The World of Systems
In the game of life, everything adheres to a system, an interconnected network, organization, or framework based on a core set of beliefs. The systems you participate in may appear obvious or hidden but they are there and you willingly give your power to them. Systems function based on belief, coordinated ideology, rules and regulations, collaboration and shared mission, inclusion and exclusion, expectation and demand, power dynamics, sacrifice, and other forms of control. Without awareness, your conditioned mind naturally participates in a system of some kind. Systems form from the moment you enter the world, typically via the family of origin - the original system - which then leads to systems of schooling and education, career, sports, friend groups, hobbies, internet cultures, politics, and any other identity you can imagine. As long as you see yourself as a relational being, you will participate in a relational system of sorts. Even in aloneness or perceived isolation, you may fall prey to thinking you are “outside the system,” though this still gives power to the system you are “outside of.” Within the self, there is also system - a universe - all its own, often filled with the internalized notions, conditions, and beliefs of who you are and the external systems you have identified with. Some may refer to this internal system as an internal family containing “parts of self,” such as the child self and various other emotion and belief based parts. The internal system may be comprised of “parts” from all along the lifespan, as well as parts from ancestry and karmic inheritance.
The game is best played when you expand awareness of all the parts you are carrying and all the systems you are subscribed to. Consider being subscribed to several newsletters and receiving several emails a week that you never intentionally signed up for, and rather than take the time to unsubscribe, you choose to ignore them but are still heavily influenced by their materials. Your subconscious mind is filled with these subscriptions to systems you are aware of or not. A subscription to a system is neither bad nor good, it is simply how the mind and its conditioned beliefs work. In the beginning, you are signed up for systems largely not of your conscious choosing, though over time you discover more agency in your ability to choose and how to engage in the world. You may engage with certain systems, like a romantic partnership or a company, for a period of time until your mind expands and it no longer fits. You may ebb and flow with your family of origin, at times enjoying the role you play and at other times needing to make space for your own independent growth. This is natural. However, many choose to stay in systems too long out of fear of lack, of being without, or of being alone. Systems can provide feelings of safety, comfort, and of being known, while also leading to the ultimate illusion in thinking Love lives within a system rather than within the essence and awareness of being the Self.
The Self is without a system, it is One and Oneness is the true nature of reality. At this level, there are no more systems because there is no more need for connection. Think of an external hard drive that has no internal moving parts. It is simply one entity and needs no wiring. But on the level of human experience, you appear to be a separate being and your ego is convinced of this separateness. The separateness is ultimately an illusion, though it is certainly quite convincing to the human mind. Therefore, the human experience is filled with an interconnected web of layers you choose to participate in. Now, I am not advocating to be system-less, unless this feels divinely guided and aligned for you, all I am pointing to is the home within you that already has the highest authority and system within it. The goal, from my perspective, is to engage consciously with systems out of your own love, integrity, and choosing, rather than out of unconscious force, lack, and perceived need. As much as the systems you participate in appear mandatory, they are not. You do not “need” to give away your power or to compromise your Light and your Truth. You are invited only to surrender to what is within you.
As you practice coming home to the Self, the ultimate source of knowing within you and one part of the “system” of God or Spirit, the more you can transparently see systems you and others are constantly creating, participating in, and attempting to receive love and worthiness from. From this Self-knowing, you will find less need to be a part of any other system and more freedom to play the game freely. The ego mind does not understand this and it craves validation from any and all external systems. Yet, no system will ever be enough for the ego because the ego has no true home. No system will heal the ego because its foundational belief is one of separation. No partner, no family, no sports team, no artist, no company, no political identity, no nation, and no world will ever close this illusory gap. The truth you may discover is that there is already a universe within you. On the surface, your mind may carry around a landfill of internalized identities, continuing to add to the pile in hopes of one day being filled up. But what are you filled up with? With all of this filling of illusion and junk, you have only blocked off access to the true universal source of Oneness. It is perfectly fine to enjoy your connections to these external things, though you must know that these attachments cannot ultimately heal the illusion of separateness. Only you can heal you once you begin to awaken to the truth: there is nothing to heal, there is no separation. The truth lies in knowing that beneath the level of systems, there is no need for interconnection. There is only Oneness. The Source within you is the same Source that flows through all. Therefore, the striving for connection outside the self, and to play the game according to others’ rules, is based on an illusion that cannot be fixed unless you can glimpse what is already here. You are never alone.
In my own journey, I wrestled with aloneness and isolation for many years, consumed by the illusion of separateness. I am still overcome by this conditioned belief at times, though I have more Faith than ever before. At the root of this condition is fear. This should come as no surprise since fear lies at the root of all conditions, and the only way to heal the fear is to recognize it for what it is - a conditioned belief predicated on an illusion, a powerful one at that but still only an illusion. I am now entering a phase of the journey which involves community building and opening to receiving Love from others. My heart has begun to open drastically to allow the Light source in others to see me, receive from me, and pour into me. Only through the recognition of the Light source in me have I been able to open to the source in others. Only through the recognition of my own service have I been able to open to the service of others. You may think these last few lines contradict what has been written thus far. Did I not just say there is no need for connection and relationship? That we are all one? Let me be clear, I am grateful for the opportunity to build community, and yet, community does not make me whole. Relationships are a part of my journey into the Heart but they do not make me whole. I am already whole, as are you. Relationships are tools to heal what needs healing within. They are a medicine and you cannot avoid them. Avoiding relationship, as I have done at times, brings its own slew of issues. Relationship is not to be chased nor to be avoided, it is simply a part of the human experience to be learned from. And the ultimate lesson is that you are already whole. It is only from this place of wholeness that wyoue can build a community of wholeness. Community does not fill any holes nor does it patch together parts of people. Partly-filled people create partly-filled communities. Only in the knowing of your true source can you cultivate the knowing of a communal source.
If you want to recognize which systems you give power to, simply ask yourself what is important to you and why. Even the spiritual path is a system and a game. Why are you pursuing it? I am in pursuit of ultimate joy, freedom, and alignment with the highest vision for this life. These are goals that may appear to require certain action steps in relationship to various systems, though as I pursue such goals, I can recognize that the pursuit itself is where the awakening happens. There is no real destination outside the Self. All relationships I build, abundance I create, services I offer, and recognition I receive are only tools to remember the worthiness I have within me all along. If this is not recognized, no amount of accolades or external conditions will provide it for you. Of course, I still fall prey to the ego at times and desire the goals in material form. But I am reminded, time and time again, these goals can only ever be experienced within and are, therefore, independent of what is ultimately brought to form. If you want a big house, a nice car, and a big family, great. You can have those things and so can I. Just continue to ask yourself why you want those things and if you are giving power to these things to fill you up. What can be taken away, lost, or destroyed, including the physical body itself, will never be your truth. Your true source of Joy can never be stripped from you. I still pursue the world of form in my vision because that is the canvas on which I can paint, but the true goal of painting is only ever to bring me closer to my truth as a painter, as a creator. I manifest only to see that I am a manifestor. I love only to see that I am love. I seek no other reward other than this knowing and conviction because there is no other real reward to be gained. The knowing itself is the only prize. From this place of knowing, all is well and all is provided. People come and go, planets come and go, even universes come and go… but you remain. Your awareness. Your consciousness. Your Oneness. Practice recognizing this truth so you may move through the game of systems with ease. You may choose to be of service to various systems without needing them or depending on them for what already lives within. To know your system-less source is to discover boundless love and to be free of conditions. Choose wisely.