Free Your Self From What Confines You!

by Guy Finley

Whenever we find ourselves in some "unwanted" part of ourselves, perhaps reliving an old heartache or caught in the throes of some irrepressible anger, old fear, or unyielding worry, part of this unwanted moment includes our certainty that we're trapped in this condition. And compounding our confusion over feeling ourselves captive in this way are all of the attending negative inner voices. They tell us not only are we hostages of these disturbing states, but that the pain we now feel will be with us forever.

Bit by bit we come to accept what we see as the inevitability of our unhappy, captive condition. And should we hear from a still, small, free part of ourselves, "Try once more, you don't belong there in that cell of yourself," from within us rises a chorus of negative voices to drown it out -- a choir constructed from our own past experiences that sings out, "There's no use." So we go to sleep within ourselves, preferring to dream of better times or in the imagining of what we will never know outside of our fitful reveries. But we can wake up! We may awaken from not only the unsatisfying dreamlife into which we've slipped, but from the unconscious dream-self that would have us remain there as captives of the lies it weaves. Shattering this dream world -- and its hold over us -- begins with bringing real light into it. This needed new light comes to us, first, in the form of new knowledge -- an insight such as the one that follows into the actual nature of these negative states and the self they capture.

Regardless of the assertion of any negative state that seeks to convince you otherwise (using its painful presence within you as "proof" that the prison you're locked within will stand until the end of time), apply this one great truth:

All punishing self-states are "lies." They must break down if they don't succeed in breaking down your willingness to test their reality. How do you conduct such a test? You learn to look at their presence within you with the quiet understanding that, in reality, nothing in life is fixed. All things change. Everything passes.

This is truth. Knowing this to be true is power over what holds us captive.

On the other hand, according to another great truth, everything in life tends to become more of what it is, so that the only thing "fixed" in us are those parts of our presently unenlightened nature that convince us to resist life's natural changes. As this fear-filled, downward-trending nature tricks us into accepting its conclusions, they become the same as our captivity. We unconsciously accept the limited and painful life this alliance-in-the-dark produces. We can do better!

Real self-change begins with seeing that Real Life is change itself. This means there is no condition that can hold you captive without your unconscious cooperation. Withdraw it. Wake up. Walk out of yourself by changing how you see what you call your life. Realize that while the contents of your life may come and go, turn dark, or suddenly seem delightful, regardless,
these things will pass. Resting in the awareness of this Truth while working to stand upon its higher ground, you come upon the Life within you whose nature is the unchanging witness of these movements. This Self dwells outside of change, even as all that changes moves through It.

Excerpted from The Seekers’ Guide to Self Freedom, by Guy Finley