Is
Your Life A Truman Show?
by Asoka Selvarajah
In the process of awakening to higher consciousness, things start to break
into our world from the "outside"...
Strange happenings that seem out of the ordinary. Strokes of good fortune.
Bizarre coincidences. Symbolic messages. The further you progress on the
spiritual path, the ever more common these become.
If
you ever have the opportunity to watch a film called "The Truman
Show", starring Jim Carrey, you should do so. It provides a
fascinating metaphor of the process of spiritual awakening. The
hero, Truman Burbank is the unwitting star of a cynical 24 hour "real
TV" show that has been following his every movement since his very
birth. His entire world is a dome-enclosed island, complete with fake sun
and moon. Every major incident in his life has been carefully stage
managed by a cynical TV producer for maximum worldwide viewing figures of
"The Truman Show". Truman himself is blissfully unaware that his
entire world is a fabricated fake. He has never left the small island he
was born on, but always dreams of running away to a tropical paradise on
the other side of the world.
Every now and then, something breaks in from the outside and tries to
alert him to the delusion he is living. It all builds up to a crisis point
where Truman finally begins to question his "reality", and
finally challenge it, and seek to break out of it.
Our
lives are a bit like that. We also live a false reality; a construction of
our own senses that seems so real, but actually breaks down completely
under examination. Many of us strenuously avoid the subtle messages that
are always trying to come through from the greater reality beyond. Maybe
we prefer the safety of the comfortable world we have created. Maybe we
don't even believe any other world could even exist.
Deepak
Chopra describes Synchronicity - the appearance of meaningful coincidences
in your life - as a sure sign of spiritual progress. It would seem that
the further along the spiritual path you travel, the more often you
experience such remarkable meaningful "coincidences". However,
you can also use the same principle to manifest what you desire, from the
formless substance of the universe, through the power of thought alone. As
the universe imposes its thought upon you, likewise you can impose your
thought upon the universe.
Awareness
is the key to spiritual awakening and unfoldment. Remain awake to the
strange phenomenon breaking in from the "outside" in your life,
both in your physical realm as well as in the realms of thought and
intuition. Actually, there is no "outside". You are bigger than
the world you see or have created for yourself through your ego delusions.
You are actually in contact with that infinite world at all times,
although you may be totally unaware of it.
The
key secret lies in "waking up" from the dream of everyday life
and earnestly seeking the truth with all your energy. A key point in the
Truman Show came when the cynical TV producer admitted that if Truman
really wanted to, i.e. if he exerted every effort to break out of his fake
world, then there was nothing that anybody could do to stop him.
It's
that way with us too. The reason we don't break free to enlightened
consciousness is because we like conventional consciousness well enough.
It's just too much effort to try anything else. After all, there are the
bills to pay, aren't there? And what would the neighbors say? And besides,
where are you going to find the time for all that extra spiritual stuff?
And so on...
In
the film, Truman is terrified of the waters that surround his island.
Years back, the TV company staged his father's "death" by
drowning when Truman was still a little boy. This served the ultimate
purpose of keeping him on the island forever. Moreover, whenever Truman
starts to make any serious efforts to leave, strange
"coincidences" (created by the TV producer) conspire to prevent
him. It's as though he is simply not fated to ever leave.
Well,
our own ego does the same with us. It fears its own death, and cons us
into believing that its death is also our own. It sets up belief barriers
that we dare not pass at any cost. We stay in our comfort zone - our own
little island of safety- in every area of our life, no matter how
uncomfortable that "comfort zone" may actually be. Examples
abound. Money. Security. Marriage. Following convention. Why take any
risks in life? Why rock the boat?
Some
people give up everything to follow the spiritual path with their entire
lives. Others put in about 15 minutes of meditation a day, read the odd
self-help book now and again, and consider themselves "already
enlightened" in the midst of their conventional consciousness. Oh
well!....
In
the end, Truman has to face, and overcome, his long-standing terror of
water. He escapes from the island in a boat. The TV producer throws a
massive storm at him. Then a terrifying tidal wave capsizes the boat and
virtually drowns Truman. But not quite... He survives to find the exit to
the dome enclosing his world. Despite last minute attempts from the
illusion-maker to scare him into staying, he steps through into the
unknown, leaving beyond the world of comfortable illusion he had known all
his life long.
Again, we see close parallels to spiritual awakening; commonly called
Enlightenment. Spiritual traditions also talk about the need for death of
the old to make way for the birth of the new. The symbol of water baptism
(which, interestingly, is used in the film) is the Christian image of
this; submergence into the deep, dark waters of unconsciousness and
reemergence into new life.
Very
frequently, the deepest spiritual moments - the point at which we come
closest to touching our true divine essence - ARE those of profound
difficulty and challenge in your life. That is another reason why the ego
consciousness is terrified of such "negative" events, and wants
to keep you far from them. It knows that at those critical points, you
come very close to God and hence to liberation. That is definitely NOT
want the ego nature wants, as this would spell its own demise, and so it
acts to keep you forever slumbering in the world of the comfortable and
the known.
Mystics
talk of "the dark night of the soul"; that period of deepest
darkness and inner searching prior to the dawn of the light of spiritual
liberation. It is the point at which we have to confront our deepest fears
and inbuilt prejudices, and overcome them (even as Truman did) in order to
step into a new reality.
OK.
You may not be living your existence out in an artificial dome in front of
billions of TV viewers. Yet, in a very real sense, your life is very
similar. Instead of a cynical TV producer, you have the ego consciousness
- that artificial creation of yours that helps you deal with the physical
world, but is not the real YOU at all. The reality you take to be so real
keeps being "invaded" by strange meaningful coincidences from
the outside; increasingly so, as you begin to wake up. You may sympathize
deeply with Truman for the cynical exploitation he suffered. Yet, you
should also spare a thought for the way a part of your inner psyche
mercilessly deceives you, exploits your worst fears, and keeps you
drugged; forever wasting your divine potential on trivialities that count
for nothing in the long run.
You
too, if you are to ever wake up from this self-imposed fantasy world, must
also get serious. You too must be relentless and face your worst fears. Be
determined to find a way out. That's what the ego, like the TV producer in
the Truman Show fears the most. Because, if you were every to get REALLY
determined, and give it your all to the very point of no return and
beyond, there is nothing anybody or anything could do to stop you from
succeeding.
And
that's not fiction. That's fact!
Copyright
2004. Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.
________________________
Dr. Asoka Selvarajah is the author of "The 7 Golden Secrets To
Knowing Your Higher Self" course. Asoka's work helps people achieve
their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and
find joy in their true soul's purpose. He offers you a FREE 14-Day
LifeBreakthrough e-mail course at: http://www.aksworld.com
Please
visit my Asoka's new prayer group. It is called the Amrita Healing Energy
Prayer Group, and is there to offer prayers to anyone needing healing for
illness, facing surgery, or in any other form of dire physical or mental
need. Asoka created it after witnessing the power of prayer in his
mother's life; bringing her back from the brink of death after major
surgery. You can find full details of the group at:
http://www.aksworld.com/prayergroup.htm