Paradox

Lesson 7: Stop Projecting How Things Should Be

Introduction

Paradox is the capacity to acknowledge two seemingly disparate Truths and hold them to be equally true. It is the ability to find overlapping or congruent aspects to several truths and be able to articulate what makes them similar. Paradox is also a way to integrate two different perspectives into one. When we embrace Paradox we wonder how could something be true, even if it does not fit our current experience. Paradox reflects the degree we can use our imagination to go beyond simple explanations. Most individuals seek certainty over Paradox because it requires less effort. Individuals who are more conscious are naturally more inclusive Truth Seekers and therefore minimize certainty.

Paradox is not about projecting a better future. It is also not used to empower Idealization. This is why we need to question projections about how things should be and instead ask what is appropriate in the here and now. While Paradox may be confusing, it eventually becomes clearer as we settle into a more unified interpretation of our reality. This reflects that Paradox may take time to clarify circumstances. What we want to do in the meantime is to hold space for a possibility to emerge. Paradox shifts our perceptions in the moment into the unknown, creating a bridge to a future where we know our own experience. Notice, we do not anchor ourselves in the future, but rather in the present. Whenever we run into discontinuities, where Growth tends to take a jump and go to a new level, we need to embrace Paradox to assist the transition.

When we engage individuals who are also doing Paradox, it feels like we have entered the land of all possibilities. In this reality we explore how we would like it to be. We come up with Co-Creative ways to work together on this vision. Sometimes we even struggle with what is so and do not know how to reconcile anything. We need to accept that not knowing is actually okay. Sometimes we need to assign it to our unconscious problem-solving framework so we can solve it offline or in our dreams. If only one person can be in a state of Paradox, it puts pressure on the one who cannot to try and find a quick answer. This unfortunately does not turn out well, as the pressure tends to collapse the trust and personality needs trump creativity.  It helps to practice solving large-scale problems and letting the solutions emerge when they do.

We can be distracted from Paradox by the Motive of Idealized Unity and the Attraction of Personality Self Rejection. Idealized Unity is where we get caught up thinking we know the answer, which actually prevents an answer from showing up. When we are in a state of Idealized Unity we are complacent and do not invoke new thoughts or bring them into being by our desire. Personality Self Rejection is the process of letting go of all the rules and guidelines where we had to be good so we can embrace a full range of choices. Usually, when in this process, we move from being a ‘good’ person to having to explore being a ‘bad’ person in order to recover our own internal creative balance. This is really part of letting go of our personality programming, where our Creative Nature eventually guides us to let go of being good or bad so we can just be ourselves. We do not need outer rules to do the good thing when we are creatively aligned.

Idealized Unity is the desire to enforce a projected belief that a common purpose is bigger than our personal needs.Many of us have not yet internalized that whenever a fear or desire overwhelms us, we typically deny it and then project it upon others around us. This commonly occurs around any person, place or thing that we idealize. What this reflects is that we want something to be better than it might actually be. It also reflects many times that we came to this position because we denied what was really happening. Whenever we idealize something the goal or objective that this Idealization represents is actually something we desire but have not yet been able to internalize. This means we do not actually own of having this aspect.

We can validate this by the degree of Anxiety we have about the result. The more Anxiety, the more this item or person, or place, is outside of our ability to manifest. This Anxiety is a result of not accepting ourselves and the way things are. Another way of analyzing this is with Idealization there is always an imbalance and a lack of effective coordination between our Feelings and Emotions. This imbalance sets up a distortion where our desire empowers a Projection of what we want, which sits on top of whatever is true. The only way to address this issue is to recognize that to be effective in attaining our goals we have to actually accept the reality of what is in front of us.

In order to clarify what is the common good versus serving our personal good, we have to be willing to reject that which is smaller and petty. This Self-Rejection process is therefore also a creative affirmation of what is best in us. What we are actually doing here is learning to reject the idealized distortion of what we want. On the opposite scale, egoic rule where the idealization becomes everything to usdiminishes our Authentic Creative and LifeExpressions. By sacrificing our Projections our ego learns operate within its best function – which is to protect us. The benefit of Idealizations is that they tend to take us beyond the comfort zone of our personality. The downside is, that we frequently attract Resistance and attacks because others believe we are too big for ourselves. When we understand that denying our personality’s full reign is actually an opening for greater personal Creativity, we will be more able to see the value and power of Paradox.

Paradox teaches us that there are hidden opportunities and problems with every lesson we engage. Being aware of this, allows us to both question our Experience to see if there is any Anxiety or idealization or to determine if there is an authentic contribution that we could make that would benefit both others and ourselves. Distinguishing between these two can be initially difficult. What is revealed is that we automatically Experience greater Context, and a sense of well being when we are able to contribute in bigger ways to others.  Any idealization process has the opposite impact where we become more contracted, attacked by other and feel less competent in what we are doing. 

Paradox shifts us into a multi-dimensional Experience of the truth. Besides being able to see the hidden inner possibilities, we learn how to focus on the most likely Growth opportunity for us. The key quality that makes Paradox real is our ability not to judge others, but keep our thought processes adventurous, flexible and creatively flowing. This means that many people can simultaneously hold incongruent Beliefs while still holding the possibility of everything coming together. Ultimately, we learn that we need to Consciously embrace differences to be transfigured by them, creating the fulfillment of Unity in practice.

When we stop projecting how things should be, we are left with the question where do we go from here. This helps us to stay in the moment and learn from what comes to us. It is important to recognize that our Motives and attractions will show up the way we need them to be if we are open to this Experience. The more we imagine ourselves as an agent of the Universe, the more clearly we see how we can best contribute and let our desire to contribute lead us. It is important to recognize that any Projection of what should be, never actually honors what we have to contribute.  In fact, what should be is always a Projection of our personality of what would make us feel more safe and secure, rather than creatively empowered. We start to realize that we don’t have to go out and track down opportunities, but just be ourselves and follow the opportunities that we have to contribute.

Unconscious attractions, on the idealized level, reflect what we seek in our Partner to support our Growth. Partners who mirror our attractions at this level will naturally seek out complementary principles that support their own Growth. These ideals are Self-Acceptance, Self-Rejection and Personal Intimacy. We seek Partners who can accept what we see as best in them and who also accept what we see as best about ourselves. The same is true about Self-Rejection. We also want to be sure that our Partners will reject what we reject in others. The commonality between these principles is that we want to make sure that the same things repulse our partners and us. We create false comfort in this way. This reflects that we are we addressing the issue of Uncomfortable Similarities. Uncomfortable Similarities are those aspects of self we have denied, but are now being revealed because our Partner embodies them. This is commonly experienced as envy, because they are able to do what we always wanted to but felt unable. The more we can honor our natural capabilities and can express what was previously denied, the faster these discomforts will dissipate.

Idealized Unity

Idealized Unity is a state of conditioning where we externalize the need for Unity by expecting others to recognize the power of our personal Thoughts and accept them as their truth. Idealized Unity occurs when we become so attached to our ideas that they become primary to our Experience in our interaction with others. In other words, the way a person perceives our ideas reflects how willing we are to connect with them as a person. If others reject our ideas, we false believe we have no relationship with them. We are simply over identified with what we think we know. In Idealized Unity, we work on ideas and develop them over a period of time, believing that in their refinement comes our contribution to the Universe. Actually, while ideas are a part of our contribution, they are not the majority of it.

We have to recognize the power of our ideas, while at the same time seeing that fixation to a concept does not particularly support it being received by others.
With Idealized Unity our focus on a goal also keeps us from truly connecting with others because we do not consider our Thoughts equal. The downside of operating in Idealized Unity is that we soon lose our ability to learn and grow with others. Preoccupation with our own concepts means that we continually try to explain our Experiences in terms of the ideas with which we are most familiar--our own. The problem is that many times our explanations do not reflect the outer circumstances in an effective way. One of the primary indications that we are operating in Idealized Unity is that we Experience a greater fullness in our outer life because of the complexity of our own interpretations. Inwardly, this reflects that we possess little flexibility in how others accept our Context. We therefore become greatly repulsed when we do not Experience others’ Alignment around our ideas.

The motive of Idealized Unity establishes a Context where we honor our own ideas over those of others. The Paradox is that we do not understand why others cannot engage our truth to the degree we can. We inaccurately believe that either we are not explaining ourselves well or that others do not have the Intellectual capacity to engage our ideas. We also interpret the lack of response to our ideas as others perceiving them as incorrect or not big enough to inspire action. As a result we become increasingly attached to the greatness of our ideas. We seek acknowledgement for our effort by using the adversity to increase our strength by focusing on a particular goal. The problem is that we commonly believe that we need clarity to provoke action and when action does not occur we reinvent the idea to improve the clarity. This sabotages ultimately our greater impact in the world. As a result others have a more difficult time engaging our truth or seeing how it can benefit them.

Idealized Unity is greatly amplified by the belief of Eternal Love, where we tirelessly endeavor to bring our big ideas into manifestation. We believe that implementing our ideas will reveal the ignorance of others so they will awaken to the real need of what we have developed. The hidden belief of Idealized Unity is that “I need to see my self-created truth as an absolute objective truth in order to honor the effort and pain it caused me”. Paradoxically, our deepest fear is that we will lose our self in our Thought(s). As a result, we try to objectify our Thoughts by proving their superiority over the Thoughts of others and are challenged and threatened when others do not agree with us. We console ourselves when things do not seem to work out that we have made an impact on others because they had to deal with our truth directly. If others are willing to debate us, we make sure to frame the debate on our terms, which makes us invincible to their superficial objections. We can only heal ourselves of Idealized

Unity when we recognize the trap of becoming fixated on our idealized truths. Eventually we come to see that while Thoughts have an objective reality, they are not fully useful unless they can be fully manifested and utilized in relationship to others. Just having a Thought does not make it useful unless it can be shared in a way where it can be co-authored.

Now we will address how to heal our Idealized Unity conditioning. Getting caught up in our big ideas sometimes distances us from being able to convey them to others. This reflects the reality that we are driven to expand our ideas beyond our capacity to convey them. When we become fixated on our Thoughts, we can easily perceive others’ questioning as a diminishing of our ideas. Instead of seeing their questioning as a threat, let us be inclusive and open to imaging how this increases our capacity to manifest our ideas in the world by having others connect to them. Let us also be willing to size and structure our Thoughts to the circumstances, so we are not distancing ourselves from what can be done right now. Instead of seeking Adoration from others about our ideas, let us learn how to adore others for their participation in our Universe. Idealized Unity becomes common Unity to the degree that we are able to build a mutual foundation of agreement and act from it.

When we open our Self to the possibility that we no longer need to be identified by our Thoughts, we Paradoxically become a Thinker in our world. Our goal is to empower our Thinking without becoming attached to our Thoughts. This means that we can honor and be inclusive of the Thoughts of others as much as “our own”. As Co-Creators using Thoughts, we need both the ability to empower and dis-empower them. This occurs by being able to develop a deeper Appreciation of how we can concentrate and mediate our Thought processes, discovering a unified way of Thinking. Let us begin to appreciate how our Thoughts support us in exploring deeper aspects of ourselves. The more we settle into a deeper awareness of ourselves as a co-Creative Being, the easier it will be to focus our mind on what we wish so we can manifest what truly is in the higher interest of the world. Our greater depth will naturally then awaken a greater depth in others when they interact with us.

In this manner we learn to enjoy the Thinking of others and find value in the reflection and evolution of ideas together. We can enhance our natural desire to evolve our ideas through inviting the participation of others. This requires us to let go of our need to be the Thinker and the perpetual belief that others will misunderstand us. Instead, let us engage the humor and Paradox that our differences create. When we operate in this manner, we no longer need others to agree with us in order to have a positive influence on the world. Being present to our Thoughts empower us to release our self-perceptions about Thoughts. The result is no-Thought Thinking, which we call Straight Knowing. Straight Knowing is natural Wisdom that flows from our internal being. It cannot be denied. This type of insight ironically reduces dramatically our need to share. This is why many enlightened beings say little, knowing that in language their message will be greatly distorted.

The three Unity belief structures of Motives, Attractions and Skills particularly support the Illusion that our Thoughts reflect reality. The more fixated we become on our Thoughts (particularly our goals), the more we Unconsciously distance ourselves from others and their Thoughts. Idealized Unity keeps us from real concordance with others because we Unconsciously use our Thoughts and goals to distinguish ourselves from others. Since we believe “we are our Thoughts,” every Thought that does not align with our own Thoughts is threatening to us. Idealized Unity is a false belief, projected on others, of our wholeness or completeness. The price of operating in Idealized Unity is that we do not know when others are actually unified with us. This is because our fantasized Projection of Unity requires others to jump through many hoops before we will accept them. Idealized Unity is actually based on unilateral Thoughts where others must accept and admire us completely for us to even begin to believe they support us.

Idealized Unity allows us to fall in love with the paradigm of our own self-Thought. This cuts us off from the universal Thoughts that would naturally support our Growth and evolution. The more we believe there is one, fixed, perfect solution, the more likely it is we are falling into the trap of reinforcing an Eternal Love. This love is the notion that our ideas are superior to others and that they should admire and appreciate their power. The Fantasy in Eternal Love is that everything has reached the zenith of its expression and no longer needs to grow in its relation to the world. True Unity is constantly evolving and our Thoughts have to evolve with us for them to remain authentic. One way to see this is how we often become entranced with a particular goal and are unwilling to consider alternatives. Sometimes our single-minded focus on this goal keeps us from bringing it into our life, not only because we are externalizing it, but also because we are not interacting with it in a way so that it teaches us what needs to happen. It is much more effective to interact with the goal and re-make that goal as new information and learning supports its evolution.

Along with a fixation on goals, comes a desire for Clarity at all costs. Clarity is usually an over-simplified summary of some state that reflects a true embodied concept. The “map is not the territory,” it is a summary of the Experience of the territory. Unfortunately, Idealized Unity increases our obsession with the map. Clarity gives the Illusion that we save time by dealing with things on a higher, superficial level. It really blinds us to what really is happening on a deeper levelbecause the summary is not a complete reflection of the Truth. Our ability to manipulate ourThoughts depends on us prioritizing what is important about each Thought. See diagram Related Idealized UnityBeliefs.Our completeness or depth helps us enormously to recreate our Experience and desire externally. The more we get caught up in symbolic representations of reality, rather than accepting the whole Experience, the more distortions compromise our Thinking. The Illusion of clarity encourages us to believe our summary is a full understanding of our concept or goal.

To transcend Idealized Unity requires us to be present with our knowledge and be open to seeing its inadequacy to fully grasp the whole situation. Wisdom is a mutual Appreciation of shared Truth and helps us transcend our own perception of Truth, because Wisdom is always open to examining the unknown. When we are open to the unknown, we can shift from Knowledge to Wisdom. Wisdom is shared Truth, while knowledge is a unilateral assertion of Truth. While Idealized Unity encourages in us a false bravado and an attachment to our ideas, actual Unity supports our humility in the face of a much larger Universe. Instead of being intolerant and trying to assert our Truth to gain the Admiration of others, we need to we offer it as just one perspective among many. When we need others to agree with us, it sets us up to be the sole arbiter of what is known about the situation. While it is good to know our own experiential truth, it is egotistical to assume our truth trumps the truth of others. Therefore, we propose that all sharing of truth be seen as a common resource where an attribution of credit is not needed.

Letting go of Idealized Unity requires us to shift from a personal perspective to a transpersonal one. We must let go of any attachment to Thought, particularly Thoughts that separate us from others, in order to serve a greater, common good. The irony and Paradox of this is that we have to let go of interpreting Thoughts in a way that promotes our own personal good in order to create a framework of Unity Thinking where Thoughts are easily shared. From the viewpoint of true Unity, our attachments to Thoughts “as reflections of us” demonstrate a personal naivety that comes from believing that we can actually possess Thoughts. It is common for people to think of their Thoughts as possessions because we are not yet clear how the Universal Mind is constantly stimulating our Growth by providing Thoughts that support us. Yes, the Universe as a Universal Thought, supports us as unique Thought within it to grow. In our infancy, it was useful to get attached to our Thoughts and learn to control and direct them. As we come into our adulthood, it is time to see how Thoughts are a common resource that can be enriched through the sharing of them. Unity-aligned Thoughts yield a common good because they can be freely shared with others.

The irony is that Idealized Unity promotes the Illusion that our Thoughts represent true Unity among thinkers. The Paradox is that any personal attachment to Thoughts as personal resources keeps them from being easily shared with others. Our constant demand that others admire our Thoughts creates pain when our Thoughts are not accepted. This teaches us to let go of our attachments to our Thoughts and the need to take credit for them so they can truly become universally co-creative vehicles. For many people who are attached to their Thoughts, this Thought unification process can hurt. This is because in depersonalizing the Thoughts, it is more difficult to feel any Connection to our Self. This reorientation from personalizing Thoughts to depersonalizing them actually makes us invulnerable to the effect of whether our Thoughts are accepted by others or not. We no longer need the agreement of others or believe their Acceptance matters. As a result, our Thoughts become interchangeable building blocks that fit together in congruent and coherent ways that transform our ability to contribute to the common good.

When we work with Thoughts on a transpersonal level, the transpersonal Thoughts of others can effectively interact with ours in a synergistic way. Our Experience of Unity comes from the Wisdom-inspired, Co-Creative understanding. This is found in the larger Creative Self where we are part of a greater, transpersonal understanding. Experiencing Unity in a way where whether others agree or disagree with us does not matter transforms us. Instead, Thoughts are experienced as ways to attain a deeper Alignment between our inner and outer worlds. We realize that our Beliefs do not have any positive or negative value in and of themselves. When we are attached to our Beliefs and positions we naturally minimize change, creating more Intensity as we naturally resist Universal Change. Personal Intensity is neutralized when we are open and available to engage the process when opportunities arise. When we are closed down and defensive, this stress wears us out, creating friction within our selves and with others.

Beliefs about anything only distance us from our complete Experience of our Truth. Our Thoughts, unlike our Beliefs, merely exist as part of a larger, cosmic thought of which we become increasingly aware. This is a humbling Experience where what we know, when compared to that which is known by humanity, puts in perspective how our Thoughts have limited use in most situations. It is this reorientation about the importance of our Thoughts that awakens us to the true power in unifying our Thoughts with those of others. True Unity is the Experience of seeing and experiencing how our Thoughts are in Alignment with the Universe. The reality of creative flow and grace is manifested. It is easy to be fearful of the possibility of Universal transpersonal Thoughts. It is easy to seek the Safety of our Beliefs because then we do not have to engage the larger possibility that Thoughts are building blocks for our evolutionary development.

Instead, we can argue and compare our Thoughts endlessly, trying to prove that our ideas are superior to those of others and their ideas. When we see the fruitlessness of this exercise, we can begin to focus on how to build and communicate Thoughts that will foster Unity with others. Initially, this leads us to focus in areas where others will agree with us. In relationships, this creates a sense of Unity and participation so Mutual Accomplishment can follow. To make this Experience real, we need to recognize how our Thoughts and those of others are working from an incomplete state toward a more complete state. It is through our striving to find a wholeness in Thoughts that makes them attractive to others as part of their enrichment or Growth process.

The reason that Idealized Unity is so challenging is that it requires us to let go of the apparent value of our self-perception in favor of some larger Wisdom that may or may not serve our personal interests. In short, we actually need to let go of any exaggerated self-importance and find a balanced way of accepting what we know. We no longer have to prove ourselves when we integrate our knowing on all levels of our being. This means we create an inner equilibrium where our truth becomes obvious to ourselves and even apparent to others. When this happens, we have no need to proselytize our truth and, instead, seek to share ourselves in ways that inspire greater Cooperation. The opposite of this can be seen when we become intolerant of the views of others or exclusive in our view of the truth.This reflects that we have become entangled in our Projection of what we think we know, when we really do not know how to be with our truth. Being with our truth is a relaxing process. It is also an evolving one as we continually find better ways to integrate our knowing with that of other people.

We also know we have transcended Idealized Unity for Mutual Accomplishment when we have the courage to submit our ideas to others so they can be examined from different perspectives and be validated as part of a shared Wisdom process. When this occurs, our self-Acceptance deepens and we Experience a deeper, more unified Connection because a common understanding is part of our shared Experience. Knowledge evolves into understanding when two or more people are able to engage it and accept it simultaneously. It evolves into Wisdom when our Experience is easily translatable into Experience of others and becomes part of a larger, common reality. Our Experience of our culture reflects the degree of shared understanding we have with those in our community. Our community is greatly enriched by the diversity of understanding and how these interactions can deepen the bond felt by all. Most importantly, our interactions become creatively empowered and serve the common good. This reflects how our sharing can have a profound effect on building inner Connections among us all.

Personality Self-Rejection

Personality Self Rejection is where we are attracted to individuals who are able to distinguish between their authentic Creativity and their personality Safety and Security issues. The rejection occurring reflects our discovery that who we are is not our personality programming. When this occurs, it creates an opening to Experience the truth of who we are. Individuals who have transcended their personality limitations can be extremely attractive to those who want to break out of their own personality perspectives. Practically, this means we seek out those who are more inclusive and whom see beyond thereFears and Desires (to what is creatively possible). We may also be attracted to individuals on a lower level who feel out of control and seek our self-discipline as a substitute for their own lack of control. This occurs, in many situations; when we feel we have become satiated, yet feel unfulfilled by our previous attractions. In this personality rejection process we learn how to value our internal Creative Source over external personality expressions.

There are those individuals who are actually repulsed by their self-rejection attraction. This indicates that the person is completely fearful that any Growth will change them and scared to be creatively powerful. When this occurs, the person usually becomes very self-serving and fixated on being respected for what they do. Their strong Boundaries make it hard to connect with them or support them. Their sense of being right keeps them from considering any deeper truths or examining any real issue introspectively. They become rebels without a cause, just for the experience of being the bad boy or girl.When individuals become overly good, they often swing to the other polarity to break their conditioning (to be good). They attempt to be bad and seek out others who will be bad with them. This rebellion falsely convinces them that they are escaping their conditioning when in fact; we have just reversed the polarity. What needs to happen is an acceptance of both polarities so that we can choose something appropriate in the middle.

When this is at its extreme, there is a high degree of self-loathing and even Imperil (which is the denial of Light, Life and Love within them). While everyone initially has some fear in discovering how much their repulsions shape their Experience, in this particular individual it is extreme. It is common for individuals who are highly identified with their personality, not to want to become Conscious that they have a personality. Every time it is brought up, they would either ignore it, or change the subject. This reflects how deeply they believe that their personality is actually their creative persona. Another prime indication that an individual is not ready to hear this type of information is the inherent rejection that anyone actually changes at all.

Paradox

Learning to engage Paradox means we no longer accept the superficial perceptions of the situation as the whole truth. Instead, we realize there are hidden Connections in every situation that we must honor so that they can reveal the true lessons underlying these Experiences. With Paradox, we are able to fully engage lessons by simultaneously seeing things from the perspective of similarities and differences. When we maintain the position that it is impossible to merge in situations, we end up being disengaged from seeing the similarities between things. When we maintain the position that others can compromise us, it is harder for us to engage the differences in others. Our Fears prevent us from simultaneously seeing the inter-relationships between similarities and differences. When we no longer want to be manipulated by these positions, we try to establish a false certainty where we believe the superficial reality and are willing to ignore everything else.

The quality of Paradox challenges us to engage and live beyond the comfortable assumptions of past understandings. Paradox requires us to accept our Intuitive knowing so we can start to see the patterns behind our Thoughts, Feelings, Emotions and Sensations. The more we embrace the unknown, the easier it is for us to neutralize defensive distortions, biases and Beliefs. Paradox helps us to appreciate the hidden interconnections between people and inner processes that can surprise us when we engage these gifts directly. Until we can laugh at the irony of what we did to motivate ourselves in the past and see the humor in our attractions to others, Paradox will not have a positive effect on our well being. Without Paradox, we would be doomed to the dull and deadly tenacity of constant defensive interactions. With Paradox, we are all Transformational geniuses in process. (Note: A genius is just someone who sees greater interconnections in all events.)

Being Paradoxical is the skill of using multiple levels of intelligence (physical, Feeling/Emotional, Intellectual, and intuitive) to completely explore our experiential truth. This process is greatly enhanced when others also add their unique perspective to the creative process. Being open to reinterpreting our reality in each moment is the key to Paradox. We need to determine how each Experience fits into our discovery process. The more we are certain about how something should work, the less flexible and effective we will be. Paradox stimulates our Self Presence by expanding our scope and Context. Seeing larger Paradoxes eliminates prejudicial positions and greatly reduces our Projections on others. Paradox neutralizes pettiness. By being committed to manifesting the largest creative solution, we engage our Masculine capacity to create Context.

When we deny Paradox for the certainty of pre-established fixed possibilities, we doom ourselves to a world of ignorance where things go wrong and we cannot fix them. When we can choose to engage things in a Paradoxical, we can see the Beauty of how our Interdependent Lessons can teach us what we need to know when we need to know it. The benefit of embodying Paradox is that we can transform disconnected Experiences into inter-related understanding. Paradox is the glue that supports us seeing our circumstances in new ways. If we start with the premise that everything we need is available to create the necessary solution, we can focus on meeting others in non-linear and non-predictable ways which break us out of our preconceptions. Being able to identify what is unusual or unique in any individual can bring out opportunities for Co-Creativity. Otherwise, we may need to stir things up to get the creative juices flowing. What we are seeking is a common, inclusive truth that is manifested in Alignment with our truth.

The virtue of engaging Paradox fully is that we attract opportunities to engage ever more inclusive truths in our life. By Trusting that Paradoxes will resolve themselves in the most appropriate way and time, we keep ourselves open and alert to how these new lessons can seamlessly reconfigure our perception of ourselves in the world. This requires that we embrace the uncertainty and unpredictability of our life Experience and are constantly willing to set a new direction based on a more inclusive awareness of our truth. People who embrace Paradox are not blind to or unable to engage various truths. Instead, they are open to experiencing the full range of interpretations and appreciate that there is no single “right” perspective. In this way, we become about expressing the goodness within us without the need to operate in fixed, moralistic ways. See diagram Paradox as a Pivot Point.