This essay,
Axis Of Ecstasy,
was conceived at the same time as
Orchid Leaves.
There's an
extraordinarycontext,
a space in which the events of our lives and Life itself
show up,
which is always available to each and every one of us, a
context
we can choose to own at any time and be aligned with like a
possibility. There are a few things this
context
may sound like ... yet isn't the same as. For example,
it's not what we sometimes call our center. We've all heard it
said "She's a very centered person.". If you assume this
context
is your center, it will distract you from getting what it really is -
there's no
rigor
in looking at it that way. Neither is it your fulcrum or
your pivot with which to leverage your life effectively.
Nor is it your soul, and it's not your being either
- although "being" is getting warmer ie it's closer to the ballpark.
It's none of the above, and yet being aligned with it
centers us, being aligned with it leverages great power, being aligned
with it sheds light on
who we really are.
It's not this
context
which I call the axis of ecstasy. It's being aligned
with this
context
which I call the axis of ecstasy.
While "center", "leverage", and "soul" etc all have some validity in
distinguishing this axis of ecstasy, there's a problem common to all of
them, which is this: they each imply there's something
within us of substance which is the being we are, something which, if
we stripped away everything else, would be there to assign
cause
to - like the seed in a grape, like the heart in an artichoke, like the
corn in an ear, like the acorn in an oak.
Werner
Erhard
asserts we're convinced if we peel back the layers of our lives
like an onion, if we peel back one layer, then we peel back another
layer, and then we keep on peeling back layers and layers all the
way down to the last layer, we're convinced we'll get
to a core, we're sure there's a kernel in
there, and we're totally convinced that core, that kernel is what
gives meaning to our lives. We're totally convinced
that core, that kernel is in fact the substance of our
lives.
But there isn't any core. There isn't a kernel. When you peel back the
last layer of the onion, if you tell the truth about it there's
nothing there. Nothing at all. Nothing. And that's
who we really are:
we're quite fundamentally nothing - which is to say we're the
context
for anything's possible. Now, if you can stop making that
mean something, it's an opportunity for
enormous freedom and power. It's coming from this
context,
it's taking on being aligned with it which sets life's compass' true
north (if you will) to the axis of ecstasy.
It would be adequate, I suppose, to call it the axis of
workability
as well - for obvious reasons. The thing is the
workability
in life generated by being aligned with it, is so profound, is so
delightful rendering erstwhile arduous attempts at living
into effortless joyful experiences, that "axis of ecstasy"
is really totally apt. And it's not that some people have more of it
than others - because we each have it (which is to say, we each have
access to it) equally. It's not that some people are
"better" at being aligned with it than others because that's not it
either. Nor is it that some people are somehow more endowed with the
ability to stay aligned with it longer than others, because what it
takes to be aligned with it isn't any particular endowment. Rather,
what it takes to be aligned with it, is being
committed
to being aligned with it.
And if you say "I can only
stand
to be aligned with it for only so long before I can't maintain
alignment with it any more", you're not unique in that way either: it's
like this for everyone. The truth is you're only aligned with it
for as long as you're aligned with it. As soon as you notice you're no
longer aligned with it, you can choose to
re-commit
to aligning your life with it again. What distinguishes you as a giant
among people isn't that you never find yourself out of alignment with
it. What distinguishes you as a giant among people is how quickly you
re-commit
to aligning your life with it again, once you notice your alignment
with it is off. So it's not a matter of the duration
you're aligned with it: it's a matter of your quickness in
re-aligning with it again.
This axis of ecstasy has no favorites. It treats every single human
being evenhandedly. Like true north to a compass, it's there for you to
align your life with, or not. Should you choose not to align your life
with it: no harm no foul, you'll get along just fine. Should you
choose, however, to align your life with it (which should really say
"Should you choose, however, to align your life with it again and again
and again ..."), it's what makes life
extraordinary,
it's what makes life
miraculous,
it's what makes
life worth living,
and it's what separates the girls from the women and the boys from the
men.