A Thought Experiment

 

         Most people I know, including me, carry old stories of unworthiness – powerful works of fiction that cause much suffering.

 

         Messages of criticism, inevitable in the socialization process, crystalize into a sense of unworthiness that goes in and out of the foreground of our experience – and almost always lurks somewhere in the background, ready to pounce.

 

         We spend so much of our lives trying to resolve the question of worth.  We bargain: if we can only evolve, if we can only overcome our flaws, if we can only be good enough – maybe that painful question will go away.

 

         In my experience, self-improvement as a strategy to defeat an unworthiness story seldom works.  The very unworthiness we hope to defeat is embedded in the strategy.  These stories are stubborn – reminiscent of the hanging judge who has no interest in changing his pre-formed conclusions. 

 

         So, here’s a thought experiment. 

 

         What if the worthiness question is absurd and irrelevant?  What if it’s the wrong question?  What if that question has already been answered – definitively?  What if we are beautiful beings, unique expressions of the divine, worthy of love and respect – born beautiful, beautiful now, forever beautiful.

 

         The relevant question is not: Am I worthy?  The relevant question is:  What does my heart/soul deeply desire and, in light of that desire, what do I want to do right now with this precious moment?

 

         In this experiment, there is nothing to prove, no image to manage, no hoops to hop through.  We are trustworthy and free – free to unfold as we truly are.

 

         And what if, as we operate this way, we make it so?