(This is part 3 of a series called "The Communication Task.")
In my college days I sat in more than one smoke-filled room with serious-sounding counterculture types who were winding themselves up on a plot to dump mass quantities of LSD into the water supply of Chicago. This was conceived as a “public service” designed to rip open the doors of perception for millions of people at once in a kind of forced attempt at mass enlightenment. This never ended up happening because somebody read the research from earlier, less altruistic, attempts at such monkey business that showed that if you put LSD in a glass of chlorinated water, the psychedelic properties are quickly neutralized. So it often goes with the impulse to convert other people to what you think they need.
The impulse to covert other people to your way of thinking causes more problems than it's worth. It is usually a signal that the one trying to convert others is pretty insecure and is trying to offer information, good-sounding arguments and persuasion instead of their presence and qualities. If you care at all about the communication task involved with energy healing, this is a trap to watch out for. It's far better to channel your enthusiasm into work on your own clarity so you will be on solid ground when it comes time to talk about what you do.
The Prophet's Dilemma
Many people who get into energy healing have had some kind of “mountain top” experience that has left them with an insight into life and their path in this world, and lots of energy. They become activists and set out to convert the world. They crack out the door every morning like superheroes, filled with missionary fervor to get the world back on track. By and by, as they try to communicate their vision to others, they are often disappointed when people who haven’t been up to the same mountain top as they have aren’t particularly receptive to their message. Too often, they end up feeling like prophets crying in the wilderness.
Do you know this situation? Add to that the uncomfortable moments when you become acutely aware of the experience and worldview gap between you and the person you're talking to. Someone might even take a swipe at your beliefs. There are moments when it can feel like something precious is being tread upon.
Big Insights Ripen Slowly
The communication task begins inside us and there is no substitute for the inner work needed before outer communication. The mountain top experience is the planting of a seed. It needs to gestate and ripen within us before we are ready. Classically—look at the great teachers—the mountain top revelation is followed by a time in the desert before their mission to the world. The same basic pattern applies to the likes of you and me. Our big insights need to ripen slowly. The world needs our presence and developed spiritual qualities much more than it needs our words.
Part of the prophet's dilemma is the trap of believing that you are required to change the world the day after you get down from the mountainside. Energy healing can sound flaky and unrooted in the ears of people who are unfamiliar with it. Often, this is because the first people they hear about it from are those who try to leap from their mountain top experiences into the public forum without first integrating those experiences into their everyday lives and everyday language. It takes time.
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Next up: Working on your "mental muscles"
Diving Deeper: For more context on the need for a time of integration, settling and self-examination between the mountaintop and the public forum, see:
• "Stillness: Being in the Holy Place," pp. 13 and 14 in A Pilgrim in Your Body: Energy Healing and Spiritual Process.
• For a very good short talk on what to do instead of trying to convince people about what you're doing in your business, whatever it is, check out George Kao's blog post of June 20th, 2017.
• For an interesting article about attempts to put LSD in the water supply, check out "Reservoir Drugs: The Enduring Myth of LSD in the Water Supply."
Copyright ©, 2017 by Jim Gilkeson. All rights reserved.