Wednesday, November 07, 2007

8th Post; 6th Truth; 5th Agreement; 1st Healing

Don Miguel makes the turn in the sixth chapter of the VoK from the problem to solutions. In the previous chapter, he suggested that we can change our beliefs and in turn change our story. In this chapter he begins to show the way, his Toltizian Way, of doing so.

But first, he drills a little deeper into the heart of the problem of our story. That story has a voice. The voice of knowledge. In fact the story has ten thousand voices and they're speaking to us all the time. We call it thinking. Tolle calls it the egoic mind. And the key thing is that this voice speaks to us in our own language, but our spirit, our integrity, speaks with a silence we just feel.

But the voice is speaking untruth all the time. Criticizing or judging ourselves and others. Punishing ourselves and creating conflict with others. It's so loud that we cannot hear our inner truth, our spirit. This is why wisdom traditions look towards creating a silence, an inner peace. Some use meditation, mantras, prayer, to quiet the mind. One can also quiet that voice, by practicing not to believe it.

In a lecture I heard at Merrimack College in 2006, Don Miguel called this truth the Fifth Agreement, following the manner of the self-help lessons he had written in his ground-breaking book, The Four Agreements. In some way, it should actually be the First. Let's call it the Ground Zero Agreement. Before one begins to change one's belief, it's of utmost importance to rid oneself of all the old wrongful beliefs that limit one's growth. So, simply enough he says, don't believe yourself and don't believe anyone else.

Keep your heart open, and certainly listen for anything that could lead to inspiration or a wonderful opportunity, but do not believe it. And the same with others. Don't believe them. Keep your heart open. Really listen. But be skeptical of everything. Not judgmental, since everyone lies including yourself. Some even sincerely believe the lies are absolute truth.

Of course practicing this is difficult to do because believing our lies makes us feel safe despite their abusive nature. And believing other people is very tempting to do. But by not believing the voice, in time the lies will disappear, and you will be open to new beliefs. And using knowledge will become a clear means of communication only. The Sixth Truth of Toltizian Dreaming and its First Healing: don't believe yourself and don't believe anyone else, while keeping your heart open.

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