When the old tricks no longer work
“The present is whispering to us, “Come and play, come and risk.”—Philip Shepherd
When Philip Shepherd graduated from high school, he had a choice. He could follow societal convention, study physics at Trinity College in Toronto. Or he could fly to London, buy a bike and cycle across Europe, Middle East, India and eventually end up in Japan studying Noh Theatre.
As he says now, “I knew instinctively that if I stayed in my culture, it would win.”
Like many of us, he noticed early on that adults followed a lot of well, ridiculous rules and customs.
Had he not defied traditional expectations, he likely wouldn’t be the pioneer he is today. I probably would never have heard of him or gone to his life-changing workshop last weekend in Brooklyn, Wisconsin.
As he points out, everything in the accepted culture is tied to safety. And if we’re not aware of patterns we’ve inadvertently adopted, they will continue to run and run and run.
From the moment I first read about Shepherd (thank you, DailyGood), I resonated with his work of finding guidance, not in our heads, but in the living present. The workshop was aimed at noticing barriers that dull us to the world around us and finding the spaciousness and fluidity that is our natural state.
Until we let go of what we “know for sure” (as he says, the head is like a medieval fortress), we have little choice but to blindly follow reactive patterns.
I’ve always called it changing consciousness, opening to higher dimensions. As all you party-goers here at the blog know, that’s the mission of the Taz Grout 222 Foundation and the reason I keep writing these blog posts. Well, I also happen to really, really LOVE writing and opening myself to whatever the muses instruct me to purvey.
And today, I want to share a trio of stories that touched me and defy the cultural Kool-aid which, as we’re starting to recognize, doesn’t satisfy or even taste good anymore:
1. Money is perhaps the most entrenched belief in our culture. “The more, the better,” the story goes.
But Jeffrey Lee, who owns 1200 hectares of land on the eastern edge of Australia’s Kakadu National Park, turned down the opportunity to become that country’s wealthiest man. The uranium deposit on his land is worth $5 billion. Mining companies had pestered him for years, offering exorbitant amounts to purchase his family homeland.
Finally, to escape the incessant pressure, he traveled to Paris to make his case before the World Heritage Committee.
“I believe this land and my cultural beliefs are more important than mining and money,” he told the committee that was able to officially protect Koongarra and his indigenous Djok way of living.
2. The next belief that’s firmly wedged in our societal enculturation is the idea of “the other”—that we are separate and that we must defend against the “opposition.” I got a kick out of a quote Philip shared: “Stereotypes are a great time saver.”
Anyway, Destiny Smith could have saved a lot of time and, according to conventional reality, been pretty mad at the stranger who rear-ended her car. But after learning he was 97-years-old, had no license, no insurance and virtually no family (his wife had recently died), she ended up befriending him, finding him some nursing assistance and now visits him a couple times a week.
3. Last story is about a former police officer named Denis Chagnon. In 1996, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three weeks to live. Rather than take the recommended chemo and pain meds, he started to experiment with the energy he was starting to notice in his body.
It started as a way to comfort himself. He began placing his hands on areas of his body where he was in pain. Before his mind could begin lecturing him “this is ridiculous and you heard what the doctor said,” he noticed he was able to move energy, was able to eventually dissipate the blocks that were creating the cancer throughout his body. He had what society calls “a spontaneous remission.” But was it? Chagnon now works as an energy healer in his hometown of Val des Monts, Quebec, Canada.
So that’s my Friday offering and this is my big chance to wish you (and everyone you love-in other words the whole world) the most fabulous weekend of your life.
#222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)