It is not about what you are doing ...it is about why you are doing it.
Michael A. Singer
Once again, it was like Michael A. Singer was reading my mind when I was pondering, "What do I do here...how do I serve ...what changes do I make out there, so it feels better in here?", and he came up with the answer I needed in the below linked podcast, The answer: It is not about what we do people. It is about why we are doing it.
There I was, (like many of you might also be doing) trying to understand Karma and going to my twisted up mind to ask , "Okay what do I "do" with this life so that I am not accumulating more of this "awful" karma, so that I am serving in the way I am supposed to, and so I can fulfill God's Will for me?" And, with breath held, I was waiting for an answer.
The Mind Can't Answer that Question
Duh? What was I doing? Mind cannot give me an answer. First, it is broken and neurotic, not to mention, responsible for getting me into this mess in the first place. Whatever advice it gives me, cannot be trusted to serve my higher Self. And second, it is only in the way. The mind is what stands between you and God. We can't go to this mind,then, for these types of answers.
So, What Do We Do?
We must remember who we are and why we are here. We are souls and we are here to learn.
Who We Are and What We Are Here to Do
I find so much peace in remembering that earth is a place where souls come to evolve. I find great comfort in imagining that this student soul within me, (like all the other 8 billion student souls on Earth) has put itself into a particular body with its attached genetics and collective unconscious (stored memories from its ancestry);into a particular life situation like the one I was born into with all its possibilities and limitations; into the traits and potentials that lead to a specific personality; and into a karmic potential that it is responsible for, exactly when it did, for the purpose of learning, growing and evolving. When I see my Self (as soul) driving around in this vechicle of body, mind, personality, and Karma over all the possible paths this earth school provides, seeing all the others around me doing the same...it is like "Wow! Isn't this cool?"
The Student Driver's Mission
I lose my attachment to vehicle, circumstances and all the drama going on out there when I remember that the driver...the soul inside...is on a mission. Everything else is not that important.
Though the karmic results we all experience differ from vehicle to vehicle, path to path...everybody is doing the same thing I am doing: just figuring their way around. Sure, the vessels all seem to differ in appearance, strength, character etc. as they go along their merry, or not so merry, ways bumping into things or running over things, hurting others or helping others, choosing the apparent "wrong path" or the apparent "right path", making mistakes or getting it right, and succeeding or failing ...but the student soul, driving of these vehicles, is the same. It pays no attention to things like failure or success. It is too busy learning. And each of us, as we drive along, are here to grow and evolve, using what we got, making the most of the paths we are offered. We just have to do our best with whatever shows up in front of us, using whatever level of clarity we are at when the lessons or the testing comes our way. Our best is good enough. We do not need to get A's or make the dean's list...we just need to do our best and learn. We learn best sometimes from our mistakes.
Mistakes help us to understand what we have to learn...if you did the best that you could ...failure becomes your teacher.
So accept and honor the learning potential in each effort, without the need for a certain outcome, and without the need to defend or shame or blame.
Don't Try to Fix the Path, Just Take It!
Though, the paths and all their offered openings and obstacles may differ for these human forms we inhabit...some so challenging to traverse, others so easy... they all serve a specific learning need for that soul in that vehicle. We may want the paths (circumstances, life events, other people we encounter etc.) before us to be a certain way. We may project a certain expectation on them, but they will never be the way we think they should. Our wanting and not wanting, our attempting to fix the paths Life throws our way only take us from our learning. We need to accept and honor each path that unfolds before us for all the learning potential it provides. It is never about changing the outside to make our experience here easier. (There is little learning and growing potential in 'easy'.) It is about realizing that each hard lesson, each challenging path will help us to grow. That is why we are here! That is why the person next to you is here!
Don't Get Hung Up on the Vehicle
We must do our best, as well, not to let these vessels get all jammed up with stuff that prevents us from seeing the soul and the valuable learning taking place within us. When we get too identified with being the vessel, we get jammed up with stuff related to our wanting and not wanting. All the experiences we encounter, we must remember, are for the soul inside, not for the vehicle on the outside. Don't get too hung up on creating appearances for the vehicle. Remember who is driving. The vehicle and the path are really only tools the Soul uses to grow. Evolving is an inside game.
Not About Doing or Not Doing!
The mind, as a part of the vehicle, will tell you to "do". Soul will tell you to "be" . This journey here is a short one. Don't waste time getting hung up on the doing for the vessel's sake. It is not about doing or not doing...it is about being completely open and doing the best you can with whatever unfolds in front of you. It is about growing through whatever is unfolding in front of you.
Renewed Commitment
So, when things get tough, when the path before me seems jammed with obstacles, I am going to visualize my Self, as Soul, driving around in this vehicle of body, mind, accumulated memory and personality that I am greatly responsible for creating. I am going to remind myself that I am not the vehicle. I am the one in it. When I look at others doing their thing, I am going to remind myself: They are not the vehicles I see, they are the souls driving them (even if they do not know they are). When the path that unfolds before me gets tough, as paths are sure to do, I am going to be open and grateful to the learning potential each challenge brings to this soul. When karmic consequence makes big red Cs Ds and even Fs on my test results, instead of crying out to the world with "Oh Why...why are you picking on me?", as I tend to do. I am going to thank Karma and say, "Great! I have more learning to do, more growing. Bring it on!"
And when I catch this vehicle reciting its never ending mantra of "Give me! Give me! Give me!", I will remind myself, once again, that I am not the vehicle, but the soul within that is driving. I will tune out the outside noise, and tune into the inside mantra instead, that goes a little like this:
"I am here to grow...I am here to serve...I am not here to take...I am here to give....Let me grow, let me grow. I am here to grow."
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( October 6, 2023) The Highest Path: Doing Your Best. https://tou.org/talks/
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