Reflections

June 2008

"Embracing Our Life's Potential"

"Embracing Our Life's Potential"
By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

You are unique as you are here and now. You are never the same. You will never be the same again. You have never before been what you are now. You will never be it again.
Swami Prajnanpad

Potential: possible, as opposed to actual; capable of being expressed; expressing possibility; a latent excellence or ability that may be (or may not) be developed.

Much is now being written and taught in the outreach of higher education, social psychology and many areas of science about our innate potential. We are being tested and educated about our internal potentiality, our latent skills, talents, capabilities and how to access our various specific abilities.

As a country and culture we are learning how to use these talents or appropriate uses for them when the time comes. As this new information unfolds in rapid fashion, it’s my perception or opinion that we are hard pressed to make actual use of it until we are individually ready to do so.

It’s one matter to be informed that we have a creative skill such as hand or manual dexterity, but unless we are exposed to one who is a carpenter, wood-carver, violin maker or potter, ceramic artist, painter or glass blower, we do not make a “connection” with what’s inside us, i.e (potentially) or very likely even possibly available to us. We see it outside ourselves as belonging to someone else. At that moment, it isn’t even in the realm of possibility.

Yet when there is some specific personal interest or contact, it reveals varying kinds of details, such as levels of skill involved, capacity for engaging our attention and our inner willingness to try our hand at what we see before us.

Such exposure reveals whether we might enjoy the discovery process, or be willing to learn from a teacher and enter the learning (discovery) with ourselves as well as with another being. All of this and much more is profoundly necessary to our own uncovering of a talent, a skill or an ability if it is to move from possibility to actuality!

The question is often asked, what is required to actualize (embrace) our life’s potential? What are the steps? Some few considerations follow:

1. Interest, curiosity and willing exploration start the process. Something inside of us calls our attention to an external event, issue, person, circumstance. A book title captivates and we read it to discover a resonance with the theme or material discussed. A special teacher’s enthusiasm fires our own enthusiasm about learning or about art, or music, dance, or science. A parent’s encouragement to explore a dream to travel, or work with a special group of persons such as homeless, handicapped or the abused spurs us to pursue an education dedicated to helping these people or others like them. We see an actor perform, a singer demonstrate her/his art, or view an exhibit of old (antique) objects of art and realize we have a strong draw or pull toward anyone of these avenues. The message is to pay attention to what “calls” you, what feels as if it could be of an internal interest and thus may touch something deeper inwardly.

2. Attend a class, workshop or talk; meet or arrange to meet a person who can be with you to explain or reveal the area of interest you find exists within you. If the art of writing appeals, be willing to learn about it or if dance, or archeology, or architecture beckons, react by exploring the internet for useful data. Discover if you have a real or imaginary interest. All information you uncover is useful. If you find a genuine “connection” exists, you’ve hit “pay dirt.” If not, move on. The revelation comes as you give permission to explore what intrigues you. The key is to explore what genuinely peaks your deep (or even surface) interest. Be willing to go where it leads. Follow your dream.....

3. Fear is often the great inner challenge to learn to release for each of us. We say, “I cannot do this or I’ve tried in the past and it failed.” Fear almost always is a spin (interpretation) we put on the past or specific perception on the future. Fear never lets us live in the moment. So we get caught in the fear net ... It surrounds us as we wriggle to get free only to discover that all the threads of the net are interconnected. When we face our fears, our personal inadequacy or our sense of discomfort, we actually change some energy inside of us and that change will reveal new directions in our life in the larger scheme of things. As the fear net falls away we are set free to move forward. Whether the threat of fear seems real or not, it always tends to paralyze us. When the energy inside us shifts (releases) we can move on! Thus do we discover a new direction wherever it may lead. As with most internal approaches, patience is the key to growth.

4. Goals: Much has been written about goals, their value and their overall purpose. A goal is simply a carefully worded positively (or negatively) languaged statement of intention and focus. “I plan to attend the lecture/workshop of Depak Chopra” or “I’m visiting Ireland in one year.” These statements emerge from inside ourselves suggesting a potential that we have some awareness or ability to accomplish the goal. Our life (potential) goal is also an internal awareness that we have some capacity that is available to us that is possible. “I will be a music teacher, performer, artist. “I see myself as an international financier in five years.” “I will become an ordained minister, a medical doctor, a licensed acupuncturist, an herbalist, or psychologist, physical therapist or entrepreneur.”

Our personal work at the human level is to do our part, i.e. study, practice, learn and uncover our talent. If we say I want to be an actor, a part of the work involves learning the art, craft, stage design, elocution, proper speaking, singing, movement, memorization and involving ourselves in the milieu of theater, filmmaking and any or all of its “hands on” components such as a real stage play, comedy, drama or musical. The work is always to discover how we will allow our inner latent actor to show up. When and as that happens we are really tapping into the stuff of our soul and sooner or later the potential of our life becomes actual or real.

Embracing what is often called potential cannot happen until we make a choice. It’s somewhat like ordering from a menu of 25 possible choices. We will never know whether we make a good choice or not until we place our order, sample the cuisine and make our decision regarding its presentation. We can seesaw, back and forth, about the “what ifs.” Once we choose the food and taste its presentation, our choice is real. We now know how at least one choice we made has turned out. The next time we can choose another. The choice is the embrace. It’s the part of the overall experience that allows us to feel into its essence as much as possible by accepting the form through which it comes. In the case of a food choice, the entre is the form. Our interpretation of the choice either validates (or not) the discernment we place upon that form on our plate. It doesn’t make the food choice we did not like wrong. Rather it helps us discover what we relate to in the choice we made (i.e. I liked it, or I did not like it) and move on.

While life choices are incredibly more complex and far more significant than a restaurant entre, the metaphor is relevant. Often we fail to accomplish goals or make use of talent potential because we are afraid of wrong choices. Many voices along the way of life may wisely urge caution and suggest great care. But if we delay too long, we will never really know the results of any goal, wisely accessed or not.

Seek out no opinions on your own personality. Ask nothing of anyone in the way of assessment. Forget about looking to IQ tests to determine your abilities. Look instead to your own divine awareness of your unlimited abilities. Forget about what others say regarding your talent or fitness for anything, always consult your own personal observer or invisible guides that are a part of your intuitive awareness. Others may give your “realistic” assessments of your abilities, but you are not interested in having their opinions, either negative or positive. It is enough that you know it and that you pursue your own interests. If you meet with obstacles, so be it. Bless those hurdles as lessons that God has provided, and then move along on your path. Use discouraging words from others as reminders of your determination to get your life on purpose in your own dream. Ask nothing of anyone. Be polite when their opinions come along, send them loving thanks for their thoughts and then proceed to go within.

Taken from Real Magic by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Copyright©2002 Temple of the Living God of St. Petersburg, Inc.