The Trance of Mistaken Identity
I imagine that you are reading this post because there is at least some part of you that recognizes that your physical existence is not “all there is” to you. If you were a person content with your physical existence being the totality of your being, the title of this writing would not have caught your interest and you would not be investing the time to read these words. For example, if this post were about the tensile strength of an AWG gauge 12 copper wire instead of about a spiritual practice, most of you seeing this post would pass it by (unless you are an engineer or electrician, perhaps) if it even came into your perceptual field in the first place (the answer is 99.26 kgf (2), by the way ;-)). So most likely each of us reading this post feel that there are two parts of our being through which we can view our lives and the world: our physical part and our spiritual part. One of the challenges we each face in our spiritual practice is falling into the trance of seeing our lives through the physical part of our being, forgetting to look at ourselves and the events of our lives through the spiritual part of our being. Many spiritual teachers call this common human phenomenon “falling asleep” and the process of remembering our spiritual essence “awakening.”
Deeper Inquiry
I prefer to talk about forgetting our spiritual identity as a trance rather than sleeping. For me trance describes better what we do when we are just “going through the motions” of living. Dictionary.com defines trance in this way:
noun
- a half-conscious state, seemingly between sleeping and waking, in which ability to function voluntarily may be suspended.
- a dazed or bewildered condition.
- a state of complete mental absorption or deep musing.
- an unconscious, cataleptic, or hypnotic condition.
How do we fall into the trance of physical identity? It appears to be a function of our brain, the processing center for our perceptual input. Our brain’s function is help us navigate the physical world, keeping us safe and providing for our physical and social needs, including food, water, shelter and human companionship and connection. While our brain comprises only about 2-3% of our body weight, it consumes about 20% of our energy. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-the-brain-need-s/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-people-only-use-10-percent-of-their-brains/ To increase efficiency, we develop habits out of routine activities. Repetitive behaviors reduce the amount of brain activity, freeing up the brain for other functions. For example, the habituated behavior of washing your body while in the shower frees up your brain to think about the meeting you will be attending at work later that day while your body gets clean. Because we are in a physical body with physical senses that take in sensory input all the time, our brains are constantly processing and analyzing the sensory data. Therefore it is easy for our brains to entrain or entrance to our physical existence thereby “forgetting” or shifting away our focus from our spiritual existence. This is the physical processing default to which our brains entrain us.
On top of, and in alignment with, this physical processing default is the society and culture we have collectively constructed where there is an enormous and overwhelming amount of sensory data available to us. This constant barrage of data clamors for our attention, inviting us to entrain to something in the physical world. Loyalty to sports teams. Binge watching Netflix. Rock concerts. Pornography. Game of Thrones. 300+ cable channels. YouTube. Social Media. Celebrities. Political squabbles. Natural disasters. “Falling in love.” Fighting for a cause. Holding a grudge. Or resentment. Or hate. Fear of people who are different. Fear of not being safe. All are opportunities to come into a trance state.
When we come into trance, our perceptual field narrows and perceptual data extraneous to the object of our focus and attention is discounted or ignored. To see this phenomenon in action, the next communal event you attend, whether it is a movie, a concert, a sporting event or something else where everyone is focused on the central figures, break your trance and look across the focus to the people around you. If they are entranced they will not even notice you are looking at them. You have been eliminated from their perceptual field because they have chosen to be entranced with the event. Anyone who drives is aware of the common habit some call “gapers block” where drivers in the opposite lanes of traffic slow down to briefly focus their attention on an accident when there is no physical impediment in the lanes of traffic they are traveling. The trance of driving is briefly broken and usurped by the trance of a traffic accident.
Trance is not inherently bad. Trance can be fun. It is the unaware, unexamined or habituated trance that keeps us from growing into our potential. Purposely chosen trances can be catalysts for growth. For example, learning a new skill or setting an intention and then following through with behaviors can be positive, purposely chosen trances.
Creating a spiritual identity while in human form requires purposefully and repeatedly breaking the trance of physical existence to entrain to the creative force of the universe – to the source of our being. When we do so, we stand outside our physical existence, creating an experience of ecstasy. Ekstasis: standing outside ourselves. When we view our lives from outside of our physical existence, we can clearly see the physical identity trance we fall into by looking at the world through our physical eyes. Practicing seeing through the eyes of our heart (one of the senses of our consciousness) brings us into the clarity, power and Love we were created to be.
Creating breakthroughs
In closing, here are some statements that I know to be true for me. Test them out in your heart to see if they ring true to you:
- We each are both physical and spiritual.
- The way our physical brain processes data creates the risk of entrancing to our physical identity to the exclusion of our spiritual identity.
- The culture we have collectively created encourages the physical identity trance.
- Not being aware of our physical identity trance creates challenges to spiritual growth.
- Purposely chosen trances can spur spiritual growth.
This is part 10 of a 12-part series. I would love to hear from you at challenges@thomascapshew.com I have not yet selected the topic for my next installment so if you have any ideas, please share with me! May your path be filled with health, joy, clarity and Love! Tom