Creating Narratives

Creating Narratives

The new age industry has mastered the art (and profit) of creating narratives. For example even in this age stories persist that extraterrestrials built the pyramids all over the world by levitating stones even though laser science has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was the use of wood, levies, and excellent engineering combined with plain old earthly ingenuity and the brutal use of thousands of slaves that built the pyramids. Narratives sell (look at commercials!), but do not necessarily heal. In fact sometimes these narratives create huge problems for the people that pay to hear them.  Popular “spiritual” narratives are someone telling you about one of your  past lives (when it is your unhealed wounds attracting you to the wrong people), or to explain your illness (or weight issue etc.) with chakra misalignment (rather than due to your poor choices or addiction issues), or to justify the misbehavior of your children with stories of their soul evolvement and calling it indigo or rainbow children (when really it is because you have not bothered to learn about the well-researched information regarding the skills of child rearing), etc. You get the picture. Don’t get me wrong, narratives can be useful, but they can also be overused and used improperly. Remember that con-men (and women), narcissists, and sociopaths use narratives to hook and reel in their soon to be victims. Many people fall in love through their ears, meaning through what they hear, whether it is true or not. “I want to believe” is the motto of many people and this can mark a person as a perfect potential fall guy not only in the used car business, but especially in the “hope” industries of the new age, diet fads, motivational speakers and many other areas of life where people “want to believe” they can accomplish something or get something with a promise and usually with little real work involved.

Narratives do have their place. In psychology a therapist can help clients “reframe” experiences and feelings in order to help someone pull out of a dangerous depression, obsession, panic attack, etc.  Narratives can put things in perspective and guide you towards appropriate and effective tools and solutions. People trained, educated, mentored etc. in healing and/or teaching know how crucial the timing is regarding the use of narratives. Tell clients a story before they have come to some realizations or epiphanies through their own work and you have now corrupted their thinking forever. This, by the way, is how cults are formed and sustained, through the use of narratives “telling” people what to think, accept, or believe before the person has come to any realization by his/her self.  Years ago, therapists were sent to jail and lost licenses because of their poor (or sometime malicious) timing of “telling” clients they had been sexually abused by a parent, when they had not, thus creating false memories and destroying the lives of families as well as the client. Once you are given a narrative by someone else, it is almost impossible to undo it. This is why it takes years for people to be able to finally leave a cult situation.

Many people rely upon narratives “told” to them by their “guides” that explain (or perhaps justify) something that is going on in their lives both externally (circumstances, relationships, events, etc.) and internally (feelings, decision making, etc.). Narratives that you can comprehend, that you agree with or “get” that soothe you because they explain something that is bothering you or is currently inexplicable to you, is like four year olds discussing how babies are made with no adults around. Stories soothe your anxiety by making up reasons to explain something that is bothering you or confounding you, because most people cannot tolerate the “not knowing”.  Narratives work only because you can comprehend them meaning they are limited to what you are currently capable of comprehending. Let me say that again, the content of narratives is limited to your current stage of development.  Therapists, healers, teachers, work with clients for weeks, months, even years to get their people to a place where they can not only hear, but also comprehend a new narrative to help them move on from a stuck place. And that is just the first step in a healing journey.

How do you learn something you DON’T know? How to you move into insights or areas of knowledge that are so far beyond your current level of comprehension you don’t know it exists, and therefore cannot go looking for it or even ask questions? In a way, this is also the art of creative genius, going beyond the known boundaries (remember how the Earth was flat?). First off you must become truly willing to “not know”, which is not easy in a culture who’s who educational system is based on producing answers that agree with the known world. (How many courses have you been required to take in creative or critical thinking versus courses that require you to agree with the information you are being taught to believe?) Our entire culture rewards answers, and narratives about what you know. How do you enter into the world of not knowing? Start with stopping your habit of creating a narrative for everything. Say instead, “This is what I know so far”….. know, not imagine, infer, assume etc. “This is what I feel right now” and you can add the phrase “We’ll see” regarding the next steps. Also, learn to set boundaries about others telling you their narrative about your life (which means you will have to give up going to new agers for fabulous stories about your past lives, your angels, your chakras, your astrological significances etc.)  And learn to be patient and curious about your journey instead of anxious about the outcome or destination.

Source (whatever you call it, Jesus, Holy Spirit, the Universe, etc.) is here for your evolution, that means Teaching you what you DON’T KNOW not just validating what you do know.  You will not be able to handle what you are about to be taught or shown or revealed until you can handle it energetically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. This also means you will not be able to comprehend what you are given until it is revealed to you in its entirety, its full holistic complexity. A narrative will not be able to be “constructed” by you, rather it will be revealed to you bit by bit as you accept the shifts and the revelations of the unknown and surrender to the changes being offered to you. Along the way, learn to trust epiphanies that are “given” to you when cleaning out your car or gardening, not when you are trying to figure out some explanation by over thinking it. In fact, don’t think about what is going on, simply pray, show me or help me and let it go at that. Only in hindsight which takes time, from weeks to years, will you one day hear yourself telling the full narrative of what happened, what you now understand, what is new for you now.  To be taught by Source, you cannot use language or any of the constructs that will trigger your left brain, your ego adrenaline rush of “I know what this is… or means.” Source has to bypass your traps, your predispositions, your assumptions, and your attachments (to information and to being “right”).

The language of Source is pure Energy, just like the Spirit World.  While the use of hallucinogenic substances (in a shamanic setting, not a party) can be a tool to help you to understand or access the Spirit language of energy they are only a tool and finding a true Shaman in this age of new agers is virtually impossible. Also, tools are tools; they never replace a True Practice. Guided meditations and sound meditations activate your mind and stimulate the habit of creating narratives. Crystal meditations can enhance your energy field but usually you are given a narrative about “why” the crystals are being used and that too stimulates the mind to invent a narrative. Also, if you want to train yourself to “listen” and hear Source throughout your daily living, you cannot stop and do a crystal matrix say at work. There is nothing wrong with getting Readings, astrology charts, energy healings, etc. especially when life is crunching you, but use them to add to the mix of “show me” not “now I know why this is happening”.

 Ultimately silent meditation on a regular basis is what opens you up to an accelerated path of Soul Evolution. In the Silence you will meet your Self, your energetic Self. In the Silence you are open to receiving the broadcasts, the downloads, the assistance of Source. If you cannot sit in Silence, you need some support so seek out a practitioner or group. Do not trust any giant dramatic thoughts after a silent meditation; take the wait and see approach. You will never disrupt your Path by slowing things down but you can take some dramatic not so helpful off the Path turns if you rush to your comfort zone of “now I get it”.

Journey On