I have to admit, in all my years of suffering on my spiritual path, not
once did I ever think that I had made an 'agreement' to do it the
painful way. Suffering was the result of my subconscious program, not
an 'agreement' to suffer. The emails that I have received on this
subject of 'agreement' have all come from America and Canada! It makes
me wonder if some spiritual teacher in the U.S. has popularised this
idea of negative 'agreement.' I say negative because all the
'agreements' were about making life more difficult or painful than it
need be. None of the 'agreements' were about loving yourself, or living
easily, or being gentle with yourself.
The emails I have had on this subject reflect the numerous times I have
heard people mention their life agreements. Anyway, I have heard it
said enough times that I decided to eventually write about it. Firstly,
let me state that I completely disagree about the reality of deliberate
negative agreements. There is no such thing. If you believe in such an
idea, I can only suggest that your mind is playing illusion games. You
are free to retain your belief if you are attached to it, but truly it
does not serve you to do this. So, let's look at this more closely. One
of our very human problems is that we are addicted to rationalising
everything that we encounter. We believe that we must rationalise it to
understand it. It never even occurs to us when we understand something
that we may be completely wrong. Why? It is irrational to have a clear
understanding and be wrong.
We have this ridiculous habit of intellectualising our lives. We need
life to make rational sense for our intellect, and we are prone to
twist and distort our perspective of life until it makes rational sense
to us, until we understand. We then join the vast ranks of people who,
in their understanding of life, really know very little about it. If
enough people believe something, this is the criteria that determines
the way people live their lives. A type of mass 'agreement!' Thus we
have an Islamic mass agreement, our Christian mass agreement, the mass
agreement of Buddhism, and so on. And of course, these mass agreements
are always in conflict with themselves and each other, so the people
attached to the agreements are living in conflict.
Be very clear about this; if you are in conflict with any basic
'agreement,' then you are in conflict with yourself. Is that conflict
with yourself a deliberate 'agreement' to be in conflict and live life
the painful way, or is it the result of an attachment to a belief? The
answer should be startlingly obvious. Most of our inner conflicts are
created by false beliefs. The Self you are would never ask
identity-self to make an 'agreement' to anything less than giving Love
a go!
As I write this, it is only a few days into the New Year. But no matter
when you read this, you can create a New Year for yourself by letting
go of all beliefs that no longer honour and support you. Any belief you
have that blinds you to a greater truth, cast it aside. Any belief you
have that reduces you, let it go. Any belief that 'this way is the only
way,' dismiss it; or if 'this way leads to salvation,' throw it away.
Generally, any belief that is held by many millions of people will be
false! Does that sound crazy to you? Sorry, but if you do not already
know this and you continue on your spiritual path as a genuine seeker
of Truth, then you will come to realise the truth of what I am saying.
It has been said, “We went to sleep en masse, and we wake up one by
one.” These words hold a lot of truth. The mass of people are the
sleepers by agreement, and agreement holds them asleep. To awaken, you
need to let go of all and every attachment you have to all beliefs.
Freedom is not found roaming within the empty lands of belief,
believing there is a way out; freedom is being free of the emotional
need of beliefs. This takes us to the next step, because our beliefs
are almost always as much emotional as they are intellectual. In fact,
if there was no emotional attachment to a belief, there would be no
intellectual need for the belief. If that sounds crazy, that's us, a
very confused humanity!
We are confused because of our emotional and intellectual needs to
rationalise and understand our metaphysical and spiritual lives. Surely
it becomes obvious that this will never happen. The intellect and
emotions are not designed for metaphysical and spiritual understanding;
they have a different role to play in the ongoing, wholistic scenario
of our lives. Our inner metaphysical and spiritual knowledge work from
a very different mechanism; this is generally known as mystical
cognition. I call it 'direct knowing.' Direct knowing is a transcendent
experience, growing and increasing in direct relation to the ability of
the person who is the recipient. Direct knowing or mystical cognition
is not based in the intellect; it is based in a sentient intelligence
that is being fully used and exercised. Emotions may accompany mystical
cognition because we are emotional Beings, but they do not control or
precipitate it. And, needless to say, mystical cognition does not sweep
the sleepers into the raptures of enlightened knowing. If you are a
person with the illusion of an agreement, let it go. Actually, there is
nothing to let go of other than a belief, and, as they so often are, it
is a false belief. The good news is, you created it, you can as easily
let it go.
When I said in the beginning of this article that I suffered greatly on
my spiritual path, I neglected to say that it was I who created the
suffering. We all do. Of course, none of us does this deliberately,
but, like a computer, we each have a software program that determines
the way we think and act. This software program is based in our past,
but it resides in our subconscious, a very difficult part of the
computer to access. Most people live most of their life subconsciously.
Think about this! We are designed to live our lives in full
consciousness, meaning we should be new and aware in every moment.
Instead, we live an almost endless repeat of yesterday, unaware that we
are locked in subconscious repeats. This has become so chronic in some
people that they are being treated by psychologists for problems that
they do not have, problems that exist only in their beliefs.
In my own subconscious program was the belief that, like any good
Christian, I was born in sin and I grow through suffering. I hasten to
add that this has long since been cast out, but it stayed in place for
forty-nine years. For the vast majority of people their subconscious
program/belief stays in place for lifetime after lifetime. Not nice!
False beliefs are the breeding place of most human suffering. Of course
the next question is, how do we get rid of beliefs we do not even
realise we believe? You see what I am saying? Mentally we would reject
a belief that does not intellectually fit in with our more conscious
beliefs, completely unaware that not only is it fixed in our
subconscious program, but that program is also emotionally charged
along with the mental attachment. I am probably guilty here of
attempting to bite off more than I can explain in a simple article.
However, I urge you to write a list of what freedom really means to
you, and compare it with your life.
Freedom is non-attachment to those you love. Freedom is acting rather
than having to choose how to act. Freedom is different things for
different people, but it includes not so much having no beliefs, but in
having no attachments to them. Freedom is having no need for people to
agree with you, or with your beliefs, and the freedom not to take
yourself too seriously. The list goes on. One of the freedoms I most
deeply appreciate is the freedom from all anxiety and worry. I have
forgotten what they feel like. Where anxiety once resided, there is now
the sacred space of inner peace.
No one is permanently bound and limited by their past. You can choose
to live in the moment, freely expressing the person you are right now.
It does require leaving the subconscious program, the software, and
living far more consciously in the moment, but you do have the freedom
to make that choice. Just be aware that such a choice is not an
intellectual one; it is a choice that has to be lived to become real.
If you really are attached to agreements, the only agreement that I
would agree with is the agreement to wake up! This is a very worthwhile
agreement. Wake up . . . leave the sleepers to their dreams and
illusions, and join the few who walk within the dream awake.
In Love and Light,
Michael
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