The Key To Life
I had never considered writing but I have just sat down and written this from my pure conscious mind and it has had little edit. It is the result of the things I have needed to learn to recover from Alcoholism and Drug dependency. It has brought me through the loss of my 10 year old son Anthony who has inspired me to keep trying. Read it slowly, and look into yourself to see if you can use it. Consider it as an alternative Idea....
Its an attitude to Life...I don't ask you to Believe it.
As soon as you believe something everything else is excluded.
Try to understand it for yourself. Try it out on small situations...See if it is true? Test it against all your troubles.
Life can be a long hard slog when things seem to go against us and the more we care the more pain we feel. If this can help you in any way to enjoy a happier Life then
it will have been worth writing.
The road is full of pot holes, so take care and Good Luck.
LIFE IS A TRUE REFLECTION OF YOU.
LIFE IS NOW.
DON'T WASTE ANY MORE TIME START NOW.
The most important thing for you to do whilst reading this is to Consider each paragraph against your own experiences and look to see if there is something similar in your own Life. By showing several examples of the same thing hope I will cause you to see that you have far more say over your Life than you use. If you can begin to use this control, your Life will become more simple and you won't have to deal with all the pain if you choose not to.
THE KEY TO LIFE By Peter Farmer
During my struggle for Inner Peace from the many Desires and Temptations of Life,I stumbled on what may prove to be one of the main Key's of Life itself.
I debate this now for your own inner consideration, in the wish that its understanding will open new horizons in
your own Life. I am not suggesting that what you are about to read, should or will take away any understanding or ideas that you already have. I hope by reading this and understanding it you may be able to use its Wisdom to balance many troubles and problems you yourself have to-day. By looking back you will be able to untangle some of the past hurts that remain with you, and are causing you so much difficulty.
Firstly, what I will ask you to do before reading this is to set aside everything you already know about Life. That is the accumulated Knowledge,Doctrines and Ideas taught at home,school and those read in other books.
Clear your mind completely and do not try to balance this against other things until you have completely understood what it is that I am suggesting.
It is not my intention to undermine or debase any advances made by man and there are many, but I hope you will see, as I have, that this fits in quite neatly with everything we already know. Nor is it my purpose to prove this beyond doubt but to cause you to see that you
already know what I am saying and in effect clarify certain fundamental ideas, so that you can at last draw back the curtains and live Life more fully.
To achieve this we will begin to look more closely at some of the things that we take for granted.
KNOWLEDGE
TRUTH
LIFE
Knowledge;
Is knowing, familiarity gained by experience.
Truth;
Quality, state of being true or accurate or honest or sincere or loyal or accurately shaped or adjusted.
Life;
Period from birth to death.
Firstly it defines Knowledge as being a familiarity gained by experience. That is clearly our own and other peoples
experience.
Is it not very much dependent upon Truth?
What good is False Knowledge to anyone?
Truth is the best attempt for one or many people to report accurately information as seen, heard or perhaps experienced ,to the best of their ability.
Life;
Life is now.
When we are born and we say our lives begin.
We begin to accumulate all kinds of knowledge which we receive either by hereditary or scholarly means.
That is to say we take in things that have been learnt by others and tested to the best possible level.These things we usually accept as fact.
Now when we are involved in a personal situation we can see how difficult it is to be absolutely sure of the exact Truth of anything.
We lack the skill or ability to tap into other people's thoughts and so can only rely upon what we hear what we see, or what we ourselves think.
This, we may weigh against our own belief's and experiences and make judgements accordingly.
So it would appear that this accumulation of knowledge can only be used as a guide, and not as a concrete fact upon
which to ascertain the answers to many of Life's problems.
Let us look more closely at Truth.
Does anyone ever know the complete Truth about anything?
Even in our own lives, as I have said,we have to suppose many things. When we meet a friend or perhaps enemy,
how do you know that what you see is not what they are intending you to see and that what they say is what they mean?
Yet we accept this every day as being a True Reflection of a situation.
Now consider how distorted information becomes when people write about a situation.
Perhaps they were not even there, but have gathered different accounts and written the similarities, or their
interpretations in the account.
Is this a True picture?
They write to the best of their abilities.
We may read several accounts, perhaps we weigh these against what we feel ourselves and we decide what we believe is the Truth.
Please tell me how can anything be done to change the future when we are equipped with such a poor system of
understanding the true picture?
We begin to learn at School the way it has been and the way it is. We receive information from books, television and direct contact.
That is from person to person.
We try to absorb as much as we can and build an understanding for each subject that we study.
Sometimes we take a special interest in some subjects and we specialize. We examine every detail.
One thing is sure, there is always more to learn.
So it seems we can never know the Truth about anything, we can only hope for a good idea of the Truth.
A good idea is not the Truth?
TRUTH doesn't exist at all in our lives, its only an idea and surely an idea isn't real?
Having arrived at this point I see that LIFE therefore is not in the past as the past is only an idea.
So it is either Now or in the Future.
But everything in the future is only an idea or a dream. These are never real except when we do them.
So LIFE is NOW and only NOW.
How then can we hope to solve some of our problems and what is it we hope to achieve? Oh! I know it's easy to dismantle anything, especially when we only have an
idea of it, but we must replace it with something sure. Something real.
How can we best do this?
What is it we want from Life?
Well let's say we want Happiness,because most of us do.
Once you begin to understand what it is I am saying you will see that this will be simple.
Think about Life.......We live Life.
Everyone knows that.
Well when do we do that?
I have tried to show you that we only can do that NOW.. because everything before is past and as our close look at Truth and Knowledge have shown, everything from
the past is only an idea. That's what we carry with us, within us, an IDEA OF THE TRUE REFLECTION OF OUR LIFE AND THOSE AROUND US.
So it has become unreal, false, deceptive.We must recognize the need to let it go if we are to have a clean page for our to-day so that we may enjoy to-day fully.
Don't worry because you will see that you can do this quite easily once you are told the basic rules.
Understanding that Knowledge of the past is not good enough to guide us is very important.
But it would be rediculous to just waste these experiences. After all many have been quite painful. Haven't they?
We must gather the WISDOM learnt from the knowledge ONLY. Bring that forward like a tool with which to shape the present, our LIFE.
To pick Wisdom from the Tree of Knowledge we will need to find the CAUSE for each situation.
If we can be honest with ourselves and think with our minds clearly, then we will begin to collect WISDOM.
The future is also just a collection of Dreams and Ideas and never exists, it's just a fiction we suppose to explain the un-explainable.
It isn't real ,it never is unless we give it the power to manifest to-day and fill our life and dominate our thoughts.
I hope you will see that your LIFE is clearly only NOW.
I want you to think about Life being NOW and try to imagine that your Life is unfolding before your eyes like a film. Imagin it's like a giant Television screen upon which appears everything you see. Sit back from if for a while and watch the show.
If you can become detached in this way you will be less affected by the emotions that rise in response to certain situations. You will learn to become calm and judge
each situation knowing that you can never know the complete truth about any of it. You can never fathom the thoughts within the heads of others that come into your
Life's screen. You can not guess what sadness has draped their words.
Now here perhaps lies the " KEY TO LIFE" you are looking for.
"If you can see that the only things that are real for sure are the things within you, then you will understand that by looking more closely at these things you will change the way you feel and in doing this your Life will
be a much better place." You will become more relaxed and therefore you will be able to think more clearly.
If you are happy you will see happiness around you.
If you are sad you will see sadness around you.
What you see unfolding upon you Life screen is a True Reflection of your Own Feelings. This means that LIFE is a true reflection of us. Of what we feel.
What we feel is built on a false Knowledge, an Idea of the Truth of any situation. None of it is real unless we look at it and think it.
If you can understand the Causes.
If you can try to understand why people do and say the things that hurt so much you can escape suffering the pain.
So I am suggesting that this reflection of Life is ,one must suppose a Reflection of us.
Or is it?
Consider you are like a Magnet. Negative response pushes things away. Positive response draws things towards us.
This is why when we are being extra nice everyone wants to know us but when we behave badly people shun us.
If you are being Positive and helping someone, no matter what your present situation you always feel good.
What you do for others, you do for yourself.
When you forgive others you are in fact forgiving yourself.
The more you give of yourself the more you will get back.
What you see before you is a TRUE REFLECTION OF YOURSELF if you look at it you will begin to see the things you
need to change in order to become the person you really are. To-day is obscured by the Ideas of Truth about the past and our Fears of tomorrow.These we carry like a curtain that prevents us being our true selves.
None of these things are real..
Let them go, and you will truly find Freedom. Then all the things you Desire will come to you.If you are nice to have around, people will want you around and many doors will open up.Its Now that you do affect their Lives, and
your lack of understanding and there's causes so much unnecessary pain. Not just for them but for you as well.
No-body is Perfect.
No one can live this way completely. We are blinded by looking at our problems and this has caused them to look much worse than they really are.LET GO.
If you use what I have told you as a simple guide to a new attitude you will know the benefit immediately. It's automatic. Not only your own strength and personal health will benefit but all those around you will begin to change.
The road is very narrow and it is easy to forget and slip back to old ways but don't worry because we all do it.
As soon as you see you are not in control you can stop.
Say STOP.
Your LIFE IS ONLY NOW. What you do NOW is the only important thing and the more you understand of this
the more you will feel your confidence rise.
Be careful my friend because I have seen the problems of Life first hand. Don't rush forward. My experience has shown me that whether you are a King or Beggar, live on the street or in a big house are happy or sad, rich or poor Life will knock you right down again when you least expect it. So be careful.
Use WISDOM as a sword to clear the way.
Remember that everything you do, do well as if it were for yourself. I am writing this NOW. You are reading this NOW.
I realize it's not the same Now, that's because one is your Life and one is mine. You may ask yourself, who am I writing this for? Well I am doing it for ME, so that I can achieve a better Life . You can ask yourselves .
Why are you reading this? The answer may be the same.
Because this is for me I will do it to the best possible standard. I will not take any half truths to build the foundations. I want the same as you. By drawing back the curtains in our mind and seeing what is real and what is not means we have a much better chance.
If we can do things as if they were for ourselves, we will begin to benefit because we will be the people we really are. What we do does affect others...As what they do affects us.
If we can learn to do things for others as if they were for ourselves then we will realize what UNITY is.
Be an example to others.
The further you have traveled along the Road of Life the more Wisdom you can pick from the past.
As you do this, the pain will go and you will be free to enjoy Happiness in your to-day. You will suddenly have a good Life. Stand up and be your true self. Remember we are all the same, no one is better nor worse than you.
It is not my intention for you to think by reading this that it is right, but I hope you will measure it against your own personal experience's past and present to see for
yourself if it is not so.
It is an idea or attitude to Life.
I began to see that many of the things that have gone on, in and around my own Life have had a profound effect on how I have felt at any given time. These have made a real contribution towards how I feel NOW.
I have become aware that some if not all these experiences have been based upon my Idea's of the Truth.
I had built up a picture of how I believed a particular person felt towards me and responded in a similar way.
I wonder if you will find the same?
I expect there are many situations that have caused you long periods of unhappiness.
Sometimes you become aware that some of the facts have altered and this in it's self can make you feel better about a situation.
There are usually so many things to be considered about each situation and very often we just don't have the time to reflect properly or see the full picture from which
to shape our own idea's.
It is the very complexity of Life that makes it such an achievement when we do succeed. I wonder how many times you have thought to help someone but have not because of
past experiences.
Now here is an example of how an unrestrained negative emotion can interfere with our lives.
A young boy seeing that his father was busy decided to ask if he could go to his friends house so that his father would have peace and quiet.
"Please dad can I stay at my friends house tonight ? I promise to be good."
The father loving his son will sort through his thoughts and respond one way or the other according to how he feels at that time.
His feelings will perhaps be influenced by many things.
Lets consider this happened at a really difficult moment for the father and the interruption of his thoughts caused an emotion of annoyance. This emotion seems to flash up in the mind and can trigger instant response.
"No.. Go away I am busy."
The father turning back to his task soon forgot this emotional burst, his mind was distracted by his need to focus on what he was doing. Never the less, it was some time before he could re-collect his thoughts as he had
become tense during the emotional wave. Perhaps you will try this for yourself and see if I am correct. I want you to say aloud and with some anger...."NO!"
You will notice that the more weight you seem to give the point the longer it is before you begin breathing again, and that your chest has tightened up completely.
At these times you will find that you are not able to reason about things clearly but as soon as you relax you can.
The son having received a negative response becomes under conflict. On the one hand he wants something on the other
he can't have it. He to experienced a negative emotional wave. During this period of experiencing a direct
emotion we tend to focus on it and it grows within us.
It is from this understanding that I see many situations in Life are caused by a response triggered automatically as a result of an emotional wave. Speaking thoughts that have not been reasoned. These habit patterns have a distinctive order to them, in so far as Negative attracts Negative. Positive attracts Positive.
In understanding these fundamental working patterns of the mind we will begin to change our outlook towards many aspects of Life.
The Yogi would be able to tell you that in just knowing these facts about the working of the mind puts man half way towards succeeding but don't expect to be able to
live completely in this way immediately. With practice it is possible to take full control of your mind and experience complete freedom. You will have taken the Power away from the negativity and used it to increase the
positive and in doing so be able to be a true expression of your own self, and not tied down by the restraining habit patterns. Your own confidence will mount to
unbelievable heights very quickly. I can say truly that what you see in others are the things you give out yourself and so by looking at these reflections we can see
what areas we need to work on.
As each area is dealt with this becomes apparent by the changing attitude of those we come in contact with.
The more we give the more we get back. Remember reality is now so this is Life. This is your Life. It's the time allotted to you to make your contribution to this World.
Your Life is unfolding before your eye's and is a True Reflection of you yourself. Let this be your true self and you will not die wishing you had accomplished more.
Lift yourself up, stand straight and position yourself above your Ego. Be unaffected by Knowledge because it's
too misleading. Rely upon Yourself to extract the Wisdom
and use this as a tool to experience the full Glory of Happiness, Fulfillment and Joy.
All those things you seek will come as if Magnetized by your balance. You will see that with complete control you
will have no fear. You will see fear when it comes and with your Wisdom just let it go to the past where it belongs.
Any fear in tomorrow isn't real, it doesn't exist.
How can it if you wont let it?
Negative aspects will try to prevent you from a free expression and as long as we let them we will have no possibility of survival. If we can see more clearly what needs to be done to make our World the sort of place we can be proud of then we need to learn how to live Life.
If you try to practice this simple truth you will soon become encouraged to continue but for sometime you will be suddenly surprised by Negative Forces that will trick
you into giving them just a little Power which they will use to get more.
The Yogi realize it only has the Power you give it.
We allow it to Manifest NOW.
Everything you ever do you do NOW.
To you the place you will occupy in your Life will always be NOW. Try to have a laugh at your situation. Don't try to work your problems out. Don't even look at them until you can step back with the positive attitude firmly in
position. Then it is by Reasoning. By asking yourself, Why? HOW? Consider that the other person involved does not realize how much you have tried to do the best.
Try to see it from their point of view. Try to find what the cause of all this upset really is because as soon as you see the cause the problem will go. You will realize when you have found it, as you will feel elated and all the pressure will just go. You will begin to think and hear clearly again and will act in the best manner
because you are balanced. You are no longer enclosed.
Let it all go into the past where it belongs. It is only a memory and it doesn't exist anymore. Its over.
Look for the signs.
Little Negative thoughts creeping in here and there.
Deal with them by distracting the mind and do it now before they get bigger and consume you. Later when you have found the cause you will see all these things differently, you will understand them, you will be in complete control. We are all the same these things Manifest
themselves in different ways. No-body is better than you.
All those things you want so badly will come to you.
This is an Automatic process of the Mind.
Once you can control the mind you will be free from all the pain. If you continue to look at your problems as
if you can work something out they will get worse.
Isn't this what happens now?
You ponder over them, you worry and you worry because you are worrying. There seems no answer and the more you
look and the harder you try the worse it all becomes.
When all the cards are stacked against us and no matter which way we turn things seem to go wrong we often see nothing but a blank wall We grope in the dark for ideas which will suggest some means of escape but escape doesn't come because we have not understood the true cause.
You have to face these things clearly and with understanding.
You will need to recognize them for what they are and your reactions to them. Then you will dissolve away the problem
and learn the Wisdom from it to use later when these things arise again in your NOW's.
When we are caught up in these emotional habit patterns, no matter whether it is anxiety or because we have tensed
ourselves at work, it is always because our minds are not free. We must learn to Relax and carry this over into our work and play. So that we find our minds are in a state we
call relaxed attention and not tensed tension. When we have relaxed attention it enables us to see more clearly what is taking place as our minds are not filled up with fears, anxieties or worries.
So by relaxing you can take the tension off.
Consequently you are able to do better work and you have relieved yourself of the inhibitions which cause so many of the troubles with the physical body. Nine tenths of troubles to-day in every person, no matter who they are has a nervous origin. It is these knots created by emotional tightening of the body that restrict its
proper function.
There is no escape.
So you must learn to view your Life as you would look impersonally upon a film projected on to a screen.
Don't be afraid of the things you did or did not do or the things you should have done. It is the suppression of these that causes habit patterns. If you free the mind to be a spectator, non critical, understanding and compassionate. You can forgive yourself. Be free from comparison. It is in this way that you will overcome your suppression's and repression's and overcome all you problems. Separation is always the cause of our troubles.
We will be free of many fears and inhibitions when we have cleared our minds of SEPARATION. We do not see ourselves separate so we have not realized Unity.
In our actions towards others we have Separated ourselves from each other. It is because of this that I ask you to do this for Yourself.
SEPARATION
Differing purpose, being singular, against the rest, fighting to make a show, trying to find a toe hold amongst the confusion.This is why I have told you about UNITY being connected to doing things as if they were for yourself.
Giving the best of yourself each day to make this World a safer place for our children. You don't do this by going to the problem and fighting it. You will always loose.
Find the Cause.
Its Separation.
It's because of separation that our children feel very much alone as we do and look for comfort from any source.
Because parents are continually looking at the problems and telling them off they will feel at odds with them.
Look at your own life and see if you have done something similar yourself during your Life. You will find that when you are condemning others for something you are probably doing the same thing yourself in a different way.
When others condemn you for something you will see how unfair it is because they can never understand what caused you to do as you did. Only you can know this for sure.
If you can find the cause you will immediately feel better about the past and the pain will go. You will have dealt with it and let go so the world will look a much better place. Remember all you can hold is an idea of the truth of any situation as it doesn't exist to-day.. NOW...unless you give it the power to do so.
Its like a curtain over to-day and its stopping you from achieving all those things you exalt in and can give to the community. The more you give the more you get. The more you take the less you have. Everyone is the same. Nobody is better than you. Your Life is NOW.
Start to live for the first time.
Be nice as its nice to be nice.
Life is a true reflection of your own feelings.
Who knows what Life has in store when it can do just as it likes.
Put this right and the problems will just go away.
It will take time but we can all help by balancing ourselves so that we can see clearly what is happening around us. Now you may see that this thing that you have been looking for is simply the same as we all want.
UNITY.
We want to belong and feel wanted, we want to be able to express ourselves fully without fear of ridicule or without being taken advantage of. We want freedom from the pain of Life as we know it. If we can begin to do things as if they were done for ourselves and express our full ability in all we do then we will feel satisfied and freedom from inhibitions will
be ours.
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Contributor's Note
I wrote this one night when I realised I had taken control over drink and contribute it, as in exploring your own feelings you may find a better answer and move forward in your own life. It is unpublished and perhaps poorly written but its Free. Peter Farmer
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