Ohhhh, assumptions!
Many of us may associate this word with the threat of being an ass if we hold any.
This is because we often miss the punchline of the cosmic joke: the prejudices we formulate and hold of others are simply projections of our own self-concept.
In this third chapter, Goddard discusses the power that these unconscious hidden beliefs about ourselves silently yet powerfully shape our entire earthly experience by being filters for our perception. Your assumptions are the lens you look through and the place you act from. The seeds from which the tree of your life sprouts.
If your beliefs about yourself remain unexamined, your thoughts, actions, and life- which is simply a string of choices that one makes- will unfold not by your deliberate design but rather out of habit. In this way, it’s possible to live the same day over and over again…like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Chances are, those habitual thoughts and ideas of yourself were born and formed at a stage of life that urged you to protect yourself from threats of danger, real or imagined. Inevitably, we encounter experiences that teach us that it hurts to be vulnerable, to be open, to be different, and likewise that it’s safer to wall up, to pretend, to diminish ourselves, to blend in with the crowd, to hide out in the open.
The unconscious assumption becomes “It’s safer to be who I am not.”
Some of us live our entire lives forgetting we’re in survival-mode, thinking thoughts and making decisions based on a false sense of self. The same thoughts lead to the same choices lead to the same day, same month, same year.
Transformation is always lying in wait as a possibility.
But like a fire, it doesn’t initiate itself. It needs a spark to set it off. And, in this case, that spark takes the form of a new thought. A new self-concept.
“…you must make your future dream a present fact. You do this by assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled.”
It’s easy enough to test and see this powerful alchemy in action. Just imagine the behaviour of own who assumes they are unworthy of love vs one who does. The paths of those two lives travel completely different terrain and lead to entirely different outcomes. Two people living in completely different worlds- all because of the difference in the assumptions they hold.
I’ll use an example from my own life and from my own self-conception.
Before joining Substack, I didn’t place a high value on my voice, metaphorically and literally.
“Why does it matter what I think or what I say?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing! And nothing I make is good enough to share!”
I held base assumptions that being hidden and invisible was safer than being seen, and these assumptions of unworthiness guided my choice to play small and keep from expressing myself. This way I was blessedly free from conflict and from judgement, but I was also living disconnected from other kindred souls and feeling deeply unfulfilled.
At the peak of frustrated boredom from the tedium of sameness, I took a risk and leapt off the cliff into the freshness of a new thought:
“Fuck it! Today I am sharing who I am, in all my flawed imperfect glory, and whatever happens happens! It can’t be worse than the feeling of holding back while wanting to give.”
I posted my first post in October of 2023 and the rest, my friends, is history.
Over this year or so of sharing my art, my thoughts, and myself, my life has changed in immeasurable nourishing ways. I’ve made incredible connections with many beautiful humans. I’ve learned that my art and my offerings do make a difference for others and add value to the world. Most importantly, I’ve changed my self concept from one adopted as a child who found safety in the shadows to one of a Queen who knows the power of her light and chooses to shine who she really is.
Though sometimes I can still hear the faint siren of an old habit testing my resolve, I am now perceiving, choosing, being, and creating from the assumption that:
My gifts are welcomed and wanted by the world.
The thoughts I now think and the actions I now take are inspired by this knowing and are creating my life anew, leading me to experience an entirely different external world from the one I once inhabited.
My future dream of contributing beauty and value to others is now my present reality.
Imagine that!
“…a change of consciousness is necessary before you can change your outer world.”
May you find value in this post and in the words of Neville. I sure do. For I believe that inside this wisdom lies the cure for what ails us; it is truly the offering of an island in a changing ocean; an out-stretched hand for those searching for something real to hold onto.
With love,
Jacqueline
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