if we should so choose, to give up beating on ourselves for everything that happened in the past. It turned out exactly as it did and it brought us to this present moment of now. What you do from here is up to you.
This brings us to the Third Principle of Instantaneous Transformation. The third principle says that anything that you allow to be exactly as it is will complete itself. This fits with our definition of awareness, which is a non-judgmental, non-preferential seeing of the way things are in any given moment.
Change is recognizable as a dichotomy such as right/wrong, good/bad, better/worse, beautiful/ugly, etc. Transformation occurs in a simple recognition of what is. It is not valued in good or bad or right or wrong. It is a simple noticing of the “isness” of things.
Transformation does not take place over time. It is about a shifting in the way one views their experience of living. It is based in self observation without self reproach. We have all been trained in the idea of doing something to change or fix what we observe or notice about ourselves. The idea that simple observation, without self condemnation, is enough to facilitate a transformational shift, where what was once a problem, melts or dissolves in the light of observation, is a foreign concept and seems too good or too easy to be true. Yet it is our experience that “being” with a situation is enough to transform, resolve, dissolve that problem or mechanical behavior so that it no longer holds sway over one’s life.
Many people, when hearing about transformation and the concept of being with whatever you see about yourself as a means to dissolve unwanted conditions, think that simply being will make them ineffective or complacent. Contrary to this misconception, when you discover how to live your life in the moment rather than through a mass of rules for right and wrong, you are empowered to make authentic choices that make a positive impact on your wellbeing and on the wellbeing of those in your environment. The paradox is when you are in the moment, there is nothing to do and sometimes there are things to be done. Here is an allegorical tale that illustrates this paradox:
Once a master and his servant were crossing a desert. They came to an oasis and decided to spend the night. In the morning they awoke to discover that their camels were gone. The master said to his servant “Where are the camels?”
To which the servant replied, “Well, I just did what you always tell me to do.”
“What is that?” asked the master.
“You always tell me to trust in Allah, so that is what I did. I trusted Allah would take care of the camels.”
“Ahh,” the master replied. “This is true. Of course, you must trust in Allah but you also must tether the camels.”
Again, the paradox in a transformational approach to living is that there is nothing to do with what you discover and yet sometimes there are things to be done. However, there is a vast difference between seeking to do something to reach a goal that is supposed to create happiness sometime in the future and in making authentic moves in this moment that are true to your heart. Goal setting is a problem/solution framework that tends to create further problems in its wake. Taking actions that are authentic expressions of yourself and who you are creates well being in this moment which also extends forward in time rather than setting up a climate where you strive and wait for a more satisfying someday that never actually comes.
If we look globally, in seeking peace on this planet, it becomes apparent that if individuals cannot resolve their own personal, internal conflicts, the idea of bringing together more than six billion people in peace, when these people are in turmoil as individuals, is an impossibility. Peace must happen on the level of individual, first. Peaceful individuals will produce peaceful relationships and peaceful relationships will produce peaceful societies. If individuals are at war within themselves, even the best intentions cannot produce peace.
This brings us back to transformation. Transformation happens in individuals. It happens when people discover how to live their lives, not only based in what they have been taught or in resistance to these teachings but by looking and seeing what is true for them in each moment.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH:
Title: A New Year, A New Possibility
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Description: Participants from the Kanesâ seminars share how they approach the new year, and their lives, differently since discovering Instantaneous Transformation.
