Unfortunately ... /June 21, 2013

Unfortunately, my dog ate my homework.

As a much younger man I was fortunate enough to spend two years working in Tokyo. As with most of the major decisions in my life this sort of happened to me. A decision made more by the lack of good reasons not to go than by a desire to expand my horizons.

I tried to embrace the opportunity studying Japanese and frequently wearing my earthquake helmet in the office (much to the confusion of the rest of the dealing room). As the only westerner I was affectionately (I hope) known as the henna gaijin...crazy foreigner. 

I liked Tokyo. Civilised, clean, polite and despite expectations very accessible to a Westerner with limited Japanese.  After six months I could direct a taxi driver, but had little opportunity to use my other two phrases....'Unfortunately my dog has eaten my homework' and the very corporate 'Excuse me, have you done a small fart'. The latter always raised a chortle at those hideous corporate golf days. 

I raise my experience in Tokyo because the longer I lived there, and the more I got to know the place, the more I realised that I had absolutely no clue what was happening. At first it was kind of like London and so I was comfortable controlling my life in a similar way, but the more familiar it became the more alien it seemed. I had gone from a superficial familiarity with the structure to a playing out a bit part in a sci fi movie.

As I became more aware of the nature of the place and the people, the more I realised there was a whole level of experience and communication which I just was not party to. This was a little discomforting, a bit like the first time you realise people are laughing at you not with you. It was at this point I had to release any notion of controlling my experience, but had to just be with it. Unfortunately, just as I had surrendered to Tokyo it was time to leave! It had taught me well enough despite the dog eating my homework.

This process is similar to what is happening to many at the moment as we collectively shift from being unconscious of being unconscious, to being conscious of being unconscious and finally to a state of conscious of being conscious.

This is a dangerously loaded phrase as many on a 'spiritual' path assume a superiority in their (self-proclaimed) 'higher' state of consciousness, desperate to spread THEIR word and HEAL those who remain unconscious. Unfortunately for this group, their need to fix the world and the people around them is a demonstration of their own lack of consciousness, their imprisonment in the duality they so oppose! 

This shift is necessarily an individual and unique experience to us all, and again contrary to the promises of the love and light brigade, increased awareness is not necessarily comfortable. 

When people join the Creative Space Programme and they ask what to expect, we often tell them that that they will become more aware of patterns. This can be quite enlightening as you see others playing the same 'games' over and over (especially with those close to you) and your awareness may allow the patterns to be broken. 

The next stage is invariably less comfortable but actually is where the real power lies. This is the stage when you start to acknowledge your own patterns and see how you use them to produce a certain feeling or attempt to control others (same thing really). It is much easier to see another's unconsciousness than our own. It is tempting to try to solve another's issues without first addressing our own. But ultimately it is only through self awareness and self responsibility that we can truly impact the world and in that place you may well lose the desire to!

Or as they say in Japan...Zannen nagara watashi no inu ga, shukodai o tabemashita.