Mastery
“You can only arrive at mastery by practicing the techniques you have learned,
facing challenges and apprehending them,
using – to the fullest – the tools you have been taught,
until they shatter in your hands and you are left in the midst of wreckage absolute…
Go, then and fail… You have been shaped into something
that may emerge from the wreckage,
determined to remake your Art.”
We now come to a topic that often reveals itself as a subtle layer; not deeply considered or supposed until we spend ponderous moments looking at the events which have repeating themes and painful patterns of discontent and discomfort. They are themes which have similarities, and which perhaps have thus far – tripped us up.
We also have a cooperative agreement with one or more Catalyst-contracts. Those various others who prove to be cumbersome and abrasive engagement which do bring to the forefront of our consciousness that deep recognition of required resolution. The “Yes…here we are again”, feeling – accompanied by possible memories of past failures in regard to a familiar lesson.
We are most certain this is a repeated scene, yet we are surrounded by differing characters upon a slightly different stage arrangement. And when these illuminated moments occur, we are in the ideal place of identifying specific life-lessons that we have agreed to include in our life’s blueprint with a determined commitment to eventually master them.
Remember this crucial point. There is no time-frame wherein we must measure up and exhibit behaviors of mastery for our particular lesson. For time has no importance in our real-home environment and is merely an illusion within this lifetime. It was created and agreed upon by humans – to be a measurement for humans and to be adhered to while living on the Earth.
This lifetime provides mere chapters towards Mastery, however there is never a penalty should we fail to reach the level we had hoped. We have a full understanding of this truth while we, in the spirit-realm, construct our life-lessons for this life time, yet within our present limited vision as humans, this information is easily forgotten. Humans are taught early to be competitive by nature, even if it is with our own selves. Competition was not needed, nor considered within our real home. It lives in this reality as a mechanism of ego for our continued thriving, however it is not useful when viewing things from the higher perspective.
Our life lessons are topics-of-focus, or themes if you will, which we have selected for our curriculum of expansion. We have dedicated this life-time to regular practice events or scenarios, to learn and expand our wisdom about our topics of choice. Even though we have eternity to experience unfathomable expansion, as humans we will never have a full comprehension of what Mastery levels consist of.
However, what we do know, is that Mastery is not attained within the Beta brain state. Mastery conception is available in glimpses at first, and tends to occur while we are “in the zone” or “in the flow”. Those descriptions describe the deep alpha and theta states of the human brain and require practice to sustain those important states or to even conjure them at will.
As we further practice understanding more about the Gamma brain states, there is no doubt that Mastery will become clearer to all of us. Perhaps we are – just as our Creator is – exploring possibilities that have never-before been explored. How exciting that idea is for me.
Within this section, we will clarify some of the specific lessons that as humans we select to focus upon within lifetimes. There are some theories which offer an order of the life-lesson themes; viewing them as organized similarly to entering primary grades, progressing to High school, College and University and eventually graduating from a Masters-level program.
My theory however, is that during our lifetime, several or all life-lessons do surface for us to have continuing practice with. We each exist as unique and diverse beings – some of us having achieved some or much regulating of several various lessons – while still struggling with others. Amidst some topics or lessons, we can notice how we are able to breeze through them with ease, hardly noticing their arrival, because we did indeed master them at elevated levels, eons ago.
And then there are the lessons which we bump into repeatedly and habitually with both frustration and pain. They are the ones that we have agreed to focus upon during this specific lifetime with the hope of moving our skill-set towards Mastery – while moving through many events and situations which do supply us with practice – not only in one life, but over many lifetimes.
Let us review one of those lessons, to gain further understanding and an expanded vision of how they are included in our life as humans within our 3-demensional existence.
Authority / Personal Power
We understand that personal authority was stripped from us early in our life by various external authorities. Those of us who identify Authority and Personal Power as a repeating theme in our lives, know that we are here in this life – learning to develop and value our own intuition so that we can build within ourselves resolute beliefs and morals – in the face of external authority – authority which wields constant threat and fear over us.
Let me be clear that the last sentence holds neither criticism nor cynicism. We, who are here to master the life-lesson of Authority and Personal power, have encountered countless situations where we found it easier to be silent and to submit, as opposed to standing in our own power. Life causes us to remember the feelings associated by being overpowered to the point of threat and peril – keeping in mind that some informing data exists in other realms and within other lives. In other words, when a life lesson like Power and Authority is super-charged with intensity and fear, there is no doubt that we have lost our lives over this lesson at other times. The ever-repeating pattern has rendered us believing a default conclusion which states that outside authorities carry potential threat and are thusly overpowering and fearful.
Leadership
Even if our present authority roles show up as having more balance than we have the capacity to recognize, from our human perspective, which includes rawness and vulnerability, we can only over-react – especially if this lesson is sensitive to us and takes us out of our bodies.
In this earthly-realm, we have human limits, which means we can see only what we see and know only what we know, until our experience brings us another facet to behold. Repeating patterns may offer us practice, yet our default response of acquiescing, feels safer and familiar. It avoids conflict, yet regrettably also bypasses a different and new outcome.
Practice opportunities will occur regularly wherein we find ourselves feeling overpowered by another’s power or authority. Mastery is when we instead, stand in our own Authority and are not swayed or convinced to crumble under pressure – to not hand over our own authority to others, in the name of peace and harmony.
From my personal perspective, it has felt much easier to be mostly accommodating towards others. Looking back upon my marriage and important relationships, I note that I burned a long tolerant wick towards the style of accommodation, but when that wick burned down to nothing, I became like Jekyll and Hyde – becoming a tyrant and control-freak – which was the opposite of the accommodating style. I am not proud to say that when the shift occurred, it was never pretty, and I was not at all kind or understanding to others.
My behavior became mean-spirited and I ceased to listen to others. I made decisions with finality, and took no one else’s needs into account. I also made errors in judgment through becoming sarcastic or using my words to make another feel small or less empowered. After “losing-it”, then regaining composure, the emotion of shame would eventually encompass me, and I could hear within my own mind, the voices of my inner-critic telling me what an awful person I was. It was a horrific cycle I put myself through.
I learned through my studies about conflict, that even though I could legitimately analyse and understand why I “lost it” in my own mind – others were not privy to my developing thoughts – so my actions came across as unpredictable and out of no-where. I had to learn how to keep others updated along the way, so that a two-way communication could unfold. Additionally, I had to be clear in how I phrased things, and check-in as to the other’s understanding. I couldn’t just say something, and walk away with the hope that they got my message. When I did these things, it would more likely lead to a collaborative approach to problems or situations, where everyone’s needs had the chance to be considered and met.
Accommodating others to the point of not considering our own needs, occurs in numerous ways each day of our life. To accommodate, rather then contribute information about how we are affected by another’s behavior, comes with a cost. The cost is the decline of our own health and well-being if that decision to keep accommodating, is not reflected upon and changed.
Looking at this from the other end of the spectrum is interesting too. There will be many humans who will find it easy to feel confident, and will hold positions of high authority. They will instead be challenged to not use their strength and influence to manipulate others towards their own optimal ends. Abuse of power and authority is a lesson as important for us to identify and create some balance around.
Having authority within this world can be very helpful and cause positive change when used with conscious intent. For the most part, those who have held high positions of power and authority have fallen prey to their ego-part, which is very easily distracted and affected by power, status, fame and notoriety.
This topic therefore is a focus which is complex, because it may sound like it only includes certain people in our lives, such as a parent, life-partner, teacher, boss or official representative, such as a police officer. Yet the reality is this – like our chapter on Shadow-work, we have lessons about Authority and Personal power which go beyond individual contracts and include wider group-contracts with institutions, organizations, industries, systems and laws. Add to this that many of these systems and organizations are outdated, yet are not ready to change, because there has been not enough need to change yet supplied. We have been led easily by large systems and organizations over many years, while showing little resistance because to do so, felt quite futile. We have felt too small when it comes to initiating change, especially when the system is rich, influential and plays deaf.
Standing in our personal power means understanding that there will be opportunities waiting for our individual input because change usually occurs incrementally as opposed to by one foul sweep. That means, change requires personal courage in the face of a massive and ridged infrastructure which has been around longer than we have been within our life-span. We must understand that it takes many small hits to eventually crack a long-standing solid wall.
There is a spectrum wherein handing our authority over to another can remain hidden, or be covert. For example, when you attend workshops by renowned teachers, do you find that you accept everything that they say as truth, or do you ever consider that some information is a fit, while other parts may be held in suspension while you reflect?
Do you find yourself believing everything a respected psychic, mentor or therapist tells you, or are you aware that those positions are held by humans, who also have a set of their own issues and core-values which they are exploring and working through? I have heard of celebrities who do not leave their homes unless they have checked things out with their personal psychic. Kings and Rulers in history also had magicians, wizards and oracle readers who they checked in with regarding important decisions. It is easy to forget that we have all our own answers within us, if we but stop and find alignment with our Over-soul or Higher-self.
Equally important to consider are the times when we become one of those who hold positions of authority. I have created within my service to others, a personal decree to never be the cause of another person having self-doubt about their own ideas and intuition even if their thoughts and ideas are differing from my own. When another person uses their own intuition, we must have respect for their process, even if they seem (to us) to be flailing.
They are entitled to their own journey, which includes mistakes and misfires. There is no better learning than actually experiencing a lesson personally. As wise teachers, we give others permission to experience their lessons by using responses such as “you could be right” or “you have all your own answers inside you. You only have to become calm, connect to Source-energy and go inside”.