Perspective shifting

[escott]

I love perspective shifting. I think everyone does even if they don't realize it yet. Isn't that what drugs and alcohol are for. But, that's the easy way and temporary. I like messing with own mind to purposely see if I can shift into a new perspective. That's why I do Qigong and meditate. I've also used NLP visualizations on myself.

 

Years ago I was aspiring to be a Professional Futurist. It didn't pan out, but I really enjoyed it. I was a member of the World Future Society and attended a few conferences. One year I worked the conference in Toronto to get free admission. One memorable occasion was being the session helper for Don Beck's talk on Spiral Dynamics. That's a tool that can shift your perspective by putting all of human history and development within that framework. And you can use it to try to forecast possible futures. I say "possible futures" because futurists don't like to say they make predictions. Instead they construct "Scenarios", usually multiple scenarios. 'Backcasting' is another tool - Image a future then work backwards to think of what would have to happen to bring that future about.

 

I also was present when Ray Kurzweil gave the keynote presentation on the Technological Singularity.

 

How I use Qigong for perspective shifting? When I was kid my grandfather was a martial artist. He showed me things like hold up your arm and visualize it as a water hose shooting water out, then he would try to pull my arm down. That visualization made me stronger and almost impossible to pull my arm down. Then I thought what if I think I have chakras or dantiens and meridians and Qi is flowing through me? It may not be "real", but what if I just pretend they are there? Could they change reality? If they do then doesn't that make them real? Then they become a tool no different than a hammer and chisel that makes a sculpture. They make something appear that wasn't there before out of imagination.

Edited June 6, 2019 by escott

[silent thunder]

One of the most effective, quickest and free ways to shift perspective as I've experienced, is through altering breath.

 

Breath affects awareness as few other substances/processes.  Fasting is another, also free, not quite so quick.

 

Pranayama in particular, is so powerful in this regard.

[z00se]

First thanks OP for the topic this is great and one that discusses in essence what has been going through my mind in recent times, and the NASA video is mind blowing....

 

On 05/06/2019 at 5:06 PM, Sebastian said:

Energetically, perspectives look like this.

 

 

The left is what the Universe is offering you, the right is what you receive. The dam is the wall you've built from perspective and/or fear.

 

Example:  "I am unlovable and will never find a partner"

 

If you hold on to this perspective, no matter how many potential partners the Divine brings you from upstream, you will barely collect anything at all.

 

 

 

 

I can see your point however....

 

On 05/06/2019 at 12:22 AM, silent thunder said:

How you perceive the world, what you think about, what you seek out to think about and allow yourself to ruminate on, how you feel, this is your own personal functional reality.  No one else even knows what is going on within you, most don't even notice you.  We are all the star of our own little movies aren't we?  And in each other's movies, we are less than extras... background, or simply unnoticed.

 

Consider this... if how you feel on the inside can be determined by the actions and words of other people... then your quality of life is tethered to and enslaved by the whims of others.

 

Is there a greater level of enslavement than this? 

 

This is more down my alley of how i feel, however i was forced into a perspective shift....

 

Can the wall or dam in the picture above not also be acting as a filter too? Keeping all the shit out so one can bring in the refined tip top golden spring water?

Of course this is an assumption because i don't open up the dam, for a long time now i have used qigong to refine the water to such a high level that my life was absolutely ace. I couldn't ask for anything, it was perfect as i had refined it over many years, had the perfect busy clinic, awesome family, a pile of money only working 25-30 hrs a week, and plenty of free time to go spearfishing, go holidaying or to persue my hobbys.

.... that was until disaster struck and all the water on the outside turned to shit and i was no longer able to refine gold out of it. I smashed a bone in my foot into what ended up being 15 pieces and couldn't walk or enjoy any of the gold i had refined, 6 weeks i fell over again and knocked it again. After 3 months of no weight bearing I was told it wasn't even starting to heal and i might lose my foot. At this point i realised how poor my skills in meditation was, even though i had practiced qigong daily for around 15 years and some of that time very intensely. I found it very hard to hold it together and my whole world felt like it was caving in, i didn't want to be crippled. Luckily since then I've improved dramatically and at 6 months i can walk/limp around and am working in my clinic again and i have life outside of my couch. In another 6 months i'll be alright and again i will be able to enjoy the gold i've mined, hopefully with just a bit of pain remaining, but the experience sure was an eye opener.

 

What changed for me was a perspective shift, but i didn't want to. I read disabled people's blogs and felt doomed and the old samurai's motto of death before dishonour really rang home. I really felt for those paraplegics in some of the blogs i read and thought that living a life as those guys and gals do would be meaningless for me. I remember reading one lady who always wanted to kill herself but she wasn't even able to because she couldn't move, and she couldn't get anyone to even help her over - even over a period of years! Finally she got over that stage in her life but what a nightmare that some people live in!

 

Where mindfulnes to me had always meant being mindful of what was happening, watching everything like a movie, qigong had trained me in terms of positives and negatives. Although i had had the oneness experience periodically it wasn't something i enjoyed and reverted back to dualism because i found it more enjoyable, it gave me something to strive for, meaning in life, and excitement. However this left me having desires, the vast majority of which required me to be able to stand/walk which made my situation difficult to accept.

 

In my years of qigong practice i had become more and more masterful so that i could control almost everything and refine everything to my desires, however this rude awakening reminded me that no matter how good one becomes at qigong, they can't control everthing.

 

So then having no other choice i started learning to give up desire which initially made everything feel meaningless. It didn't feel nice at all but it was either that or neverending fustration and sadness which was literally killing me.

 

Later mindfulness changed so that when things that I didn't like arose instead of trying to fix them, i invited the shit feeling in let it stay as long as it wanted, then let it leave when it was ready. It was a bit like going to the gym and doing weights, yet with my emotional self, building up my resilience to feeling like shit.

 

While i felt the importance of this mindfulness practice, and the freedom of being less affected by different emotions or situations, through my own lense it was akin to learning to be happy living in shit (of which my perspective didn't have the same appeal as a book i once saw called 'being happy for no good reason' haha). I suddenly saw the christian point of view (or as i understand it) that the world is shit and we need salvation. It was work to keep constantly propping myself up, keeping myself happy and working at being happy for no reason.

 

Now i have to conceed that as my situation has changed, the moment i have been able to walk/limp 2kms again my desires are returning once again with increadable strength, my spirit is lifted on it's own by the pure wonderfulness of being able to enjoy and actively participate in my life once again. I am however aware that in the future, as i age more (currently 36) i will be forced to give up more and more and i will need to shift my perspective more and more frequently, and therefore i expect it will become easier and easier with age. I realise the need for balance for both dualism and from the one.... to cope with the joys of getting old as so many of my clients call it.

 

But even after all that i could not see any reason to live consistantly 'on the high road' as somebody put it? Why would one want to give up giving their life a meaning, or letting the opportunity to have and furfill their own desires pass them by? We all have a chance to grow old and have this forced apon us, and in death it's likely that the situation will be inescapable. What leads some of us to want to chose the high road? Certainly that rough period is something i would take in my stride again if it meant i could once again strive, compete and experience within the increased intensity and wildness of physical sensations once again. That is to say i wouldn't give up the bad if it meant giving up the good too, unless forced to, and even then only as much as i had to 

 

 

 

[z00se]

On 07/06/2019 at 4:31 AM, silent thunder said:

One of the most effective, quickest and free ways to shift perspective as I've experienced, is through altering breath.

 

Breath affects awareness as few other substances/processes.  Fasting is another, also free, not quite so quick.

 

Pranayama in particular, is so powerful in this regard.

 

Also walking through nature, looking at the trees in the forest, i think there are too many things to focus on (each leaf, bark, etc) and so your brain can't cope and so the shift occurs. Also there is a psychologist approach where one shakes their head from side to side, it's called EMDR.

[Sebastian]

Hey Zoose,

 

Happy to hear you're doing better, and that you recovered so fast. Your dedication to practice is something to be admired. I remember finding your posts on the small universe very helpful here... Anyways, just some random thoughts on this

 

8 hours ago, z00se said:

Can the wall or dam in the picture above not also be acting as a filter too? Keeping all the shit out so one can bring in the refined tip top golden spring water?

Of course this is an assumption because i don't open up the dam, for a long time now i have used qigong to refine the water to such a high level that my life was absolutely ace

 

I think wanting to filter is still creating a dam yeah... Because you're afraid that some bad things might come to you from upstream, so you erect a structure like a dam or a filter to protect yourself. It's the same thing. 

 

IMHO, you don't have to refine water to become gold... you refine yourself. Because ultimately we have no control over what the water brings. That's what you learned when you were recovering.

 

Refining the water / your life circumstances or erecting defenses like perfect Qigong practices, all of this just creates the illusion that you are in control. You are to some extent, until you are not.

 

The thing is, even if you have the best Qigong practices the world has ever seen, your level of health is still held together by the grace of the Divine. We might think we create our health through weekly workouts or certain practices, but it's really the grace of God that is maintaining our health at its present level. And it's the same Divine grace that made you recover so fast.

 

Refining yourself is just becoming a conduit for the universal watery energy to flow through. You become a a canal, you ask for guidance, peace and healing. I'll leave it with the prayer from my Master... Maybe you can use it too.

 

Know me to know you,

See me being completely happy,

completely successful in what I do,

completely healthy, see me being a complete empty vessel,

allowing your intelligence to flow through me,

completely trusting,

completely content,

completely loving,

completely grateful,

completely full of extraordinary joy,

and unavailable to energy that can stop me from being all of these things,

if I am blocked in any of these areas I ask that you see me as unblocked.

 

 

 

 

[Everything]

On 5-6-2019 at 10:03 PM, mrpasserby said:

Paraphrase from a couple of stories that i once heard: there was a man, who was scorned by all in his town for being evil. it was said of him by some that it was because he was always surrounded by 6 demons.

a passer by who was a experienced shaman happened to Perceive the mans sufferings. As he walked into the town to get a closer look, he was met by the controlling devil of the town, who insisted that he leave his town immediately. the shaman not having any agenda to fight the devil agreed, just asking to be granted one request. the shaman asked why was it that there was so many demons harassing one man, when no one else in the town was being bothered. the devil just laughed and said:  The old man had always acted like someone who would have a chance to become a shaman but he hadn't ever decided to make the effort, so the demons where there always trying to cause the man to shift his perspective toward the negative things in life and thus prevent him from taking the shaman form of the path of life. 

Lol, trying to "prevent him" from taking the shaman path. 

 

That is obviously doomed to fail. 

 

Then what happens, he suddenly can't help but take the shaman path. 

 

Like a bungee chord. They stretch it all the way into the darkness, for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Then create all this massive tension, to the point that there are 6 demons worth of energy in the chord. And then, they have no choice anymore. When they let go, the demons will make him the greatest shaman in the entire universe. Pffffgggg. Wooshhhh!  .... 

 

Hello?!  ... Is someone there? .... *looks off into the distance*

Oh there he is!  Aaah... The shaman of the universe. Aint it a beautiful sight...

 

✨blink in the distant horizon✨

 

So long mister trying to not be a shaman! 🖐️

[Everything]

On 5-6-2019 at 9:17 AM, Sebastian said:

These China walls live within our energetic system, in the acquired 12 meridians of course, but also in the deeper 8 vessels, that's why they are chronic and harder to remove. Just practicing Qigong alone it's hard to change perspectives, but you might regulate your emotions and feel healthier in general.

 

So how can you open a dam like that ? Looking at the picture it looks almost helpless. But really, no matter how big or small the wall you've built, the answer is to simply release the dam to the Universe. You're the beaver that created it in the first place.

 

And how do you do this ? The power of Light. In the physical world we use dynamite, but in the spiritual world, Light does the heavy lifting. Light, and you blow a wish towards the Light, like you do on your birthday cake. The wish is to release the dam. Intent and Light is the definition of prayer. Sincerity is dynamite in the spiritual world.

 

You'll see yourself and your flower in a new Light. But first, you have to ask yourself - do I really want to let go of my perspective ? It might not be the time, but just remember that you aren't forever bound to them, there is always a way out. 

 

 

 

You can't let go, unless you focus on the light, and it's radiant bliss of freedom. Then you simply move, anyway. You have a good teacher. 

 

Often we pray for the dam to be broken, and it is possible, if you truely want that. But most often we simply don't want that. So often, we just follow the path of least resistance, of the light, into a better life. 

 

And then, the damn breaking wont matter, so it breaks much more easily. 

 

On 5-6-2019 at 10:51 PM, rideforever said:

In A Course in Miracles a huge change in perspective is invocated, to stop being the body-form and to live as the spirit and trust that God has a plan for you, you need only surrender to it.

 

Florence Scoville Shinn says that we must believe in only one power, the good, for there is only one.   Only our forgetfulness and "false creation" creates a belief in the bad.   All bad things are simply a misuse of our creative imagination.

 

As we believe so we create.

 

It is very much worth disconnecting yourself from the beliefs and obsessions and struggles of human society, and to live inside the Light, and to refuse all else.   Just try that for a while.   Is it okay not to struggle, is it okay to surrender to what you are, is it okay to trust, is it okay not to be insane, is it okay not to be the physical body, is it okay not to fight with people, is it okay to relax.

 

Is pain bad, is death bad, is ... anything bad.   

Anything can be bad if you define it as bad, if you insist on it being bad. 

And what is the alternative?
Just this.

 

The primary manifestation of energetic alignment or misalignment is indicated by your emotions. So often we get confused between this or that. When emotions are simply your effortless guidance system. Always accurate. Always leading you back home to your full true self. Effortlessly. 

 

And it always helps you get back in alignment.