The Past Revisited Forever

In her blog a friend recently posted a piece with the title: "Why is it so &#%$ difficult to leave the past where it is?" Laura had some wonderful insight in her blog (Check it out LINK)

I figure, too, everyone should have their shot at answering the question. Do you have an answer?  

Here is mine:  

Why is it so &#%$ difficult to leave the past where it is?
Because the past is right here.

It hasn't gone anywhere. It's where it resided when it first transpired, and it will forever be there. 

And it will forever be here for us, whenever we need it.

Like a movie that is always running in a back room, we can visit it. We can go into Theater 1 and observe our first date and what a mess that was, and then into Theater 2 and see that punt that we ran back for a touchdown right there in front of our dad. Then Theater 3 for the laugh attack when driving our girlfriend cross country relating funny tale after funny tale. And also Theater 4, the last day you saw your mother alive, as you kissed her on the forehead as she lay there on the hospice bed.

It's all there. It doesn't go anywhere. We won't be able to leave the past behind because it is what has formed us into the person that we are. It resides in an infinite storage house called the "subconscious mind." From this humoungous storehouse, from these rows upon rows of theaters, we can access what is needed at certain times.

The main questions about our past we must ask include:

1. Are there aspects of the past that bother us? 
2. If so, why?
3. Does it make us happy to review the movie of our past? 
4. If so why is that?

Since the past definitely happened, and since it won't - according to this writers' theory - not actually go anywhere - what can be done to make peace with all that will be with us for the rest of our lives?
 
I recall many times in my work in the "healing" field, working to regress clients back into the "past," as well as times of my own healing being regressed back there. In my regression various memories would pop up in order to be observed, confronted, felt, integrated and transformed into my own oneness of experience - beyond good and bad.

In what could be termed a sacred embrace, we can call forward that aspect of the past that still hides in the shadows of acceptance and sit face to face with it. And simple BE with it. And cry. And scream. And feel what could not be expressed the FIRST time it came around. Did you get hurt? Did someone break your boundaries? Were they in fact obliterated? Were you ignored? Did someone overlook you? Were you witness to some heinous act of crime, rape, murder? Did you get hurt?

The more harsh the past, the more we want to "let it go." But what is this "letting go?" Can we truly erase those life experiences? Or is it more healthy to find safe, non-judgmental environments where such experiences can trickle up to the surface in order to be encountered ... where we can sit face-to-face with a past we have been hiding, where we can feel all the emotions surrounding it and express the sentiments that have, as yet, been left silent.

As Laura so eloquently suggests in her post, we can re-frame the negative aspects of the past by using them in a learning opportunity: gaining a lesson, finding a way to use it to help others, holding it in a sacred place of rich history.

Such re-framing is indeed healing for the soul, which is infinitely wise enough to know we do not "let go" of the past. We don't let it go because it is a gift to our personal growth. It will also be with us forever ... positive in minds that hold it positive and embraced into a positive for those who can see the past in a way that rounds out a soul's sojourn.

And the final reason we don't leave the past where it is?
Because the past is right here.

James Anthony Ellis is a writer and producer who uses his past to write a bunch of plays and movies and stuff, happily. He's found at www.LegacyProductions.org.

You CAN Handle the Truth - A New Look at "Forgiveness"

OK people. It's official, we are discontinuing the old, worn-out, BS version of "forgiveness." Drop it! It's fake; it doesn't work, and it doesn't help. Never has.

Not as long as the person is still alive who screwed up.

No longer will you use the phrase "I forgive you." You didn't mean it really deep down; it didn't mean anything anyways, and it actually sells out the person who did the misdeed ... whatever that was. 


Those who say they "forgive" another person without telling that person what happened, the emotion experienced, and the impact incurred is selling out that person and selling out themselves. There is too much value in our observation, our expression and the act of clearing-the-slate to pretend that it's sufficient to go silent, quit on the process of relationship and offer a hand-waving blanket "forgiveness."

First off, can we really "pardon" someone from their apparent "sins?" If you have to pardon some act, doesn't that reinforce the negativity of that act, rather than truly dismiss it? And if you get real and label it the "negative" experience it was, how would a wave of the hand counterbalance it?

Second, if there is such a thing as cause/effect (karma) - and oh yes life-fans there is such a thing as the law of karma - then even if you pardoned some lamer from their lame actions, they would STILL need to DO something to balance out that lameness. Cause ... effect.

Right?

So.... starting now. No more "I forgive you." Got it?

If the person doesn't have the consciousness to automatically say, "What can I do to make it up to you?" - and yes life-fans only 1 percent of the population EVEN RECALLS that honorable statement - then you have the chance to do one of two things once someone blows it with you:

1. Ask the person: "Are you willing to do something to make up for what you did in order to bring balance to this situation?"
2. If the person does what 99 percent of the population does - act defensive, naive, indignant or self-righteous - then simply tell them the truth: your thoughts, feelings and ideas about their actions.

If the person does do a "balancing act" (hey that's a cool new term) to make right what they made wrong, then show the gratitude for such class and care. If the person simply opts for hearing your truth instead, leave the truth out there and leave that person alone with it. If he or she returns to you, follow up with 1."Are you willing to do something to make up for what you did in order to bring balance to this situation?"

Then rinse and repeat.

This new behavior will do five things:

1. It gives the offending person a chance to balance out, consciously, their misstep in a conscious step in the right direction. This will empower your friend to know they don't have to wait for the Lords of Karma to balance out all in the Universe. They can be a responsible force in this scenario.
2. It stops the farce of forced or fake forgiveness, which never did relieve your soul TRULY or help bring responsibility to the other person. 
3. It empowers us all to speak up and deliver our heart, mind and soul to another, knowing that these sentiments aren't harsh judgments but rather gifts of observation that can serve another in expanding their own level of consciousness. 
4. It gives us a proactive action in our endeavor to find peace, overturning a passive "giving up" that serves NO ONE.
5. It makes real the act of "atonement" - bringing true oneness to our relationships.

Some may say that we can't really know who is right or wrong in a situation, and some may believe that all is "right" in the universe as it plays out. Those beliefs won't get in the way of the very fact YOU CAN deliver your truth whenever you believe you have been slighted or let down. The act of "letting go" in your "forgiveness" won't be you turning from your friend or acquaintance, but your letting go of your hesitancy and avoidance and simply telling the other person how you feel, what you observed and what you believe was the impact of another's action or lack of action. Perhaps, just maybe, the "letting go" within forgiveness is the simple revealing of the truth.

Ok people - do you got it?

It's time for a new way of doing relationships and screw ups.

We are all human, it's OK. We will make mistakes. So what! It's how we respond to our mistakes that will make all the difference. It's how we respond to other people's misgivings that will also make a difference.

Remember the magic phrase - "Are you willing to do something to make up for what you did in order to bring balance to this situation?" And then remember too, the idea that will be your backup if this phrase falls on deaf ears ... the truth.


James Anthony Ellis is a writer and producer who does not forgive you ever, but does hold certain expectations that you can be a responsible adult. He can be reached for atonement at LegacyProductions.org.

Go Ahead And Spy On Us - We'll Be Good

Had to comment on this topic, since it keeps arising in the media, in the news and - sadly - in some of my friends.

When people respond to the idea of government surveillance or warrant-less police searches with "Well, if you're not doing anything wrong than why have a problem with it" we have to consider something very important to all of us whether we reflect on it or not: Natural Law.

In short, there are natural boundaries we all hold. 

• Our locked front door
• Our private journals
• Our territories of auto, home and body

"Go ahead and search if you want. I have nothing to hide."

These boundaries keep our autonomy intact, create a state of respect with neighbors, and basically honors our freedom and equality. To give that up, no matter what logic the invader reasons, is to give permission for that person, group or nation to use their leverage and will over our own. In the breaking of this law (which is natural to all living beings requiring self-determination) we open the door to the invader who will never truly respect our boundaries moving into the future. No matter how slight that door is cracked open and how supposedly "minor" that over-step reaches, the Natural Law is broken, and the final outcome can only reside in an owner/slave relationship.

The Founding Fathers knew this clearly, and therefore the writing in the Constitution reflects on no uncertain terms the sort of Natural Law that would keep us all safe, self-determining and free. 

Don't let any lazy logic steer you away from these principles.  

James Anthony Ellis is a writer and producer living in a free society of Lemon Grove. He can be reached at www.LegacyProductions.org

Bowing to the Truth - The Face of Love

As many in our society have been programmed to bow to the almighty systems in place, we all may want to take another look.

So far, those necessary societal giants, self-proclaimed, include but aren't limited to: 

• The medical industry 
• The pharmaceutical industry
• The police departments
• The military
• US political leaders breaking with "Constitutional Law"
• The IRS
• The FDA
• Religions that lack a unifying spirituality 
• The banks

As an idea, bow to the light that comes from within.

Now, this is all a matter of opinion of course. But, hell, this is my blog, so here is my opinion. We must not bow to any sort of posers but recall what is deeply true for us at the deepest levels.

A good example of the facade parading as truth came clear to me a couple months ago. I remember I was in a CVS drugstore, and I saw this 20-something-year-old dude walk in, and I recall thinking he seemed like a pretty mopey and dopey kid. I then watched as he walked up to the pharmacy, and I was thinking, "Oh poor dude, he's probably depressed and is coming in for some anti-depressant medication." He then walked through the little door of the pharmacy, and I was alarmed and hoped he wasn't going to rob it or cause some sort of commotion. I wasn't sure if I should say something in that split second, as this dude was obviously invading a secure space. A moment later I watched in surprise as the mopey, dopey dude picked up a white jacket and then put it on.

Oh. He works there. It all became clear. No, not that I misjudged an obvious upstanding and wonderful "doctor." No, it wasn't a realization that my preconceived ideas were so off-base, and not a thought that we shouldn't judge a book by a cover. But rather it was an awareness about the need to read the entire book and throw out the cover. It was a clarity about how much of a collective unconscious play is at hand with the darn white jacket of the "medical" industry. I instantly saw how much bullshit is sold and bought through the programming of minds that are hypnotized to "ask your doctor, ask your doctor, ask your doctor." So many commercials, so much daytime and nighttime programming builds up the image of the most dopiest of dudes just because they know how to put on a fucking jacket.

So in this instance with this kid, all of the sudden he's reputable because he put on a freakin' white jacket? Since I am not enrolled in being trained to think like all the sheep following blindly. I'll stick with what is true for me - not medication that cures nothing. Not jackets selling the latest drug. Not anyone selling anything. I will listen to my own body and my own intuition. In terms of trust in the medical community, I will stick with my humble doctor of eastern and Chinese medicine any day, even though he doesn't wear jackets and actually wears brown corduroy pants!

Yes, I bow to the truth, from whatever source it arises.

• The physicians and politicians who stand out to truly care for the bigger picture rather than selfish and small-minded agendas. 
• My men's support team that challenges me to be my best, telling the good, the bad and the ugly truth. 
• My wife as she pulls for my and everyone's best. 
• My niece Grace as she smiles. 
• My dog who approaches me with a toy to play with when I arrive home. 

The face of love in all its forms. I bow to that.

I bow to that. 

I bow to you, the truest identity of you, of which I am united ... in care, in peace, in love.


James Anthony Ellis is a writer and producer living in San Diego, California. He can be found at CVS mainly for greeting cards and at his website www.LegacyProductions.org.