Darkworking, Lightworking, and Being Undivided

[Eric Revelin]

I was introduced to the darkworker/lightworker concepts back in May or so. I can see points in my life where I've drifted toward one polarity or the other, but I wouldn't say I've ever truly polarized, at least not in the way Steve means it.

Labels in general don't sit well with me. I always feel like I'm shoehorning myself to fit a pre-defined mold that isn't true to who I am. However, I agree with the notion that one should submerse himself in a belief or concept and attempt to adopt it fully before casting it aside as true understanding nearly always requires experience.

If I had to define myself according to these terms, I'd be the noble darkworker- someone who is almost entirely focused on himself but who holds a strong sense of pride and honor, and takes personal joy in helping others improve themselves. I think it's foolish to expect long-term gain through any means that involves destroying or consuming others. I'm self-centered but I'm not a sociopath; people like that either get brought down by karma or the loss of their sanity.

At the end of the day, I am what I am. No word nor string of words, or the ideas they represent, will ever be enough to contain my essence. However, upon examining the lightworking and darkworking concept, I realize there are numerous common threads that serve personal effectiveness regardless of the path one chooses, even if one decides not to polarize at all.

1. Eliminating Internal Division

If you're entirely focused on helping others, you won't get torn up over whether or not you receive any personal benefit from your actions. If you're intent on serving yourself, then whatever happens to others is of no consequence to you unless you need to use them to further your goals. I find that most situations in life aren't so black-and-white that it's either help someone else or stab them in the back, but if you can define your primary motivations then, regardless of what you choose to do, you stand to gain a lot more than you would otherwise. If you don't know what you're after then you're just doing things for the sake of doing them, and that quickly devolves into following a pre-set path someone else has laid out for you. It's like deciding you want to lose weight while thinking about that cake you saw at the bakery while you were out for lunch. You can commit to a fitness routine, decide to have the cake, or make no decision and exercise in the afternoon and binge on the cake in the evening. So long as you're divided you'll always undercut your own efforts.

2. Streamlining the Decision-making Process

As an offshoot of this, you become a lot more efficient, meaning you don't waste as much time. Opportunities become clearer, as does your course of action when you choose to act on them. In other words becoming undivided heightens your senses and enables you to hit the ground running. When others are getting started you're approaching the finish line. It's because they need to think about every step they take whereas you've already defined what you're doing, where you're going, and how you're going to get there.

3. Deciding How Far You're Willing to go to Achieve Your Ends

Stated differently, you know how to cut your losses when an opportunity you acted on didn't turn out like you'd hoped. Sticking to simple examples, that would mean lightworkers would immediately quit if they had to betray someone and darkworkers would stop just as soon as they'd have to devote more time to other people than to furthering their own goals. This significantly improves efficiency.

Most people don't fail for a lack of effort, they fail because they can't recognize dead ends. Similarly, people aren't easily manipulated unless they're conflicted enough that somebody else can capitalize on it. In becoming undivided, defining what you want, streamlining your decision process, etc. you become a lot harder to control and you're less likely to slam into a wall in the first place.

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Another important factor in all of this is taking responsibility for your life, your thoughts, and your actions. Again, this is strongly implied by the darkworking/lightworking concept itself, but it deserves emphasis. One of the first steps to becoming undivided is taking full responsibility for your fate. You can't choose to polarize, or even make an educated choice not to polarize, if you think something or someone else is in charge of your life. That's where most people are and that's why they're uncertain and conflicted. You have to exercise your will before you can even think of wielding greater power.

Another crucial point is defining your true self and living in accordance with that. Your true self is partly what you are and partly what you make. Darkworking/lightworking helps with that, and for some it may be the best option for cultivating themselves. However, if you know that that's what you're trying to do, the specific concepts don't matter; it's all about figuring out the best means to accomplish that end.

[Miss Moo]

Originally Posted by Eric Revelin

1. Eliminating Internal Division

If you're entirely focused on helping others, you won't get torn up over whether or not you receive any personal benefit from your actions. If you're intent on serving yourself, then whatever happens to others is of no consequence to you unless you need to use them to further your goals. I find that most situations in life aren't so black-and-white that it's either help someone else or stab them in the back, but if you can define your primary motivations then, regardless of what you choose to do, you stand to gain a lot more than you would otherwise. If you don't know what you're after then you're just doing things for the sake of doing them, and that quickly devolves into following a pre-set path someone else has laid out for you. It's like deciding you want to lose weight while thinking about that cake you saw at the bakery while you were out for lunch. You can commit to a fitness routine, decide to have the cake, or make no decision and exercise in the afternoon and binge on the cake in the evening. So long as you're divided you'll always undercut your own efforts.

2. Streamlining the Decision-making Process

As an offshoot of this, you become a lot more efficient, meaning you don't waste as much time. Opportunities become clearer, as does your course of action when you choose to act on them. In other words becoming undivided heightens your senses and enables you to hit the ground running. When others are getting started you're approaching the finish line. It's because they need to think about every step they take whereas you've already defined what you're doing, where you're going, and how you're going to get there.

3. Deciding How Far You're Willing to go to Achieve Your Ends

Stated differently, you know how to cut your losses when an opportunity you acted on didn't turn out like you'd hoped. Sticking to simple examples, that would mean lightworkers would immediately quit if they had to betray someone and darkworkers would stop just as soon as they'd have to devote more time to other people than to furthering their own goals. This significantly improves efficiency.

Most people don't fail for a lack of effort, they fail because they can't recognize dead ends. Similarly, people aren't easily manipulated unless they're conflicted enough that somebody else can capitalize on it. In becoming undivided, defining what you want, streamlining your decision process, etc. you become a lot harder to control and you're less likely to slam into a wall in the first place.

Aha!