PERSISTENCE is not the same as perfectionism
I had gotten out of it. I really didn’t want to do it. We had just had a new baby. My focus was getting used to that again. This other thing was just gonna be a distraction. A time waster.
Others would’ve called it my civic duty. They would’ve called it the right thing to do. I bought the pearl rather than sold it. For me, that meant I had to say to no to something that others might’ve valued.
I said no to my civic duty. But I didn’t say no to it directly. I said no through a computer algorithm. To others, I would’ve cheated the system. I wouldn’t have participated in what society would’ve thought was the right thing to do.
So, what did I do?
I got out of being on jury duty. But it wasn’t in the way that you think. I didn’t even lie on the form, which is super common for people to do—-nope, I ended up using the law to achieve my desire through a computer algorithm.
It was meant to a full seven days. In fact that’s what I was told. I had to keep checking in every day on the computer. Just to see if I got jury duty. I went in. Sometimes with a knot in my stomach. Was it gonna be today? Was it gonna be called in. Was going to have to takeoff work for a week, a month, or a year?
But, I stayed with it. I stayed with the scene that showed me playing with my children. It was a simple scene. It was just me and my kids playing. It was me and my wife smiling at them.
That’s it. Almost boring. Almost natural. I felt it first person. I was there in the moment. Three times a day. 2 to 3 minutes. Color. Sound. Feeling.
It overpowered my doubt. Did it stop me from having doubt? Not really. And that’s OK. Perfection is not the point. Perfection stop you from actually being present. Perfection is a form of victim thinking. Why? Because it relies on the same neural circuitry as someone who is stuck in a hyper vigilant loop of constantly looking for threats. Did I do this correctly? Did I do enough affirmations? Perfectionism is a form of control dressed up as spiritual correctness.
God and Satan—are always with you, for one is faith and the other doubt.— Neville
Neville, nor did any other person ever argue that we needed to be perfect. That’s a Social value. That’s something we get taught as children. You don’t have to get it right. You just have to persist. Did you hear that? People may disagree with how I’m explaining this. And get that. But I’m also trying to get us away from this fact that, we need to perform the law. Or that to perform is to somehow get the desire.
That key part of Neville‘s quote is the word always—-You don’t sit there and try to annihilate doubt. In fact, there’s another verse from the apostle Paul that really argues the fact that what we should be doing, as you keep persisting in the new state so much so that, doubt just gets bored and doesn’t hang out anymore.
The Greek word is implode. It’s a pretty violent picture. You just simply move on, you don’t give it oxygen. You give your new world the color in it and the attention it deserves.
Performance and a natural desire are not the same thing. When the desire feels like you already have it to the point of being natural, is when the performance drops.
This is not the same as acting like the personality has it. This is not the same as cognitive embodiment. Which is essentially a scientific form of explaining the law.
When I went to go check my computer, was I performing the law perfectly? Nope. Most of the time when I was checking, it was in lack. I was performing the person who didn’t have it. I was performing as the person who was going to be stuck in jury duty for a year or more with no income. The end of the story. Is that the algorithm shut down might need to check in for the full seven days. It was actually a legal requirement to check in for seven day.
But,the algorithm had to listen to the law because I held the picture of my family happy. It was the third day. The day of resurrection. The day of the imagination/Christ coming back to life. That’s when I was told that I had fulfilled my jury duty responsibilities. That was the victory.
But, in those moments where I saw myself happy with my family. The moment that it felt real, that was way more powerful than I doubt.
One of my favorite stories in scripture that really gets to the heart of this. And also I think clarifies the idea of persistence and levels work, is the story of Joshua. Just a quick reminder, these stories are representations of the states that we can enter an exit well.
Joshua, according to the historical Cannon of his role, would’ve been a seasoned general. Quite possibly someone had seen war. Someone who had seen battle. Someone who might’ve actually had friends who died in front of his eyes. Yeti was brave. But even in his bravery, he was even told by God/imagination, to essentially give up his fear and trust the imagination.
Trust God. Trust the inner self. Trust the future self. Whatever version of you that really fits with this definition hold onto that. It is not about dogmatism. It’s not about getting the terms correct. It is not about following it like it’s some sort of black-and-white rule. I know others may disagree with that as well.
But I’m trying to get people away from perfectionism. Perfectionism in the law are not the same. You have the power, because it’s always been there. You don’t have to perform as if you were earning the power.
That’s where the trouble comes. That’s where the problem seem to amplify. Why? Because you are performing someone who can’t seem to fix things that don’t need to be fixed.
Here’s something that works really well. Create a scene where you’re not even thinking about your issues. Create a scene where it’s so real, the smell, the taste, the sounds, are so vivid, that you simply just trust that moment. There’s no need for someone in it to validate anything because if you were truly in the state of the person who had everything, it would be way past needing validation. It would just be you in the moment drinking it all up.
You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to persist. And that’s already inside of you. It always has been. It always will be. If you understand that as part of your inner technology, then you don’t have to earn it. You simply just return. You return again and again and again.
You will get there. In fact, you are already there. Just accept it.