POWER-ZAPPING ILLUSIONS
by
William Cottringer


The greatest gains in self-development occur when we begin to challenge sacred realities. A few of these critical "illusions," which inhibit our growth, are discussed below.

TIME

For as long as I can remember, I have always had two distinct perceptions of time. First, there is the conventional, definitive notion of a mechanical passage of time through the past, present and future sequence of which I can't help but be aware. Then there is the psychological, changeable sensation of a continuous now moment that seems just as real. Sometimes time flies by and other times it drags by.

The conventional notion of time can work against you if you take it too seriously. The result is the stress of never being able to get enough done on time. This kind of time becomes a temporal management problem and the only way around it is to consider the better value of the psychological perception of time. When you start focusing more intensely on each now moment, they seem to last much longer, allowing you to accomplish more. Try getting rid of clocks and watches for awhile and exploring a practical version of eternity

BOUNDARIES

I have often thought that sports would be more interesting if there were no out of bounds. Boundaries are necessary for practical reasons alone, but the general concept can inhibit growth when taken too far. True growth has no boundaries. The more we believe we can do something, the more we will do it. We are only limited by the boundaries we imagine to exist. Why we would imagine any boundaries is a question worth asking.

Probably the biggest boundary we can impose upon ourselves is when we over-identify with a particular viewpoint from which we are seeing something. The boundaries of something are determined from where they are seen. Sometimes boundaries change dramatically with a slight change in the location from where we are doing the looking. North and South are a certain reality here on earth, but are they in outer space?

CERTAINTY

Our brains are programmed for certainty; Chaos, confusion, ambiguity and tentativeness make us uneasy. We are driven to clarify chaos, understand confusion and stabilize change. But which way is it really? Every time I am convinced I know something for certain, something happens to make me wish I had held off a bit longer before professing my "truth." And, as uncomfortable as chaos is, priorities have a funny way of becoming more visible when surrounded by it.

The fact that we as human beings are constantly evolving is an important clue that everything else is in flux too. Making chaotic reality conform to artificial certainty is going against the natural flow and can't help but result in a limited viewpoint that keeps you from growing. Awhile back, Allan Watts wrote an intriguing book, The Wisdom of Insecurity. The point was that the only real security comes when you totally embrace the tentativeness of things. By giving up the illusion of certainty (and the illusion of control) you are giving up its insecurity too. An attitude of uncertainty opens up boundless opportunities.

SEPARATENESS

In our drive to be free, unique and autonomous we create an illusion of separation from everything else. This results in a paradox, because at the same time we also need to be equal, attached and dependent. This self-imposed sentence of separation keeps us from noticing the inter-connectedness and underlying unity of things. This inhibits our understanding of some things and our ability the change them for the better. This also leads us to think we can step outside of a situation to control it better. All we are actually doing is stretching the situation with our footsteps.

For instance, try to notice the inter-relationships of all these different illusions. They can all work together to either form one big illusion or help you grow. If you are certain time is against you, your boundaries will start closing in on you, so to speak. If you tentatively accept the psychological nature of time, your boundaries expand exponentially. You are still very much part of both of those different outcomes, either way.

IRRESPONSIBILITY

If you are in for a pinch then you are in for a pound as the saying goes. Is there really a boundary for responsibility? Are we responsible for some things but not others? From my present viewpoint, I can only say that responsibility is intimately connected with awareness. Although none of us is completely aware, we all have an equal opportunity to grow awareness and responsibility.

At this point in time, I am willing to assume responsibility for everything that I do and everything that happens to me. That is the only possible outcome from shattering all these other illusions. And that door opens up to a playing field that has no boundaries or other power-zapping illusions.

As Will Schutz wrote over twenty years ago in his book, Profound Simplicity, "I know these things to be true , but I will probably experience them firsthand and really know them shortly after finishing this article."

Think about these five illusions and how they may be zapping your power to become fully self-actualized. Fortunately, they all have alternatives. Even illusions serve a positive purpose- letting you see what they are hiding.

William Cottringer, Ph.D. is a business consultant, college teacher, sport psychologist and writer from Bellevue, WE. He is also author of You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too and The Bow-Wow Secrets. He can be reached at (425) 454-5011 or bcottringer.pssp.net.