When will we get moving?

Women stuck in abusive relationships for years. Workers who allow themselves to be exploited by a slave driver for years. People who wait years despite unbearable suffering until they do seek help from experts. Health problems that persist for years until causes are finally sought and something done toward solutions. Addictions that for years determine the mental state of people who feel powerless and do not find the strength to resist. We all know the cases, including ourselves. It takes a long time, often too long, before we move and actively seek the necessary change.

So what stops us from moving?

A big part of the problem is that we think that our thinking is just powerful enough to get moving. The point is that our thinking is almost always outstripped by deeper instincts and emotions. In fact, our thinking is weak and dependent. Our thinking only looks for explanations and excuses to justify our unconscious instincts and emotions. This applies to purchases, but also to change.

Our instincts are the basis of our behavior. So much so, that instincts are directly linked to our bodies. Fear is the most obvious and observable instinct when it comes to the choices we make in our lives. We are literally ruled by fear. Fear of dying. Fear of suffering. Fear of being rejected. Fear of not belonging. Fear of being inadequate. This was very evident in the Corona period, but is in fact continuously present in every aspect of our life in matter.

Another instinct that will appeal to the imagination is disgust. Our whole body can be disgusted by something. A certain food, a certain person or situation can make us feel disgust which can cause our body to literally shut down and where we literally vomit. That’s how strong an instinct can be, that’s how strong our body is. Our thinking has to counter that a lot in order to resist the autonomous action of an instinct. Most people are not even aware of this, let alone that they can consciously choose to resist an instinctive response.

Somewhat less deeply embedded in our being, but still largely unconsciously present, are our emotions. We may see on the surface emotions like anger and pleasure, but that is the tip of the emotion iceberg most of which is anchored in our unconscious psyche. We often reject anger and think pleasure is not a problem. However, pleasure is the unconscious driver of so many addictions. The emotion of lust makes us seek all kinds of pleasures. Pleasure to indulge in and also pleasure to numb fear. Our thinking is still little capable of being stronger than our emotions.

We are largely lived by our instincts and emotions, even though we think we are rational beings. As soon as our instincts and emotions are triggered, our thinking must almost always lose out. Thinking is then put to work supporting our unconscious choices with explanations and stories that seem plausible enough. Only when this fantasy becomes untenable moments of insight and reason arise. Only when the pain of reality becomes unbearable do moments come when our thinking becomes powerful enough to demand change. The beauty is that when the truth enters our consciousness, we have virtually no way to undo it. The truth will then keep coming back and knocking on the door until we open it. When the door opens, the truth is in.

This is also how, for example, an addiction can disappear in a millisecond, seemingly effortlessly even though the body and mind have yet to get used to the new reality and really learn to let go of the habit. This is how an abusive relationship can be suddenly over. This is when the fear of losing work and income disappears like snow in the sun no matter what consequences the departure brings. It can happen that fast, but until that moment resistance prevails. Precisely the resistance of thinking. It is precisely that thinking that holds everything back. The thinking that wants to control and pigeonhole everything. The thinking that wants to be at the steering wheel of our lives, at the expense of our body and soul. We use our thinking incorrectly.

For example, the power of our thinking makes us make up arguments to keep smoking. The same power can be used to stop smoking, but we don’t. If we could, we could avoid a lot of pain and suffering. Then we wouldn’t have to wait for a message from the doctor that lung cancer is near. Smokers, on reading these sentences, will immediately put their thinking to work to find explanations, make excuses and gather arguments why this is nonsense and smoking is not so bad. And in fact this is true of all the things we put our thinking to work for in order to avoid changing.

But don’t you find it an attractive thought that you can also put your thinking to work to actually be rational and tap into the power to make conscious choices that serve your physical and spiritual well-being? That you are no longer lived by your instincts and emotions, but that you make conscious choices for your own life from a conscious self, from the veracity of your soul and therefore truth. That is the potential of humanity and that is where we as a species are heading. However, this takes quite a bit of practice and we are only just on our way on this particular journey into our human consciousness.

How do we consciously use our thinking for change?

We learn most from our own experience and so we will have to present our thinking with experiences. That means we have to be enterprising and persistent despite instincts and emotions that will overwhelm us. We have to train our thinking. Train it to be independent. There is a great danger here that we are still struggling to do this and that our thinking will be hijacked by something we are not. I won’t dwell on it now, but this is the battle between good and bad in man. The little devilish voice that actually turns our thinking against us. The little voice that loves fear and lust.

Dare to feel what your body is telling you. Dare to feel your fear without trying to solve it. Learn to see what is going on, largely in your subconscious. Make conscious what is unconscious and wants to remain so. Our thinking can be used incredibly powerfully in this way to serve us and make us more aware. The moment you see through this game, it becomes easier and easier to see through everything. Consciousness can no longer be hold back, even if life does not immediately become easier. Still you will struggle with the material Earthly matters, but once conscious, truly conscious, you can and will never go back. Don’t want to go back.

The question is how to get through this as humanity. Individually, everyone walks their own path and some go through it more easily and naturally than others. Is there anything we can do to accelerate or promote this process for all humanity? My suggestion is to put this question to your feelings right now. What does your feeling say about this and then how does this work through to your thinking? Take your time with it. Does man need to undergo a physical change first or could it also be purely mental change? Do you see a chicken or the egg problem? What is your role in it all? What do you want for yourself?

Getting moving is different for everyone, but who are you letting take the steerging wheel? Your instincts and emotions? Your thinking? Your feelings? What are these different things inside yourself saying to you? Who are you? Who is it that thinks? Who is it that feels?

Nico Cost