The Philosophy of Pathwalking
I would like to explore with you the details of my personal life philosophy – Pathwalking.
When I first began to write about this idea, it was just meant to be a weekly post to my blog. I needed a topic, so I decided to begin to write about how I seek to make my own way in life.
The name Pathwalking came about for two reasons. First, because of the idea that life is an ongoing journey, so you blaze a trail (or else create or follow a path/paths) along the way. Second, to reference the notion of a walkabout.
The walkabout is a rite of passage of the indigenous people of Australia. A young man makes a traditional spiritual transition to adulthood by living in the wilderness for as long as half a year. While the term is sometimes used in a derogatory way, I reference it for the spiritual journey of discovery that it represents.
Pathwalking boils down to making choices and decisions to live life on your own terms. You take paths to goals you want to achieve, but along the way learn about many things, both enormous and minuscule.
Consciousness creates reality
Over time, the primary focus of Pathwalking became conscious reality creation.
What does that mean? Let me break it down for you:
What is consciousness? It is your awareness, your senses, your thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness is perception, recognition, knowledge. This is arguably what makes each of us who we are.
What is reality? Without getting into a really deep philosophical debate on the subject, this is your perception of your life. When it comes to reality this is the tangibles such as people and things you encounter, as well as intangibles like oxygen, subatomic particles, Universal energy, and the like. Reality is how you perceive existence, substance, actuality. This is the world you live in, at least based on your perceptions of it.
What does it mean to create? This is building, constructing, making a thing become real. Whether it is a mathematical theory, a car, or a new philosophy, you are a creator. Creation includes conceiving, designing, inventing, producing. This is the process you use to build things that are both material and immaterial on many different levels.
This means that perception and experience designs and produces existence, that which you and I call reality. This is how mankind landed on the moon; communicates across the world instantly; has these amazing devices that connect us across the globe; and you have the ability to learn, to grow, and to build new and better as time goes on.
This is why consciousness creates reality. Because you and I are endowed with the empowerment to forge the world we desire for ourselves. You are only powerless when you allow yourself to be disempowered. That, like all other aspects of life in general, is a matter of decisions and choices.
I know it can be done
As Albert Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” If that is true – and I believe it is – then you have the power to create your own reality with your consciousness.
I have made this work for me. When I was hit by a car crossing a street nearly twenty years ago, I got hurt pretty badly. A severely broken leg and nerve damaged arm would take time to heal. The doctors, who were amazing by the way, thought it would take years for me to recover, and I would probably never get back to how I had been before.
It was expected that I would walk with a limp the rest of my life, after anywhere from 1 to 3 years of healing and therapy. Restoring the total use of my arm might never occur.
I didn’t accept that as my reality. I used my consciousness to see no other possibility but total and complete recovery. Yes, my doctors were incredible, as were most of my therapists, but none of them could explain the speed nor totality of my recovery. Now, if I don’t tell you the story or show you my really impressive scar collection, you’d have no idea this happened to me.
This is the most dramatic example I have of using my consciousness to create my reality. But this still does not explain HOW this works.
This is both incredibly simple, and at the same time extremely complex.
Mindfulness
The most important tool for consciously creating reality is mindfulness. This is not about being aware of the world without, this is about being aware of your inner self – the world within.
Face it, there is nobody inside of your head but you. As such, you are the only one who can think and feel for yourself. No matter what you are taught, or learn on your own, or otherwise are influenced by, what goes on in there is up to you.
One of the downsides of modern society is how much it draws attention away from the now, and being mindful. All the distractions muddy your mindset and allow your subconscious to be in control.
How does that work? Mindfulness is being aware of what you are thinking and what and how you are feeling, right now. Awareness in the moment of what is happening inside your head. When you recognize and utilize that awareness, you gain influence and even control over your thoughts and feelings.
When you are not being conscious of what you are thinking and feeling, you don’t stop thinking and feeling. Instead, your subconscious does that for you.
Or rather, your subconscious thoughts and feelings will be influenced by outside stimuli, rather than your self.
Don’t believe me? I know if I start reading about what the Trump administration is doing today it’s going to make me feel negative. If I am not mindful of this, then all I have to do is read a few things, and before I know it I will find myself feeling hopeless, angry, and other negative emotions. You may not feel the same, but chances are there is something that gets you thinking and feeling negatively with no conscious act on your part.
Pathwalking is making choices and decisions
I believe that there are three ways to live life. They are:
- Let life live you
- Curl up in a ball and await death
- Live life to the fullest
Pathwalking is about making choices and decisions that allow you to live life to the fullest. To be fair, it’s almost impossible to do this all day every day, but all attempts made to employ mindfulness for conscious reality creation are a step in that direction. Each step takes you down a path, and Pathwalking is about choosing the path you desire to tread.
Every day you have choices and decisions to make. When you practice being conscious of them you can decide for yourself what is best for you. Pathwalking is all about empowering yourself to best utilize this.
The idea of Pathwalking has room to grow. I have written about numerous ideas for how to practice mindfulness and conscious reality creation along your paths. It is not a quick fix, and it doesn’t dictate any One True Way to conscious reality creation. But it is a practice anyone can employ, and as part of an abundance mentality can do no harm.
I’ve made it work for me. In the seven and a half years I have been writing about and practicing Pathwalking, I have had incredible experiences and made active, conscious changes to my life for the better.
I won’t lie, there are still bad days and struggles. But overall in my work to live life to the fullest, I have an abundance of people and things to be endlessly grateful for.
Consciousness creates reality through the practice of mindfulness. Even if you do not completely buy into the idea of using this for Pathwalking, can you see how much it could empower you?
This is the three-hundred ninety-second entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas for, and my personal experiences with, walking along the path of life to consciously create reality. I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way and empower myself and my readers with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
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