The Illusion of Control

Today's post is brought to you courtesy of a powerful line of thunderstorms that rolled through the Arlington, Virginia, area yesterday afternoon. The wind-front knocked out electricity to much of the region, and it is still spotty this morning. I have office space in the lower level of a United Methodist church, and my office, one half of the building, and the air conditioning unit, are all not operational. I've gone across the hall to the library (has power) and run an extension cord in order to be able to connect to you all.

I found myself in "woe is me" mode this morning after I discovered the lack of power. The reality of the situation called on me to be resourceful, and as I was able to get to the internet via a local Wi-Fi connection, I was able to get some work done. The loss of control was and is a real issue in today's society. When we are unable to do things easily due to glitches in our day, we feel anxious, frustrated, and often angry. This lack of control shows us our deep fear and lack of self esteem as people (versus our masks of who we are through our jobs or social position). If this goes on long enough, we fall into the chaos that is characterized by a lack of meaning in our lives - we don't know who we are and what we believe.

This seems to be a modern day crisis brought about by technology, however, it is as old as human kind itself. Our ability as humans to adopt personna is depicted in the earliest writings. The Greeks coined a term "hypokritēs" which literally means actor. Thus, a hypocrite is really a person who is playing a role, rather than being "real" or acting out of self-kowledge. One has to spend just a moment with cable television's "reality T.V." to understand that there is a real crisis in America brought on by a lack of self-knowledge and the need to act in ways that bring people noterity. This hypocrisy leads to all sorts of health, wellness and wholeness issues, as one continues to search for control through new and more elaborate lies and actions.

The path to Shalom, therefore, lies in the realization that we have limited control over what happens in our lives. Like life in the wake of powerful weather (hurricanes, tornadoes, wind, snow, rain, etc) we can try to battle for control, or we can adopt an healthier view which seeks to live in harmony with nature, understanding that there are many times when we will be called to adapt - no matter how knowledgeable we become. For example, I could see via Doppler radar that the storms of yesterday were going to hit my area, when they were going to hit, and how powerful they were. Yet, I could no more stop the storms than I could fly to the moon. How many things in our lives are like that?!

At Possibilities Journey, Inc., we are dedicated to helping all persons put off their masks and find their way to health, wellness and wholeness. We will accomplish this together by realizing our lack of control and our need to be on connection with the source of our lives.

Peace and grace,
Dan