Alchemy Bay Area/ Ever Ask Yourself: Who Am I In the Matter of it All?

I've been mulling over a troubling problem ever since Trump got elected.  When Trump won the election in 2016 a funny 'hollow' feeling swept through me like a tsunami: first surprise, then shock, and finally an emptiness that spread through my nervous system.  I felt like I was entering a cultural frontier where no one really knew what to expect when Trump would take office.  How would this surprising and unknown new reality manifest itself in the world - and in my life - in the months and years to come.

As an adult I have always felt safe in my world, yet suddenly my body began to tense as it had in my childhood when my family talked about bomb shelters and my school exercised 'duck and cover' drills.  

A very important question took root in me in the early days of Trump's executive order extravaganza.  I had to do something, but what? 

Who am I in the matter of it all?  This was the question I have been mullilng over since the election - how do I take a stand in my own life - and what would I take a stand for - in this uncertain, unraveling time?

When ethnic and racial divides are being etched ever deeper, when corporate profits trump health and well-being, and when the extinction of our species' survival is volleyed about in public discourse I wanted to know who I was in the midst of this world's history.  

Digging deep into my own desires I had to pass through my daily obsessions for better restaurants, better work projects, better yoga classes and better vacations. 

After a few months of intermittent deep thinking (yeah, I know!) a better understanding of the question began to crystallize.  Realizing I was more or less grounded in my family and job situation, I arrived at a simple, yet profound, world-centric inspiration.

A World-Centric Inspiration   

What if we could all distinguish native, authentic experience from conditioned thinking?  Wouldn't that change us - and the world - in some deep and profound way?

Native experience is what separates authentic reality from illusion - or as we might label it today - 'fake reality'.  Native experience is the unfettered, organic reaction to experience verses the conditioned thinking that so often arises as past experience infiltrates today's thinking.

If only we could direct our focus of attention on our native experience and see the world through fresh eyes - moving beyond the mental flotsam from our childhood or damaged egos.  We would see a different a world, one filled with promise, opportunity and life sustaining innovation.   Our closeness to our own authentic inspiration would rise up inside of us with eager anticipation and meaningful direction. 

What if others knew how to do this as well?  We would certainly enjoy their good company!

Months have passed since the election I have begun to see the striking contrast between ideas arising from authentically inspired thinking versus ideas based on bad learning like greed, 'I wiin/you lose' philosophy and learned hate.  I see otherwise good politicians struggling with their own morality to conform to the politics of hate,  It's hard to watch.

I know who I am in the matter of today and am actively choosing authentic, native experience in the face of learned distrust and fear,  It took some time to eek out and peel down through the layers of my psyche and identify the subtle differences inside myself - but I found the still waters of conscience and picked my direction.

With this article I hope that you, too, will begin to sort out the difference between native, authentic experience and your learned reactions.  Perhaps a small few of us - and maybe a big bunch of us - can make a dent in tomorrow ... and travel together in good company.

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For more on native, authentic experience read the Incredible Power of Inspiration: Creating the Life You Yearn For.