I was reading the other day about Dr. Franz Mesmer who lived in Paris in the 1700s and practiced a form of healing, as a physician, that he invented…called Animal Magnetism.
People paid tons of money for his healing work. They traveled from long distances away. He created quite a hubbub. So much so that the word “mesmerized” was invented.
He apparently offered laying on of hands, the building of “magnetic” energy, and hypnotic guidance. People swooned and had convulsive fits and instant healings.
Some investigations occurred, and many concluded that his techniques worked because of the power of the human mind to IMAGINE.
There goes that mind again….it’s so creative, so powerful!
Sometimes the scientific, logical approach will say…well, if it’s being imagined then it’s not REAL.
But what is reality? How do we know what is real and what is not real?
I notice that my perception of situations change completely over time. One day, I see the world as sunny, joyful, exciting, adventurous, full of infinite possibilities. Another day, I see the world as dark, boring, annoying, depressing, volatile and uncertain (although strangely enough, that is becoming quite rare, without me trying).
Both are real for me, right in that moment. That’s my particular reality.
And, I have had my experience completely turn around and switch to the entire opposite perception, by changing my mind.
That’s what self-inquiry is all about.
“The world is nothing but my perception of it. I see only through myself. I hear only through the filter of my story.” ~ Byron Katie
What about all the things that happen that seem beyond me, beyond my capacity to create them…those uncomfortable or terrible things, those wonderful or astonishingly beautiful things?
Well. Here’s an interesting exercise. An idea I got from doing The Work and looking at my thinking over and over again:
What if all that happens is within me, not outside of me? What if all of it is born from some mysterious place, creating itself, a fantastic invention, an amazing imagination, and I am connected to it inherently?
The ups, the downs, the frightening, the wonderful….
What if you could question the belief system “I’m just a little peon in this world who has no control over anything? A little victim of this crazy place?”
Who would you be without that thought? If you IMAGINED being someone who is not a little peon with no control over anything, not a little victim, not in a crazy, frightening, terrible place?
But instead what if you imagined the turnaround to be as true, or truer? I am a celebrant of this world that is born out of me, who has no need to control or see anything as horrendous, who opens to everything, who is a magnificent, powerful, loving entity, in an exciting, constantly changing playground.
How would you live your life if that’s what you were imagining?
Maybe your reality would change…who knows? Maybe you would be healed. Maybe you would be totally in love with NOT being healed.
You’d say “bring it on” without fighting it. There would be nothing to argue against.
“The great Tao flows everywhere. All things are born from it, yet it doesn’t create them. It pours itself into its work, yet it makes no claim. It nourishes infinite worlds, yet it doesn’t hold on to them. Since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts, it can be called humble. Since all things vanish into it and it alone endures, it can be called great. It isn’t aware of its greatness; thus it is truly great.” ~ Tao Te Ching #34
Love, Grace