I don't care where you live, who you are, where you've been, but you're looking at the world outside of you, and I'm telling you things look more confusing now than ever. If you look at it from a political structure, there is more confusion. If you look at it from a sexuality structure, there's more confusion. If you look at it from a national structure, there's more confusion. The four tops did a song back in the '60s, "Ball of Confusion." Everything going crazy all at the same time. So today, I thought I'd talk about that, I thought I'd talk about the power of confusion. This week, I was teaching a class on living untethered, and we were about an hour into the hour and a half session, and one of the people in the class asked the question, raised their hand, and said, "Lee, I'm more confused now than I've ever been. I don't understand the thing you said, and I smiled, and I said, 'That's perfect.'" Because confusion is exactly where you should be. If there wasn't confusion, when we're exploring the deepest of spiritual concepts, everyone would be enlightened. The great masters were years upon years upon years upon years to get the clarity, but we live in a society where we think we can get it in an hour. So I thought it would be a well worth time to spend with you, and with myself, talking about the power of confusion. So from a human perspective, confusion is the state where we're unsure or unclear about something. When we're confused, our sense of certainty and security is disrupted, and our assumptions and beliefs about the world are challenged. Think about that. I'm by into the concept that the world is always in balance. But in times of confusion, I wonder, are we that balanced politically? If you think about it, all you're ever presented with are positions from the radical liberals and positions from the radical conservatives. You think that's where everyone is, but the fact of the matter is, very few people are on the edges. They're more in the middle, but we don't see that, and we think we have to take sides, and because we think we have to take sides, we get confused, and we don't like that state. It's not comfortable there, and one of the things I know about us as humans, we want to feel comfortable all the time. And gain from a human perspective, that's not how it's meant to be. It's meant that there's contrast, because contrast stimulates growth. From the spiritual perspective, confusion represents the space between our old way of thinking and our new emerging awareness. It is the moment when the mind cannot yet grasp the fullness of a truth that is about to be revealed. I know that there are great spiritual truths that I've studied. I think I understand, but I've not experienced your grasp yet. And what I realize is that the mind cannot take that quantum leap to get there overnight, but rather it takes time for the mind to grasp it and be willing to step into the confusion. The mind doesn't want to go into the confusion. It wants to stay where it's comfortable, but we've got to take that step into it, and then develop to comfort, then take the next step into it, so that the truth, the greater truth we're seeking, the greater level of expansion can be revealed to us. Michael Singer in The Untethered Soul says that confusion arises when we resist letting go of old mental constructs, and we're in the process of breaking free from the limitations of the ego. He points out that this discomfort is necessary for real spiritual growth. I can remember going to see Tony Robbins that unleashed the power within back in 1995. And Tony was there talking, and I remember it so clearly, he says, "People here will buy a lot of product at the time it was CDs, maybe even cassettes." He says, "90% of the people who buy the material will never take it out of the cellophane wrapper," because it would represent change, and change for most people represents discomfort. And what do we do? We try to avoid it at all times. We try to numb ourselves on the inside. That's why society, as confusing as it is right now, is there trying to awaken us to live differently than what we're currently living? So it's uncomfortable, but rather than dealing with what's in front of us, many of us are trying to escape that, and we do that through various forms of addictive behavior, whether it's drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, could be working out, could be voraciously reading, so that we don't have to deal with what's in front of us. But the only path that really matters, the only way to truly live, is to live with what's ever in front of us now, and then move to the next what's in front of us now. What if, instead of trying to fix or flee from confusion, we embraced it as a gift? We saw it as a signal from the universe that change is required to have a greater, more expansive experience of life, and in doing so, we can be grateful for confusion. We can smile when confusion is happening because we realize we're about to expand. In spirituality, this is sometimes referred to as the dark night of the soul. This is a period in which confusion and despair are deeply felt, it is a time when our usual may ways of making sense of the world no longer matter. I don't know if any of you have had to deal with that type of addiction, or dealing with someone who has that type of addiction. You can't fix that person. They have to get to that point where the confusion is so complete and despair and anxiety and the feelings are so dark that they have no choice but to change. They have to face their fear of growth and expansion. Here's the key thing, only they can do that. In moments of confusion, we're invited to let go of the need to figure it all out. We're being asked to trust, to lean into the divine mystery, and allow it to lead us toward a greater sense of our higher self, our spiritual self, our divine self. I look at it this way in my journey. I don't have a clue how I'm going to do it, but I lean into the next step, and I know that I am guided when I ask the question, "What's my next step?" I'm always given that answer, and I just take it, and guess what happens? I have to lean in again and ask, "What's my next step?" And I lean in and I take it. In Zen Buddhism, there's an idea of beginner's mind, or shoshin, which refers to approaching life with the openness and wonder of a beginning mind rather than the certainty of an expert. I don't know about you, but I like to think of myself as an expert of things, and I realize that that way of living is holding me back. I live in an infinite universe with infinite possibilities. How can I be an expert on the infinite? I believe I'm an expert based on a very limited, finite experience, and because I believe I'm an expert, I don't have the beginner's mind. I'm not looking to ask new questions for expansion. So when people ask me what I know, I only know one thing, I'm aware. Everything else I'm making up, and I'm open to making it up even bigger. When we're confused, we're in that beginner's mind. We haven't yet formed conclusions, we're open to new insights. In this way, confusion clears our mind of all preconceived notions and allows us to receive new information to move forward into our spiritual evolution. When you're confused and you let go of your beliefs, your mind becomes clear because whatever you're dealing with that's new, you're not comparing it to preconceived ideas and expectations that are already in your mind, therefore by not comparing it, you're out of a state of judgment. When you're out of the state of judgment, you're open to receive new ideas, new information. The only way your computer, your mind can work and give you new answers is when you put new information in, so you have to let go of the old and put in new, so a new conclusion to be reached. When we relax into confusion, we create space for the divine insight to enter and open the door to inter-transformation. I'm learning more and more and more every day how relaxation is the key to everything. Relax when you wake up, surrender when you're exercising, relax when you're watching television, relax when you're talking to people, there's no reason to be in stress. Relaxation is a state of balance. If you're not relaxed because your mind is not balanced and that's giving you a signal, I've got work to do to bring balance. So mindfully moving through confusion, why, what's that about? It would be to our advantage to observe what is happening without judgment and then ask. First, what is this confusion? What is this event trying to teach me? What's it trying to tell me to go forward with? Next, what belief or idea am I being asked to let go of? What belief is holding me back from a new experience or seeing things in a grander bigger way? And then finally, how can this lead me to be a greater expression of love? So when you're in that state of confusion, ask yourself, what is mind to learn and what must I let go of to be in the confusion? And then how can this lead me to express greater love? You'll find your answers by simply asking your inner being, your inner self, your true self, meaningful questions. During this transformation, the caterpillar must enter into a state of complete dissolution before it can emerge as a butterfly. Without that period of confusion, the transformation would never happen. You see, conclusion is the cocoon that leads to transformation. If you were not experiencing confusion, you would stay right where you are and you wouldn't transform. And you see, life is always about becoming more. Critical confusion is the cocoon from which you can emerge as the beautiful butterfly. Confusion then is a natural sign of growth. It's a sign that you're stretching beyond your current understanding, opening the door to growth and new perspectives. Confusion challenges you to ask deeper questions leading to greater clarity and insight. You have no choice, just like the caterpillar, you will become a butterfly. Don't fight it, surrender and let yourself unfold one step at a time so that you can come out of the cocoon as the beautiful, unique butterfly of life that you are. [BLANK_AUDIO]
