There used to be an awful lot of clutter in my mind. Heaps upon stacks upon piles upon mounds. You could have filmed an edition of Extreme Hoarders in there some days. I had been gathering up intellectual objects of interest for as long as I could remember. If you are a seeker too, you know exactly what I am talking about. The world is a curious place full of fascinating ideas and mind bending philosophies, and if you joined this life adventure as one who seeks the truth, then you gather up all these ideas in your basket, and empty them out in whatever space you can find in your already overcrowded head. And one day you realise that your head has become very like the spare room or the attic in your house. You know, that place that overwhelms you with it's chaos. You stand at the door and look in and think.. 'how in the heck am I ever going to sort through all THAT???'
And in this internet fuelled, instant access to information age, it makes the gathering of ideas all the more addictive. You have a passing notion or a fleeting thought?.. Google It! Fall down, down, down the rabbit hole of messy ideas, and opinions dressed as fact. Allow one questionable site to open the door to another and then another. Have you been there? Can you identify with this?
I have had a growing sense over the last few months that purification and simplicity are the paths we need now. By 'we', I mean all of us, the entire world. All the structures we have built. All the organisations, the thought systems, the institutions, the frameworks. I think we are collectively drowning in an ocean of plastic trash ideas.The over stimulation is like a lead scuba diving suit. We are being pulled down deep, away from the light. We need some clear blue sky head space.
How do we break free? A good old clear out.If you have ever watched an episode of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, you will know exactly where I am going with this. In assisting clients to clear the clutter and mess from their homes, Marie asks the question, 'Does it spark joy?'. If the item does not Spark Joy, and if it is not useful, then it no longer has a place in the home. We can do this for our brain clutter too. If a paradigm is no longer useful, if it does not Spark Joy, it loses it's squatting rights in our head. The beliefs we hold on to, and live by, need to be in total alignment with the deepest parts of our souls and our psyches. They need to vibrate with total truth. And they definitely need to Spark Joy.
You can afford to be ruthless when testing ideas. There is an infinite amount of content screaming for our attention. Use your discernment. Even as you are reading this - more content - test it's truth as it is for you. Does this feel true? If not, click the little x in the corner. Forget about it. You can tell almost instantly if your soul does not align with a theory, because your body will tell you clearly, and your body doesn't lie. There will be a discomfort somewhere, perhaps your tummy, or your chest, or your throat. Trust the feeling. Your inner guidance will always show you the way, show you YOUR path. And we all carve our very own path through this beautiful life adventure. A totally unique path, unlike anyone else's. The uniqueness is the very reason that so many ideologies out there will not be for us. And it is perfectly acceptable, and right even, that we may admire or love someone greatly and at the same time not align with their own personal life philosophy.
One lesson I am happy to have learned, is that an abundance of knowledge does not equal wisdom. They are two very different energies. And the world as it currently is, values knowledge above wisdom. It is possible to spend your entire life reading continuously and gathering knowledge, and still get to the end of it without understanding your own soul. That is really sad. So it is perfectly fine to say, 'No, I have never heard of that', or 'No, I haven't read that'.
Wisdom is not measured in quantities of information.
There is a deadly serious aspect to this practice of discernment and spring cleaning the mind. There are some wildly dark ideologies floating in the ether just now. And in the quest for truth and meaning, it can happen that we get pulled into things without fulling realising what is happening. Down the rabbit hole, except it isn't fluffy bunnies that we meet at the bottom.
Go back to the body. Trust the guidance. Become fluent in the sign language of your body and your soul. Keep things pure and simple. Apply the tests of usefulness and joy. This is critical not only for your own health and well being, but truly for the health and well being of the entire world. We need to clear away the clutter and the debris, and re-attune to the truth and the light. Wisdom is clear and simple and pure, and our inner guidance will show us the path. And the path will spark joy.
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