Science is simple. Sure, some of it—particle accelerators,
astrophysics, photon torpedoes—can be a little tricky. But the scientific
method itself is straight forward:
1. OBSERVE what’s going on.
2. GUESS why things are happening the way they
are.
3. EXPERIMENT to test your hypothesis.
4. MEASURE the results and decide whether you were
right.
That’s pretty much it. The scientific know-how behind everything
from WD-40 to the Hubble space telescope all came from following those four
steps.”
Consider the possibility that
everything you ever thought was wrong with you was really right with you.
Consider that every painful experience in your life has been an important
ingredient to your development and evolution. As the extreme tons of pressure
needed to launch a rocket into space, you have accumulated experiences until
you can launch yourself into freedom. Of course the ego interpreted this as
suffering.
Humanity has created the most violent
forms of suffering and now risks extinction of it’s own species. We are the
most powerful and dangerous species in the history of the world. There seems to
be a lot of fear of the consequences if we do not change our behavior.
Yet we have used our genius to engineer
the healing of disease, feed the hungry and save millions of lives through
technology. This compassion has kept us alive in spite of our desire to
dominate each other.
I have often talked about this as the
“normal vs. natural” condition of humanity. We are natural at birth:
loving, curious about our physical environment, ready to take risks to discover
and explore. We soon learn to become normal and the shadow of fear takes over.
It has been this way since the beginning of humanity.
Consider that even suffering is part of
the divine plan. Yes, even the role of our dear friend the ego. Without
the interpretation of the ego, we could possibly have never experienced the
motivating force of suffering to convince us to change. It has been said “You
can get it with a feather or you can get it with a hammer.” One only
has to pick up a history book to discover which path we have taken. And because
hammers hurt, pain has become our companion throughout this path.
When you can see the beauty in the
entire process as an individual, then we will see it as a collective. You will
understand with new insights that it has all been appropriate and part of a
great plan. I am certain that we could have danced through the ages with
lessons more in tune with the feather analogy. But that is definitely not the
way it went down. We have taken the hammer, to each other and to ourselves.
Most of you know by now that I love
metaphors. So here is another one for you that will help you learn to bless
this whole process.
We know that the butterfly, which takes
a completely different form from the one part of its life to the next, most
often symbolizes transformation. The final days of the caterpillar cause
it to eat hundreds of times its own body weight. It violently consumes its
environment. One caterpillar can almost devour a whole tree as it approaches
the end of its existence. Its voracious appetite drives it to the point where
its skin is stretched. It becomes very heavy outgrowing its own skin many
times, until it is too bloated to move another inch. The discomfort
stimulates it to find a final resting place where it can hang upside down
attaching to a branch forming a chrysalis. This dark place encloses the
caterpillar and limits its freedom as it views the upside down world for the
last time.
After the caterpillar entombs itself in
its cocoon, it does not simply begin to transform into a butterfly. It
literally disintegrates into liquid ooze. If you were to crack open the
chrysalis half way through the process, you would not find a creature that is
half caterpillar and half butterfly. You would discover a bunch of ooze.
This goop is now what is left of the body of the caterpillar.
Then something very interesting begins
to happen. The emergence of new cells appears. These cells do not come from the
previous goop. They seem to come out of nowhere. Scientists do not know how
they appear and they are completely different from the original ooze of the
caterpillar. These new cells are called “imaginal cells” from the
word, imagine.
At first they appear individually and
are perceived as foreign to the original ooze cells. These cells resonate at a
different frequency. They are so different from the caterpillar cells
that the immune system thinks they are enemies and begins to attack and destroy
them. But these new imaginal cells continue to appear. After a period of
time, the immune system cannot destroy them because they are coming too
fast. More and more cells arrive and then a turning point in the process
occurs.
The imaginal cells begin to find each
other. At first they cling to each other. The law of attraction is in effect as
like cells cling to like cells. The next process is equally miraculous. The
small groups of clinging cells find other groups of cells and form clusters.
This new community of clusters now feeds from the nutritive soup that was the
liquid caterpillar and the ooze supplies an important step in the maintenance
of the clusters.
As the clusters bond with each other,
they interact and exchange information from one to another inside the
chrysalis. The imaginal cells become directors of the process. The DNA
intelligence orchestrates which is to become antenna cells, what cells will be
digestive tracts while others begin to change into wing cells. The violent
attempt of the host immune system to annihilate the imaginal cells literally
activates the sleeping DNA of this new cell to grow, cluster and create a new
creature. When the nutritive soup has been absorbed and the final
imaginal cell completes its process, we have the emergence of one of nature’s
most beautiful miracles – the butterfly.
If you are in the middle of your
“nutritive soup” and feel the attacking of your own ego as the upside
down world appears to close in around you, then you just might be right on
schedule.
Like the caterpillar, humanity is now
called “consumers” in the market place. Not a very flattering label.
We have taken a toll on the environment and each other. Throughout our history,
imaginal prophets and leaders have been attacked and eliminated by violent
means. The ego of humanity, which consumed many beautiful souls, has been an
integral part of our spiritual evolution. The hammer has cracked open the
imaginal cell to begin the final chapter of transformation. This is normal consciousness.
We are the imaginal cells. We are
clustering and understand our own limitations and potentials. We have been
taught to love our enemies and understand that they are so consumed by fear and
ignorance that they do not know what they are doing. The natural imaginal cell
that has emerged from the nutritive soup of our ancestors has found each
other. We are clustering. If these words resonate with you, then
something deep within you is being released. There could be thousands or
millions reading these words because our chrysalis has become transparent by
the Internet.
Any discomfort of your past activated
the ego to experience suffering. Without the pain, the global immune system is
not activated. We have done this individually and collectively. We are the
immune system kicking in. We are also the imaginal cells that are the
intelligence lying dormant in our own DNA. It is our job to find each other. We
are part of the largest movement in the history of the world. There is no
center to this movement. There is no spokesman and humans from all walks of
life and corners of our world are turning their complaints into a commitment
larger than themselves.
We are on the threshold of a new
reality. We are resurrecting ourselves from the normal reality back to the
natural existence that is our divine birthright. We are moving away from fear
and toward love. We must allow and surrender to our true nature as loving
beings. We must learn to bless that which we once cursed, to embrace those whom
we have rejected and to express gratitude for all we have experienced. And
where do we start? We can look within and find that which we have not forgiven.
As we continue to cluster and awaken
our global heart, we will overcome political corruption; heal economic
degeneration, environmental disasters and the bloated accumulation of
over-consumption. All personal and collective chaos is happening for a reason
beyond our normal thinking mind. Our Warrior Spirit will see us through to the
light of the natural mind of Spirit where freedom awaits. And we will create
that butterfly.
An additional note: It has just
been discovered by biologists that the genetic code that is responsible for the
wings of a butterfly is also the exact same gene code responsible for the
beating of the human heart.
An undefeated mind isn’t one that never feels discouraged or despairing; it’s one that continues on in spite of it. Even when we can’t find a smile to save us, even when we’re tired beyond all endurance, possessing an undefeated mind means never forgetting that defeat comes not from failing but from giving up.
“This, then, is what it means to possess an undefeated mind: not just to rebound quickly from adversity or to face it calmly, without being pulled down by depression or anxiety, but also to get up day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade—even over the course of an entire lifetime—and attack the obstacles in front of us again and again until they fall, or we do.
An undefeated mind doesn’t fill itself with false hope, but with hopes to find real solutions, even solutions it may not want or like. An undefeated mind is itself what grants us access to the creativity, strength, and courage necessary to find those real solutions, viewing obstacles not as distractions or detours off the main path of our lives but as the very means by which we capture the lives we want.
Victory may not be promised to any of us, but possessing an undefeated mind means behaving as though it is, as though to win we only need to wage an all-out struggle and work harder than everyone else, trying everything we can, and when that fails trying everything we think we can’t, in full understanding that we have no one on whom we can rely for victory but ourselves.
Possessing an undefeated mind, we understand that there’s no obstacle from which we can’t create some kind of value. We view any such doubt as delusion.
Everyone—absolutely everyone—has the capacity to construct an undefeatable mind, not just to withstand personal traumas, economic crises, or armed conflicts, but to triumph over them.”
Science
is simple. Sure, some of it—particle accelerators, astrophysics, photon
torpedoes—can be a little tricky. But the scientific method itself is straight
forward:
1. OBSERVE what’s going on.
2. GUESS why
things are happening the way they are.
3. EXPERIMENT to
test your hypothesis.
4. MEASURE the
results and decide whether you were right.
That’s pretty much it. The scientific know-how behind everything from WD-40 to the Hubble space telescope all came from following those four steps.”
From BE UNSTOPPABLE authored by Navy Seal Alden Mills
To be ‘unstoppable’ practice
Actions in ‘UPERSIST’.
The Actions form the acronym UPERSIST.
Action #1: Understand
Your Why
Action #2: Plan
Action #3: Energize
to Execute (Alden may go with “Exercise”
Action #4: Recognize
Your Reason to Believe in Yourself
Action #5: Survey
Your Habits
Action #6: Improvise
to Overcome Obstacles
Action #7: Seek
Expert Advice
Action #8: Team
Up!
Musings 
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