|
|
             |
LEARNING THE WIZARD’S WAY How clever of Deepak Chopra to use the story of Merlin and Arthur to teach the spiritual truths of the awakened soul as the way of the wizard. It is so easy as a teacher to get bogged down in cumbersome language or concepts that seem too esoteric for average folks. We are living in times of great potential for an evolutionary leap and many people feel a longing for deeper meaning and expanded awareness. The challenge is for spiritual teachers to speak a language that is simple, clear, relevant, and using stories that we all recognize to lead us into deeper understanding. Chopra explains, in a section called “Why we need wizards,” that while he has been teaching for many years about how to achieve complete freedom and fulfillment, only recently did he realize that all along he had been talking about alchemy. Alchemy is the transformation of the base lead of the personality into the gold of Being living as a human Being. He writes, “All of us want to expand in love and creativity, to explore our spiritual nature, yet often we fall short. We lock ourselves into our own prisons.” In the teaching of the Enneagram of personality types, some people complain that they don’t want to be pigeon-holed into a type. I always quote Don Riso who said that the Enneagram is not about putting people into boxes but rather about helping people see the boxes they are already in so they can find their way out. The fixations of the Enneagram types are the prisons Chopra is referring to. The wizard’s way is alchemical transformation. How do we do this? It is accomplished through a shift in awareness as subtle and shocking as looking at those double images created by gestalt psychologists years ago. From one point of view you see a partial profile of a pretty young woman looking away from you, and with a simple change in perspective the same lines become an old woman with a big nose who is looking toward you. The lines did not change but at the same time the meaning held in the lines changed completely. Similarly, as the wizard within each of us awakens, reality looks exactly the same to us and completely different. Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago I had lunch with my friend Jan Allen, director of The Field Center. She was describing the amazingly powerful transformational process taught by the Field Center that asks us to take responsibility for our deepest desires. By way of illustration, she asked me what I really wanted to do since I would be closing my psychotherapy practice at the end of that week. I confessed that I dreamed of coaching corporate executives and managers in the practice of Presence, believing as I do that business rules the world these days and if executives are functioning at the higher levels of their Enneagram types the world will be a healthier place. Jan calmly asked me what beliefs might be keeping me from having my heart's desire. I went blank. She smiled. “Maybe you think this would be too hard to do”—yes—“and that you don’t know how to get started”—yes. Deceit, which is the passion of my type Three personality, is most importantly self-deception. Our distorted mental representations, our self-images, are true only to the extent that we believe in them. Could I release my belief that my desire was too difficult to be attainable? Jan also clarified that our hidden beliefs are there for a good reason. Mine, I discovered, is a belief that if I am too successful (that is, if I fulfill my real desire) I will not be loved. Faced with the illusion that a choice is required, I chose to be loved. What if it isn’t true that I have to choose? Acting on this stunning shift of awareness, I could see that anything is possible, including my desire to coach executives internationally. Within a week I was talking with an old friend who does just that—and is generously willing to help me get started. Nothing has changed and everything has changed. I am still myself, with the same education, talents and experiences as before, but now I am willing to step into the manifestation of my awakened heart, the Heart’s Desire that Enneagram books described for type Three. How about you? What is one thing that you deeply and truly desire? What do you tell yourself about why this desire is difficult or impossible to attain? That is, what beliefs do you have that run counter to your desire? Why has it been important to you to hold on to this belief? How has this belief seemed to serve you in the past? Are you ready to see your beliefs as simply mental constructs that are not the objective truth about Reality? If you are ready, what is one thing you would do, one action you would take if your desire were attainable? Now do it. Many thanks, Jan, for being the wizard you are. For more information about her work, visit www.fieldcenter.org.
|
| ©2002 Enneagram Institute of Central Ohio | |
