The Key, Part 1: Perception
Topics:
“The Key, Part 1: Perception”
“Back Problems Associated with Expectations and Obligations”
“Mistranslating Impulses”
Sunday, November 22, 2009 (Private/Phone)
Participants: Mary (Michael) and Rose (Quillan)
ELIAS: Good evening!
ROSE: Good evening, Elias! (Both laugh)
ELIAS: What shall we discuss?
ROSE: Oh, as always, a lot. (Both laugh)
Okay. We start with three questions. Magda would like to know if Fairouz, the Lebanese singer, is a focus of her.
ELIAS: Observing and counterpart.
ROSE: Ok, thank you. Next question for Ann. She would like to know what her essence fragmented from, and I’m talking about Ann/Vivette.
ELIAS: (Pause) Fragmented from Twylah.
ROSE: Okay. Thank you. Then I would like to know the stats of Joe. Joe is relatively new to the Elias material, and I pressed a little bit on him to give an impression because I know you always ask. He came up with Vold, common and religious, and that’s all he could give.
ELIAS: The alignment is Vold. The belonging to is Sumari.
ROSE: Uh-huh.
ELIAS: And yes, the others are correct.
ROSE: Okay. And would you like to give him his essence name?
ELIAS: Essence name: Pellyn, P-E-L-L-Y-N.
ROSE: Thank you! Next question. There is a movie, it’s called “Copying Beethoven” and it’s about Beethoven. And I would like to know if the character like they displayed him comes a little bit close to Beethoven in his real focus?
ELIAS: In some aspects, yes.
ROSE: Okay. And next question. My husband and myself, do we share focuses as Sadhus in India?
ELIAS: Yes, you are correct.
ROSE: Ja. Okay. Then another quick question. Bin Laden – Osama bin Laden – is this a real person or is this a made-up person?
ELIAS: It is an actual individual.
ROSE: It is an individual. Okay. Then there is another quick question. There is one person who has a real hard time about you saying one can change their reality from one moment to the next, and my take on this statement is that if you shift your perception, indeed your reality can change from one moment to the next, like when you fall in love from one moment to the next it looks utterly different. Is it something like that?
ELIAS: You are quite correct.
ROSE: Okay.
ELIAS: Indeed, in any capacity, the key IS perception, that when you actually change your perception your reality DOES change, and dependent upon HOW you change your perception, your reality can change very dramatically. In some situations it can change slightly, but in other situations it can change in extremes in which it may appear VERY different that it did previously. And that can occur quite literally in a moment, for it is actually a matter of your perception and how you perceive your reality, for your perception creates your reality.
ROSE: Yes. I know. This is all I need to know. I have other topics which are more important for me. (Both laugh) I have been waiting for this session so long and I don’t know when I have another chance, so I need… you understand. (Both laugh)
Okay. Then I would like to hear your take on my husband’s back. He has a lot of trouble in his back, and partially it is because it is not a straight back but there is a swing in it and it’s not straight and so on, but I also feel like he’s holding a lot of energy in it and he has had a lot of trouble lately. If you have anything like a recommendation for him or something like that, I would be very much interested.
ELIAS: Very well. You are correct in your evaluation. I would express that this is very much associated with not merely how he interacts with other individuals but his own expectations and pressure of himself in relation to other individuals: what he expects himself to do, how he expects himself to express himself, obligations. And in that, there is a considerable expression of pressure that he places upon himself in relation to other individuals and how he should be or what he should do and how he should interact or how he should not interact.
In this, it is not limited to one group of individuals. He generates this for the most part with any individual that he interacts with. Whether they be colleagues in business, whether they be friends, whether they be acquaintances, whether they be family members, it matters not. That he places a considerable obligation upon himself in many different capacities, and in that, he generates a considerable pressure upon himself to be interacting, responding and expressing in the “right” manner with each individual in relation to whatever he perceives is the right manner for each individual and what will be, in his perception, the least conflicting. But that is a dangerous game to engage, for the more an individual attempts to be the least conflicting with every individual, the more they create situations in which they are avoiding different situations to maintain that expression of not conflicting. And in that direction, the individual themself becomes very conflicted.
And in that, it creates a heaviness which, as you are aware, the body consciousness responds to, and the more an individual pushes themself, the more likely they are to generate physical manifestations. And once the individual begins to generate physical manifestations, they merely become exacerbated the more the individual continues to engage in those directions that created the physical manifestation in the first place.
ROSE: So what would be your tip for him, your recommendation? Concrete; he’s not very familiar with your material. For someone like him, what would you say?
ELIAS: I would express, first of all, to engage a suggestion in an experimenting manner, first of all. And in that experiment, to not necessarily change what he is doing initially, but to merely notice each time he is interacting with another individual, with EVERY individual that he is interacting with, and to merely allow himself to notice the slight feeling of hesitation or of uncomfortableness.
Now, the reason I express “slight” is that he is so familiar and so accustomed to engaging this action of attempting to avoid what he perceives to be a potential conflict in any capacity regardless of how large or how small it may be, that the feeling, the signal, that he may be offering to himself is likely to be slight, for he is accustomed to overriding that, therefore he is unfamiliar with paying attention to it. Now, in this experiment, when he notices that hesitation or that uncomfortableness, merely to ask himself, “If I had the choice to engage or to express in any manner that I want, if there were no consequences, if there were no other factors involved and I had the choice to engage whatever I want in this moment, what would I actually do?”
Now; as I expressed, it is not necessary for him to engage any different action, and it is not necessary for him to change his choices.
ROSE: Uh huh, but to notice.
ELIAS: Noticing and merely allowing himself permission to ask himself, “What would I do if I could do whatever I want in this moment?” That is enough to become more aware of what he is doing with himself.
ROSE: I understand. Okay, maybe we come back to this another time. For today I want to go to the next topic. I would like to give a little report about what’s been going on in the meantime.
I have been allowing myself to do whatever I feel like, and it has been sometimes pretty wild and pretty... (laughs) pretty extreme, you could say. Like I have been on the computer reading and doing things and so on from the morning ‘til the night, and sometimes I found myself being pretty extreme but I said, “Okay, I’ll experiment and I’ll do that.” And then there were moments when I felt okay, now I’m stopping this and I want to do something very practical like ironing or so.
ELIAS: And what would you consider extreme?
ROSE: Extreme is like dressing myself at night at 6 o’clock or so, tidying up every, I don’t know, three days or so [Rose’s note: When it clearly needed more often]. Sometimes it looked a little messy at my home. (Laughter) You know, in quotation marks, “normal” is to get up in the morning, dress yourself, do morning toilet, eat a little bit and have a structure. Have a structure, have a rhythm, have a structure, have a repetitive structure – none of that I have. (Both laugh) I’m totally unstructured. You can even say it looks a little chaotic sometimes, and it was challenging for me always, but it has become challenging for myself also. (Both laugh) Sometimes, “My oh my, you look like a person who lives under a bridge or so at the moment. Look at yourself in the mirror here: Why? I started to become smelly (Elias laughs heartily), because I was so much… (Laughing) You know? I was like a professor studying and studying and nothing else mattered, I just wanted to do this and the rest was “I don’t care.”
Then there were moments when my emotions went on a rollercoaster course, and there were moments when I felt so… Mm, I don’t know, like “Oh god, I want to be destructive to myself.” And I said, “Hey what’s going on NOW? I mean I’m following my flow, why do I feel like this?” But there is always a positive outcome, always.
ELIAS: And how would you be feeling in relation to being destructive?
ROSE: How I feel about it? Or what the expression of being destructive is?
ELIAS: The latter.
ROSE: The expression, as an example, to eat too much and to know this is not doing me any good and it will destroy at least a half of the next day and it will make me feel bad and everything and I will get fat. And so, it’s not being nice and friendly and careful with me but quite the reverse.
ELIAS: Very well. Continue.
ROSE: And I felt like, “Okay, if I continue this more, then I can reach the goal of… being destructive to myself. And I was wondering, what is the reason for me to be destructive to myself? Everything is okay so far. I’m just a little frustrated in between about maybe not making visible progress or what else, but why do I become destructive, and this destruction pattern has been with me all my life.
ELIAS: This, actually, is an interesting question, for I would express to you that this is not an unusual expression for most individuals, although many individuals would be reluctant to address to it or to admit it to another individual or to express it, so to speak.
ROSE: Mm-hm.
ELIAS: In this, the reason that this occurs is not necessarily that there is an issue occurring, or that there is some wrong expression occurring, so to speak. What occurs is, occasionally, individuals may begin to express impulses that are translating in certain manners, and the impulses are promptings for the individual to be generating one of several different actions. One may be to be releasing energy. Another may be to be somewhat indulging of themself. Another may be to distract themselves in a particular manner that involves a physical action that will actually allow them to release energy. But – regardless of what the communication is, so to speak, what is consistent in many of these types of promptings is that they are impulses.
Now, first of all let me remind you, impulses are not bad. Impulses incorporate a purpose. They are beneficial. They are very much associated with the genuine aspect of yourself. But – impulses are not thoughts, and they are not feelings. They are inner promptings.
Now; as they are not thoughts or feelings, they very easily become attached to feelings and thoughts. They become translated by thoughts and, dependent upon your own associations and your beliefs, they become attached to feelings also.
Remember, your associations are attached to your experiences. Therefore, the feelings may be related to an association. Let us incorporate an example of eating. You may incorporate an impulse, and that impulse may be translated into the thought of eating, and that may be accompanied by a feeling that is somewhat uncomfortable, for it is related to associations that you may not necessarily be hungry, therefore eating is not a good action, or eating may be an action that contributes to an undesirable appearance, or weight. There are many different associations that can be drawn from that one subject.
Now, in relation to the impulses, for the most part if you are paying attention to impulses, you will notice that generally, impulses are not necessarily misinterpreted. Generally speaking, for the most part, when you translate an impulse into a thought, you do translate it accurately, but there are exceptions. At times you may be generating an impulse, and it may be translated incorrectly.
Now, the reason that it becomes translated incorrectly is that inwardly there may be more than one subject that is attempting to be addressed to; and in that, the thought mechanism may confuse the subject and therefore may translate an impulse incorrectly, and you may feel the impulse and the thought arises translating that to eat. But that may not necessarily actually be what the impulse is about. The impulse may be not necessarily about eating but it may be more so about allowing yourself to indulge yourself, or it may be about satisfying yourself – not necessarily specifically with eating, but that may be the translation. There may be other subjects that you are within the process of addressing to that may be confusing the thought mechanism.
Now, when that happens, what occurs is [that] the translation of the impulse seems wrong or seems incorrect – not that the thought mechanism actually registers that, but a knowing within you registers that. Therefore, there’s a conflict. The translation stands, the impulse is to eat, but the feeling becomes triggered: “No, this is incorrect. This is destructive. Why do I want to eat when I know this is a destructive action for me?” And therefore it creates confusion. When in actuality it is a matter of allowing yourself momentarily to stop and evaluate, “What motivated that idea?” For you are listening to the translation; therefore it is a matter of stopping, paying attention to what motivated that: “An impulse motivated that. I have generated an impulse. Was the impulse to eat?”
Impulses, I will express to you, generally do not move in opposition to your body consciousness, which is another factor in impulses being beneficial and the reason that I have expressed many times advocating individuals to listen to their impulses and to allow themselves to follow them. But, yes, you are correct: at times those impulses may be confused, and you may be translating them in a manner that is different from what they actually are.
The first indicator of an incorrect translation with an impulse is that you will signal yourself that there some incorrect element occurring, such as the eating: “Am I hungry? No. Why do I want to eat if I am not hungry? For I have an impulse to eat. Do I actually have an impulse to eat, or is that impulse to be moving me or to be expressing some other action that I am perceiving I am not expressing enough of in this moment?”
Such as, another example that may be more extreme or more obvious: An individual may incorporate an impulse, and that impulse may be translated into the identification of an action to be harmful to themself, such as cutting themself. The impulse is real. It may be very strong. The translation may be confused with other issues that are in play, and therefore the thought mechanism translates that into “Engage an action that is physically penetrating, that is physically stimulating.” And pain can be a very physically stimulating action, therefore the individual translates that impulse into the action of cutting themself. The impulse was not a prompting for the individual to be damaging or harmful to themself, but it may have been a prompting for them to release energy in a physical manner and one that is in more of an extreme, for what they may be addressing to inwardly may be of significant volume. Or it may be the impulse, or the prompting, to generate some type of intensity in physical feeling, for the individual may be disconnecting themself in a manner that is extreme, therefore the impulse is designed to move them in the direction of reconnecting, whether it be with themself or with their world, so to speak.
ROSE: Okay. Elias, time is running and I will listen to this again and see if I have more questions about it. I have a quick question related to it and then I would want to change the subject once again.
When I am in this situation, say I am tired and I need to go to the bathroom and it’s late in the night and then I start to eat, and I notice okay, it’s one o’clock in the morning and it’s not the right time to fill my body and to fill it very much; it is time to go to bed. I am tired, I need to see the bathroom. Why do I decide to eat? This doesn’t happen every day, but when it happens, it’s really weird because I can watch myself, observe myself making a decision that is not reasonable. And I can explain it to me like, okay, my mother has perhaps fed me when I was cold, when I was tired and when I needed to see the bathroom or whatever, then I got food instead and so I am conditioned to this; that would be reasonable. But it’s not reasonable that if I just let it go that I find myself making this decision to eat and maybe to overeat in the night. It’s not reasonable, and it is weird. And I will listen to what you have said, maybe there is the whole explanation in it already, but a quick… It sounds silly, but…
ELIAS: No, it does not.
ROSE: Why is it that I do not make a reasonable decision that “Ah! I’m not hungry, I’m tired, I go to the bathroom, I will go to bed,” and…
ELIAS: For you are tired, but you may also be somewhat restless; and in that, going to the bathroom is not comforting and not very satisfactory.
ROSE: Right.
ELIAS: In this, you choose a different action that you generate an association that it is more comforting, but beyond being comforting, it is an action that you can engage that you have generated this association with that allows you to relax.
ROSE: Yes, right.
ELIAS: You already are somewhat restless. Regardless of if you are tired, you are also restless, and therefore you are not necessarily ready or in the correct energy, so to speak, to sleep, and you know that, and in merely engaging the bathroom, that is not quite satisfying for that leaves you in this state, so to speak, of continuing to be restless and not relaxed and with the prospect of merely returning to your bed in this state of restlessness but tired. Therefore, you choose to engage a different action, for the impulse is expressing to you, “I’m restless. I require releasing some energy, some comfort to allow me to relax, that I can sleep.”
ROSE: Okay. Thank you.
ELIAS: [Inaudible] you choose to divert from the bathroom and move in the direction of comforting yourself by engaging in eating, for this is also an action that generates an association of relaxing. When you eat, you, generally speaking, do that in a more relaxed state, or you create more of a relaxed state while you are eating.
ROSE: Yes.
ELIAS: For the action of eating in a tense or anxious state is not satisfying and generally creates a rebellion with the body consciousness. Therefore, it is quite understandable that you would translate that impulse into eating, for that is an action that you can do alone, that you can do in a manner that is not disturbing to other individuals, that will allow you or prompt you to be more relaxed, to be more comforted and therefore will lend to the direction of you allowing yourself to engage sleep. It’s not an impulse to eat, –
ROSE: It’s a desire to find something to relax and to soothe the restlessness, to nourish myself, to address the restlessness and to ease it and to find a release for it and so on.
ELIAS: Yes.
ROSE: Okay.
ELIAS: Which, engaging the bathroom does not do.
ROSE: I understand. Elias, we need to change the subject.
ELIAS: Very well.
ROSE: Okay. (Sigh) Oh god, I have material for three hours. (Both laugh).
What is the imagery of my spine?
[Here the session seems to have been cut off by Skype. The session ends after about 44 minutes and continues two days later in Session 20091124.]
Copyright 2009 Mary Ennis, All Rights Reserved.