“What you choose, with each action and each thought, is an intention, a quality of consciousness that you bring to your action or your thought”
Gary Zukav
Alexandra:
Now as Gary flowed through his understanding of Choice I was struck by the level of energy we bring to our thoughts and intentions, therefore creating much of our life experiences. he talks about this in some of the previous chapters of course but he mentioned a couple different aspects that I found particularly interesting as it pertains to storytelling in our society. So the part that speaks to temptation and the Luciferic energy was striking. I’ve known that Lucifer means “light bringer” for some time now but I’m always excited to hear different versions of how this plays into Biblical stories which have shaped much of my upbringing as someone who was raised in the Catholic faith. Considering the luciferic energy in the Garden of Eden I think about how Eve can also be seen as a representation of our multi-sensory selves choosing a vertical path of enlightenment and Adam as our five-sensory self choosing the horizontal path as he chose to remain in fear and doubt while Eve chose love and wisdom. They both represent aspects of myself at various times in my own life, not so much as a good and bad but rather a way of being at one particular time or another.
Then Gary talks about how “temptation is a dress rehearsal for a karmic experience of negativity” and my understanding of temptation as being something that can be very simple and not always a life or death situation. It could simply be a matter of choosing to wash the dishes or not resulting in having to navigate a dirty kitchen or a clean space. I’ve also been looking at temptation as an opportunity and not always a trap of some kind. I think about how many temptations I have in a day/week, It’s something to think about and meditate on for just a bit.
Brandon:
So getting into the Choice chapter, which has been my favorite chapter so far. I vibe with a couple of the points you stressed, like the divine concept that is temptation. As you mentioned, we have these distorted views of temptation, as we normally look at it from the conventional interpretation that Judeo-Christian culture calls for. We usually frown upon being tempted, as if we aren’t supposed to be. I love how Gary phrased it as being the way like a practice before we actually have to encounter something and it makes us aware. Whenever I fast, usually around Ramadan, I am tempted from all angles, whether it be temptation to give more life than needed to jealousy, anger, self-love, contempt, etc. I always find myself getting better and better every time out, and it is like a practice. I get tempted to do something outside the bounds of order and harmony in just about every setting, but usually act accordingly 85% of the time.
In order to make a responsible choice you must ask yourself, for each choice that you are considering, “What will this produce? Do I really want to create that? Am I ready to accept all of the consequences of this choice?” Project yourself into the probable future that will unfold with each choice that you are considering”
– Gary Zukav
Alexandra:
Again there are two aspects that I am understanding are very important in our life path, our responses to situations in our life and our ability to follow our feelings to their source. In every situation we have a choice and not being so fixated on making the right or wrong choice but to consider instead understanding that there is unconscious choosing and conscious choosing. I’ve even looked at some of my own life choices through a conscious or unconscious lens. Like when I considered carving my own path to what I feel is success within my art career vs. following the linear path through schooling and certain career choices. Or my choice to continue traveling the world connecting with folks in various countries vs. buying a home and staying in one place. I’m understanding Gary more deeply when he says “what you chose, with each action and each thought, is an intention, a quality of consciousness that you bring to your action or your thought.”
“Your struggles themselves do not create karma or determine the way that you will evolve, only your responses to them”
Gary Zukav
Brandon:
You asked me to expound on some of the finer thoughts in the chapter, and I found 11 dynamic points, but for time and space purposes, I will go in sequential order with the two I see as soon as the chapter opens up. So on the first page, 119, Gary says that each choice you make is a choice of intention. Then he lists how the same intention can produce different emotional responses. Woooooo, I loved it. The same intention to have order in one’s life can produce calm, chaos, fret, happiness, sadness, etc. We/I have to be conscious of this, not only of getting to the roots of my intentions, but how will I, or how am I fulfilling these intentions. What directions are these intentions going in? Can you think of moments in your life where you had one specific intention, but had 2 or more emotional responses to it? Over time your emotions changed to this intention? I see it around here, where some brothers want freedom, but are either scared when it is close, others are overjoyed, while others are overwhelmed with pending responsibility. This is an amazing thing. Then on page 120, the book says we can’t choose our intentions consciously until we are conscious of the different and separate parts of ourselves. This cognitive dissonance we have must be identified, and I couldn’t agree more. You can’t solve a problem until you confront it, but you first must identify it. This is some futuristic business, or shall I say, some ancient esoteric stuff. I love it.
“From the perception of the personality, it is not possible to see clearly those human beings who, from the outside, appear to be making foolish decisions, or to be unaware of their environment, when in truth they are simply drinking from the finest nectar of their environment and are totally content to let the illusion play”
Gary Zukav
our agreements 