StevePavlina.com Podcast #019 - Owning Your Dark Side (Blog)

[pyrhho]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Be sure to read the related blog post if you've only heard the audio, since the blog notes include some commentary on a couple deficiencies of this podcast.

Ah, thanks, I hadn't read the accompanying post. That clarifies it a bit. Thanks again, your posts always give me something to think about.

[Shindra]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Self-destruction.

O_o oh.

But then it would still be fundamentally safe. I mean, safe from anything but one's own will still seems perfectly safe to me. And if being safe is incongruent with darkworking, but SR is not - that seems a contradiction?
Am I just completely missing the/a point?

[ArthurHung]

After reading all the posts on this thread, I realized that like subjective reality 90-95% readers will not be able to use this to their advantage (not to say that it doesn’t benefit them, which I’ll explain in a bit). When I say this I am keeping in mind that there are many lurkers on the forum and also many who read Steve’s site without the realization that this forum exists.

With this podcast, I am thinking that Steve had these goals in mind:

1) This post while not outwardly evident to be esoteric in nature, only people who have experienced level of shame consciousness and have from that raised their consciousness to at least the level of acceptance can develop and use the no fear perspective properly. But the no fear perspective cannot be used at the courage level. I am saying this from experience… I developed no fear shortly after I came to this site.

2) This post helps the people that will not/ cannot ever experience this. Aimed at the people that can benefit from this no fear perspective, these people will help raise the level of consciousness in those around them.

Those that are at a somewhat high level of consciousness also has a higher possibility of developing into new lightworker entities with this no fear perspective (if they succeed in acquiring it).

3) To plant seeds in the heads of those who have not yet experienced this (shame level of consciousness) so that after some time when they have experienced it they will recall this post and gain the no fear perspective faster, to everyone’s benefit.

Let me give an example of how I differ from someone who is generally confident but doesn’t have a no fear perspective:

Let’s say I heard a loud noise and woke up assuming someone broke into my house in the middle of the night. I wake up, become anxious but would be more “ready to deal with whatever’s the matter” quicker than someone with a fear based perspective, who would freak out. This doesn’t mean I don’t feel anxious at all, I am human after all, but I calm my nerves down much quicker and become more effective with what I can do.

No fear (feeling unconditionally safe) doesn’t mean never gets anxious. It’s… a fundamental belief.

[Scientist]

I'd like to believe that my true self cannot be destroyed because the idea of non-existence is terribly frightening to me. I've considered the possibility that there is no afterlife, but I cannot accept that idea because it is the worst thing I can imagine.

But, believing that I am eternal does not give me comfort either because I have difficulty accepting anything without at least some kind of evidence or prior experience that would suggest it.

There are too many questions that cannot be answered.

For example, if I am eternal, then in what medium, if any, does my eternal being exist? Or is it that everything exists within my eternal being? How is it that it cannot be destroyed? How is it that it could survive the death of the universe?

What happens when every point of consciousness becomes fully evolved? Is it game over? Is there nothing left that needs to be done? Is it just blissful existence for eternity? That actually sounds kind of boring and unfulfilling. Or, does everything get reset back to a lesser evolved consciousness so the game of raising consciousness can continue on forever?

Am I supposed to just accept it on blind faith that I am eternal and not think about how that might be? I don't like that idea, because that is what Christianity told me to do, which led me to have a terrible misunderstanding of reality.

[Love]

I enjoyed the podcast. It made sense to me. Thank you for it!

[Paul C]

Not as extensive as most of your podcasts, but It did help me see certain patterns more clearly, I thank you for that.

[Hari.c]

Thanks for the Podcast. It's really helping me a lot especially to overcome my fears.

[Nicholls]

Although I find most of the ideas on this site very helpful, the darkworker/lightworker articles I find delibirately biased and not really helpful at all. The problem is really the language chosen to describe what is nothing more then a psychological position or system of thinking. Take the name darkworker, before you know anything about them the association is drawn to one of evil as the word dark is referential to night, something that many people fear and that human society and language is negatively biased to. The opposite is true for the name lightworkers.

Following on from this it is said lightworkers use love as a fuel and darkworkers use fear. I personally feel that love is innappropriate here, taking a word that already has more meanings then any other and lumbering it with one more. In doing this it seems you are encouraging people to become lightworkers, whereas it could be argued that darkworking is just as an effective option.

Those trivial points aside, I think polarisation is not the most sensible option avaliable at all. It seems to me that while polarising at either end yields good results both systems of thought are intrinsically flawed. For lightworkers a the dominant idea is to help others, while evolution and biology tells us our base insincts involve only one person - ourselves. For darkworkers the dominant idea is helping yourselves, but human society frowns upon this and few people are satisfied by doing only selfish deeds. In subjective reality you could argue that these ideas have been created by ourselves, but on the other hand that means you don't really exist and this entire argument I'm having is basically with myself.

The main point is that both systems are flawed, and therefore it seems most sensible to try and find an alternative that combines the best aspects of both systems. In other articles on the site you claimed that darkworkers and lightworkers end up at the same destination, one where the darkworker finds he must help others to help himself and one where the lightworker finds he must help himself in order to help others. If both paths end up at the same point then the choice you make is irrelevant as long as you make a choice.

However why not skip the choice and go straight to the neutral area at the end of both of the tunnels? Why is this not possible?

[Hayer]

While listening to this podcast, I had to answer ‘yes’ to the question--are you fundamentally safe here. That’s only because I had a moment years ago when I was plunged into what I call “infinity” and immediately knew that “I” could never die.

However, feeling safe here is definitely not my emotional day-to-day experience. I have my full share of anxiety and fear mixed in with some peace and joy. (Another words, I know I’m safe, but don’t have the no fear perspective ArthurHung described above --if someone broke into my house, I would probably still freak out.)

So I guess what I’m wondering is: if you answer ‘yes’ to the fundamentally safe question, but don’t necessarily feel safe, would commiting to the dark side still be a real possiblity?

I’m also wondering if darkworking could be a path to enlightenment? As mentioned on this podcast, many lightworkers were former addicts with dark pasts. I was reminded of the writer William S. Burroughs who spent years as a heroin addict and later helped to crack open the culture in the sixties.

[siamesesilk]

Excellent podcast Steve. I saw a lot of myself in it.
Thank you.

[starlike]

The content of the podcast is interesting but what has happened with your voice Steve?

Compared to earlier podcasts your voice sounds so thin, tired and fatigued. It seems slower and not as energized. Are you depressed or burnt-out? Anyone else noticing this? It's not the same old Steve as before,...

[Theo77]

I didn't notice anything. But much of this was recorded a while ago so if he was depressed when he recorded it he may not be now.

[Savage]

LOL... I wasn't depressed, just opted for more mellow tempo. My normal speaking voice is rather fast, especially for non-native English listeners, so on this podcast I wanted to take it slower. Also, I'm not working from a script -- just a few notes at best -- so I have to think about what I'm saying as I go along.

[starlike]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

LOL... I wasn't depressed

Nothing to laugh about. It is not a weakness!

[Andrew Brunelle]

Steve, I have had similar experiences to you in my late teens and ever since I had a big wakeup call, I am doing much better, with your help partly, and I believe this podcast really clarified things for me.

I realize how selfish I was when I was living in this low-level state. Now that I reclaimed my joy, took charge of my life and did not blame it on my circumstances, especially my brain cancer five years prior. I am moving away from fear, realizing that I am unconditionally safe here and that when you feel that way, joy is a natural consequence. Any failure or anything is nothing to worry about. I do not need to worry about survival anymore. It is something that erases almost all fear from my consciousness. I love the depth through which you cover these topics.

Thank you,

Andrew Brunelle

[Mammon]

A comment on "Owning Your Dark Side".

The concept of being an atheist is misused in this podcast. An atheist can be a buddhist since the term "atheism" only refers to the lack of belief in a supernatural being. An atheist can therefore believe in reincarnation. I do assume that the term "atheist" is used do describe someone who, in the absence of any proof otherwise, thinks that the mind dies with the body.

To think that the mind dies with the body does not automatically bring fear to the individual. For me it is the exact opposite. I know I will be gone and non-experiencing in less than 40 years, give or take, so this makes me want to do more with these few years I have left. If I believed that I will get another chance, I would relax and watch more TV. If I believed that there were hidden cameras or all-seeing eyes watching my every step to be able sort me out on judgement day, I would be paranoid.

By not believing in the afterlife or reincarnation I know that nothing can hurt me when I'm gone. No hell, no raging fires, no eternal boredom in a heaven full of harp-playing angels, no karma to make me live through five hundred lives as a fox. So if my life ends tomorrow or fifty years from now, after that moment it is all the same.