[NOTE: I wrote this essay in 1997. It appeared in a short-lived magazine I published called, ContinuuM. It was nice to not feel the need to add or change anything that was said.]
Seeing Ourselves as Causes Instead of ‘Effects’
These essays issue forth from a perspective, which considers that – irrespective of one’s gender, race, color, nationality, economic status, social status, or religious beliefs – each adult human being to be the primary creator of his or her experience. As such, it would actually be even more apropos for us to refer to ourselves as creators instead of “humans” (though I’m not advocating such a change).
The reasonableness of this suggestion becomes clearer when we consider our children who, from the moment they are born, must learn every aspect of human behavioral dynamics if they are to create meaningful life experiences during their time on Earth. To facilitate the learning process children are like natural sponges, taking in all kinds of information, from mundane, to vial, and from the trivial, to the profound.
As surely as children are “creators-to-be,” it is as reasonable to see adults, both young and mature, as creators. Like many animals on earth, humans are born “knowing” almost nothing about this world except how to breathe, feed, sleep and cry, and eliminate waste. Even these physiological functions are not consciously “known” by a newborn, they’re simply done automatically. However, that is where similarities between animals and humans end. In spite of being born without a functioning consciousness and awareness, children immediately begin becoming conscious, meaning they learn the ways of the world that they have entered. More specifically, they learn the ways of the people that they must rely on for their sustenance and well being, eventually choosing to identify with or against them, or chart an entirely different life experience altogether.
Our physical body has no volition or “will.” It cannot “motate” on its own without the presence and influence of a consciousness upon it. From “moment one,” a newborn immediately begins the process of gaining both the strength and ability – the know how – to “operate” the body so that it will respond to his or her will. Coincidentally, the newborn must gain functionality of consciousness. It is as though the individual continues a postpartum gestation of their consciousness, which as a general rule of thumb, can take twelve to thirteen years. The ability to function fully as an adult is marked by the arrival of puberty. Actual mature behavior comes much later, if it comes at all.
A reasonable speculation is that this milestone marks the potential integration or alignment of one’s mind and spirit with the Soul, where its vision can be perceived, if one’s choices are clouded or blinded by fear. Such integration is rare in actuality, as the still impressionable young adult’s naïve, negative, self-centered attitudes and behaviors often supersede the “voice” of one’s soul, or conscience.
As such, the learning process hardly ends with puberty, though many adolescents think that they know everything there is to know. Instead, a new experiential dimension is added at puberty. Life is profoundly changed. New complexities of relationship are faced, and understandings gained. A certain pattern of behavioral dynamics will have been adopted by this time, and a general attitude will have emerged about “who” the individual is, will become, and how the life will be lived. The creation process is well under way by this time, and will continue throughout all of one’s days.
All human travelers on “Spaceship Earth” are somewhere along an awareness line with respect to the relative and apparent ease with which we create our lives, particularly joyful experiences. Though interpersonal dynamics grow more complex as we become more mature, we are far better equipped than children to either handle them, or learn from them that they may be handled in the future.
Okay, you’ve heard enough of this creator stuff, and wonder, “what about people who are socially or economically ‘disadvantaged’?” “What about those who contract incurable diseases, or die tragically?” “What about people in other parts of the world who are starving, living in a state of abject poverty and disease?”
They are all creators too.
Being in the middle of a hellish experience (e.g., famine, war, and natural disaster) doesn’t negate that fact that we are the primary creators thereof in that we – not God, Lady Luck, or chance – literally:
- place ourselves in such situations
- allow ourselves to remain therein, or
- take little action to transform them
Ultimately, no one else does this for us, although someone is likely to have given us the idea that the situation could not be changed. But, those who live the situation tend to believe in, or see no other way. In order to transform their situation or condition, a people must not only be open to the idea that change is possible, and be willing to believe that it is true, they must be willing to change their actions and interactions that had contributed to the status quo. Becoming a conscious creator takes willingness, learning and practice.
Not knowing or believing one’s self to be a creator does not negate the fact that it is so. It means that they are more likely to incorrectly “credit” how the “good” and “bad” experiences in their lives have come to pass, believing that someone or something else was either responsible, or to blame. Being a creator does not mean that we will create only “wonderful,” loving, successful, abundant experiences. Regrettable, uncomfortable, and sometimes horrific experiences are likewise included in one’s matrix of possibilities. This is something we adults must learn each day.
In December 1995, a growth in my jaw was diagnosed as a benign tumor, called an ameloblastoma. A month later, the affected area, representing almost half my jawbone along with teeth and surrounding gum tissues, was removed. Five additional surgeries later, as of this writing, I have almost complete the reconstruction, with a new jawbone section grafted, and prosthetic teeth for the lower region on the way. [Completed in 1998, 2 1/2 years after first diagnosis.] Though it is not a situation I would have consciously asked for, I am still the creator of my experience. The catalyst that triggered the ameloblastoma was issued forth from some aspect of me. As such it called upon me, challenged me to make certain practical and attitudinal choices, and discover more fully, who I am, and what I am made of. Though I would have never decided one day to “have a tumor and see what happens” I have learned volumes about what makes me an individual of some courage and substance.
Though we share a human experience with others, our actual reality is a reflection of the values, beliefs, virtues, and vices that we have adopted either willingly, or unwittingly. It also resonates with our general attitude, the energies that we “emit” and our vision. Our reality can be very different from how our personal “world” appears. Our world can appear to be barren, desolate or poverty-stricken and in actuality, be full of life, love, and hope. I grew up in such a world in what appeared to be an economically depressed area of Chicago. However, my home and reality was anything but depressed or devoid of love.
The opposite can be true as well. One’s world can have the most and best of everything, and yet his or her reality is lonely, bearing nothing that is of lasting value, importance, or meaning.
Our reality is an effect of the vision that we have set for ourselves, and the energy that we have given to its manifestation, or turned over to someone else. If no lofty standards of achievement have been “set,” and no social values adopted, if interpersonal virtues have not gained favor over vices, and no actions consciously taken affirm them, then few achievements of any note will be accomplished.
Though it is popular to see ourselves as “creatures” that evolved by some accident of Nature or Fate, it is evident to me that we are immortal, spiritual beings who chose to enter the Earth’s “experiential energy field” of ideas and dimensional frequencies.
In essence, we are all aliens. Without exception, our “visit” to this planet is designed to ultimately involve an exit for all who “enter.” A condition of entry to the planet earth appears to be a “veiling” of the consciousness, and a “forgetting” of who and what we are. Given that evidence of a “subconscious” and “unconscious” awareness has been observed and documented, the veiling of consciousness appears not to be total. Yet, how quickly and completely, or even if “the veil” is lifted is up to the individual.
Throughout our lives, our minds will seek out and deliver to us the kind of information that we find of most interest, according to our general harmony, or distortion of mind. If we see life in terms of its obstacles, conflict, injustice, and barriers instead of opportunities and possibilities, then our minds will resonate with information that is of a sad, depressing, hopeless nature. We would rely on this information to make choices and take actions, often with more than a little resentment, oblivious to other information that could, if absorbed and embraced, transform our malaise. Our reality and even the behavior of others around us will generally reflect the tone of our mental attitude and associated behaviors.
When we become open to more hopeful, empowering, and liberating possibilities, then our minds will “tune in” to supporting information to feed to our consciousness, so that related choices can be made. All choices are made on the basis of active available information, an active attitude, and vision. If what one has mentally “absorbed” or “consumed” early in life is healthy in nature then it is more likely that their life creations will be healthy too. Our first step is to see ourselves for who we are, and then begin acting and creating accordingly, with love.
Copyright © 1997-1998 Adam Abraham All Rights Reserved
I too have had an ameloblastoma, and have yet to go through reconstruction. I have been looking for others and been so depressed, can you email me? This is my new blog I just started:
http://momof2survivor.blogspot.com/