The layers we build internally are a complex thing, but they are
ultimately built by our own mind and therefore are something we can also
deconstruct when we need to readjust our fears, sadness or worries.
While many of the day-to-day events that normally aren't a problem,
they can turn into enormous challenges if we don't recognize that these
various layers have prompted us to react and protest to imagined threats
or difficulties that are amplified beyond reality, imaginings which
cause us to stress. Knowing yourself is the key to going beyond your
troubles and unpacking the more unhelpful layers. Here's how to explore
and live beyond them.
- Firstly familiarize yourself and examine the layers you make
in the mind. These are usually the things
you create to make an identity and to have something or an essence to
identify with. For example, things such as "My name is ..., I live here,
I work there, I like this, I don't like that, I do this, I don't do
that, I like these people, but not these" and so on. To begin to get a
grip on this subject, you primarily need to study and recognise these
characteristics and their source before you can do anything with them.
Memories, experiences, peers and relatives, local town or city identity,
personal values and views all are layers and can influence you so they
can be internal and externally sourced. To find out every layer you
might have, write down all the likes and dislikes and ideas and dreams you have contained in you.
This might take a few days to fully get across, so be sure to give
yourself ample time.
2
 |
| if you keep a
diary or journal, diaries can show long term regular patterns, but they
also reveal a lot about you, even though you aren't writing in them for
that purpose. Therefore they are an excellent source for you to look
through to find out the more subtle layers in your mind that you aren't
always aware of |
Look at your routines and rituals and the
things you do regularly. These are things such as when and where you
buy you groceries, when you get up, how often you have toast for
breakfast, what exercise you do, which people you prefer spending time
with, the interests you pursue at precise times, etc. The goal is to
look at how much of life is run through routine layers and how regularly
you keep to them. Write these down too, as with the previous
step.- Expand further to
include all your past, present and future
experiences, goals and projects or things you did to act on those
desires. After you have done this, you pretty much have taken a
snapshot of your life in the here and now, with a little taste of how
the past experiences have flowed into making you the present person you
are.
-
 |
| The layers of
our personality ultimately shape our view of the world. Would changing
the lense (ie the layers) change the image itself and how we see others?
Only by trying it will you ever know. |
Look to see if these layers influence your vision and perception of the world. These layers might
make you think that people are innately good, or innately bad, with the
result that you would consequently view the world with this idea
coloring your perspectives.
- Try and work out how
long it has taken you to build up the layers. You'll start to
realize when you focus on the layers consciously that some layers took
many years to form, while some just happened in a blink of an eye.
- Think about why some layers formed quickly and others took years.
- Compare where the layers came from: from your family, culture,
religion, schooling, friends, or are there any that you made yourself?
- Examine how many these layers operate out of a need or want, or just
happen on their own. Find out how they work so that when something
happens and you make a choice, you know whether these layers influence
your decisions, or whether they make the decisions for you.
- Try and prioritize
these layers. What are the current benefits to you of these layers?
What are the drawbacks? Are there some routines you wouldn't break
under any circumstances, some that you'd prefer not to change but would
if you had to? What about those which you'd change any old time?
- A simple example is a daily cup of tea or coffee. It can be a very low priority layer where you won't
miss it or think twice about missing it, or it might be under the middle
category that you'd prefer not to, but if you were running late, the
coffee could wait for a later time. Some people might not be able to
function without their "hit" of caffeine
or the ritual of having a snack or reading a book with a hot drink.
There are stronger layers that shape people so strongly that they
wouldn't bend in the face of a choice, such as where a vegan would not
bend at a meat meal, or similar strong examples.
-
 |
| The Chinese
have a saying: "When the hurricane of life hits, the oak stands rigid
but is broken and dies, but the willow bends and when the hurricane is
over, it stands tall again- better to be a Willow than an Oak." The
moral of the parable is that flexible things can cope and bend
accordingly under pressures, but hard parts break under strain. People
turn to extremes of fundamentalism, violence, genocide, war and
oppression sometimes in order to satiate their desires, or because they
could not bend and "broke" into destruction and madness. History and the
present is loaded with examples of these cases. |
Try and find out exactly how flexible or rigid the layers make you, as
well as the advantages and disadvantages. For example, a firm set of
ethics might make you a very humane, compassionate person, or
it could make you a very strict, domineering and harsh person. It is not
solely the ethics that makes a person, although they are a layer
themselves, the difference lies in the fact that a humane person doesn't
need to judge and force people to fit into their ethics, but follows
them out of choice and understanding. The strict person alternatively
may still have a need such as social control, security, conformity, to
prop up their self esteem, or to inflate their self esteem (such as the
"holier than thou" characteristic) these needs are very dominant layers.
- All these ultimately are due to the amount (or lack of) insight and understanding a
person has.
- Ask yourself the key
question - how far will you go to protect all or certain layers or your
identity? Sometimes people will betray one characteristic (such as a
personal ethic) in order to protect another, even if the consequences
were simply not worth the price. The extent you will go, is often the
same extent others will go. Will you kill to protect you identity, your
beliefs and views? Others may do the same, sometimes over the most minor
things which explains why so much of the world is often in war and
strife.
The subtly important issue in regards to
 |
| Why
do they say
people in glass houses should not throw stones? |
stress and how it forms is that
if you judge, betray or condemn others by their actions or views formed
from their layers, you are in effect condemning yourself when these
same characteristics exist within you, or are potential within you. Your
mind is well aware of its characteristics and capabilities, even if you
may not be. By learning how far you will go, how wild you may become,
is essential to be able to understand this subject in regards to do
anything beneficial with them and ultimately let go of stress.-
 |
| The story of
Othello (actors portraying Desdemona & Iago pictured), is an
excellent example of manipulation. How easily do our layers allow us to
be manipulated? |
Other good examples you can consider from literature is Othello , who
killed Desdemona, the woman he loved, because he was led to believe by
his trusted friend Iago that she was cheating on him and so Othello was
driven by his own feelings and ideas to protect his honour (a very
dominant layer). When he discovered the truth of her innocence he
mentally chose to kill himself on realising the price of his actions was
extreme. This tragedy is fiction, but is a story of human nature and
how our layers make us act, as well as how tragically easily we are
controlled and can be controlled by others who know how to use them.
- The philosophy of Karma is often structured entirely around the
dynamic how your actions cause reactions, either positive or harmful and
their equal results. But the key is that you can shape your actions and
views to be beneficial or harmful and always had and will have the
choice to do so.
- In order to live beyond
the layers, start to work out exactly how much power these layers have
over you. Is this always a good thing?
- Ask yourself if these layers are always correct, accurate and
useful. Some of them might be practical in some cases, but harmful in
others. Go as deep as you possibly can to find out. Do these layers
actually make you want things to happen, or things not to happen?
-
 |
| A deck of cards
can look like a single solid block, but that's the illusion. |
Then ask yourself the question: "Can I live without the layers?" You
can try to actually live without certain layers, or just use this as a thought experiment. In order to actually try it, break
things down into as many layers as you can, like a stack of cards and
then take each card off from the stack. What do you have left over?
- You might find that having no cards or layers left doesn't result in
complete anarchy or madness or a functionless or brainless "thing"
at all and really leaves things much the same but subtly different. But
try it in order to prove it. The advantage of this is that as you feel a
division, that while your current approach may be working well for you
now, you'll realize that in future if something was to happen and the
layers prompt you to act in a harmful way, you can say "no thanks" and
do things differently.
- Consider the advantages
of having very few needs and wants derived from these layers.
Things become a lot easier as there is nowhere near as much to worry about, or that get in the way of
seeing things as they really are. Remember, life shouldn't be that hard,
so don't make it so complicated.
- Make the choice if the layers you have now are of benefit,
then how can they be used to make your and other people's lives
better. For those layers that are harmful, ask yourself the
benefit of them and find ways to let go of them or to avoid doing them.
It might make a huge change both to your way of living, outlook and
peace of mind. Try it and see.
Things You'll Need
- Journal for documenting your journey in writing
Comments
Post a Comment
THANKS FOR your opinion in this article