Small Issues & Big Problems

A post - as many of the recent ones, to help me identify my stories.

These stories reflect the temporary preferences and attachments of this personality. By writing them down I can see them and move beyond, by coming to that part of me that is free from any stories. And inquiry is just one of many ways to invite that shift.

I see that for any set of data, there is an infinite number of stories which fit, and these are just a few possible ones.

I also see that these stories are just the ramblings of an attached mind.

As always, the advice may appear to be for someone else - taking the form of blame, but is always really for myself - a signpost for where my own process is taking me, what something in me wants me to see in myself and learn for myself.

The impulse may appear as "they should be more precise in their wording", while the real advice is "I should be more precise in my wording, including in my inner talk". It may appear as "they should be more transparent", while the real advice is "I should be more transparent, more sincere, especially towards myself".

In the last few posts, there are several examples of small issues - really insignificant ones, which turn into big problems. And they do so mainly due to various strategies which may not be appropriate to the culture or the situation they are applied in.

Emphasizing differences

One example is the strong emphasis on how very different this particular approach is from any other.

Before I was told this, this whole theme was very far from my mind. I just enjoyed exploring the process, following the guidelines and see what happened. And what happened for me was apparently very similar to what happened for others. And it was good.

But after this had been emphasized so strongly, and it was made especially clear that it was very different from what I had explored in the past, it created a big problem for me. I could see how my experiences with it was obviously very similar to what I have experienced with other practices in the past, so according to what I was told, I was suddenly on a wrong track. Even if others reported experiences very similar with -and for all practical purposed identical to - what happened for me.

So an example of a strategy that made a previous non-issue into a big problem.

Deception

Another example is that of the origin story of this particular approach.

Initially, there was a very brief and simple origin story. It mainly just told its geographical origin and not much more. And this story was used in their own publications and spread throughout the internet, found on a significant number of sites.

Then, they decided to deny even the existence of this story. The intention behind it was good and appropriate - to reduce the material people can mythologize with, but the strategy backfired. It created an atmosphere of deception which people naturally react against, with bewilderment, confusion, frustration, anger and sometimes rejection.

Again, an example of a strategy which makes a minor (and apparently easily resolved) issue into a major problem.