Hi,
This is Guy,
And welcome to the second session in our important study of Breaking the Circle of Addiction.
We're going to talk about awakening the need for a new will.
That may be surprising to some of you,
That we need a new will,
But as we look at the following ideas,
We'll see just how important it is to at least explore the possibility.
Because one way or another,
We all suffer over things that we can't stop doing to ourselves or to others.
And sometimes the things that we do to ourselves or others,
No one even knows about it,
Including ourselves.
But that doesn't mean that we don't suffer in that circle of self.
And adding,
If you will,
To the conflict inherent in self-compromising behaviors is the fact that it's frustrating beyond belief.
Since most of us,
In some way or another,
Have built a business,
Worked,
And succeeded in some place,
Won accolades,
Friends are impressed with us,
We've weathered storms.
And if all that's true,
Then why is it that we can't stop doing things,
Thinking about things that torment us,
Let alone actually being involved in some kind of behavior that's self-destructive in an undeniable way?
And the reason,
If you will,
That this is frustrating to us is because we do have a kind of self-will,
An order of our self that we'll talk about,
Really it's just desire,
That can make almost anything that is imagined come to pass,
If it's desired enough anyway.
But there's one thing about that particular level of will,
About desire and the things that it imagines and accomplishes,
And that is,
And I hope that you'll see this with me,
There's one thing that desire can't do.
It cannot make us whole.
We've all tried.
Just a long list of things that we've imagined,
Planned,
And maybe accomplished,
Believing that when we got to the end of that line,
Somehow we'd be liberated from a feeling of being inadequate or in some way missing the mark.
But it doesn't bring an end to that feeling of being incomplete,
Regardless of how many times we complete our goals.
And why is that?
Because anything that we imagine is something needed to make us feel free or whole appears within us from out of a level of consciousness that in and of itself isn't whole.
Perhaps that's a new idea to you and it's worth exploring.
If I have a pain,
For instance,
Because I haven't produced what I thought I should or other people have looked at me and doubted my skills and I have this drive to prove that I am what I imagine myself to be,
From where comes that drive?
What is it that's moving me?
And the answer is it's something that feels incomplete as it is.
And so that same consciousness imagines some way in which it will complete itself,
But this is important to understand,
What is incomplete in and of itself cannot complete itself by itself.
And that's the will that we presently serve,
Which is why this series and this particular talk is about the need for a new will.
And there's corroboration,
If we can see it.
St.
Paul,
For instance,
Said,
Our hopes must not be in things seen,
But in things unseen,
For who has hopes in what they have seen?
Translated,
We place our hopes in what we want to become,
Failing to see that whatever it is we imagine we need to become is already an image in our mind,
Some of which we've accomplished and if it could have made us whole the first time it would have,
It can't.
So not only is this lower level of consciousness powerless to heal us,
To make us whole,
But when we,
Unknowingly,
Identify with its will,
Its promise,
If you will,
To set us free,
When and as at last we become what it imagines,
We are literally,
Mistakenly,
Agreeing to live as a captive in its world of imagination.
That's why so many of our dreams are seemingly shattered the moment the conditions that we created collapse,
And then we find ourselves struggling again to make ourselves whole.
So one thing should be clear at this point,
If nothing else,
We need another order of will.
Not one that does what it now does that promises freedom from self-defeating behaviors,
From our addictions.
No,
This new order of will doesn't have to do that because it's already free.
A will that's already whole and that cannot be made to act against itself.
Our task is to awaken to this higher order of self and let it set us free.
In our next session,
Which is called No More Fight or Flight Reactions,
We will go deeply into how we can bring about this change in ourselves.
Thanks for joining me.
See you soon.
