Lessons from the Kingdom
On Fear and Shame, and breaking the mold.
Today, we’re talking about failure, fear, and shame. No one’s favorite subject, but for many, it’s the root of the driving force behind why so many sabotage themselves and it’s the wounded point of entry that leads to the unconscious behaviors that undermine and sabotage others.
It’s the reason behind why so many people have dreams that they never fulfill. It’s the reason why so many people have goals that they never reach. It’s the dark voice inside that justifies living under your greatness and playing small. It’s the lower vibration that leads to self medication. It’s the visceral manifestation of the underworld that leaves you feeling stuck. It’s the drain of focused energy that keeps people caught in toxic cycles and the part that feels more comfortable when others do the same.
From procrastination, to isolation, to avoidance, to aggression, to alienation: it’s the little hurts and doubts that we accumulate over time affect us and others more than we know.
But how many of these are justified? How many are necessary?
The easy answer is none.
All throughout nature, there is the evidence of a simple alchemy. Before you fly, you have to fall. Before you become strong, you have to stumble. No one observes or audits the animal kingdom and says, look at all these baby cheetahs. Look at all these birds falling about. Look at these elephants stumbling as they learn to walk. No one says: look at this wolf longing for its pack. We know the process is a part of the path. We know inherently that every stumbling block and every moment where they seek, and struggle and flail about is crucial and essential to building the strength and the experience necessary to live their free and wild lives.
When an elephant falls, it is not abandoned by the herd but surrounded by its elders and raised back up. Wolves and dogs alike teach each other boundaries, how to bite just hard enough to play, but also when to follow and when to lead. And in the pride of lions, the cub that cannot hunt doesn’t starve, but is fed until that little lion can one day take up its place in the hunting party.
Nature is not simply telling us it’s okay to stumble. It’s telling us that the tribes and groups and families that we organize ourselves in are built upon the legacy and wisdom and strength of others helping others: teaching those who have fallen or lost their way to walk taller, supporting others to become stronger, and encouraging one another to be uplifted until they find their way again.
It seems like we live in a society where it feels like failure is almost inevitable, where it’s unrealistic to dream too big because it can never happen to you.
But all throughout the animal kingdom, could you see how poisonous this ideology could be? The idea that only some birds fly, the idea that only some lions hunt, the idea that only some elephants walk tall, the idea that only some wolves find their pack.
Free yourself from these ideologies today. You will find your pack. You can walk tall. Be fearless. This is your precious life. You were born to fly.
The same goes for us. The way we think about failure and the way we think about mistakes is something that our society has gotten deeply twisted.
From the lens of accountability, we must recognize how we do this to ourselves. But from the lens of the tribe and the village and the social ecosystem, this is something that is a product of media conditioning and demonic programming.
Every great tradition has had a name for this poison. The Lakota called it Wetiko, the mind-sickness that turns a person against themselves and their community. The Hindu traditions named it Maya, the illusion that separates us from our true nature. The mystics of every era have described a system of false seeing that keeps the spirit small and the machine fed.
The names change across culture but the illness remains the same.
It is your duty in this life to free yourself from these cycles.
Anytime that you find yourself stuck, anytime you find yourself ruminating, anytime you get caught in stagnancy where you find it impossible to do the things that you know your soul is longing to do, anytime you get caught up in fears and find yourself making excuses for why something couldn’t go right or projecting why something could go wrong, anytime that you find yourself in judgment or being hard on yourself or being critical of others: remember that these are false ideologies embedded in our mental fabric by those who do not wish you or your loved ones well.
In fact their cruel intention is quite the opposite.
These are symptoms of a sick system that is designed to profit and become more powerful from perpetuating and constantly creating one million little mental blocks that keep you down and hold you back.
Today is the day that you break through.
This system that we live in produces several different archetypes, but the two key ones I want to discuss briefly today are those who sabotage others based off of the fruits of these false feelings, and those who sabotage themselves based off of the pain that comes when bad seeds take root.
Now the saboteur - the person who sabotages others - they carry a wounded sense of self. Somewhere along the way the innocent parts of them were threatened or challenged, or ridiculed, and instead of going internal and growing, they harbor those feelings and became an external weapon of the matrix.
These types of people always have something negative to say about others. When you share your dreams with them, they don’t celebrate, but they find things to pick at. They plant seeds of doubt in your mind based off of their fears and their insecurities and feed off of the false sense of power they draw from feeling dominion over others.
These types of people love to spread rumors. These types of people tend to make underhanded and cutting comments - and these types of people, in spite of all of the hurt that they do to others, are deeply wounded and afraid themselves. Like the porcupine covered in needles longing to be held, their wounds become a part of who they are, longing for closeness, but inevitably harming others when they do.
This is a double-edged sword. Not only are they hurting themselves, but people like this who hurt and harm and sabotage others through perpetuating mental blocks and poking at insecurities also fortify the wounds of those who sabotage themselves.
Enter the self - saboteur. These are those who are always selling themselves short. They’re living under their greatness. They feel the deep longing for what they could do and become, but allow the world around them to trample them down and to crush their dreams. They’re always taking the blame and they’re always obsessing over things that they could have done better. They have precious dreams. They want to do beautiful and meaningful things, but they dwell on false thinking and struggle to summon the courage to bring those visions to life,
Both of these archetypes are living in a false world: one where any comment can become a sword that cuts them off from their highest good, one where any dark thought can become a seed that they in turn plant in others.
Many people deny that we are living in a war between good and evil.
The key to your freedom and the reclamation of your power comes from acknowledging this truth, connecting to the higher power, and living accordingly.
Many people are out of control.
But they fail to ask: if I am not running the script: who is?
There are forces in this world that want to keep you from your highest life.
They want to tear down your spirit and steal your life force.
They want to keep you in the dark and harvest your light.
Intrusive thoughts are literally that: intruders. And for those who fall victim to them, they live in a world where they believe that people are out to get them, where they don’t believe in themselves, even though their hearts are full of music that they long to bring to the world.
Now the flip side of this coin is remembering the divine creator and embracing the evidence in nature that we have all witnessed. Every creature needs love and nurturing to grow. Every being who ever walks on this earth must stumble and fall on their journey to walking and running. This is just the undeniable truth of things.
So if you find yourself constantly self isolating. If you find yourself feeling like an outsider, constantly alienated from others, ask yourself: what bridges am I building to understanding? What tables am I setting to eat good fruits? What seeds am I planting for a good harvest? Am I living a life of intent? If not, then who is running the script?
And if you find yourself feeling lost. If you find yourself procrastinating. If you find yourself stuck, checking out, and self medicating. If you find yourself taking weeks and months and years to finally share your art, to step into your purpose, and struggle to finally bring your gifts to life, ask yourself:
What false stories have I painted like paper mache over my soul? What plaster am I willing to break through and shake off so that I can finally bring my gifts to light?
When we are children, we long to play. We laugh freely and easily, and we take risks.
And along the way, we accumulate the things that become our sensitivities, that become the weapons of sabotage that we use on ourselves and others. There is no teaching you need to break free from this. There is no doctrine. There is no course, there is no program, there is no religion, there is no methodology.
There is simply this moment and this breath where the Holy Spirit dwells.
You were born free, and you can live free. And when your soul departs from this earth, you will dance again amongst the cosmos. So in every moment, from the day you wake up into this world into the day when you wake up into the heavens, you are given a million little moments to dream a better world into existence.
Be the person who encourages someone else. Be the person who inspires someone else.
The thing that you need the most is the thing that you need to give.
Don’t be self-sacrificial. Don’t give until you’re empty. But instead step into the practice of being so full of faith that you can pour your cup out every day because your supply comes straight from the source. Be such a good steward of your garden that through your presence and faith, you can inspire another to bloom.
Knowing that your supply comes from source.
Knowing that heaven and earth conspire in your favor.
You do not need to wait for this awakening.
The moment of power is now. Your transformation begins today.
Take a pen, take a piece of paper, write down all of the things that you’re letting go. Blow them a kiss and burn them or shred them into the wind.
Now take another piece of paper and write down everything that you’re willing to embrace. Have one thing that you can do every day that you can be proud of - and keep it close to you and revisit it often. Day by day, in no time at all, you’ll be walking with your head held high. You’ll be breathing deeper and seeing clearer. You’ll strengthen the muscle of bringing your gifts to life. You will find your pack. You will be a source of light.
You defeat the matrix by living in the moment. You break old cycles by committing to new pathways. You conquer demons by seeking the divine. You break free from mental slavery by claiming that you’re free and living accordingly.
So go forth and be free. Don’t be afraid to falter as you learn how to fly.
They call it paying attention for a reason. So pay no mind to the demons.
You have angels all around you.
So what are you waiting for?
Great article Dustin
Beautiful words