Authentic Transformation

If we are lucky, at some point in our lives we realise that there is more to life than the story we have been told.  A few are even luckier and avoid that story.

The Story is this:  Work hard, do what is expected of you and you will be safe.  

Safe from what varies depending on culture.  In our culture the big one is social approbation, but it might also include financial security, the wrath of God or political authorities.

The Story is told by those who are bound by it.  The Story paints those who are not bound by it negatively as criminals, heretics or worse - loosers.

We are en-cultured by The Story.  When The Story is everything that we see, it is hard to see that anything else might exist.  It is hard to see that anything else could exist.

We look in disbelief at others we perceive to be bound by a lesser story than our own (a totalitarian regime, a cult or controlling religious practices, for example).  We marvel at how they fail to see beyond their story, but we don’t even notice our own bondage.

Our story limits our explorations in precisely the same way as older tales of the edge of a flat earth, or “there be dragons”.  Well meaning tales, designed to protect us, that end up controlling us, limiting us.

We apply The Story in our lives, our relationships, businesses, government and every aspect of our culture.  The consequences are that most decisions made within that culture are based on fear (of social approbation, failure, the wrath of God etc.)

There are three types of fear - useful, limiting and someone else’s.  The type of fear that The Story induces is someone else’s.

Decisions taken based on someone else’s fear are sub-optimal - they are compromises.  They compromise our lives: the choice of study, the choice of job, the choice of home location, the choice of parter.  

Compromising these critical life decisions leads to tension.  Tension leads to stress.  Stress ultimately leads to desperation or submission.  Desperation and submission lead to the tragedy unfulfilled lives.

If we want fulfilled lives we have to move beyond The Story.  We have to move from The Story of our culture to our personal story.  As you read these words that may seem like a trivial distinction, but from the perspective of The Story it is the ultimate heresy.

What lies on the other side?

Clarity of purpose, inner peace, decisions based in love and fulfilment.

What is the path to the other side?

Learning to know and trust yourself and your own story.  Learning to distinguish your story from the The Story.  Learning your purpose, your values, your motivations and abilities.  Then the most important step - living it, without fear or compromise in every situation.

When we apply this to our work it becomes a fulfilling passion that contributes to us personally, our community and to all life.  A business based on this approach is authentic and the process to get there, I call Authentic Transformation - whether it is for an individual or an organisation. 

For those who live on the other side, it is hard to imagine how those still bound by The Story fail to see their bondage. But if The Story is all that you know, it is hard to see beyond it.