Tear it down and start again
“Culture is a plot against the expansion of consciousness.” ~ Terence McKenna
Early cultural programming trains us to “Be careful,” “Stay safe,” “Wait until conditions are just right.”
But in the meantime… “you should probably purchase this special program to lower stress, to become realized, to lose weight.
Sorry, culture, but I call B.S. We are not here to buy things. Or stay safe. And if we ever stopped long enough to truly appreciate the life force streaming through our very lungs, we’d know we are “already realized.” It’s just hiding under all “the big people rules” we so faithfully follow.
My friend Cindy recently visited Quigley’s Castle in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Built in the 1940’s by Elise Quigley and family, this offbeat tourist attraction is not only eccentric and quirky and rife with all things I adore, but it shouts an important metaphysical truth.
Elise had been designing her dream house for nearly 15 years. She built an actual model of her “castle,” had a blueprint drawn up and even amassed the requisite building material including her extensive rock collection, her son’s marbles, petrified wood and a prehistoric deer hoof. In the meantime, Elise, her husband Bud and their five kids lived in a lumber shack near Hogscald Hollow. Bud, who was busy working for the family lumber mill, kept promising that someday he’d build the house.
Finally one day in 1943, after Bud went to work, Elise and the kids moved all the family possessions out of the lumber shack and into the nearby chicken coop. They then proceeded to systematically disassemble the entire lumber shack, piece by piece. When Bud came home that night, “ye old family home” was stripped to the floor boards.
Construction on the new house began the next day.
We might chuckle at Elise’s chutzpah, but it’s also a surprisingly effective approach to life. Sometimes, you just gotta let go of the rules. You gotta strip antiquated conditioning straight down to the floorboards.
Take it from Elise Quigley. You don’t need to “avoid all risk….no matter what.” Or use your one-of-a-kind gifts to stay safe and support the culture’s GDP.
We are here on Planet Earth for one reason only: to create the good, the beautiful and the holy.
And, now, I will jump down from my soapbox.
Love you all. Have the best week 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) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)