Predictability Makes Us Vulnerable

The river of life, or the flow of awareness, moves inexorably forward creating change. This ever-changing flow of life exploring itself is the one constant we can count on. Just as the water and motion of the river are never the same from moment to moment, so too life breaks down any attempt to hold on to the old.

Old patterns we tend to hold on to include: old coping mechanisms; events that have not yielded their insights but still pull our triggers; old identities we give ourselves; flows we have not converted to wisdom and many other old habits and ruts we have created for ourselves.

These patterns we carry through life make us predictable and therefore vulnerable. Anyone who gets to know and observe these predictable patterns within us can use them against us. Today’s marriage may turn into tomorrow’s divorce; the business relationship that started out so amicably may turn into the most hostile lawsuit. In fact, because life doesn’t want us to keep holding on to these stuck patterns, it will encourage us to see that they do not serve us by producing such adversarial circumstances. So predictability leaves us vulnerable and exposed from all angles.

Let us examine some of these areas that allow life, through our relationships, to stalk us.

 

• Past events that have not yielded insights and therefore still pull our triggers can easily be used to manipulate us. For example; Frank has had sexual abuse by a member of the same sex and therefore has an almost phobic reaction when there is homosexual interest directed at him. If a competitor at work discovers this, he can let it be known that Frank is the target for his boss’ sexual interest.

 

Even though Frank may try to hide his resulting phobic reaction, he may

immediately try not to be in the same room with his boss, not make eye

contact or avoid attending meetings because he feels everyone suspects he’s

having a sexual relationship with his boss. The boss may think Frank is losing

interest in his work and pass him by when it’s time for promotions.

 

• Revealing our identity to another is equally dangerous. Joe says to his wife that the only way he will physically slap a woman is when she needs to be brought out of a hysterical condition. She then begins to have an affair and wants him to be removed from the house. She pretends to be hysterical and when he slaps her, she calls the police. She accuses him of threatening her safety, and Joe is given a restraining order that keeps him away from her and the house.

 

• When we have a need, another can use it as a hook. This dynamic has been mastered by the co-dependent people of the world. The game is played over and over again until the co-dependents get quite proficient at gauging the other person’s need, offering to meet it in exchange for what they want. In this way, most relationships are determined not by our highest wisdom, but by our most prevalent needs.

 

• Being in a rut makes us easy to stalk. Many victims of rapes, murders, or robberies were carefully studied by their attackers who used their predictability against them.

Our life should not be lived expecting the worst. But in order to have the luxury of expecting the best we have to be prepared for the worst. We will be taken by surprise if we leave ourselves vulnerable, draining the energy for awareness. Although the examples given are about leaving our self vulnerable to manipulation from others, the real adversary is life itself. The purpose of the Infinite to evolve awareness through material life does not allow stuck, predictable portions of existence to stay that way for long.

To maximize learning about the mysteries of the Infinite’s being at this level, as much diversity as possible is needed. Where uniformity of old patterns of behavior exists, life-force increases.

We find ourselves in the position of either cultivating the awareness of what no longer serves our highest level of perception and letting it go, or life will do it for us. Some criteria in determining what has become obsolete are:

 

· Does this choice reflect my highest identity as a being as vast as the cosmos having a human experience?

 

· Does this choice make my heart sing and reflect my highest perception?

 

· Does this situation give me a knee-jerk reaction? If so, there are unyielded insights around similar issues in life that I need to find, so that I no longer need to manifest situations like this.

 

· Do I feel expanded by a particular relationship or activity or do I feel contracted and drained or diminished?

 

· When approaching an unknown situation, am I falling into the traps of someone who has taken the illusions (mirrors) of life at face value by responding in one or more of the following ways?

1. Thinking I know what’s going on

2. Obsessing about the question, which drains energy;

3. Only acknowledging what fits into already held belief systems and either attacking, ignoring, or ridiculing the rest.

 

Or instead, am I acknowledging that each person and situation and moment is new and unique and must be approached with the utmost awareness and open-mindedness?

 

The end-reward of eliminating the predictable from our lives is a fluidity of being found among those who have mastered themselves. When we fully co-operate with the changes that bring growth, our opposition to life is surrendered. No longer hiding in the perceived safety of our shelters, we embrace our challenges and rekindle the flame of our passion for life, pouring our hearts into every experience.

 

Excerpted from Journey to the Heart of God