This question/wondering comes from Mina:

Q: Could you talk about: The illusion of security that keeps us small
and contracted rather than expanding into totally unlimited being-ness.
I am at the tipping point and realized the only thing keeping my foot
on the brake is the illusion that I'm safe here (in same old land)when
all I really wanna do is fly.
Also - Trust? I think at times I've wanted to let go but feared no one
would catch me.. but now I realize I don't want to just fall, I want
to soar and I forgot I have wings.."

A: Great topic/question. Thank you.

The ironic thing about safety is that it seems we are safest when we no longer need it. You use the word illusion and I think that’s apt. I have a framework I’d like to share with you that you may find beneficial. I hope it makes sense.

The illusions we live in are made possible by the biggest illusion – that we are separate or not connected. And our whole Western philosophical system – which informs the way we think and function -  is based on disconnection of the mind and body and spirit and disconnection from/superiority over nature.

I think that one of the tragedies about being disconnected from the body and from nature is that we loose the benefit of the wisdom these things reveal to us when we listen. A great example of this can be used to address your question in part.

We, as humans, function with endoskeletons – this means we are supported from within. We can move about dynamically with total support because of our bones. It makes us very mobile and gives us quite a bit of freedom on the planet.

If we were connected we could see this and use this to inform how we approach things. If we allowed nature to inform us we would see we are very strong inside and would naturally go within for strength. Yet the way we often frame things is more in line with an exoskeleton – we act as if support external to us,  is natural. When it is, in fact, quite limiting and rarely really necessary or the best for us. And quite unnatural.

There is something called bio-mimicry, common in the sciences, where one can examine something in nature to improve something that is man-made. The notion is that nature reveals a perfection and intelligence that is phenomenal. And by referring to nature we can gain solutions that are often far better than what we come up with by ourselves.

A quick example of this is with the computer chip. It kept getting hot spots and frying. Some scientist (or someone) thought “butterflies are in the sun all day, how do their wings not get fried?” so the scientists examined a butterfly wing and what they found is that the chitonous layers of the wing are laid out in a very uneven fashion, which actually distributes heat far better than even layers, as the humans were doing. Mimic nature and voila, problem solved. Referring to nature for guidance is smart and wise.

Indigenous peoples have been doing this for centuries. In the Western tradition, however, man has separated out from the environment and the body and has lost respect for listening to and being informed by nature. So the solutions to life’s problems are rarely informed by nature or the body. Consequently, we find they generally lack wisdom and true intelligence.

And this brings us back to the question of security and illusion. If we are to look at how the human is made, we see that support from within is natural (endoskeleton). We also see this gives a lot of mobility. If we were supposed to stay in one spot we wouldn’t have this internal structure. And this physical trait can be extrapolated out. The human mind is also capable of dynamic travel. We are very resourceful. Yet we act as if we are not. We act as if we do not have the internal structure and strength required for life. This creates a lot of unnecessary fear.

I think these fears arise, to a great degree, from our disconnection with what is most natural. It’s like we have lost at least half of our intelligence. The body and nature have informed humans for thousands of years, giving feedback, insight, and guidance. And now we are cut-off from this.

So here we are, floating around in the world by ourselves. No wonder we’re freaked out, anxious, and untrusting!

I think the solution is that, instead of trying to finagle our psychology into cooperating with a disconnected self, we need to wrangle our minds into a more natural state. Very few people listen. And fewer listen to what is going on in their bodies and in nature. I think if we are to ever truly soar we need to be more connected to our bodies and the world in which we live.

Life has been around for billions of years. Most of us have been here, what, 40? I think we can learn something from what we are – beings with bodies in a physical world that is dynamically interconnected and basically harmonious. But I want to emphasize dynamic.

Because the energy of the universe and our world is constantly changing. Insisting on safety as most people define it – stagnant and insulated and, as you point out, illusory – means we are constantly living out of alignment with the world in which we live. We don’t want things to change or feel threatened by change. Which is just so ridiculous because it is so unnatural. And yet, here we are.

Waiting for things to get safer or for life to stop being dynamic is a fool’s path. We have to turn our vision inward and trust the support and strength that is there. Listening to the world we live in, to nature, is an inward journey. Listening to our guts, our hearts, is an inward journey. And rarely does this greater intelligence tell us to be “safe”.

It is, in fact, always beckoning us to dance, to engage,  to participate in the greater interconnected harmony.

But our view that we are disconnected and alone – this primary illusion – means we do not access the support and wisdom that we are immersed in.

You are not alone. None of us are. But most of us don’t tell people what we need or ask for support or go to a field and just listen for insight into our own being. In other words, we don’t engage our connected truth. This disconnection coupled with a lack of awareness of our fundamental nature is a formula for fear, scarcity, mistrust, and smallness.

I think for most people, starting by listening is the safest approach. Just pay attention to how life really is so you can break through the layers of stories, of unrealities, you have piled on top of your essential self, on top of reality. When the crust begins to fall away we will see a world that is beautiful and connected that we are all a part of.

The next step is to begin to act as if you are connected. Make the assumption you are welcome, wanted, needed, supported and seen. This assumption makes different things occur in our minds. Things like asking for help, helping others, sharing what we have, being open to others sharing what they have, and a deeper sense that whatever we are trying to bring into the world isn’t simply “our purpose” or our “path” or our “passion: but it is, in fact, needed and wanted  by the world.

This not only builds confidence and security, but this shift changes our expression from one of self and self-consciousness to one of an expression of life through us. I think of our heart’s longing as how God wants to be in the world through us. It’s God’s longing, not ours. If we can see this then we cease being the small little beings that we are with our own little lives and become portals for God coming into the world as a love offering to the world. And, excuse, me, but who the hell is anyone to hold back God?

Our work then shifts from one of working on conquering/overcoming to working on getting out of the way of what’s already there.  AND being guardians and protectors of it rather than owning it like it’s ours.

Seeing ourselves in a bigger context, I think, automatically translates into living bigger. But those first few steps out of our little stories and our little fears and our little illusions are some of the biggest steps any one of us will ever take.

I hope this addresses your wondering in a way that is fulfilling or expansive or affirming.

I feel such gratitude for you giving me the opportunity to say all of this. Thank you.