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Mask of the heart We learn to
respond to life in a way that allows us to be acceptable to, and/or
survive in, the world in which we find ourselves at the expense of
our own
truth. Some do it better than others. Need to look at how we
respond to life and see where we do or do not live
our truth. This
part of the process requires awakening what is
symbolized in the heart if not awakened.
Background
As a result of having the
free expression of our
creative spirit
thwarted, we do two things. One is we develop response patterns to
life to avoid
pain. The second is, rather than expressing the
truth of our being, we create ways of being that are acceptable to the
world around us. In essence, we mask
our truth and
mask our heart
with a mask created by
mind. We show a different face to the world
rather than our true self.
In general, there is nothing wrong what whatever mask we show the
world as long as we are consciously aware of how we are masking
our truth and the
free expression of our
creative spirit. Our problem is
we begin to believe we are the mask and forget about our truth. In
doing so, we rob ourselves of our
creative
ability and creative power. Often when we rob ourselves, we create a
victim consciousness
and look to blame others for what we ourselves took from ourselves.
In extreme cases, we become totally different than what the free
expression of our truth would look like. Most of us have created
response pattern either before we become consciously aware of what
we were creating. Or, we create the response patterns in awareness
thinking they are a one time use only to become a permanent way of
responding to the world.
There are two significant problems in removing the mask . One is we
created the world we experience based on using the mask. The second
is often the mask we use is entwined with the
pain in our heart. To
remove the mask is to open the wounds of the past and reawaken the
pain of the pass.
What needs to be realized, every action we take in the world helps
to create the world we experience. The circle of friends we have and
what we do in life is based on the mask we use. As we transform
ourselves to move into
our truth, we
can expect many of our friend of the past to leave our life.
Additionally, we may find that work and activities we do in life no
longer
serve us
and who we are finding ourselves to be. How much
will change depends on how big the difference in how we have not
live our truth and how we now desire to live our truth. If we try
and hold onto that which must leave our life, we will stifle our own
transformation and continue to be bound to the past. However, there
will be individual in our life who will follow our lead and look to
us to help them transform their life for they too are trapped in
a cage of their own making.
Removing the mask is like reopening the
wounds of the heart. It is
as if we put a bandage on our wound but the scab of the wound
becomes part of the bandage. We remove the bandage we reopen the
wound.
The key here is to realize that any
pain we have experienced early
in life, we probably have developed some conscious or
nonconscious
response pattern to life to prevent it from happening again. When we
face the pain of the past, we should also look to see what response
patterns we have developed that go with that particular pain.
Awareness of the response pattern is the first step in changing the
pattern. Similarly, when looking at our response patterns to life,
no matter what technique we use, we should be aware we may stumble
across and surface pain of the past.
In this understanding, it is best to do our exploration of our
response patterns to life in a very
safe and secure environment
where we can be nurtured if necessary, and as necessary in the way
we need to be nurtured. Then, if we open an old wound, the
environment is safe enough to process what we experience and
release
the bound energy. Here we, and those in the space we are using, need
to allow ourselves to be improvisational enough to response to what
arises in a way that allows the bound energy of the past to be
released.
We cannot and will not be able to use our
mind to surface the
mask
of the heart. The mind has created response patterns to protect
itself and will always be looking to protect. The mask is only
recognized when we are mindful and aware of how we are responding to
life. Normally something occurs in our life and we respond to it
based on our preferred response pattern. If we go directly to mind
and ask it to show us how we respond to life, it will show us a
pattern that is not real but fabricated to both address the question
asked but not reveal its protective response pattern. If it would
reveal its real response pattern it would be making itself
vulnerable to what the response pattern protects. The solution is to
use memory triggers in a playful state and/or use a type and kind of
metatheater directed to surface response patterns.
Inherent within our being is a desire to
creative play. We are
consciousness at play with itself. It is our
childlike play which
has been thwarted causing
pain and pushing us to develop protective
response patterns which control our life. Any playful state has the
possibility of surfacing the memories of how we
lost our ability to
be in childlike creative play. By choosing the proper focus and
engage in playful activities around that focus, we will surface both
the pain and the response patterns that lie in that area.
For example: We focus on what is
symbolized by
our heart and what it
represents and engage in some type and kind of playful activities
about the heart. We may draw a
life map which the focus is on how we
have and have not expressed our heart. We can play with small
figures and tell a story about our heart through figures. We can
create a bandage to place over our heart representing how we have
come to protect our heart. We can engage in a variety of different
creative activities and see which activities causes our heart to
stir and come alive. There are many others we can do. Any of these
singularly and in combination can, and will, surface
pain of the
past and response patterns we created to protect ourselves.
Additionally, we can use a
metatheater. Metatheater is about
creating different types and kinds of activities to see what are our
true response patterns of life. The process works as follows. We
have an experience in life and then response to that experience
based on the filters and response patterns we hold. Rather than
response to life as it is, we respond to life based on the
illusion
we have in our
mind about what we are experiencing. We do not see
the
truth of what we experience. Rather we see through the illusion
our
mind has created about the experience filtered by our response
to life.
By creating a meta-theater, a theatric performance, and know the
truth of what is occurring become we have created it. In allowing
ourselves to response to that metatheatric performance as if it were
real, we will see our real response patterns. We see
mind for what
it is and the illusion carried by our mind. We know the truth of
what is because we have created the performance through the
metatheater. How we respond to that truth reveals the
illusion of
our mind.
Recommendations to address the mask of the heart
A note on
recommendations: The recommendations made are actions that
have been found helpful for individual who elect to become their
truth and regain a young
childlike playful state of being. In acting
on any of these recommendations, it needs to be noted that being
physical is about
having a physical experience. From a
creativity perspective and
holding
our creativity sacred it has been found that
whatever we do
mentally and intellectually relative to changed in
our life and/or the way we think and believe should be accompanied
by some physical action to
make the knowing experiential. The reason
for the physical action is that physical experience provide a
stronger imprint in our memory to catalyze the change we desire to
create. The easiest way to make a mental or intellectual
understanding experiential is to perform some type of playful
physical act such as a
ritual, ceremony,
metatheater,
story telling, drawing, model creation, toy enactment and the like.
Create a bandage of the heart: Using bandage type materials,
playfully create a bandage for the heart. On the front of the
bandage, draw in some way, symbols that represent the
wounds of the heart that you can recall. As you do the exercise, be prepared to
have deeper memories surface. Allow yourself to process them as they
arise
Create a mask we show the world: Using plaster cast material, create
a mask over the face. Allow it to dry and then
pain and decorate the
front of the mask with colors, symbols and the like that represent
who you think you are and how you present yourself to the world.. As
you work this process, be prepared to have thoughts, ideas, memories
and the like to surface things you have long since forgotten or
never really though about. You may want to make notes and/or capture
what surfaces in the mask you create.
Life review: Using the
life map, story telling or other techniques,
review
your life. As your review your life become aware of how you
response to the events you describe. Become aware of the decisions
you made in each event. Ask yourself, “Why this response as oppose
to any other - what if anything was I protecting?” Record your
results.
Metatheater: With other individuals with whom you feel safe,
construct
metatheaters of your choice. In creating the metatheater,
the group creates an event that is not shared with the individual
desiring to understand their response patterns. One individual
should remain unengaged to act as an observe of both the group and
the individual. They can also talk to the individual to see what
they are thinking as the metatheater unfolds. The metatheater is the
performed as it were real and the individual responds accordingly.
Capture the results. Metatheater can be done of often as one likes
and on any subject. The recommendation is “boot strap” the
metatheater. That is do the metatheater and see what surfaces. Then
use another metatheater to further explore what surface iterating
the process going deeper and deeper in each performance.
The next step
Becoming our truth - 03 Dying before we die
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Loss of creative play
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