The following is excerpted from Tequila and Chocolate, The Adventures of the Morning Star and Soulmate, A Memoir.
Peace and Harmony where art thou?
Wherever there is separation, there is conflict. When we individually separate our heart from our mind, there is conflict within our soul. When we feel separate from nature, our mind wants to either conquer or control.
There is only one Earth—at least in our Solar System. Yet, so many people are blind to the realization that they are first and foremost “citizens” of Earth—Human Beings with a divine spark within. It escapes people’s mind that we share the earth equally with all other creatures and things of nature. This blindness causes separation as people egotistically identify with their own gender, race, religion and country as their sole persona. There is no unity of being or thought as each identifies with “their own.” This leads to thinking that I’m right (our own) and you’re wrong (others not like us).
The “I’m right,” “You’re wrong” mentality is the worst case of dualism. Where there is dualism, there is separation. There can be no unity. Where there is separation, there is always the potentiality for conflict and most assuredly, no peace. Inner peace is seldom found with this form of thinking. We are not born with dualistic thinking. So where does it originate? Could it be where we first learned to focus our attention while growing up?
First Attention/Second Attention
Our basic patterns of life are based on what I call “first attention,” based on our dualistic consciousness. You may have heard the expression, “energy flows where attention goes.” Repetitive energy flow, a constant focus of our mind and our thoughts, will establish our reality and our beliefs about life – about the Earth, nature, others, and ourselves. It will erect core beliefs about all kinds of things including life, death and religion. From these core beliefs, our rules of life, assumptions, and our attitudes will be formed.
Each of us is more of a product of our past than we even realize. Troubling behaviors become ignored or unconscious in our stress-filled, hectic, materialistic lives. In addition, these behaviors are connected to our basic rules of life or belief system. All are a result of our “first attention.” This is where our patterns of life were formed growing up.
An example would be represented by a belief resulting from our “first attention” that made our mind view the glass as half-empty. Our “second attention,” where we would focus on optimism and the positive potentialities of life, would then produce a belief where we would view the glass as half-full and not half-empty.
All our reality comes from our mind. First and foremost, we need to practice forgiveness and release the past’s destructive emotional baggage of resentment, anger, guilt, fear, uncertainty and doubt. Then by transforming our “first attention” to a “second attention,” we change our patterns, our rules of life and our beliefs. Usually the greatest “first attention” that we accept is fear. The opposite emotion from fear is the emotion of love. Take a moment and list the “first attentions” that you feel need to be changed to a “second attention.” Then compose and implement an action plan to replace your dysfunctional (and possibly destructive) “first attentions” with functional “second attentions.”