The Power of Choice

As a nuanced thinker, I like to debunk false binaries. Memes can present us with false choices that can be socially divisive and easily falsifiable. Life is full of grey areas and context. And yet, sometimes binaries are appropriate.Two books have had an outsize effect on me: Power VS Force and Love is Letting Go of Fear. Both books about binaries written by men who wanted to help show people the way to love, joy, success and peace. I felt changed after reading both of them.Love is Letting Go of Fear states that we are in one of two states at all times: love or fear. This makes it simpler to navigate life. Am I motivated by love or fear? Is fear whispering in my ear? Am I trying to control or surrender? Even though there are only 2 choices, discerning the difference can be difficult. Fear can make a strong case, especially when we don’t see that it has infiltrated our capacity to make sense and distorted our discernment.Power Vs Force describes a spiritual ladder of emotions and feeling states, from low to high. It prescribes letting go of the lower levels, like hatred, fear, and anger, in order to ascend to the next highest level. A lesson may await at each level and once it is passed, we can ascend into a more and more positive experience. So it's spiritual ascension, but he's making the same point as Jampolsky in Love is Letting Go of Fear. He's saying we can either employ power, which is loving, accepting, giving, and patient, or we can employ force, which controls and demands. One goes up and one goes down.One book describes the mental-emotional states and their consequences in a self-help format. The other depicts an energetic presentation and the nature and experience of these options we have before us.I bring this up partly because I never noticed how these books were similar to each other and how they both affected me profoundly. I don't read much these days and maybe I'm missing some similar illumination. But the books and insights that help us navigate life are always available to be revisited and reaffirmed.I guess I caught myself wanting to control a scenario, to share the 'truth' with someone. I wanted to prescribe them medicine that they had not requested. I sense that the information is valid, but what was my motivation? What would the outcome have been had I shared it, impelled by my agenda? The answer is simple. I was motivated by fear. I wanted to 'force' the information, I wanted to control outcomes and serve my interests.So the information can be loving. We can be loving overall. But that's not enough. We have to catch ourselves. Our minds are usually playing tricks on us. These books remind us that we are becoming. We are projecting and radiating a state of consciousness out into the world. That's really where our power is, not in trying to control and manage events of which we may have merely a passing and provisional understanding.Recent events are showing me that I can focus more on the becoming than the getting. Or that becoming is the best way to get what we want and need. Let everyone else do what they will on their schedule. Allow for divine timing, or act as if. What I radiate, what I release, what I create, what I share---that's where my power resides.Anything else is forcing and is motivated by fear. It might work for a while. In our personal lives, we can attract instead of coerce. We can offer instead of convince. We can acquiesce and yet speak our truth. We can surrender in lieu of clutching.Today I choose to radiate what I want to see and feel in the world at large and with the people that I encounter. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit greenmang.substack.com/subscribe