Positive Thinking, Paradigms and the Devil
I've already written about positive thinking and paradigms in
another article where the point was that the effectiveness of
positive thinking is undermined if we simultaneously hold
unconscious thought paradigms that are in opposition. But how
can we uncover what's in our unconscious if it's unconscious?
An example of just such an opposing paradigm in my own life
stemmed from the 1974 cult classic, Phantom of the Paradise. I
saw this movie some time before my tenth birthday. I was way too
young to comprehend all the sexual on goings, but not too young
to know what was going on when the antagonist cut a deal with
the devil in the bathtub in order to get what he most desired.
I don't recall the particulars of the devilish deal, but that
doesn't matter. What matters is that, as a young impressionable
boy, that scene created a paradigm in my mind: "Getting what you
most desire is bad," and, "The entity that gives you what you
most desire is the devil," and, "Getting what you want means
compromising yourself." All these thoughts, and a few more, were
rolled into one unconscious paradigm, made even more powerful by
the spooky Satanic movie scene forever burned on my mind.
In turn, I would never allow myself to get what I most desired,
because that would mean dancing with the devil, and I didn't
want that. So I would only allow myself some of what I wanted,
for that was safe. Ironically, not having what I wanted seemed
godly, while having what I wanted was definitely devilish (of
course, this only made sense as long as I viewed myself and my
desires as inherently wrong and evil).
Phantom of the Paradise informed the younger version of me that
getting all you wanted was bad. That information turned into a
paradigm that circumvented and undermined any and all attempts
on my part to get all I wanted. But once that paradigm moved
from my unconscious to my conscious mind, I was able to replace
it with a new paradigm that served me better, namely that it is
good for me to have all I want.
And so, once that opposing paradigm was removed, my positive
thinking about having all I want was suddenly free to be
effective in transforming my life.
The burning question that remains, however, is this: How do you
move these opposing thought paradigms from your unconscious to
your conscious mind? If these paradigms are indeed at an
unconscious level, what hope do we have of being consciously
aware of them?
Well, there's hope in the form of epiphanies, meditation and
taking the "witness" posture.
Epiphanies occur in all flavors, but the type I'm referring to
here is when, for some reason, you suddenly become aware of
something from your unconscious. In a spontaneous flash, you see
something previously hidden; something that informed and shaped
your reality. The downside to epiphanies of this sort is that
you can't force them. They just happen when they happen.
Meditation, on the other hand, is a deliberate way to tap into
your unconscious. In deep meditation, your unconscious mind can
"bubble up" to the surface of your conscious mind. The deeper
your meditation, the more likely the unconscious will surface.
Where traditional meditation is too difficult for many, tools
such as the Holosync sound tracks from Centerpointe Research
Institute (http://www.centerpointe.com/) make it easy to
meditate in a way that produces the Delta brain waves associated
with the deep unconscious that most of us only become aware of
during deep sleep.
Finally, the "witness" posture is where you simply watch
yourself going about your life, instead of being "lost" in it.
By stepping back, you gain a surprising objectivity that
likewise uncovers the unconscious. You'll suddenly find yourself
seeing all sorts of motivations, reactions and judgments you
were previously oblivious to.
The goal, then, is to uncover our unconscious thought paradigms
to ensure they are not running counter to the positive thinking
we're engaging in. The uncovering process will never end, but it
is well worth the effort due to moving the outworking of your
life from the unconscious automatic level to the conscious
deliberate level.
Copyright (c) Grant Pasay 2005. All rights reserved. You may
forward this article in its entirety to anyone you wish.