Master of the World

In this episode we explore how shifting our focus from mastering the outer world to mastering our inner world by stabilizing in the awareness of the eternal self naturally brings about a benevolent, solution-oriented attitude towards life.

Transcript

Good day, and welcome to this meditation experience.  Wonderful that you are joining. And today we are going to go big.  We're going to look at master of the world. Which always, I don't know why, the image for me is always Atlantis holding the world on his back. I'm not sure why, but master of the world. And you might say, what does this have to do with my day to day life? Well, ironically and unconsciously, I suspect most of us are trying to be a master of the world. It's why we're so exhausted.  Which maybe is why the image of Atlantis with the world on his back comes to me. But there's two ways that we can interpret this idea of being a master of the world. And most of us are fitting into the first category we're about to explain. 

So if we think in a very sort of gross, I suppose, way. A very superficial way about this term.  It's the idea that everything out there in the physical world.  Is under my control. I am a master of the world. 

This sounds very diabolical, but everything is under my control. So this is how we all take the title on, is we're trying to control everything out there. And you're saying, no, I'm not. No, I'm not. We are. 

If we were able to play back on a special machine our thoughts. There are things like, I want this person to do that, this is going to happen. We go through the day expecting it to unfold the way I want for me to be happy. What we call a good day.  And when it doesn’t, we say, oh, my gosh, you can't believe what happened. Or that shouldn't have happened. Or how could that happen? Or what is happening? Because it's going outside of my script. 

Can you imagine a world with billions of souls on it? Each has their own idea of how this world should unfold according to their own needs.  There's going to be conflicts.  So this is one concept of master the world. Trying to control everything out there. 

To meet basically my desires or preferences. And they might seem even good, but it's still from my perspective.  And then there's the second category, which you've probably figured out of a master of the world. Is. I'm not trying to control everything out there. 

I'm just trying to control myself. Mastery of the self will make one master of the world.  Because when I have mastery of the self. I respond from this very powerful place. I'm not affected, disturbed, or enslaved. 

To what's going on out there.  And the way enslavement to the outer world looks like is reacting.  So when I react, it means the outer world has controlled me.  This is not a master of the world, and probably my favorite image of this, which I would experience sometimes in the workplace, because a fitness facility often has injuries happening. So we often have to call emergency medical services so the ambulance would arrive. 

And sometimes my duty was to go and receive them at the door and brief them as they come to the scene of the situation. I always enjoyed that experience because, you know, they're not called emergency reaction services. They're called emergency response for a reason.  If they showed up reacting, I send them away. They're of no use.  But because they can respond from all their skills and experiences inside, they're very useful to me. So they would show up at the door so calm, there could be craziness going on behind the building, but they always show up so calm, say, hi, how you doing? And I'm like, fine. I said, we have all the time in the world. And they say, so let us know what's going on. 

And they were so calm that you could calmly explain, give them the information they need as you're moving to the scene. And they arrived, and they were brilliant.  They were responding, not reacting, responding. They were masters in that moment.  So it's so powerful, and I think it's the source of personal happiness, actually, but very powerful to be a master of the self, to be able to respond from the capacities of the self. 

This is a useful person in the world, and my own personal dignity remains intact.  So let's go in and start to awaken the master. The self. 

Sitting comfortably, eyes being open is actually integral to being a master of the world.  So experimenting with open eyes is very useful. 

And where my focus usually  is on the outer world,  the pull of the physical senses carrying me outwards  and all the thoughts in my mind  about how I want things to unfold and shock when they don't.  Instead, I turn my attention inwards on my inner whirl, a place that's sometimes quite neglected, like an overgrown garden. 

Weedy thoughts are allowed to grow and grow.  Thorny issues fester. 

It's a little cluttered and sometimes chaotic in there because the master has been absent.  The self, the caregiver of my inner world, sometimes called my inner kingdom. 

I want there to be inner peace.  And yet I continue to focus on controlling the outer world. 

Today I move through my inner kingdom, observing the state of my inner world. 

Are there nagging issues overrunning that kingdom inside? 

Checking the feeling, the order, even just the vibration of my inner world. 

Is it light? 

Is it peaceful? 

Is it ordered and simple, clear? 

And is there that royalty, inner dignity, self-respect, ruling my inner world. 

This is the state of a world where one has become the master, a benevolent ruler. 

So I go to the seat of power in my inner world, sometimes symbolized as the throne, the very seat or core of my inner world that rules everything. 

It is awareness, sense of identity of self, rules everything. 

If the identity I hold of the self, it’s very external and temporary, then my inner world will be very fragile and volatile. 

I will be a seeker of external validation. 

And because my sense of self is very temporary, there will be a constant sense of anxiety. 

My sense of self will always be threatened, of dying. 

But if that seat of power is held by a sense of self that is eternal, deep, there will be a very different feeling in my inner world. 

It will be stable, solid, unaffected by temporal changes outside. 

My sense of value will be internal. 

I will not have to go seeking outside to feel good about myself or sensitive to external validation. 

That seat of power, that sense of self, decides everything about the state of my inner world. 

It will either give me mastery or absolutely no control, depending what's seated on that throne of my inner world. 

I experiencing myself  being seated, stabilized  in the awareness  that I am a spiritual being, an eternal being, not physical at all,  with incredible inner power,  inner value,  inner beauty,  one of a kind,  impossible  to compare me with any other human soul. 

My own unique intrinsic specialties, which are also eternal. 

Going deep into the wonder of the self, how precious the self is as a soul, not for any other reason, valuing the self for all the right reasons, feeling great about the cell as a soul. 

It might be a little rusty, this experience, as it may have been a while. 

So I will be patient and restoring this sense of self to the seat of power inside. 

I will come back again and again, even if there's resistance, such as doubts.  I will continue  and start to taste  what it feels like  to be this kind  of master of the world,  far more free,  less and less affected  and needy  as I move through the outer world,  and maybe even more and more benevolent and generous towards the outer world. 

Om Shanti, thank you so much for joining.