The Emotional Guidance System (EGS)
(Or how to swim in the river of life)
In the same way that we have an external GPS - a Global Positioning System - we have an internal EGS, or an Emotional Guidance System. These two function very similarly. While the GPS gives us directions where to go in the external world, our EGS gives us directions for where to go inwardly. That is, our emotions are a compass for inner truth. An Alethiometer so to speak, if you have seen or read The Golden Compass.
Now this may sound childish or even obvious, but let us look somewhat closer because this actually has a very deep message if you are willing to listen. The word Alethiometer comes from the Greek “Meter” which means measure, and “Aletheia” which means truth, or unconcealedness. Unconcealedness because it is not about truth in the sense of correspondence between an idea and a thing, but rather about the opening up of reality and it revealing something to you. So how does this golden compass work? And how do we use it to get to the truth?
How it works.
The basics are very simple:
When you feel good, it is because your perspective, your way of thinking, is alligned with the truth of (your) being.
When you feel bad, it is because your perspective, your way of thinking, is out of alligment with the truth of (your) being.
So our Emotional Guidance System tells us whether something is true or not, by making us feel good or bad respectively.
Say we were to have an argument. Both of us want to teach the other something. We fail to come to a full resolution. Afterwards we don’t feel fully satisfied. This is because there are still some parts of ourselves, parts of our way of thinking, that have not alligned completely with the Truth. We know this, we feel this, and that’s why we get into arguments, to allign our perspectives and to come to grips with reality together. Preferably ofcourse, this does not happen in the form of an argument but rather an inspiring conversation. An argument only happens when we don’t want to admit certain things, when our ego’s are holding us back. This is an obvious example, but let us try a different one. When else do we feel bad?
Take grief for example. Say our dog died and we feel bad. How is this an example of our perspective being out of alligment with the truth of (our) being? This one is tougher, but really interesting if you get it, so bear with me.
Our negativity in grief comes from the idea of lack. We feel like we have lost something valuable and it will never come back. How is this perspective out of alligment with the Truth? The Truth is that there is no lack. Why is there no lack? The short version is that every moment is complete unto itself. It is only because we are attached to the past, judge it better than the present, and overlay the present with memories of the past that negativity, absence, and lack are created in the present.
Let’s do an experiment. Feel yourself being. Look around you slowly, just observing everything, is there anything missing from this moment? Other than some negative thoughts/feelings perhaps that are present and that tell you that there is something missing, there should not be anything missing from this moment. There is nothing missing. Only confused thoughts and emotions tell you something is missing. But there really isn’t.
(Let me put this another way. It may be the case that there is something not present in your view. But does that mean that it is lacking? There is a lot that is not present in your view right now. In fact, almost 100% of what exists is not present in your view right now. But does that mean that it does not exist?)
There is no lack, no absence, no negativity. If you dare to believe that, if you dare to keep recognizing that in existence, to keep recognizing that everything is okay and everything has always been okay, and will forever be okay, that’s when you start to understand the peace of God. That’s when you start to get real confidence. Because instead of building it on the thought that you are doing something right, you realize that you can never do wrong. This makes us free. Free as children, before they are taught that they are doing things wrong. But this time it is not a naïve innocence, but rather a wise innocence. Because it is based on the recognition of what is, i.e. the truth. The truth that there is no lack and that there can never be lack.
Now we are also free of having to feel bad. Today we do not only struggle with grief when we lose someone but also with the guilt of not feeling grief. Since our social relations are degrading (more and more individualism, smaller and smaller families, more and more digitally mediated relations, and so on) we feel less and less really connected to other people while there is still a social expectation of grief. This can lead to a guilt as bad, if not worse than grief while we could also just be happy. It is important to understand that you are not helping anyone or anything by feeling bad. Again, when you feel bad, it is because your perspective, your way of thinking is not alligned with the truth of (your) being, i.e. truth and goodness are connected. In fact, they are one and the same.
Nothing good can come from not being alligned with the truth of existence. Why not? Because you can’t win at a game if you deceive yourself about what the game is. Then you’re not playing the game of life, you’re playing something else. Your own twisted version of it. The game of life is good. Negativity arises when you twist it. And negativity arises only to get you back to the right version, the right interpretation, only to get you back to goodness. So yeah, even pain is a gift.
Really, life is like a river of experience that continually flows. Instead of trying to hold on to things as if they are solid, grasping the water to no avail, we should learn to swim. We learn how to swim when we learn to use the Alethiometer, the EGS, because when we learn to use it, we learn to stop trying to grasp, to hold on to the water - the past - which causes drowning (negativity) and instead we start using the water - the flow of existence - to catapult us forward deeper and deeper into truth and happiness. Existence is always with us, we just haven’t learned to use it properly.
So the only thing that is “missing” when you feel bad is allignment with your being. This is what our emotional guidance system tells us.
Namasté
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