An Awakening

An interesting way to begin the new year is to kind of reflect on yourself for a little (as if banging ones head on a door and almost giving yourself a concussion isnt a way to bang in the new year) . So it comes with a little bi of de-ja-vu that last sunday, on an unusually warm winter day, I took a bike ride.... What made it so unusual was I ended up at Haines Point, and The Awakening Statue.

Its been about a year & a half since I last saw it, and was just as impressed with it back then as now. So it is sad to find out that it was bought and bieng shipped to the National Harbor shortly. Kind of an eye opener. (pics here).

Which, as cheesy as sometimes as it sounds brings me to all these self help things you see around the bookshelves and so forth. In general these places & books charge alot for simple advice that in most cases dont "catch". Most of us, as adults, have a pretty ingrained personality & quirks. None of these things are going to transform you overnight unless it comes with a shocking life experience. It comes from within.

My sister many years ago, paid for me to go to "The Landmark Forum". Sure it was an eye opening experience (but then I also remember it for meeting this girl from greece that I was infatuated just as much). Sure it had a great message. But was it worth THREE days and a quarter grand spent?! No not really. And if I had done my homework on it.... I would have been somewhat disturbed at its origins. So in general I really do not trust those venues.

But yet the one book I have gone back to over the last four years - The Four Agreements - is just that type of book. Maybe though that I keep going back to it is a sign that it is different. I reread it in January each year - a simple book that puports to be "Toltec Wisdom". I pay no attention to that... ok maybe I do - because the 4 agreements are pretty basic (but hard to follow religiously):

1. Be Impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.


2. Don't take anything personally -Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.


3. Don't make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreements, you can completely transform your life.


4. Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

But the thing I always found most fascinating is the introduction of the Toltec mythology & the "Dream of Planet"

The Toltecs teach us that we are living in a dream and there is nothing really solid about that dream. We can say that the human body is made for perception, and the human mind is made to dream. We each dream our personal dream of "reality," and we all dream together to create the “dream of the planet." The function of the human dream is to prepare the new humans by "domesticating" them and making them part of the human organ, so that our evolution continues.

So our upbringing is is deteremined by others (like Duh!) and society. And in this upbringing we make all these agreements taking on the view of our parents & society. Well - basically the need to unlearn all these thiings (our old agreements) and simplify to four. Its more complicated so I guess thats why theres a small book on it.

Maybe whenI finish that I can attemot to finish all the other books on my shelf sitting there unread; The History of Africa, Le Morte De Arthur, Collected works of Robert Frost, The Count of Monte Cristo..........