THE SEVEN PATHS OF SELF-DISCOVERY

1 - Security Path

In this path, the basic issue is self-identity. Most of us, being primarily outward oriented, tend to identify with one or several objective forms. We think of ourselves in terms of our gender, our family connections, our country, our shelter, our work or career activity, and so forth. In other words, we encourage our self to fit into one or more of the various categories of existence in our external world. And thus our sense of security is wrapped around the question of how well we are connected to the identifications we have decided to focus upon. If I have a job, or a career, then I will feel secure. If I have a marriage, or a relationship, if I have a home…a way of recognizing myself, of having recognition from my fellows…then I will be secure. So, once we have committed to an identity, our happiness then depends upon how well we perform in our various expressions of that identity.

It's not enough to identify myself within a relationship, I require that I am seen, and see myself, as being well adapted to my role in that relationship…that career, my home-owner image, my citizenship reputation.

We are so addicted to our outward forms, that at the slightest threat or shift in our circumstances, we are prone to feeling at odds with our situation, In short, we undergo a crisis of identity. Playing in the Security Path deals with these external issues. In the game we are asked to look at our attitudes regarding such issues as aspects of our personality that obscures our recognition of our true self.

Ultimately, working in the Security Path helps us to re-connect with our true Self. And ultimately, we come to discover that it is exactly this inner-connection that provides us with a true and unwavering feeling of security.

The Security Path relates to the Base Chakra located at the base of the spine, which is the "grounding" Chakra. When this energy wheel is functioning well, we feel at ease in the natural world, the primary matrix within which we live our life and have our sense of wellness. We can then honor the Earth and see her as a living, supportive being, the Gaia, the Goddess/Mother who sustains us along with all other sentient beings including the plant world, the rocks, and so forth. We then truly know our self as part of the inter-connectedness of all cosmic forms. Being well grounded in our natural setting, fully benefiting from the life force, we then have our rightful platform from which to grow into our higher awareness - that state to which the sages refer as the Self-Realized being.

2 - Pleasure Path

The Pleasure Path relates to the second Chakra, which affects the reproductive, sexual, sensual zone of our body experience. How well this aspect of our life functions is distinctly connected to the opinions we have concerning our personal value.

Playing in the Pleasure Path offers us an opportunity of discovering how we allow pleasure to enter into our life experience. Do we guard our self and deny our pleasure? Do we over-indulge our self with an excess of pleasure?

How we allow pleasure into our life is an indicator of how well we feel about our self. The underlying issue involved here is nothing less than total self-acceptance.

Self-acceptance is the equivalent of that unconditional love we aim to express in our approach to others, but in this case applied to our self.

In most cases, we tend to measure our self, placing conditions on the question of how good we feel about our self. Our self-esteem depends on how well we feel we perform in the various ways we are self-conscious about. If I get that job, then I'm okay. If she loves me, or shows me affection, then I'm all right. And so forth.

To be comfortable with yourself just as you are without conditional requirements is the path that leads toward Self-Realization.

But there is more to discover about our self in the Pleasure Path. It is our sensual connection to our own earthiness that is explored here as well. While the first Chakra, when flowing freely, secures us with our connection to the earth and to our bodies, it is when we are functioning well in our second Chakra that we come to honor our physical life and feel gratitude for the spiritual value our physical experience affords us.

3 - Energy Path

The Energy Path relates to the third Chakra, which affects the flight/fight response, which activates the adrenal hormone system. Our reptilian brain is a hard-wired system that operates automatically. As primitive beings, we had no problem with this flight/fight response.

When danger was present, we fled. Our acute senses quickly picked up the presence of danger and our automatic, reptilian response kicked in. The adrenal hormones rushed us into action, providing us with more blood to the legs for running, and to our visual apparatus, so we could see more acutely and not run into a tree, or some other object.

Likewise, when we sought food, we chased after our prey without pondering much. Instinctively, we 'fought' to get the food we desired, what we required to sustain our self. And we were gifted with this powerful energy the adrenalin glands provide.

However, as moderns with a high level of self-consciousness, our flight/fight energy system creates a different scenario. Our reptilian brain is still functioning as ever. But our highly developed cortex now interferes with its own brand of thinking. We analyze and rationalize, never quite certain in many cases - if not the vast majority of cases - whether to fight or run. We are never quite sure if our immediate situation is fraught with danger, or if what stands before us is truly desirable. We vacillate; we temporize; we are at the mercy of our sub-conscious conditionings.

Hence, we suffer what the medical profession calls "the stress factor." Our adrenaline-charged, fight/flight system has now become our stress-causing factor. It is this internal stress that is at the bottom of most of our diseases.

The energy that was used for running away from danger or running towards our prey now stresses our bodies, because the energy has no clear-cut outlet. This is why doctors and other health practitioners encourage lots of exercise.

Another source of our stress comes from emotional disturbances, hidden fears and anxieties - due to the same inappropriate understanding of our true situations. Hence, we tend not to fulfill our desires, but block them with emotional defenses. Again, it must be clearly stated, we are at the mercy of our sub-conscious conditionings.

Working in the Energy Path helps us to bring to our awareness these sub-conscious conditionings, our coping mechanisms, so that we can clear out old mental persuasions - hidden beliefs and strategies that have prevented us from going after our goals, using our energy effectively. We become free to pursue our desires and reduce our stress, thus allowing the free flow of energy rising through our first two Chakras.

4 - Relationship Path

The relationship path relates to the fourth Chakra, the heart Chakra, not to be confused with the organ located nearby that pumps and circulates our blood.

This is the center of our caring faculty, our compassionate, empathetic being.

Blockages in this energy system cause us to fear getting too close to another being. We then tend to guard our feelings. To a lesser or greater extent we cut ourselves off from intimate involvement with others. Everyone is treated as a stranger, even those whom we believe we love. The fact is, without an opened heart Chakra, we are even cut off from our own self. We treat our self equally as a stranger. This is easily observed by the way individuals physically mistreat themselves with addictive behaviors, negatively judge themselves, carelessly treat their bodies, and lack self-respect.

But when the first three Chakras are flowing well, it is easier to follow our natural instinct to care and express empathy toward others - and to our self as well. We can be the open, caring person that is our natural state.

Because we have a well developed fist Chakra and therefore have a strong sense of self-identity; because we completely accept our self without conditions, this being the consequence of a well developed second Chakra; and because our energies are not blocked by emotional defenses - our core self does not feel threatened. We are free to love and be loved without the fear of being overwhelmed.

Working in the relationship path offers us the opportunity of perceiving more clearly how well we really function as a caring person. Knowing where and how our coping mechanisms have defeated our natural inclination of compassion and empathy, we are then able to consciously re-write our inner script, and thereby change our behavior patterns. We thus improve our relationships and discover the true meaning of love.

5 - Willingness Path

This path focuses on the fifth Chakra, the throat Chakra. The question is, how willing are you to follow and speak your truth - that which comes from your true inner guidance. In other words, do you live from your intuitive self? Or do you willfully adhere to mental belief patterns that arise from your sub-conscious conditionings?

All too often, the natural energies that flow upwards from your first four energy systems (when fully and clearly operative) meet resistance from your hidden mental (sub-conscious and conscious) beliefs. An inner struggle ensues, and the battle takes place in the throat Chakra. If you are conflicted with beliefs that try to control or at best dampen your natural instinct to express freely, you will experience problems of the throat. Frequent colds, sore throats, all kinds of thoracic disturbances, even a squeaky voice are indications of a conflicted self.

Working in the willingness path provides you with a clear picture of how well and to what degree you live from your intuitive self - how well you live and are guided by the best that is within you. To live in the intuitive state, according to the sages, is to be in the present moment. Living in the Now means not being caught up in your mental patterns. Rather you deal with what is before you without analyzing and rationalizing, without 'figuring out' what to do or how to be. You are living from your natural state, and intuitively you know how to respond to the situation and/or the person before you. You meet the moment with the best and the most natural that is within you.

Living intuitively means following your bliss. Having a true sense of who you are as a spirit being (Security Path), having a perfect acceptance of your whole self as a physical being (Pleasure Path), allowing your natural, blissful desires to express (Energy Path), and being freely expressive of your compassionate, loving self (Relationship Path) - these free flowing Chakra systems provide the proper foundation for living in the intuitive state of being.

But for most individuals, intuition seems to be understood as "that still small voice" that is hardly heard, generally lost in the cacophony of a busy mind. Such individuals look to their mind for direction rather than using their mind as the tool for implementing goals, goals that are formulated from the heart. It is the heart's desire that follows the intuitive self, which is our bliss-making faculty.

Thus, working in the willingness path helps you to see how well you are connected to the immediacy of the moment. Are you truly in the Now, or do your mental persuasions interfere? Does your mind, with its fears and anxieties derived from past experiences, attempt to control the future by manipulating the present? These are some of the issues you deal with in the willingness path.

6 - Mind Path

Working in this path helps us to make use of our whole mind. The vast intelligence of Universal Mind is at our disposal if we learn to expand our mental horizons.

Generally, we are caught up in habituated thinking patterns. Our interior monologue tends to be fixated on what we consider to be problems in our life. We repeatedly mull over our situation believing our thoughts to be reflective of reality. Our perspective is the only view of our world that we have to go on. What we believe is the case out there is not nearly as close to truth as we are convinced it is. For the most part, we live inside an illusion. And we believe what our thoughts tell us.

What's more, we harbor thoughts about ourselves, which, when clearly examined, can be seen to be yet another set of misapprehensions. Our mind-set can easily become a closed fortress of beliefs that rules the way we experience life and the way we interact with our world. Our behavior patterns are thus an extension of this habituated mind-set that we have become identified with; and we believe ourselves to be this person who thinks these thoughts, and who acts upon them. We react (quite often overreact) to our situations from the perspective of these illusions we have created. We are hardly aware that we are living an automatic existence. We have become conditioned first by our life circumstance - our family and social environment - and secondly by our own misguided efforts. Without realizing it, we have become this automaton-like creature that operates out of fixed ideas about the nature of life and about our own self. Our minds are thus not very open to new possibilities.

This is the consequence of misapplying the analytical aspect of mind, which is of a dualistic nature. We misuse our analytical faculty when we use it to make qualitative judgments, and therefore we are susceptible to becoming locked inside a world of polarities. In such a state, everything we consider we experience as good or bad, positive or negative, something desirable or something to avoid. Our analytical ability is a marvelous tool if used properly. It is the problem-solving faculty of the mind. Its purposeful intention is for ascertaining what is true and what is false. Is that car moving too fast for me to safely cross the street? Is this laboratory experiment correctly designed? Does the engine need a tune-up? Is this man speaking honestly?

But when we operate solely from our analytical faculty applying this tool to qualify our experience, we become overly judgmental. We make decisions based on these judgments. We develop biases and are held captive by our prejudices.

Another misuse of this aspect of mind has to do with our decision-making processes. By analyzing, we attempt to decide our future actions. What shall I do with my life? What is my purpose? What career ought I to follow? These are questions that cannot be properly answered by the analytical faculty. The analytical faculty is the executor of your decisions, not the decision-maker. This is why we have expressions such as "follow your bliss" by which is meant, "listen to your heart's desire."

When we are fully using our mind, we are in a state of keen awareness. We are fully conscious of our inner and outer circumstance. We perceive our world without leaping to conclusions based on our storehouse of prejudices. And we carefully follow the twists and turns of our thought processes. We examine them without identifying with them. We decide whether these thoughts are worthwhile thoughts. Do they serve us in positive ways? Or are they defeatist thoughts, negative thoughts that lead to unwanted outcomes?

We are aware that our subconscious storehouse of conditioned beliefs and attitudes determine our thinking patterns, which then determine our behaviors. And unless we stand back as it were and hold these thoughts accountable, we will continue to be victims of our undisciplined minds. Working in the mind path of the ALL Game, we discover the nature of our faulty thinking. We learn to move out of our analytical closet into our vast mind of awareness. We become masters of our thinking, and we become connected with Universal Mind.

7 - Oneness Path

Here we come to the final step in the growth process of the ALL Game. This is the Crown Chakra, the culmination of spiritual growth. In this path you learn about and experience your inter-relatedness with the infinite universe. You come to understand how your mind-set determines the kind of experience you have in life. You begin to realize how you can change your life experience by the way you compose your mental patterns. You learn to see how your reality is a mirror of your internal state.

Infinite abundance, infinite possibilities are your birthright. Universe fulfills your every wish when you have become attuned to the highest and best that is within you - within each one of us. All to often, we tend to dwell in negative states of mind. Hence, we experience abundance in a negative way. Too many bills to pay, to many obligations and responsibilities to fulfill; such is the ordinary experience most people seem to have.

When we reverse our polarities, so to speak, we begin to take in the abundance of life through all sorts of impressions. The very air we breathe suddenly becomes a joyful intake of the quality of abundance. In a magical way, life falls into place. Obstacles to our desires seem to fall away. We feel the responsiveness of the Universe. And issues of supply become irrelevant.

Working in this Oneness Path offers us the clear understanding of where and how we block ourselves from the infinite life. We come to experience the life force that flows from the Infinite. We find our place in the Universe. We discover that the Universe is us - each one of us. And every bit of our life experience has become fraught with the substance of magic. Life is magical.