Heart the key to the reality of your dreams

“It is frightening to think how many things are made and unmade with words; they are so far removed from us, trapped in their eternal imprecision, indifferent with regard to our most urgent needs; they recoil at the moment when we seize them; they have their life and we have ours.”

~Rainer Maria Rilke from “The Wisdom of Rilke”

Do we rely too heavily on words? Last week I talked about how we use words to create concepts that can become walls. This time I wonder about the words themselves and how they can’t really express exactly what is in our hearts.

This is where poetry and metaphor come in; they can get at the essence of our desires. Metaphor rises above mere words. But we are still using words and making concepts from them.

Creating our reality takes more than words. Feeling is the key. As we saw last week, forming concepts about what we want gets in the way of manifesting that desire. That’s because concepts are created by imprecise words as well as the fact that our focus goes to the concepts and not the true desire.

But we can feel, in this moment, the way we want to feel in the reality of our choosing. We can feel right now what it would be like. Words can be a guide. They can help us figure it out; know what it is that we don’t want so we can get to what it is we do want. But it is the feeling that actually takes us there.

Words, like Rilke says, “are so far removed from us.” Expecting words alone to create what is in our hearts is foolish. Don’t get me wrong, words are a very powerful tool, but they are just that, a tool, an imprecise one at that. That is why Rilke is frightened by the fact that so much is made and unmade by them. They don’t create or uncreate what’s in our hearts, only what is in our minds. The mind without the heart is willing to do anything.

What we need to do is to consciously put our hearts into the process, to marry heart and mind. When we express ourselves from the heart, wonderful, moving pieces of art can be brought forth. The life we had only dreamed of can be manifested as well and we can begin to live the reality of our dreams.

Words can become walls

“According to the Buddhist tradition, the spiritual path is the process of cutting through our confusion, of uncovering the awakened state of mind.” ~Chogyam Trungpa from The Essential Chogyam Trungpa

So how do we cut through our confusion? One of the things we can do is let go of the words. In the same book, Trungpa refers to an aspect of the ego, “The Lord of Speech refers to the use of concepts as filters to screen us from direct perception of what is.” Our words can get in the way of directly experiencing our life.

I’ve done a lot of writing about how we use words to create our reality. This is true, but sometimes our words can become walls. Perhaps we need to empty our mind and take a look without all that stuff blocking our view. All those ideas and concepts that fill our minds are just thoughts and sometimes we take them too seriously. We may start to believe our way is the best or even the only way.

The way to prevent closing ourselves off is to ask questions. Questions punch holes in our walls. But you must not grasp for answers to those questions. Live with the holes in your concepts and ideas. Holes in your walls let the air in so you can breathe and be inspired.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Ok, you have holes in your wall, now what? You need to wait, be open. For example, you may be looking for love and not having any luck. Instead of having an exact idea of what you want, try asking questions, but don’t try to answer, wait. While you’re living with your question you might have an idea or desire to learn French. Follow that desire. Perhaps that class will go to France where you meet the love of your life. Letting go of the reality you were trying to create can free you up for insights.

We think we know how to create our world and forget that we are co-creators, not sole creators. The Universe will conspire with us if we’re open to it.