by Joe DiMaggio, Landmark Forum leader
November 12, 2013 09:00 PDT
Superman had issues with Kryptonite. For Achilles, it was his heel. For us, it's the three-part myth of "is, because, and I." With this myth in place, the freedom, power, and dimensionality available to us in being human are blocked—circumstances have the power, not us. The three-part myth manifests in ways that seem so logical, so accepted, that it's virtually impossible to recognize its presence, impact, and influence, let alone imagine that there's another whole reality available to us—another possibility in living.
How the three-part myth plays out:
• "Is" implies there's a "fixed" world out there—that things are just "the way they are" and that the only option available is to adjust.
• "Because" implies that the model of "cause and effect" is essentially a done deal—one thing causes another. Intervening or altering the course of events isn't logical or likely, and the only option is to adjust.
• "I" implies that who we consider ourselves to be is who we actually are, when in fact it's just a compilation of responses and decisions unwittingly put together long ago to deal with failures to do or be something—that we now think of as our true and definitive nature. Again, the only option is to adjust.
But the myth is in fact a myth. "Reality" is not fixed—it's a phenomenon that arises in language. The world does not speak, only we do. Each moment's meaning "occurs" against a background of understanding, and how the world "occurs" to us lives in language—it's there that access to restoring our power lies. From there, we can reveal and dismantle old assumptions about the way things have been or the way we thought they had to be. Reality is declarative, interpretive, and actionable—we have dominion in the world of saying. Recognizing that shifts our relationship to the world. It doesn't just lead to a different view, it gives us hands-on access to a world that's malleable and open to being invented. It's where transformation lives.
So for me, there was an opportunity to change the status quo even though it seemed fixed in stone. Landmark is a multi national global company with revenues in the tens of millions of dollars. They have a policy to help police, fire and clergy through scholarship. So one day I asked about scholarships for military personnel and Veterans. I was told they didn't have an official policy, but I was welcome to take it up with corporate. So I did. I worked with the Landmark organization for over two years to create something from nothing.
I enrolled them in the possibility of creating a scholarship program for Veterans through the VA and Veteran Service Organizations. I wrestled with liability questions, policy questions, corporate structural alignment issues and more. I could only do so much at a time, but I didn't quit. Once I got Landmark on board I realized that I just changed the way a multi national global company with revenues in the tens of millions of dollars does business with the government of the United State of America by creating a program where they officially recognize the VA as a customer and Veterans and military personnel for scholarship through VSO's. Now I had to find and enroll a VSO to funnel Veteran's and military personnel through to classes. That is how I cam to be a part of GallantFew.
The point is; the idea of a fixed reality is just an idea, a myth, a theory, a story. It's not real. False barriers get in our way of our ability to transform our perception of what is possible. If I don't believe I could do it and didn't take action to convince others to support what I was doing then it would not happen. The fact that I can create a new reality is an awesome feeling and you can too. You just have to believe you are more powerful than an idea, which you are. Business, social change, revolution, war, love, are all sparked by a notion, idea, a perception that in time becomes fixed and therefore perceived real. If we look beyond the perception we can see possibility. Possibility creates and opportunity for action.
What perceptions are you trapped in? What ideas are holding you back? What space do you now see for action? What action will you take to transform your possibility into reality? Go forth and make it happen.
Here for you.
Larry Zabel
to learn more about the program Larry set up with Landmark, visit http://www.gallantfew.org/the-gallantfew-landmark-chapter-31-vre-program/ ~km
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