Misperception
We’ve all heard the axiom “The teacher will be there when the student is ready.” What may not be as obvious is that the teacher’s idea will also be there when we’re ready for it.
I got a musing from The Grasshopper recently that I wouldn’t have been ready for years ago. It wasn’t the validity of the idea that was at issue; it was the readiness of the receiver that was in question. He said, “The things that you do aren’t you.”
Having heard that before I was ready, I would have said that statement flew in the face of personal responsibility. That’s because I had a major misperception about the concept of “you.”
The things that we do, good or bad, are not us; they are our actions. Since our actions emanate from us, it seems like they are us; they aren’t.
“You” is the part of us that observes our actions, not the part of us that participates in the actions.
Think of it like this: We are the person sitting in the theater observing the character who plays us up on stage. We have no idea what they will do or say in advance, but we see and hear everything they do and say. We are observers of our patterns at play.
When we get in the habit of observing our questionable behaviors, as they are happening, we begin to outgrow our habits. “You” is an agent of change, not a collection of conditioned patterns.
This is in no way an absolution from our actions; we are responsible for what we do. It’s a way of allowing the part of us that can effectuate change to notice.
The real you is the observer of behavior, not a participant in it. Once you know there is a part of you that can create change just by noticing, you will be ready for the idea of “The things that you do aren’t you.”
All the best,
John
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