Guiding Lights vs. Whipping Posts
Saying “no thank you” to The Great Mind Fuck to Escape The Transformation Trap
Guiding Lights: Freeing Ourselves From The Transformation Trap.
In the previous article in this series (here — link), I described The Transformation Trap through the following diagram (above) as:
- the increasing “transformation gap” between our insight/vision of what is possible and our integration of those insights into our actual behavior;
- the increasing likelihood that we will interpret that transformation gap as failure, leading to frustration and shame (and their concomitant sub-optimal/stupid behaviors);
- the attempt to resolve that frustration and shame by increasing your insight/vision (taking another training in Self-realization), increasing the transformation gap.
In this article, I offer one false hope and one optimal “context lens” to help us map out this territory and guide us in a useful way.
The False Hope Of Non-Judgment
“Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” — Hamlet, pretending to be insane.
First, as a false hope, many new-age postmodern teachers suggest that the way to exit The Transformation Trap is to become non-judgmental; to treat all potential outcomes as equal
manifestations of the divine. “If you avoid judgment,” the logic goes, “you avoid the transformation gap, and thereby The Transformation Trap.”
Unfortunately, this ultimate flatland “solution” obliterates the scientific, moral, political, and aesthetic distinctions on which our culture, institutions, and most cherished values are founded. Values require evaluation; they require judgment. If you take the idea of non-judgment seriously, you do not raise yourself up, you raze all values down; you deconstruct any understandings, insights, or principles on which you would construct a meaningful life; you demolish depth.
We cannot live without values. We use them in every moment, in every area of our lives. When we deny their critical role in guiding our choices, we merely decapitate our consciousness, turning our lives over to the whims of our subconscious drives. The result is not freedom, but chaos; not love and compassion, but despair and nihilism.
It is not lack of judgment that frees us from The Transformation Trap, but making optimal judgments— judgments that facilitate caring, intelligence, and beauty—judgments that lead to Thriving. The more accurate, helpful, and WholeSum our judgments, the more depth, beauty, and intimacy we can create.
To make these optimal judgments and escape the transformation trap, it is helpful to 1) challenge those judgments that interpret the transformation gap as a shameful failure (The Great Mind Fuck), and 2) practice judgments that interpret the transformation gap as meaningful opportunity (The Great Inspiration).
Challenging The Logic Of The Transformation Trap
The first step to freeing ourselves from the Transformation Trap is to clarify the illusory nature of its jaws; we recognize that interpreting the transformation gap as a failure is a) arbitrary, b) unrealistic, and c) detrimental.
a) ARBITRARY. The transformation gap is neutral on its face. It is the simple recognition that the reality of our behavior is less than our ideal. To interpret the transformation gap as a failure, you must arbitrarily assert that what is possible/ideal is “how it should be” and therefore what actually happened is a failure to achieve it, worthy of shame. However, this assertion begs the question.
We could just as appropriately assume that what actually happened is “how it should be” and therefore everything is perfect as it is, including our desire to change it (thx Ram Dass). In this case, the transformation gap is an opportunity and a direction in which to grow, an inspiration that can guide us forward towards Thriving.
Similarly, how you conceive your ideal is a function of your current awareness, in terms of stage, state, and type. No matter where you are on any line of development, and no matter how high your conception of what is possible, there is always infinity further to go. In elevation terms, if you are first- tier, then second tier is ideal. If you are second-tier, third-tier is ideal. Satori begs stability. Causal
awareness begs non-dual, then non-dual across in all lines from all 8 indigenous perspectives, etc. Again, you can always move the goalposts, and any game where you can never win is called — a mind fuck. To judge where you are as “failing” is arbitrary and especially pernicious given that it is where you actually are.
b) UNREALISTIC. Next, it is helpful to recognize that reality is exactly the way it is. In fact, it cannot be any more what it is—than it is. It is infinitely deep in all dimensions, and the more we investigate it, the more impressed we are with its consistency. In this sense, it is perfect.
In contrast, our ideals are shallow fantasies of how it should be. They are transitory, inconsistent, and surreal. Our ideals fall apart with almost any type of rigorous examination, especially one that confronts it with reality. At best, they inspire us to expand our knowledge and capacities. At worst, they contaminate our minds with recursive projections of our neurosis, fear, and suffering.
The Transformation Trap compares reality in all its depth to our fantasy of how we think it should be, and declares that reality, not our fantasy, is wrong and bad! The more we understand how unrealistic this perspective is, the easier it is to laugh our way out of the trap.
c) DETRIMENTAL: When we judge our actions as failures, we often trigger feelings of shame, frustration, and emotions that thwart our creativity, vitality, and perceptiveness. This reduces our capacity to respond to reality with power and grace. Instead of taking constructive action, we make choices that exacerbate the challenges we face, triggering off more failure, shame, and frustration. We often invest our precious time, energy, and intelligence into karmic projects to prove our value. Shame makes us stupid. The Transformation Trap is detrimental to our Thriving.
The Great Inspiration: Ideals As Guiding Lights vs. Whipping Posts
Once we recognize that the logic of The Transformation Trap is arbitrary, unrealistic, and detrimental, it is helpful to summarize this understanding in a metaphor. We call it: using our ideals as and Guiding Lights vs. Whipping Posts.
When we interpret the transformation gap as a failure, we are using our ideals as whipping posts. We judge any behavior that does not match our ideal as “falling short” of it. We then tie ourselves to the post of our ideals and whip ourselves with derision and shame for not living up to them.
Using our ideals as whipping posts creates a variety of recursively awful results, not the least of which is that ideals themselves become tainted with the feelings of pain and shame. If we are not careful, the very idea of creating ideals, of clearly establishing a hierarchy of good and bad, better and worse can become a threatening experience. The poor get poorer. Just ask green.
As an alternative, when we interpret the transformation gap as an opportunity to realize more of our potential, we are using our ideals as guiding lights. We recognize that our past choices and the results
they created are exactly what they are. They are the reality we inherit in this moment. We accept that reality as it is, and start from where we are. Our ideals then become a guiding light that illuminates our path towards beauty and Thriving as well as a beacon that puts a spotlight on where we are off track. They give us direction/feedback and motivation/inspiration to act. The more we accept reality as it is and start from where we are, the more of our time, energy, and intelligence are available to focus on the guiding light and navigate our path with grace.
Using our ideals as guiding lights creates a variety of recursively optimal results, not the least of which is an increasing love of Thriving and a desire to articulate it with ever greater precision. The more we clarify our ideals, the more they inspire us to take creative actions in their service and discriminate among the results to refine an optimal understanding. The rich get richer. Just ask Integral.
This shift from using our ideals as Guiding Lights rather than Whipping Posts is a simple but powerful context lens through which to interpret the transformation gap in a way that frees us from the Transformation Trap. Guiding Lights transform The Great Mind Fuck into The Great Inspiration.
To move from using our ideals as whipping posts to guiding lights, we must face the fundamental obstacle and opportunity on the spiritual path: shame and guilt—the subject of our next post.
