Objective or Subjective

One of the first questions my cohort had to grapple with in my doctorate program was the question of objective reality. Is there an objective, measurable, “out-there” reality, or is everything subjective? Does the world and everything we know exist independent of our perceptions of it? Or are we bringing the world into existence by observing it?

We were not expected to definitively answer this question. But we were meant to examine the world from each of these perspectives and maybe even develop a personal philosophy about the nature of reality.

In my mind, this question makes more of a difference than one might imagine. I happen to believe that both are true and that we are living within a complex interaction of the two paradigms. Yet, I lean toward the idea that all is subjective. That we are creating our realities as we go along, often with very little—or no—awareness.

Here’s why.

If the world is solid and independent of us, then it is happening around us and we are in a reactive position where all our efforts must be directed toward reacting or responding to conditions we cannot control. Humans have devised many ways to try to control this world that seems to operate outside of us. We develop medical technologies, pass safety laws, improve our capacities to find and distribute food, argue about what we owe each other, and, as often a last resort, pray for assistance from some other force outside of ourselves.

Alternatively, if the world is a function of our perception, we find ourselves squarely in the driver’s seat. Are we choosing to see the dark clouds or the sun streaming through at the horizon? Where are we (actively or passively) directing and holding our attention? What moods and baggage are we bringing to this moment? Our moods and baggage color what we see and impact the world around us in subtle ways.

(Think of how the world looks different on a day you leave work with a promotion and raise, as opposed to how it looks when you leave home feeling ill or depressed.)

If we believe that the world is operating somehow outside of our sphere of influence, we are sure to develop a defensive stance, and we are very likely to feel a constant thrum of fear. An adrenaline-soaked baseline of anxiety, always wondering when the other boot will drop, when the next calamity that requires our energy and attention will land. It would be imperative for leadership and a media ecosystem to constantly put potential dangers in front of us so that we can be better prepared.

Our society would operate in just-in-case mode, where we would expend our life force trying to imagine the worst so that we can guard against it. We would likely fight over resources. We would value the things that offer an illusion of safety over the things that bring a sense of fulfillment, connection, creativity, or love. We would look outside of ourselves for leaders or innovations who promise us that cherished sense of safety rather than accessing our own creative spirits. Millions of people would work in jobs that offer health insurance rather than satisfaction. Wars would rage over land, metals, or oil. The disconnection from our spiritual side might land millions in a state of depression or chronic anxiety.

I have recently been referring to this perspective as the Paradigm of Peril, a mindset in which we base our thinking on the distinct possibility of peril, danger, pain, adversity, and all their cousins.

Let’s flip the switch to the Paradigm of Intention. What if reality is a function of our attention and perception? What if we are instrumental in the creation of the world around us? What if our focused intentions are the force that creates the reality we perceive?

We might first begin to pay attention to the moods and baggage we bring to each moment. We’d begin to realize that all our subconscious and unconscious debris is impacting our ability to pay attention and distorting our perceptions. We’d see (and indeed we do see) huge movements to support people in clearing trauma and limiting beliefs from their minds and souls.

Those who view themselves as creative forces walk with more confidence, feeling their ability to manage their experience. We can see an emergence of this confidence in social movements, for example, the movement to take charge of one’s own health, to push against what seems to be oppression or immorality. These and movements like them are baby steps in the direction of the Paradigm of Intention; they are still grounded in fear and opposition, but they are acknowledging the creative power of intention.

A co-creative world will likely be more collaborative as we loosen ourselves from the grip of jealousy and fear. We will no longer need to horde resources or claim ownership of material or immaterial property. We will feel confident that we are safe and well-supplied no matter what. And so will everyone else, without loss to us—if we choose to see it and attend to it in that way.

We will see the insanity of war and violence as we let go of any need to protect against anything. We will be free to use our attention to create lives we can look forward to and enjoy.

Why would I tend to believe more in the Paradigm of Intention? Isn’t that naïve and utopian? Even silly? Maybe. I’ve always owned a good pair of rose-colored glasses.

But, I think we have reached the limits of the effectiveness of the Paradigm of Peril. Our concentration on what to fear or oppose out of fear is narrowing our world, dividing humanity, and continuing to pit people against each other in mindless reactivity. Our public discourse has elevated everything to crisis proportions just to grab and hold our attention. That attention, in turn, adds power and structure to the reality of the crises.

Our little forays, however, into the world of the Paradigm of Intention are promising. We already know that our moods and baggage impact our perceptions and experience. We know that our attention acts like fertilizer and emphasizes whatever we direct it to. (Think of the studies of self-fulfilling prophecy in education, the placebo effect in medicine, and Lynne McTaggart’s experiments with intention.)

Fear keeps tugging at us, however. The habit of just-in-case thinking is very strong. We are accustomed to high levels of adrenaline. When our levels drop, we often mindlessly find something in the world around us to re-stimulate our sympathetic nervous systems so that we feel normal.

Like overcoming any addiction, it takes will and persistence to overcome the addiction to adrenaline and just-in-caseness.

We can start small. One step at a time.

· Practice imagining the best-case scenario instead of the worst-case. Do this in small instances (what your sister-in-law will say) and in large, global circumstances (what will happen in the economy or global tensions). Make positive assumptions.

· Learn, gradually, to trust yourself and your own commitment to your own wellbeing. This is trickier than it might seem; most of us live in a swamp of feeling unworthy and not good enough. And we have learned to accept unpleasantness as a part of normal life.

· Love yourself in an authentic way. Recognize that you, with all your warts and faults, are an important aspect of the leading edge of creation. This is not about collecting validation from others or from the ordinary world. It is not about receiving love in any way; it’s about aligning yourself with your rightful place in the burgeoning lifeforce of this planet and the light of infinite love.

· Develop the habit of identifying your intentions as you go about your day. When you walk into the kitchen, identify your intentions for doing so. Then celebrate having achieved your intention once you get there. Let this intention/celebration dynamic become your default.

· Learn good communication skills!!! It is common, when first discovering one’s power, to use Paradigm of Peril strategies to try to make the world comply instead of using the tools of focused attention and perception to change our relationship to that world. There is no need for aggression or force when allowing intentions to manifest.

· See the deeper qualities of the world around you. Look for the positive intentions in others’ behavior. If you look for love, peace, beauty, strength, harmony, or any other fulfilling quality, you will see it. It takes practice, but is entirely doable.

When I was in high school, I imagined life to be an endless, depressing set of circumstances in which I would have to perform as expected. The performances in my life had never seemed to be authentic, were never fulfilling, and created performance anxiety of epic proportions. This made no sense to me. I grew up in a family that attended church and which purported to believe in an omnipotent god. So, I asked. What kind of god would create such a dismal world where a person could feel so unconnected, unworthy, incapable, and unwilling to follow the herd?

Of course, I did not ask any humans this question, which came from some deep part within which I had learned was never to be shared. Instead, I asked god. I was sitting in my mother’s car in the school parking lot.

The answer came, as answers had come earlier in my life, as a wholly unnatural sense of peace. In the peace, I could see that I had a choice. I could continue to see life unfolding the way of distress and anxiety. Or I could see something different. In my mind (and keep in mind, this was only my personal translation of the information held within the peace) the something different was a world with a loving god. A world beyond the apparent world. A world where no performance was required.

I chose the loving world.

And I’ve spent all the years since trying to understand the how and why of it.

To find and live within the Paradigm of Intention, we have to risk letting go of fear. We have to practice seeing our intentions come into form until we recognize that we have the power to interact with the supposedly objective world from the driver’s seat. We have to learn to trust the love that dwells inside us and know that when undistorted by stored, unconscious debris, our intentions will arise from that love. At some point, we have to ignore the just-in-case mindset and decide to allow infinite love to use our attention and perception to create a lovely world.