“The Work”

It's Not Just a Web Site.

. . . It's a Way of Life.

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"Human potential"?

Lots of folks talk nowadays about these kinds of things - “human potential,” “making the most” of one’s life, "living to the fullest,” blah, blah blah, etc, etc.

But what does all this really mean? Is any of it real?

Most lofty talk of “human potential,” when translated into real, practical, day-to-day life, actually refers to fattening one’s bank account, losing ten or twenty pounds, bagging a more attractive stud or babe, boosting one’s social status, or something similarly mundane and ordinary . . . all done under the guise of human potential or other fancy talk like that. Yawn.

But is there anything more to it than that?

This is part of what we, your ultra-stellar LiveReal Agents, have been working on: exploring the actual, true meaning and possibility of “human potential,” and discovering what it means to make it real in the midst of everyday life.

Man Carving His Own Destiny

Here is what we've found.

"The Problem"

The core problem, in three words, is this: man is “asleep.”

This is our description of someone who is, in a way, "unreal." The typical person, to speak generally, is unconscious, directionless, and full of inner conflict: emotion often works against reason and reason against emotion, one’s heart works against their head and vice-versa, emotion verses intellect, “spirit” verses “flesh,” and so on as one is riddled with various contradictory desires, impulses, and feelings.He routinely makes various promises and resolutions to himself and others and, just as routinely, breaks them. It is difficult for him to truly accomplish anything; one minute he vows to lose ten pounds, the next minute he is stuffing his face with cake; one day he is inspired to launch a new endeavor, the next day he is drunk at the bar; one week he vows to stay “in love” for the rest of his lifetime, the next week he is standing in divorce court. And so on.

Those who are able to muster enough will and determination to successfully accomplish various goals, typically work blindly towards similarly mundane and ultimately unrewarding aims which, beforehand, seem to promise happiness upon achievement. So, these individuals dream of getting rich, married, becoming famous or respected, having children, solving this or that scientific, artistic, or spiritual enterprise, or something similar . . . while eventually, the vast majority of which are, sooner or later, found to be lacking and unrewarding, and bring neither happiness, wisdom, or self-respect.

All the while, during his brief span between birth and death, invidividuals divert themselves with various activities of distraction (sex-chasing, various games and entertainments, bad t.v., bar-hopping, etc) which occasionally supply them with temporary relief, minor pleasures, and a great deal of hassle. All the while they are seeking to graduate up to greater pleasures and avenues of distraction until eventually being surprised and caught completely off-guard by death. They rarely doubt, question, or think about anything except that which seems to directly threaten them, their pleasures, or their security. They depend on consolation from drugs, pills, alcohol, tobacco, and various sedatives just to cope with life and to be able to bear the "daily grind" of the "rat race." They often works unpleasant, deadening, meaningless jobs in order to fund their various strategies of escape and their brief moments of relief, typically retiring after work to bars and pubs. They are typically in chronic conflict with others socially, either secretly or overtly at odds with everyone around him, yet keeping enough distance from others to at least appear peaceful and loving. They are typically unhappy – and would realize it if they would ever slow down from their pleasure-hunt enough to think about it. Yet, more often, they are completely unconscious of their unhappiness, and so, actually think that they are “happy.” If they ever admit or are made aware of their unhappiness, they typically have no idea what to do about it.

Very little, throughout the whole process, is actually known or understood. While they may have earned advanced degrees and display numerous admirable intellectual faculties, they remain utterly ignorant at a profound level of who they are, where they ultimately come from, or where they are ultimately going. Neither do they seek such knowledge, but prefer merely to follows various arbitrary desires and wants as they arise wherever they lead them. Throughout the days and years of his experience, love alternates with hatred, pleasure alternates with pain, happiness with unhappiness, life alternates with death. They live in denial, not only of their lives of drudgery and mundane meaninglessness, but also of the fact of death, which, while haunting them throughout the entire drama, is both dreaded and ignored throughout life, and ultimately greeted by surprise, as one makes a transition from one unknown into another unknown.

Sounds pretty bleak, huh?

The interesting thing is . . . to some folks, this is utterly absurd, ridiculous, and light-years away from the truth of things . . . while to others, this is so patently obvious that it's basically inarguable. But, at any rate . . . if this is the problem . . . if this isn't "IT" . . . then what is?

Glimpses of a Solution

Whether through suffering or insight, wisdom or pain, confusion or clarity, wisdom or ignorance, nearly everyone often thinks, even for a few brief moments, that life, as it seems to be ordinarily lived, is somehow "not enough." There has to be something “more” than this.

Perhaps one remembers times when they were very young, when the world seems to be very different - more happy, more clean, more alive, somehow. Or perhaps, in various unpredictable moments during one’s adventures of life, one can experience some glimpses . . . glimpses of "something" that, somehow, makes it all worthwhile. Perhaps watching a child, experiencing a beautiful scene, even a traumatic or artistic experience, or any number of ways . . . there are moments of profundity and immense beauty. One no longer sees “through a glass darkly”, but enjoys a clarity, radiance, and utter vibrancy unknown in normal hours. By comparison, the rest of one’s life seems somewhat ridiculous, like a glorified rat-race, and all problems and pains evaporate and disappear, and reality actually seems to shimmer with a deep, true, vibrant joy. There is a direct experience of something more than rapture or ecstasy, an utterly different and profoundly higher level of Reality or Truth. In these moments, one is truly “awake.”

Yet these moments of clarity are often all too brief. Shortly after, one finds himself back in the grind, back in the rat-race, back in the ordinary mundaneness and drudgery or ordinary life. The "glimpse," however powerful and inspiring, was temporary.

This experience - the rat-race sprinkled with moments of profundity, becomes, in it's own way, tiring. Each taste of "waking life," in a way, makes the "rat-race" all that much more dreary. The moments of awakening are like flirting with a lover, who teases on occasion, then disappears and is absent. One wonders if there is a way to keep the clarity and vibrancy of those moments of profundity on a more permanent, stable basis. In other words, one wants to “wake up,” and to stay awake.

It is at this time that one is ready for “The Work.”

“The Solution”

Having tasted both the mundane moments of dreary suffering and the tremendous beauty of waking life, one may arrive, either consciously and deliberately or unconsciously, at a determination to “wake up” and to stay awake.

But how? One is weary of suffering, mundaneness, and the ordinary, run-of-the-mill rat-race of daily life, wants something more, and is willing to work to make it happen. But the question arises . . . what to do?

Most people, when it comes to matters of spirituality, rely passively on “faith,” “grace,” various platitudes, or the intellectual study of history, various stories, platitudes, and other forms of second-hand knowledge, and occasionally attempt to apply this intellectual understanding to their everyday lives. "The Work" is something different. In “The Work,” one takes an active, deliberate, conscious approach – as one teacher phrased it, to “chop down the doors of heaven with an ax” - endeavoring to discover the Answers, or awakening, directly, firsthand, for oneself. One does not passively wait for God, Love, Happiness, or Truth to come and drop in their laps – as it most likely never will – but one goes in earnest search of them, seeking to uncover their secrets and experience them directly.

So, what is the “hunting-ground” of this search? The entire process can be summed up in two words: "Know thyself." Yet this process of self-discovery in modern times often takes one through largely unmapped, unexplored, mysterious, confusing, and sometimes dangerous arena of modern spirituality, psychology, self-help, and various other arenas.

Thoughout this search, one explores and encounters various meditations, spiritual teachers, dogmas and belief systems, prescriptions and cure-alls, therapies and miracle cures, panaceas and placebos, fanatics and frauds, phonies and authentics, quacks and geniuses, well-intentioned harm-doers and ill-intentioned helpers, and is replete with puzzles and paradoxes, riddles and enigmas, and unsolvable problems which must be solved, and much more. The adventure can be hazardous and rewarding, painful and exhilarating, confusing and clarifying, dangerous and risky and . . . yet, often, the only real choice that is even available.

The goal throughout this ordeal is to become more and more awake, steady, poised, clear, strong, insightful, intelligent, energetic, loving, virtuous, happy, vibrant, and so on.

The unfortunate reality is that, often, throughout this process, the opposite happens. Yet that unfortunate situation is one of the situations that we are hoping to remedy, here, at . . .

LiveReal.com

If you have read this far, it seems that you are already on this Quest that we are talking about.

The LiveReal Agents and the LiveReal Editors are on this Quest as well. We have built this site in hopes that those of us who are exploring this territory together will be able to compare notes, work together, and generally help each other out. While each individual is ultimately on this Quest alone, those who are serious in this endeavor realize that the help of others, not to mention the companionship along the way, is crucial. So we encourage you to join this site, meet other folks, support us, and get involved.

All the best to you and warm regards and all,

The LiveReal Editors

Talk about it:
info@LiveReal.com