Thread by @WesleyBKress

(1\31) Death, Mental Health, Self-Mastery & Our Shadow Self 🧠

As I have walked through life I have discovered some wisdom. A piece that at first I was resistant too. I grew up in a cult religion. I left the cult religion but I did not leave the light. I simply
$eGLD $CEL $SAITO

(2\31) realize that I was following a conceptual framework of GOD that was of a false deity. At first I looked to write new beliefs over my prior beliefs. This is the common practice of the pathological “positive” psychology I seen being passed around as wisdom. Often times we

(3\31) confuse positivity with happiness. Happiness is not about being blind to the negatives in our environment; it’s about believing we have the power to do something about them. If we simply layer “positive thinking” over faulty belief constructs rather than actually

(4\31) dissolve and transcend them we are both increasing complexity as well as promoting deception. It’s almost like taking a drug which forces you to feel good but does so not by mastery or change but through a layer of perception over the underlying experience. This can

(5\31) lead us to be an irrational optimist, who has a vision of reality based on desire and delusion, not how things actually are. You can’t sugarcoat the present and still make good decisions for the future. By simply writing over false beliefs you create an increased

(6\31) polarity of emotional pathology. Why? An example of this would be in the external world you and someone else fighting. Have you noticed that if the other person takes a neutral & or curiosity approach, attempting to truly understand things really shift. If the person

(7\31) instead chooses to fight back it blows out of control. This is simply an analogy to help you understand how it applies in our own mind or psyche. This is very key because this exemplifies how one can’t change their belief structures through this mechanism. One must

(8\31) choose it through neutrality. This is why every religion and spirituality tradition finds the greatest healing comes from surrender, forgiveness, compassion, acceptance (not agreement) or in spiritual traditions it comes from merging with universe, aligning one self

(9\31) with nature, following one’s internal compass which is guided by the all knowing, etc. As humans we don’t understand that us not accepting things the way they are does not mean we agree with them. The actions of these elements requires us to practice the skill of

(10\31) surrender with our mind and body. Meditation and prayer are both practices that help us to practice these states of being. Many though simply turn to these practices in times of crisis. While they may offer some reprieve, this same approach is like throwing yourself

(11\31) into an intense game of which you haven’t practiced the skills & expect you will succeed. This is the same perspective that many take to these practices. They use them as an application vs an operating system. The idea is to master these states by also mastering our

(12\31) psychology. They just increase our practice and capacity to understand neutrality. I would also point out that meditation is a conceptual framework and practice that doesn’t just apply to our traditional ways of thinking about it. For example almost all forms of

(13\31) extremism do accompany what may be considered “extreme meditation”. The core principles of meditation deal with bringing your attention to the here and now. It doesn’t necessarily matter what it’s per se. Many get lost in the abstract mechanisms rather than see where

(14\31) the principles apply. Many extremists like Alex Honnold describe this process observation or neutrality towards fear. “I am not trying to overcome my fear, I am simply trying to step outside of it.” *Timestamped This is a loaded

(15\31) statement. He has the mastery to understand that for one he is not his fear. Also, that he is not trying to overcome his fear, as he would be simply agreeing to the belief construct that it’s in fact the fear is real. He would also amplify it by trying to remove it,

(16\31) this is the opposite of surrender and acceptance. Instead he attempts to step outside of it. This is playing an observer role. The level of mastery here is one of significant progression both mentally, emotionally and physically. He is participating in “extremist

(17\31) meditation”. Pure immersion in the moment gives us an ability to not suffer unnecessarily from the mind. Our life will encompass suffering no matter what but we don’t need to amplify it by reliving it more than the authentic unfolding of it, nor should we avoid it

(18\31) entirely only to have to deal with an increased magnitude version of it as it emerges to the surface in the future when we no longer have the capacity to hold it down. Our capacity to hold it down is often times contingent on the capacity of our entire system to

(19\31) maintain homeostasis. This objectively can be measured via (Heart Rate Variability) which measures the tone of the autonomic nervous system. The measurement helps us understand how well one can handle acute stress. This is why both the mind and body are interconnected.

(20\31) As we age our Heart Rate Variability decreases, leaving us more susceptible to not being able to adapt to the every changing stressors of our life or increased likelihood of “mid-life” crisis or mental health challenges from these prior trauma’s or pain from

(21\31) resurfacing. When they re-surface we often go back to short term coping mechanisms as we are wired to avoid pain, rather than engage with it and transcend it. Taking this one step further it’s important to see how this can apply in our lives. If in fact we are not

(22\31) aligned with many of the people, work & relationships that we have, we can’t be fully present. This is where being sure have healthy boundaries with people is very important. This should be communicated from a point of respect. A healthy relationship is symbiotic for

(23\31) both people, not parasitic (one way).

As humans we tend to experience our life only through relativity. The problem is that many things can be insidious and really encroach overtime. This means we can quickly normalize to pathology and suffering. This in some ways is a

(24\31) survival mechanism, almost as if not experiencing the pain of suffering maximally helps us move forward. This how we are so quick to move ahead in our external life & shove down our internal pain/trauma. This is a coping mechanism but one of increased future

(25\31) consequential (magnitude). Examples may be a mid-life crisis or actions that lead to great pain/trauma to the people we don’t intend to do so. This is why we must learn to continue to acquire insight and coping mechanisms to have the skills to handle these things as we

(26\31) all will have trauma, adversity & pain. Many false constructs about the world prime or potentiate us to have increase suffering and trauma than necessary. All of these factors are of the shadow self.

Death is likely one of the most significant as it relates to the

(27\31) shadow self. Most never want to think about the possibility of this occurring to them or someone close to them. The simple pulling this forward into our conscious thought process will illicit great levels of pain and suffering if we have not surrendered or accepted it

(28\31) as part of our path. As mentioned above surrender acceptance does not mean agreement, it means that we see things clearly & have no resistance to the unfolding of our path. It’s inevitable so by us resisting it or avoiding it as if somehow we will never deal with it, we

(29\31) may be amplifying its potential to create unnecessary pain and suffering. The are some that practice death meditations as a way of creating great levels of clarity, gratitude and refinement of their life path. Many of us spend so much time working in our life, we never

(30\31) have the opportunity to work on our life. Death, pain, suffering & adversity can bring about great levels of initiative to promote clarity and refinement to the things of great value in our life. As our world continues to experience death in unnecessary ways due

(31\31) pathological ego-maniacs may we offer, love, compassion, empathy, courage, coping and wisdom to those that need it during these times of great suffering and tribulation of the world.