My friend Susan wrote to Katie several weeks ago about The Secret. Her letter, Katie's response, Stephen Mitchell's response, and more than 150 responses and still counting, are posted at Katie's blog, byronkatie.com.
Susan has found her peace with her "Secret" story and the debates continue.
It becomes more and more apparent to me that The Secret, Sedona Method, The Work, and all other "methods" are like everything else: TV, mothers-in-law, George W. Bush, cancer, health, money, lack of money, relationship, lack of relationship, the Virginia Tech gunman. Everything is here to show us the way home, if that is our interest. In LOA language, we could even say we attracted them. I can find where I have done that.
For me, the difference is that The Work is a direct path to self-realization as opposed to other- or outer-realization. I have never found consistent happiness through stuff or through other people's cooperation. I begin to tap into that happiness through realizing that "no thing" is the thing I want most; there is peace in the valley, to paraphrase Iyanla VanZant (who also does The Work, by the way). The only way I know how to get there is through inquiry...not through teachings, not through manifesting, not through attempts at yogically detaching. What could be more "vibrationally aligned" than loving what is?
©2007 by Carol L. Skolnick; all rights reserved.
SOUL SURGERY: exercises in inquiry with Carol L. Skolnick, Coach/Facilitator ClearLifeSolutions.com
3 comments:
Another question is: What could be easier to say and yet harder to do than "loving what is"?
I believe that the dear souls over on Katie's blog that are hacking away at The Secret and at each other are sincerely trying to find a way to be at peace. But, so are you, and you don't seem to feel the need to defend The Work by declaring war on The Secret.
You said: "I have never found consistent happiness through stuff or through other people's cooperation."
Is this what keeps you from feeling the need to pick one side and then demonize the rest?
Yes, John, getting to the point of "loving what is" is easier said than done...at least for me. As Katie is fond of saying, "I don't call it The Work for nothing." However, the actuality of loving what is could not be easier; we just don't realize it. It's much harder to hold up all these stressful thoughts, like some pseudo-intellectual Atlas (I am describing myself here), but no one believes that until they experience what's possible on the other side of all that effort.
Only a few weeks ago, I, too, was demonizing The Secret. If you scroll through this blog, you'll see that I had plenty of work to do around it. What I've come to see is that people love The Secret, and I could find no good reason why they shouldn't. I was in their business mentally, projecting on them my own disappointment after having done years of hopeful practices, wanting to spare them the pain I presumed they would have. I've discovered that the "I-don't-know, wanting reality to change for my sake is hopeless" stance is more peaceful for me than the assumption that I can have whatever I want, but that is not for me to shove down anyone else's throat.
Thanks for writing.
The world is a reflection of our internal dialog. It can be as dark or brilliant as the very pattern of our own thinking. Those aspects we dislike of ourselves tend to show up like thorns in other people and when we can learn to love and accept that darker part of ourselves -> Then we can be free to just play. You are correct in that the methodologies do not matter. The only thing that matters is that we are enjoying the ride. If not then it is time to start telling a new story.
Best Regards
Aspen
http://oasisaspect.com
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