Change as Opportunity by Deb Merchant
When most of us first learned to use the templates, we ran headlong into three trains of thought we didn’t realize were there, much less shaped our reality. First, most of us found ‘craving’ to sound simple but to be unfamiliar and complex. Next, we discovered we thought what we craved would solve a problem rather than transform our reality. Finally, many of us didn’t realize at first that having what we craved, transforming our world, meant aspects of our lives would change to make room for the new. Each of these thought forms is imbedded in our modern Western culture. Using the templates will definitely alter these thought patterns. This brief article will explore the last idea: that craving what you crave means change is necessary, possibly on many levels, to make room for what you crave.
I have come to accept that change is just part of this life. Whether I ask for the change through using the templates (or some other form of request), or it comes from circumstances I didn’t set in motion, I’ve discovered I can’t move with the change and remain the same. Before accepting this truth, I tended to be more resistant to change. In contrast, many people welcome change, being enlivened by constant generativity and the redesign that brings.
What is the common denominator of these two general responses to change? Is there an opportunity here somewhere? It seems to me that the person who thrives on change simply harnesses the life force energy of how Creation works, either consciously or not. Being less accepting of these principles of Creation, can result in suffering. The suffering can come from the energy tied up in resistance, and/or being unconscious of one’s relationship to change.
A fundamental aspect of choice and opportunity, then, is conscious awareness. Start by becoming aware of your style to help you make choices. You could even write a template “Craving flowing with change…..” and associated Observing to become more aware of what choices could be valid for you.
The next aspect of discovering opportunity in the universal truth of change is registering how life works. The first, truly fundamental aspect of how life works is recognizing that each of us is a unique and essential part of Creation, the greater whole of which we are a part. That fact, backed up by many spiritual and scientific sources, often takes some getting used to, possibly because it’s very personal. This reality can even be a bit mind-blowing, because it is not part of what our modern Western culture is based on, so absorbing this idea requires some shift in your relationship to yourself, your Self, and to Life. Most of us did not have a direct revelation of this awareness, but came to it over time.
Then follows a few other principles of Creation (how Life works). These principles are imbedded in the spiral structure of the template construct:
Everything is part of everything else.
Everything operates on behalf of everything else.
Everything is interactive, interrelated, interdependent.
Everything is always going in and out of existence.
Everything is always deconstructing and constructing.
Everything is always contracting and expanding.
Everything is always moving to the next greater whole.
These principles would be true and in motion even if humans were not on this planet. Given orienting to this way of knowing life can be an adjustment, doing nothing and observing the principles in motion could feel like being out of control. In a way, being in control of aspects of one’s life is a false myth of modern Western culture. So, let me give some examples of how knowing these principles helped me.
When my family and I moved from Ohio to California for my internship, we engaged in all the activities of leaving one location for another. This is deconstruction. Finding our new home and setting everything up is construction, everything moving to the next greater whole as well as all the other principles at the same time. None of them occur one at a time, in linear fashion. When one principle is more observable, another is still occurring even if less noticeably. In the example of moving from Ohio, at certain points, it could have looked like deconstruction was all that was happening, but construction was also occurring, if only in the background. Then, the closer we got to California; construction was the more obvious dynamic.
This is how using the Templates transforms your life.
The change I set in motion which had me realize I can’t change and stay the same happened in the most recent efforts to improve my health. Initially I was very excited, determined, and eager. Then I ran headlong into the truth that forming life-enhancing habits meant reducing or eliminating life-defeating ways of being. That assaulted all my carefully, often unconsciously, constructed comfort zones. I was able to use awareness of the principles of Creation imbedded in the templates to open up into less reactive states and choose responsive ways to generate new comfort zones which are life enhancing. And so the journey to health continues, not in a straight line, but in a spiral of life.
These are some of the fundamental ways there is opportunity in change, and change through using the templates which weave the way Creation works into your life. Choice would become an act, an art, of moving with Creation, my direct, unique connection with Creation, like a choreography. I’m less and less governed by change controlled by the system I was born into, and instead, empowered to move with a reality which includes what I was born into, but is no longer solely defined by that. While there is no way to describe the opportunities inherent in this path in a completely concrete way, the opportunities are sturdier, more varied, and more life-enhancing across a lifespan. This is a seriously attractive prospect to me, and it comes with change of moving to the next greater whole many times over…..fortunately, if you continue in this self-study regarding learning the templates, you will have priceless tools to support you on this journey.