Learn How to Fly With This Amazing Magic Trick!
Why can't we leave the ground where we're stuck and soar above the clouds like we dream? We come into this world with all these dreams and aspirations and then we get stuck as a result of the way things work, unable to accomplish what our highest self desires. How cruel the world is! Within each of us rests this burning need for freedom. It is the human condition then that we must be tormented to never achieve that which sates our most core needs as conscious beings.
What if I told you this wasn't the case at all? What if I showed you that doing everything you believe to be impossible is actually within your grasp and completely doable? This world is an illusion; all the boundaries we perceive are learned and thus we are the only thing keeping ourselves from flying. We are all capable of carrying ourselves through time and space to arrive at the destination of our choice! All it takes is a little Knowledge of how to properly pilot our vessels.
The fruit is always within your grasp
If we take a moment to observe our experiences, really taking a step back and looking at ourselves in the most objective light, it becomes self-evident that we create our reality out of language. Thoughts are the source of all mental filtering, so how we choose to think in turn determines our future mental state, and consequently our future actions. Learning how to control our mental filter is therefore mandatory if we wish to create our best future.
This is a difficult task, but ultimately it can be accomplished with a simple skill. All one has to do to build their agency, the skill that determines how well we can bend reality to our whim, is to change our perception. For example, impossible is a terrible word. When we think of something as impossible, we automatically censor ourselves from thinking of ways we could accomplish such a thing. Let us call "doing the impossible" something else. Let us call doing something we perceive as impossible to instead be "magic."
So, let us call this a magic lesson, as I will be teaching you how to do everything you believe impossible.
There is something important to understand before we continue. Teaching magic is not like teaching other subjects. There is an inherent problem with language that makes talking about magic difficult, for the same reason one has difficulty biting their own teeth. If we were talking and you didn't know what something I said was, I could just point to an example of it and say “Oh, it's that.” This is not the case with magic. Magic primarily deals with making changes to the inner world, our subjective reality. With that comes an inability of clarification. For instance, I can't clarify what I mean when talking about how I generate new ideas because I can't rummage around in your head to show you the effects of rapidly changing one's imaginary landscape.
No matter how I parse my words, much of what I am saying, or trying to say, won't translate properly. Our relationship is the same as if I were teaching you to juggle. I can point you in the right direction, I can give you tips, I can listen to what you say and help you from there, but I am not the one moving your arms and conditioning your body. If you want to come to an understanding of magic that I have, or many others here have, you must walk the path yourself.
Now let's take a look at that: our path through life. We are all on a journey where we wind up where our choices take us. How many choices does the average life contain?
As many as there are grains of sand in our hourglass
When we really boil down the nature of our existence, we see that we are just things that make choices. It's our super power, and really the only thing we can do when you think about it. Go ahead, prove you are a true wizard: do something, anything, without first making a choice. It is impossible. Even when you are passively taking a backseat to what is happening, that is a choice. The will is the means of generating all action, and it starts with how we think.
When something happens (good, bad, or in between), what is the first thing that happens in your inner world? If it's something life threatening, our reflexes take care of us. But, any other time we generate thoughts. To consciously float where you want to go, we need to make sure that we are not reacting to the world. If we are never mindful, we are letting our autopilot reflexes, habits, and patterns of behavior choose where our feet rest. We must observe our thoughts in order to change them, which requires us to train our attention.
What are you thinking right now? Notice that awareness of your mind. When you are focused on it, you lose some awareness of what's around you, right? The reverse is also true. If our attention is consumed by the outer world, we wind up not paying attention to what we're thinking. Living in the modern world, with all its distractions and delights, makes this an increasingly difficult task.
It's really easy for gaps in our attention to skate by, unnoticed
This is why we at the Shrug Life Syndicate are so heavy-handed with our message that free will is a skill. Your ability to make choices is the singular source of all your survival, fortune, and pleasure. Our agency determines our ability to overcome the challenges fate throws our way, so the freest among us must be those who have learned how to leap over the tallest boundaries. No one is born Superman. Every master that walks this Earth does so after a journey of never-ending steps. Anyone who can "do the impossible" like letting object pass right through them does so as an artist who has crafted their filter.
Language is the lens that we filter reality through. Just as a prism refracts light, our mental lens distorts our inner reality from what's actually out there. It is conditioned by our experiences. Since we can make choices that determine our experiences, we can choose how we grow ourselves. This is what consciousness is: the ability to perceive the totality of our being. Thus, to be honest when claiming to have set off on the journey to learn magic requires us to acknowledge the endless series of opportunities we have to grow. Every moment is a choice: every moment is a lesson.
The more we pay attention to what we're thinking, the more opportunities we have to chip away at our inner lens and change how we can see the world. This is what mindfulness is; it is the actualization of mind over matter. As we change our perception, we alter the experience we take away every moment. Over time, we change the thoughts we think, shifting our personal narrative to refract reality in a manner more of our choosing.
When we no longer perceive a boundary, we will not hold ourselves back. For instance, if we thought it was impossible to get hired at our dream job, we may never attempt to get an interview. But, if we don't start with something we've learned (the difficulty of getting hired, in this case), and instead choose to approach the situation with a beginner's mind, then we do not create any additional boundaries for ourselves. This allows us to accomplish things that are at only possible at the fullest extent of human ability. When there is no sky, there are no limits.
Through the Veil Image Source: Camille Flammarion, L'Atmosphère: Météorologie Populaire (Paris, 1888)
How many of our imaginary boundaries can we break and not ascend from this reality?