Essay for
May 2004

Expectations and Goals

Your expectations and goals, no matter how good, can be the very thing standing in the way of achieving them. In a goal orientated society you are expected to achieve. The achievement is measured by the expectations of the society you live within and your own. If your goal is achieved you are self-congratulatory, and you move on to a new one. If you fail you are self-abusive or stress yourself to attain it or set a less ambitious goal. Both are actions of your self-created shadow-world. It is the shadow that is self-congratulatory or self-abusive, and each self-congratulatory, self-abusive or stressful act is in two parts. The two parts create one whole, and that whole becomes your controlling shadow-world. One part initiates the action and the other part creates a response. The response maintains the existence of what initiated the action. The two parts create the shadow of your existence, and then the shadow rules.

This is not suggesting that goals and expectations are bad or good, just that both maintain the existence of the deception-shadow that controls and directs your life. The goal or expectation keeps the deception-shadow alive by the deceit it creates out of success or failure. It goes on like this forever until you run out of time, and then all your successes and failures are measured against the time you have left. There you may discover one huge regret, as those successes and failures no longer have relevance. Or, you can no longer define your existence by those successes and failures. It can be a trying time, as your reference has disappeared, and there is nothing to replace it. Or, you scramble for beliefs and constructs to fill the empty space.

What initiates an action or thought is your sense of 'I': I did that action or I had that thought. This is where all the problems and issues begin, as your thoughts and actions remain attached to what created them. Again, this is in no way is implying that the thought or action is right or wrong. But the internal response is your belief in what you have produced, and that is the sticky-deceit, a belief in your own thoughts.

The first part of your shadow-world is the 'I' that produced them. This action creates a deception, as that 'thinking I' rises and falls upon demand. It only has reality while you are using it. It is temporary, but you take that transitory 'I' as who you are, therefore the deception. The second part of this deceptive shadow is the deceit, as it supports and maintains that deception by stealth. The deceit is anything that the deceptive I hangs on to or is attached to, such as goals and expectations. The deceit maintains the illusion that that 'I' is real. It is the second part of your shadow that continually gives life to the deception. This does not make the goal or expectation right or wrong. It is simply that the deceit maintains the belief that the 'I' that created or accepted the goal or exception is real. And it is not. It only has temporary existence, as it rises and falls upon demand. The transitory 'I' rises and fall within consciousness, making consciousness your first and final reality.

The thought or action (the 'I' that did the producing) is the first part of the shadow-world. The production is the second part. Combing them into one creates a deceptive illusion, in two parts. Joining the production and the producer is deceitful, as the producer is seduced by its own production. This artificial coupling is the deceit that maintains the illusion that this combination is real. The producer and the production are not the real problem. They merely set the stage for the problem to arise: the attachment to the production. This is the creation of a belief in the production: the great deception, creating the controlling shadow-world of your existence.

Both the producer and production (expectations and goals etc.) are fine, and always have been, it is the thread of success or failure that creates and binds one to the other. That is deceit: a delusion that maintains the attachment of the production to the producer, creating and maintaining an illusion, the deception, supported by a delusion, the deceit. When the producing 'I' is freed from the burden of success or failure, both the producer and production simply remain, as they are a producer and its production. The glue that binds them is the real problem: the expectation, creating a sense of success or failure. Remove the glue that the expectation creates, and the producer and production remain separated, leaving both the producer and production at peace with itself. Add the glue and war breaks out. It's a choice, and no one anywhere can make that choice for you. If you have ever wondered what causes all your pain, suffering and unhappiness, there it is, the glue. Remove the glue and you have removed what initiates the emotional distress.

When the producing 'I and the production are at peace — no success of failure glue — the real focus of your life now comes to the forefront of your existence, the 'how and why' of the 'I' that created the production. How does the 'I' exist and work, and why does it work the way it does? This new focus is directly upon how consciousness is formed and how it functions: a very intricate subject that goes beyond the scope of the little article. If you are inclined to investigate further, both books, 'Presence' and 'Resolution Psychology' will provide all the information you require.

Another type of glue, different from success and failure, is that the producing 'I' will have to defend its production, creating the situation where it may also have to attack others that are not of the same construction. Defending one's production or attacking another's is the deceit, as it supports and maintains the continuation of the producing 'I'. This is the shadow-world, and the shadow now controls all your thoughts and actions. The producing 'I' is in control, but that controlling 'I' is controlled by its production, which is the deceit. The constant defending and attacking is a recycling affair that has no end, as it perpetually transforms to meet changing circumstances.

All pain, suffering and misery that exists is in two parts held together by the glue of success or failure or the glue of attacking and defending. Equally the producer and production creates all your happiness, joy and peace: the dualities of pain, suffering and misery. The response of the producing 'I' can be any of the dualities, as they all maintain the existence of that 'I'. The response is deceitful, no matter which duality appears; maintaining the controlling existence of the 'I' that created the original thought or action. And the response (the production) potentially controls the controller. It's a diabolical system that never relents until you remove the glue that binds it all together.

Ultimately the controlling deception is controlled by the deceit. This is the world we live within. Then we wonder why everything can turn so negative from something that first appeared so positive. The deception and deceit are always in a win-win situation. No matter what occurs, the deceit response maintains the existence of the 'I' that originally had the thought or did that action. This is intense entrapment with no escape, with each individual and the totality of civilization paying an enormously high price for that imprisonment. The deception and deceit, your shadow-world, is both the controller and the one that is controlled. It is self-feeding, self-maintaining and total entrapment, which is the deceit in action.

If you do not believe or trust the foregoing try this little experiment for one week. Attack and defend nothing. You may be surprised at how many times a day you do attack or defend something. That is the glue that has become a subliminal pattern, controlling you without you being aware of that control. It is the glue that maintains perpetual anxiety, fear, plus endless forms of violence and destruction. It's a choice and the choice is always yours.

RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE