The Passion For Life After Mormonism and The Double-Bind
The Joyous Life in the Right-Side-Up World
----------------------------
Freedom From The Destructive Upside-Down Pattern of Death
means...
Freedom To Live Constructively with a Passion for Life
-------------------------------------
Passion
Introduction
"Passion" is a loaded word. Since I am applying it in regards to Freedom and the Constructive life, I want to make clear how I will be using it in the Right-side Up definition.
Suffering
There are two different connotations of "passion" in Webster's dictionary. The first definition defines "passion" as: obs. "suffering:" "the state or capacity of being acted upon," "to suffer, more at 'PATIENT.'" "The state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces." This, ironically, describes the Bound person who is "acted upon" by external agents (Binders) and is to "voluntarily" or "patiently" suffer the results of these "forces" (of The Pattern).
Also listed in this context is: "EMOTION: the emotions as distinguished from reason: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling: an outbreak of anger...." This, also, is the state caused by the Binder. When reason is not allowed or the means have been taken away the Bound person is left only with emotion that is undirected, a conflicting energy that must find a release. Since it is denied access to reason, the impulses go directly to bodily reactions. (In the brain, the mechanism that controls rage and sex is the Amygdala. Those who have read previous essays in this series will recognize these definitions and behaviors as belonging to The Pattern.)
Love and Action
Secondly, and on the other hand, the following definitions for passion also mentioned in Webster's are: "ardent affection: LOVE: a strong liking for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept: sexual desire: an object of desire or deep interest ---:" plus: "passion, fervor, ardor, enthusiasm, Zeal shared meaning element: intense emotion, compelling action."
The difference between the two meanings, in the context of the "aerial view" (beyond The Pattern), is that the first and negative definition of passion operates without reason. In the second is the positive meaning of the same word. In the negative Pattern LOVE is omitted, as well as sex as an expression of love; also omitted is any other passionate interest that would be outside that negative definition and would be considered to be "idolatry" and sinful. In The Pattern Love is omitted and replaced with an unreasonable Love/Hate. The result is that when reason is forbidden, it also forbids, through omission, the possibility of authentic LOVE as well ... thus, an outbreak of anger is guaranteed.
------------------------
When reason is allowed to be equal with emotion, passion has an entirely different meaning; it is the essence of Integrity.
In claiming ones Identity, passion in the positive, creative sense ... is experienced as a passion for life. I agree with a major point the psychologist, William James, made:
"I have often thought that the best way to define a man's (or, a woman's!) character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: 'This is the real me.!'"
Two Definitions: the Bound "Real" me and the Free Real Me.
The "Real" me of the Binder finds he's most alive when he is "feeding off others" which is what he "loves" to do (a Love/Hate relationship.) The person free from the Binder is alive when filling the Self ... from the Self ... when there is no dividing line between the labor and the love of doing what one self-creatively loves to do ... labor and love become one and the same, indistinguishable, in a passion for life in its fullness.
The distinction between the Binders "idea" of identity, and authentic identity, is essential; the Real Me is the Me that is free from reflections, i.e., free of projections from the Binder ... the thief who stole your true Identity and replaced it with his own guilty identity; this, he said, is your "Real" Self. This "idea" must be discarded and rejected whenever this old programming happens to resurface. This is why vigilance must always be there to protect against regression back to the Binder ... out of an imagined sense of guilt or "need." The Binder wants you to believe that you cannot survive without him; of course, the opposite is the truth. Vigilance is the protective partner of Reason. Reason is the basis for Truth and the Truth sets us free. Freedom and Truth cannot be separated from Love and Passion, and Vigilance is necessary to keep Reason active and alive.
"The passion for seeking the truth for truth's sake ... can be kept alive only if we continue to seek the truth for truth's sake." ~ Franz Boas
The Real Me can only be claimed when one is free from this system of reversal. It is the state of having the Freedom to think ... the state of Liberty which breaks the bond of literal slavery to the Binder.
Liberty VS Libertine
The Shepherd/Binder, in order to keep you believing that your survival depends on him, must, as the Wolf, step in to make you fear genuine freedom from him by labeling liberty immoral ... in that you will become a libertine ... that without His constraints you would be "lost." Freedom, as defined by the Binder, is complete obedience to his commands; through obedience, you are promised to be "free from 'sin'." This is the Shepherd who "saves" you, in that this "freedom" saves you from having to think or to use your own reasoning powers ... for yourself; it "frees" you from personal responsibility through fear.
The Binder, in reality, is the true libertine; it is this aspect of his own character that he projects to the Bound. He is bound more to the Bound than the Bound is to him. The libertine is not free ... he cannot control his dual self ... he has no authentic Self that can make real choices ... His "passion" is devoid of reason; he steps into a trap of his own making. He, the Wolf, is the true libertine, while the Shepherd "saves" the Bound from seeing this fact.
The Shepherd gives the appearance of reason only in that he assumes the mask of the Bound's reason that he has stolen. This comes out as a "Yes, reason,"... "But...."...and what follows in The Pattern then reverses identity and destroys the reason he claims, becoming the Libertine ... the Wolf. This whole process is unthinkable. It is illogical "logic." It is only "logical" if the goal is the paralysis of the mind and perceptions, i.e., when the "success" of madness producing the peace of "no-mind," "no-reason," has been achieved.
To be Free is the greatest Moral Good
For the Real Self, to be free from the Binder is not to be a "libertine." It is just the opposite. Freedom to think and to claim ones own identity is to be responsible for one's own thoughts and actions ... to be accountable. The Binder's dual "Yes/No" personality also is recognized by the character trait of having "difficulty" in making decisions ... which is explained by His need to steal the reasonable ideas of others because He has no Self that can really create. A Binder-Libertine doesn't know the meaning of responsibility because he is not responsible to anyone, or for anything ... mistakes are attributed to those who have "advised" Him, "wrongly." (This is another version of Stage 3 ... deceived into "giving" aid to the Binder ... and Stage 6 ... being blamed for aiding the Binder.) Everyone else is to be responsible for and to him. He lives in a closed system which makes him the center of the whole universe. The greatest Moral Good is in the Open System of Identity, Reason, and personal Responsibility.
"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open."
~Attributed to Sir James Dewar
The free person who has claimed his or her own Identity becomes the center of his, or her, own universe ... no one else's. The free person owns what he or she has created; Self creativity brings a life of happiness and satisfaction where envy doesn't exist. The lack of freedom ... the lack of Self Identity, expression and creation ... has caused all of the "sins" the Binder says we must be "saved" from. We literally save ourselves by freeing ourselves from The Pattern in order to live in the Real World, in the Open System of Reason.
---------------------------
Summary
The purpose of this introduction is to show the distinction between the twins of True Guilt and unearned guilt. True Guilt is when we act against our own Self-Integrity. Unearned guilt is the projected guilt of the Binder onto the "self-less" Bound object.
The positive, constructive passion to own one's own life is what is licited here, by the common law of humanity as expressed in our Constitutional Bill of Rights ... not the negative passion of intimidation and rage in order to possess the lives of others. When we are free from the projections of the Binder we have a fearless passion for a life that is personal, responsible, full of joy, and sinless ... sinless in that we do not take on the unearned guilt of the "sins" the Binder created for us ..."sins" which were not ours, but His. We remain in the Right-Side-Up World of Reality and see from our Aerial View that the Upside-Down World View spirals down in an opposite direction leading to a masked hate and madness. The freedom to be free ... has the dual wings of reason and love which can soar as high as the capacity of our love, and passion for life can take us.
--------------------------
The next few essays enlarge on this positive "passion" for life. Once seen, and understood from the Aerial View, it becomes the truly "unselfish" life simply because of an over- abundance of the Self.
"Spirituality" takes on a new personal meaning of pure Joy in Love of Self and Others. It eliminates all the sins of the "Thou Shalt Nots." "Forgiveness" becomes unnecessary; you cannot commit any of the sins contained in The Law of Moses when you truly Love ... the Love that was omitted from the ten commandments ... the Love that has been relegated to words only, taking a back seat among the many sundry Mosaic laws which destroy the Love professed, and thereby fosters its opposite; the means to obey the humane Commandments was taken away ... which then became the carrot on the end of the stick that humanity longs for but can never reach.
* * *
Next
The Art of Integrity
or
The "Un-Selfishness" of Being "Self-ish"
* * *
Next Page: The Art of Integrity
bookmark this page
