How to Improve Anything

I would rather have the whole world against me than my own soul.

Is there something in your life you hold sacred? I hope so. But if that thing you hold secret is outside of you you have a big problem.

When the thing you hold sacred is outside of you you have lost control. I for example, let’s say it’s your family or your marriage. And you decide that this is the sacred ground. You start doing everything in your life to make that thing, the family or the marriage, safe.

And when you try to make that thing safe you constantly need it feeding back to you that it’s okay. But all external feedback will be a mix of thank you and f you. Now, it starts to edge on the verge of greed.

Do you remember talking about the four substitutes for Innerwealth? They are food and substance, greed, sexuality and spirituality. These are what’s called the four appetites. The stomach, the mind, the body and the spirit. When those four appetites are satisfied it is good. But we can become obsessed with these appetites when we feel empty. And that is why they can become substitute.

Fullness, or in other more easy language fulfilment and satisfaction or contentment the great default of all humanity. We are born rich and we die rich and we modify the form of that wealth throughout our lives. But we are always full. But because things get bent out of shape we start to think we are not full and start seeking. And habit of being dissatisfied can take over. When we cannot hold something sacred, we will always be dissatisfied and therefore be using substitutes to seek satisfaction.

When we make something outside of ourselves sacred we do it at a great cost. When we make something outside of ourselves sacred it means that we will sacrifice something, anything to preserve the safety of that thing that we have made safe and sacred. For example a person might sacrifice their self-respect in trying to preserve and make safe their relationship. Another person might make success sacred which is outside themselves and measured by income or accolade from the boss and therefore sacrifice anything to keep that sacred thing alive.

We all do it from time to time. We make a relationship or children or even our work and success in it all the money that flows from it the golden egg of our life and we surrender ourselves on the funeral Pyre to it. We make material life sacred at the cost of the human condition. But I am here to say that I would rather have the whole world against me than my own soul because I have been there.

I can tell you what it’s like to have my own soul against me. I can tell you what it’s like to make business sacred, to make relationships sacred, to make friendships sacred or make family sacred, to make money sacred or even physical health sacred. I can tell you what it’s like to make so many things sacred even knowledge at the cost of my heart and soul.

You might be confused with the word soul. I would understand that. I still don’t know what it means but I know how it expresses itself. It expresses its self in one human quality. Something that everything else within new stands. It is the teacher who shoulders you are standing on. It is a human quality within you that you see and believe is perfect, gifted to you at birth, and is worth sacrificing everything, to defend.

I once knew a man who was probably one of the most powerful men I’ve ever met. His presence and his physical size were huge. But this man became a bubbling mess in the presence of his spouse. All she needed to do was make one single negative comment toward him and he would become a pile of melted rubbish. With this he would react and proclaim what a bad person she was. And when I coached him I asked him to take her down off the pedestal. Because he had made his marriage sacred and therefore had a single source of self merit, her words.

No for a giant man to still need a mother was most surprising. But, it was disguised in the form of making his family and his partner sacred. In the words of today’s article, he would rather have his soul against him than his family or partner. And this made him sacrifice his own self-respect in order to gain the respect of her. And it also made him very vulnerable to whatever she thought or whatever she said. Because no matter what he did he was asking for mummies approval.

Your heart is the core of your deepest humanity. When we have finished exploring intellect and attending ceremonies, when we are exhausted trying to change the unchangeable, then we come to rest in our heart. In this place your heart and my heart are one, we are interconnected, no need to compare, we are a part of something bigger, where our individuality is transient, the moment becomes important and we all relax in the knowledge that we have no idea of what could happen next. This is a beautiful reality, the core of confidence, love, beauty and a healthy life.

If one spent their whole life doing nothing other than opening their heart and developing the qualities of the heart, it is no exaggeration to say that this effort alone would bring them to the highest goal of human life. Because it is through the heart that one finds their truth and within the heart that one finds their True Nature. In this place –Self and God are one. You have to know this totally. To separate God and Self is to think God is great and I am small. Then you are locked in to your own smallness, and you cannot see the connection between what is natural, beautiful, and you. Native people knew this connection before religion came and separated them from nature. It is the human heart that can teach us to love without condition. It is here that strength and conviction emanate. Compassion and loving-kindness live in the heart and it is here that one feels peace. It is through the heart that we can find the way to treat our brothers and sisters, and ultimately, a way to be true to ourselves.

The heart represents the essential nature of a person and thus the development of the heart; the unfolding of the heart and the illumination of the heart are of the utmost importance on the path of to find your True Nature. This is the centre around which your life can revolve. But it is not the emotional centre. The heart is often mistaken as a nice fuzzy feeling in the centre of the chest. This is the emotional centre. We are talking about the human spirit. It is not a feeling but rather a knowing. Called the inner voice, it is not a voice at all. Called the spirit it is not a physical existence. It is a pure, unconditional knowing. No words can describe it.

To find your heart is to find your path, a path that doesn’t waver, it’s also to hold a certain centre, and be true to yourself and others. It all begins with gaining a true sense of your being. It’s a way to think and feel that reflects your true nature, it is natural, and, it creates a certain inner confidence, a strength, and builds a foundation from which your life may evolve. It can’t be separate practice from daily life because it is life itself. It doesn’t mean rushing around solving the world’s problems either, because those obstacles are countless and that rushing around is in itself part of the world’s problems. By listening to your own heart, to your own particular gifts, it enables you to focus on what you really love to do and to express yourself without tension or reaction. The deepest experience of life is awakened when each individual finally takes this opportunity. We become the mirror of the change we would love to see in the world; we must first learn to love ourselves and to find peace and harmony within.

When we explore the term heart in common language we find that ‘heart’ means the central or innermost part of something such as the ‘heart of the city’, it also means the essential or vital part of something such as “what is the heart of the matter?” A person with a ‘lot of heart’ is someone with determination. To ‘lose heart’ means to be discouraged so we see that the will of a person emanates from their heart. We refer to the heart when we talk about generosity or sincerity as well as consideration, understanding and helpfulness as when we say, “He has a big heart.” or “She is a dear heart.” When a person is cruel or mean or when someone shows no regard for others we say, “His heart is closed or small or cold or that he has no heart at all.”

In most of the spiritual traditions of the world the heart is considered the location where heaven and earth meet within the human being. This, of course, is not the physical heart but rather the ‘heart centre’ within the chest. This centre is where we experience love; it’s the Temple within.

As humans cannot grasp the idea of a heart outside the body, there is a part in this body of flesh dedicated to housing the idea of the heart. This area is most sensitive to feeling and has been called “broken” at times, although no physical break actually occurs.

The surface of our being is mind, while the depth of it is heart. The heart is clarity the mind is personality. It is through the heart that we feel ourselves or know ourselves. Once a person understands their True Nature, the character and the mystery of heart, they understand the language of the whole of creation because they know truth. So we have choices. Listen to this heart or listen to the mind and its stories or fear and uncertainty.

It takes a certain trust A trust that, when faced with what seems to be an insurmountable challenge, we will survive. It does not necessitate becoming religious. The spiritual life is not lived in temples, or on particular days of worship, nor is it only reverence to a statue or icon; it is lived every single moment of our lives. From what people see of us, and what we think, to our secret thoughts and our secret ideas.

People say put your heart into it; it means to become fully invested. It means to throw the full weight of your humanity behind something. There are no half hearted success stories. We must be vigilant. Our heart must remain invested. When the heart goes out of something we automatically sabotage it. So, if we can invest ourselves in maintaining the commitment of our heart we will automatically achieve many of our dreams in life.