In the horizontal world, our memories create time. We remember yesterday and we plan for tomorrow. We are constantly building, a little at a time. We tell ourselves, “I did this much yesterday, and I’ll go further tomorrow with the next steps.” We spend our whole life on this kind of construction – on our self, on our situation. We are constantly seeking more, making our life ever closer to what we want. No matter how far we’ve come, there is always more to be done. More to build, in one way or another.
Over the years we grow attached to our construction, our self, our story. Even if we’re not very good at constructing our lives, we still get attached to our life story. We attach to both the positive and negative aspects of it. It belongs to me; it is “me.”
Our memories are not just a book of photos. They each carry their own charge. Imagine looking in a photo book, and this picture zaps you. It’s more than a picture. Memories hold their own energy. They zap us. They affect us with their particular pleasure or pain. We’re attached to each of them. They are all part of our construction, part of the self-image we have built.
When the alarm goes off to wake us from this worldly dream, we find it difficult to release attachment to this life, this person we have constructed. It belongs to me. These are my dreams, fulfilled or not. These are my pains. I’ve paid for them.
. . .
Let’s say you win the Lotto. You could react in a big horizontal way and ride a huge wave of pleasure, then drop to the depths of pain when you realize the Lotto won’t solve everything. Or you could react mildly and say, “I won – that’s nice.” Your waves of pleasure are smaller, and they don’t throw you around as much.
I’m not here to say don’t spend your Lotto money. Spend it. Get that fancy new car you’ve wanted, that nice house. Enjoy yourself. Only realize that these things are temporary, and your happiness does not depend on them.
The horizontal world is not evil. It is just not real.
What is real is the everlasting Vertical. These horizontal experiences are dependent on the Vertical. They come into being because the Vertical is fueling them. The only reality, the eternal reality, when all is said and done, is the Vertical.
This Vertical flow is always a Gift. It does not arrive because of anything you did. It is a Gift. The best you can do is to prepare and be receptive to it. As we’ve said before. Keep your vessel in good repair so you will catch the rain of blessings whenever they may come.
Yet we live our horizontal lives. We say unwanted things are “not mine.” We turn away from what life presents us. This family, this work, this sickness, this situation which I don’t like. Take it away, I don’t like it.
If we could only see, these unwanted events and people were hand-picked just for us. Your situation is married to you. The sages say each event of your life is like a marriage to you. It’s on purpose that you are facing whatever you have on your plate. Every event is orchestrated specifically for you.
Life in the horizontal plane is designed to wake us up to the vertical. Suffering leads us to the vertical. With the vertical connection we begin to understand that the horizontal world is not real.
King Solomon wore a ring upon which was written, “This too shall pass.” Only someone with a full awareness of the deeper reality of the Vertical can fully understand this statement. Hardly anybody can really wear that that ring. Solomon could.
Some people have found success at manipulating the horizontal world so they can get what they want. They think they are cooperating with the Vertical. But they’re doing something entirely different. In the end it may harm their Divine connection. They’re saying, just like everybody else, “Give me what I want. I want this. I don’t want that. I’ll arrange it for myself. I’m in charge of my destiny.”
They are constructing it, just like any horizontal construction. They’re telling themselves they have Vertical connection because things are working out for them. But by “taking charge” they are limiting Vertical flow. They are purely horizontal, strengthening their horizontal self-image, and fooling themselves further away from the real Vertical.
A person in a true Vertical stance says, “I am not in charge. I am receiving what I am given, and everything in my path is meant for me. I reject none of it.”
This person trusts that everything unfolds in alignment with divine will, for their benefit, for their learning. They don’t presume it’s a punishment.
The Infinite One provides for them.
These passages are from Chapter 16 of Volume 2, Walking the Bridge – With Balance.
(Thanks to Pixabay for this image we revised.)
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