Flea circus, or how I stopped hating and learned to love my enemy

Lately I have been reflecting on the theory of the fleas in a jar. It goes like this- say you took a bunch of fleas, and placed them in a jar. I don't know why you did it, but just go with this for a minute. So you put the fleas in a jar and put the lid on. The fleas are not pleased and try to jump their way to freedom, only to smash their tiny bodies against the inside of the lid. "Dang it," they think. "Best not to jump that high, that hurt like a mofo!" And so, they reduce the velocity of their jump, and do not hit the lid. Thats about the time you decide to remove the lid. Now those guys could, if they wanted to, escape the confines of the jar. They leap and leap, but don't make it out. Previously they could have, but now they have set a limit on themselves, and they can't seem to realize that the power to escape is theirs. The limitations are self imposed. and so they perish in that jar, even though freedom is at hand.

Damn! This is so like life. I am constantly finding those self imposed limitations, and also constantly wondering about the ones I don't even know about. The most recent is in regards to finances. Since March of 2009, mine have been a hot mess. I was laid off of a really well paying job in the fashion industry and found myself in line for food stamps, selling vinegar at outdoor markets when I could, hosting poker parties (I sucked at this; I am not a flirt and it is a requirement), making jewelry and selling it at local stores, and making calls for a law office about class action law suits. Then I got a good gig doing a project that I was passionate about in December, which tanked two months ago before launching. All the while, my ex has refused to pay child support, and let me tell you, that child support would have been a huge help. It would be right now. And even with the project, its been a rough spell, since they only brought me on part time.

During this rough patch, more people than you can shake a stick at have come forward to help me. Its astonishing the love I have received from my dear friends and the people in the recovery community. I have survived almost entirely on miracles, and have learned that the net DOES appear when you leap. Now its time for me to be the net for some one else.

But still, there has been a self imposed limitation. A limitation I was not born with, one that I learned. I seem to constantly be struggling to make ends meet. Last month, when the project folded and I was given only half the pay check I was expecting, my power was shut off, and I didn't have the money to have it turned back on. I had just been hired at a new treatment center (ONE80) and my new boss heard of my predicament and he himself called the DWP and had it turned back on. I have never experienced an employer going to this length for me, much less on my third day of work.

But I could feel this code red in the financial area of my life, never having the entire rent, worrying about my car being repo'd, or having to neglect one bill to pay another, it was getting out of hand. Wtf?

I was given two almonds and told to put in my wallet by a new friend, who did not know of my financial woes, who said, "This will bring you prosperity." Another friend told me to say, every day, "Money comes to me quickly and easily, and it always has."

I did these things. But more stunningly, I started to notice the opportunities I was being given for a real paradigm shift.

When I was little, my dad impressed upon me his loathing for people with money. They were the enemy. This was mostly instigated by my mom's family. He came from a long line of railroad workers, while my mom's dad lived in a big house in Atlanta with a baby grand piano, a real zebra rug, and a library. My dad hated my mom's family and made no effort to conceal it.

My mom's dad had a daughter who was one month older than me- my aunt. We played together a lot when we were kids; when we were littler, the money thing did not matter so much. Yes, it was hard to go to her big house and play in her big pink room that was almost as large as our apartment. But it wasn't until we were pre-teens that I began to really develop an inferiority about it. When I had one pair of Calvin Klein jeans from the Odds and Evens store and she had them in every style and color. When the shoes I wore for two years were finally replaced, my toes curled painfully inside them, were 4 sizes smaller than the new ones that fit, and she had a closet full of barely worn, correctly sized, shoes. It began to take its toll, and I could see why my dad would hate the wealthy, especially in our position. What else could one really do? And so that thing took root in me; reverse snobbery. The rich were the enemy. My enemy.

I've always enjoyed my bohemian sensibilities and have been really good at convincing myself that I do not want too much in life. I've had my moments, where I have found the perfect YSL boots for $1500 and curled up in fetal position for days for want of them. Not really, but I thought dramatic effect would help get the point across. Whenever I wanted something 'out of my league', it always felt terrible, and made me despise the people who could afford that stuff even more. SO I tried not to want stuff, and made a game out of making sure my whole outfit didn't cost more than $100 all together. I made it be MY choice. And its been kinda fun.

I last saw my aunt when we were 14; there was some family drama following the death of my grandfather and that ended it. She has always stood as the beacon that shone the light on my state of lack. As much as I loved her, I couldn't stand that all those lovely things came to her so easily. But what happened to her was not lovely- she lost her father when she was 18, then her brother in the same year at 21, and many years later, her husband and the father of their two little girls. Her life has been filled with tragedy. I've thought of her often, and was sad for her losses, but we didn't speak.

Fast forward to now; I find myself working in a treatment center that is filled with people who come from that world of privilege. 20 year olds driving range rovers, 19 year olds looking to invest a half a million in something or going to their dad's yacht off Ibiza...these are the very people my father warned me about. And how absolutely perfect that I should be in that situation. Because what I have learned is this- compassion. I have learned that it is so easy to have compassion for a homeless person, sleeping on a bus bench. Their condition is obvious. But these people- they have the same state of squalor inside, although their outsides are so perfectly packaged and pampered. they are just as deserving of compassion as the homeless.Of course, not all people of privilege have this condition of spiritual emptiness, but for me, being around these people who are given everything and feel like nothing were exactly what I needed to undo the spell that was cast on me when I was young. They are not the enemy. These people have become very dear to me, and I care about their well being and their future. I can't even understand now how I, a great lover of humanity ,could have overlooked the fact that the rich are people, too.

As I was watching Pretty in Pink with my kids, it really struck me how that division is created- Molly Ringwald and Ducky hated the rich as well, as it flew in the face of the poverty they lived in. Hating the rich was not only sanctioned but encouraged by pop culture. She had to overcome it in order to be with that sparkly eyed guy with the pouty lips, and so did he, for love to prevail.

And for love to prevail, so did I. I feel a huge relief. And I know that this is a big piece of my self imposed limitation that has been keeping me from prospering. I had not applied love to it, and love cures everything. But there was still more. And that involved my Aunt, the two almonds, and the mantra mentioned above.

In the span of a week, I had gotten the almonds and the mantra, and had gone to work (was working very part time and for the least amount of money per hour I've made in years and years) and as brought on board to do some marketing stuff on the side, thus increasing my salary. Then I got a call that I had a check from a year ago at the store where I sold my jewelry. I kept saying that mantra. And then, in my mail box on facebook, there is my Aunt, whom I have not spoken to for 27 years. My best friend growing up and the source of so much angst. Now, in the midst of this spiritual shift, as it should be. She is a huge part of this and healing of this relationship is a big part of jumping out of the jar for me.

And yesterday at work, I am offered a full time job in a different department with a small increase in salary, as well as the outside marketing stuff. My income just doubled, a little more than that in fact. Its still not as much as I need, but the shift is happening, and its progress, because I know I will be making not only what I need, but more than that, enough to give my kids the things they need at their age that they are going without, and me too, for that matter. Best of all, I am doing what I love, with people I adore and respect and cherish like family.

I am always so astonished at the way God works. "Ask and you shall receive" isn't so much like Santa Claus, but more in the way of asking not for the thing but the ability to see why you are not able to see the opportunities that will bring that thing. We jump to low, we get tunnel vision, we rush right by our dreams. I ask to see the things I can not see that block me from my full potential as a human being, but also what human characteristics block me from my full potential as a spiritual being. I can't possibly know what I don't know, but I can ask to be illuminated. And then its my job to pay attention. To suit up and show up. To act out of principles. And own my own shit. And be open to waking up and waking up again, as often as it takes to become whole and complete and one with the divinely animated universe.

The dialogue between me and my Aunt has commenced, and I don't know the outcome, but to reconnect at this time, exactly now in this paradigm shift, has healed much. And it isn't terribly far fetched to imagine that was her exact role in my life, critical to my own soul's development, and the whole reason we didn't talk for 27 years- so that her re-surfacing right now, so synchronistically, would be dramatic enough to shock me into a whole new level of consciousness and awe.

I am not less than (or more than) her, nor is anyone less than me (or more than) me. And perhaps I am to fulfill some part of my destiny with her right now, some missing link that will illuminate her journey in a new way. I don't know. But God assembled quite a few players to impress a new mode of thinking upon me, and I am grateful. From Alex and Berni and Justin at ONE80, to my Aunt, to Napoleon who suggested i say that mantra and invite wealth into my life, to J who gave me the almonds for prosperity ALL in the matter of three weeks, to my family and their drama that tore my aunt and I apart for so long, to my dad who gave me his legacy to begin with- all of this so I could see more clearly,

They say when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I am finding that when I am ready to accept it, the people who have brought about the most discomfort in my life have been my teachers all along. It isn't the teacher that appears, its the student who appears when we become humble enough to recognize the teachers. I have learned that I do not have any enemies. Nor am I an enemy to anyone. I have learned that its important to insist on illumination. I have learned that love is the antidote for all darkness. And, oh yeah, money comes to me quickly and easily and always has. And always will. Word!

Stop hitting snooze on the alarm clock of love and wake up already

Love is almost like a video game. You get to the next level by mastering the first level, even if sometimes accidentally mastering it with luck rather than skill. And you sashay in to the next level with the exuberance of victory over the first, until you see that things are flying at you faster, and the skills that were necessary to accomplish the completion of the first are simply not refined enough for the second. And so it goes, layer after layer.

Like in the movie Inception, each level down into dreams gets closer to the subconscious, that spooky realm where everything lives- every memory, fear, hope, desire, every dream and nightmare- all swirling in a cauldron of you, and the collective, which is all the yous you have ever been, all conspiring to both help you attain another level, and also fail. Ego lives here. And so does soul.

I find these metaphors, pedestrian though they might be, sufficient enough to stand in for universal themes. There is a verbal roccoco and frothy emotionally sentimental way of decorating concepts about love, but I prefer to ground it all in moe palatable terms, and to investigate the phenomenon rather than be run over by it, puzzled and spinning.

First, there is the initial thrill of the first level, the falling, at first seeming effortless and almost beyond choice because the game sucks you in and allows many small victories to encourage you onward. “I got this,” we think, suckers that we all are. Then, BAM, next level, suddenly the stakes are higher, if you lose then all those snazzy points you worked for are gone, and moreover you want that feeling of mastery again, that exuberance that is so satisfying that so quickly departed upon entry to the next level. But new skills are required. (And I think most people stay in the first level, they don’t want to bring what it takes to go to the next, they want to continue in what they know and understand, and thus the curse of the human condition. Fear of what comes next, desire for what must be given up)

What happens is that the new skills are developed on that level, more quarters thrown in the video game (OG) to go back over and over again to learn what needs to be learned to master the second level. It gets tedious sometimes, frustrating. “How do I navigate this?” “I didn’t see this one coming.” “I can’t take this, I suck at this, I give up.” “I can’t give up. I want to see whats next. I want to be good at this.” “Fuck this.”

Then, the next level is attained, and falling, again. And even with the elation and the glorious ache of it, there is knowing that it heralds a new level, and new skills, and deeper trust. It gets closer to the subconscious, no longer content to frolic in shallow water. The subconscious, where archetypes roam, where a universal language is spoken and immortal dialogues take place in the primordial ooze of all potential, where everything we know and everything we don’t know we know waits to be discovered.

What strikes me as odd is the consensus that anything is really real. In the sense that we mostly take for granted that we live in a solid, static, predictable world that does its own thing and we just try to fit in the best we can. The fact for me is that it is all a divine exchange, constantly creating situations that challenge the spirit, spirit constantly creating situations that challenge the soul, the darkness trying to get us to believe that there is only this and nothing more- it is the intent of the dark side, absolutely; it is it’s only job, and it never sleeps. It never tires. It is not only as smart as we are, it has us believing, too often, that it IS us. We carry it inside us, and listen to its voice and act on it as if that was our own thought. It wants to lead us into darkness. Away from the light. It wants us to believe the lies and the hype, to keep us from the truth. Because, I think, there is no reward if there is no struggle. The more we go towards the light, the more we master the levels, the more intense the game gets. Darkness gets more clever, more crafty, more cunning. It has to; as we get to new levels, so does it, right along with us. But without that, we would not get the the level of soul mastery that will allow us to be what we were truly meant to become. Transcended. Pure harmony. One with God, which, in effect, means we are God, we become God again, on a soul level. There is nothing more important, and yet so few realize this. This is why we are here. Not to be distracted until death by personality. To come to God through principles.

Love is this. To be loved is amazing, but to love is the key to all the levels, it’s the magic coin that gives special powers in the invisble realm where all the work takes place. Not just romantic love, but where else is anyone so challenged on such a personal note? Who else but our beloved will bring out every deep seated insecurity, every trust issue, every conceivable character defect? All these tools of the darkness, attempting to prevent the soul from reconnecting with the source, are in full force in a relationship. And maybe one of the most decent concepts that get lost in the idea of commitment (in that most people fear commitment more for what they lose access to once they are all in) is the idea that you have agreed with another person to go the distance, to go as deep as you can go, to continue to do battle with the darkness that is brought up in the relationship; in effect, you are a team, working towards the most spiritual level of all- where God in me connects with God in you, and allowing a sacred space for that to exist, a new world, which can only happen inside a relationship. There is so much to distract from this; the shallow diversions of the ego- desire, the handiest tools of the darkness, like catnip, so easy to divert an individual from the real work. And fear, the other handy tool. Its hard to survive this- Darkness weilding its power tools, desire and fear, running amok in a new relationship, trying to destroy the divine spark. And not just any Darkness, The Darkness. Tailor made for you. Stamped with your own seal of approval. Your very own ego.

Then there is the soul which wants nothing less than ecstatic return to God. It is like a piece of God inside that throbs with a great longing to be reunited with its lover. And so it does also love love, because God is there inside the other if the obstacles can be overcome. The soul is The Lover, and the Darkness is so able to take that soul longing for God and cunningly fill it with desire for other things to satiate it- material posessions , ambition, addictions, obsessions- like giving a screaming baby a pacifier when it wants its mother’s soft nipple and milk. Eventually it accepts the substitute because the same motions are present. We are so lucky in AA, at least, to have access to another level, to reunite with the soul and recognize the Ego as having fooled us, allowing us to take a sincere yearning for a spiritual experience and warp it with toxic substitutes. The gentle Soul, lifetime after lifetime, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Love is the great battlefield of triumph over evil, in its best and most pure aspect. Oddly enough, this is never even really seen topside. As if the relationship takes place above the water, while dragons are slayed and wars are waged invisibly just below- ancient combat, immortal victories and epic defeats. And on the surface, we are going to dinner, fucking, talking, texting. Rarely realizing what lies below the surface. As above, so below. And vice versa. Life is but a dream. But love is the alarm clock.