How labelling and judgement blocks peace.
“When you are totally, continually, immersed in a mental state of thinking, you create a conceptual reality that separates you from the inherent aliveness that is all around you. The source of separation is the involuntary continuous labelling of everything.” Eckhart Tolle
Imagine being immersed in this idyllic little slice of wilderness. As you walk by the pond, what are you thinking? Are you silently naming what you see? “…lovely pond… *checks for fish*…lily pads…nice reflection on the water… lots of clouds…look at all the different trees…so green!…etc., etc.” Whether conscious, or unconscious, your constant stream of thinking creates separation between you and the earth upon which you walk.
Instead, can you just be there? Breathe the air. Feel the wind on your face and sense the ground beneath your feet.
When you stop automatically labelling and/or judging, you ease naturally into a state of ‘being.’ Separateness falls away as you return to a state of non-judgement where you and your inner child feel safe. And, what does a child do when they feel safe? They play. They take off their shoes to dip their toes in the water, or get down on their tummies to search for frogs. Maybe they pluck a pine needle to smell the scent, listen to the birds chattering in the branches above, or cartwheel across the grassy field on the other side of the pond. They immerse themselves in their senses, enraptured by wonder and awe, no longer a separate observer but aligned with the natural world through a near-palpable energy of wholeness. Eckhart calls this energy ‘aliveness’, while poets and writers refer to it as the ‘magic of childhood.’
As adults, we forget how to ‘be’ and lose this sense of aliveness. Childhood magic seems all but gone - a bit of fairy dust, blown away by decades of struggle, scattered over fields of responsibility and buried under layers of loss. Even if you feel completely separate from your inner child, somehow, the energy remains. Cartwheels may truly be a thing of the past, but childlike wonder can still be glimpsed through the human senses: A tightness in the chest at the sight of a rainbow, an explosion of taste when biting into a crisp fall apple, the bliss of being safely at home during a rainstorm, wrapped in a cozy blanket, while a purring cat makes biscuits on your lap. Senses are the link to the energy of aliveness, the pathway to your inner child, and a gateway to feelings of reverence, gratitude, belonging, and joy. But, no matter how hard you work to build a bridge to your inner child, they will not come forward until they feel safe.
The best way to create a safe space for your inner child is to notice how you have been talking to yourself. Most of us would never speak to a three-year-old child the way we speak to ourselves all the time. I cringe as I remember the brutality of my own self-judgement and labelling: “you’re not good enough, you’re just a foolish old woman, you don’t matter, no one will even notice if you die.” My inner critic had created a state of mind that was threatening my life and forcing my inner child into hiding. Having no one to guide me, I acted from pure instinct and self-preservation. To cut a long story short, I assumed that my inner critic and my ego were one and the same and named him, Negative Ned. In no uncertain terms, I told Negative Ned to back off, muscled through a forgiveness exercise, and dis-identified from that beast of an ego.
As soon as you detach from the ego, the impulse toward involuntary continuous thinking stops, and the instinct to label, judge, and blame evaporates into mist. Quite literally an ‘out with the old, in with the new’ situation, the former egoic blockage gives way to wholeness and peace. In choosing to identify with your heart space, Source Energy ignites and expands, and you remember your soul. The shift from negative to positive has triggered an energetic reunion of all aspects of Self, including your inner child. With a sigh of relief, you melt into safety and belonging, enveloped by joy, reverence, empathy, and gratitude. You are filled with a remarkable ‘knowing’ - profound clarity and understanding of life’s purpose and our overall reason for being. As you reconnect with the energy of childhood magic and ‘aliveness,’ you may even be able to see the grand paradox of it all, which is why people like Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama find so many things to be funny. There is no denying that living in this human world can be unspeakably difficult…brutal…heartbreaking…but every challenge serves as a lesson towards awakening and unity consciousness.
The idea that something or someone can be judged as better or worse, has been the cause of unfathomable human suffering for centuries. It is an ongoing source of conflict among people of all races, religions, and cultures, and between people of different ages, body types, genders, levels of intelligence, geographical locations, abilities, etc. In an egoic society, we label people as “others” instead of celebrating our differences and seeing each other as souls emanating from the same source. Despite the beauty and diversity of humanity, the underlying and unifying message of Love has been lost to the egoic need for power and control. Personally, I know the dangers of self-judgement and judgement of others - it blocks empathy, absolutely and completely. I also know that living without empathy is like living without Love, and, since Love is the key to peace, then judgement must stop.
For this to happen, we need to learn the biggest lesson - to shift from mind identity to heart identity. For too long, we have been conditioned to believe that the human mind is ‘king’ and that the heart is sentimental and weak. The mind is a useful and powerful tool, but centuries of striving for more knowledge and information (labelling and judgement) has not eased human suffering. Wisdom and inspiration will. The ultimate irony is that the heart is, and always has been, home not only to the most powerful energy that exists, but also to vast stores of ancient wisdom. And - the heart is the home of the inner child.
“There is a wisdom in children, a kind of knowing...that we, as adults, do not have.”
Do not underestimate the importance of reconnecting with your inner child, for that is where the love is. When Divine Love works in tandem with an awakened mind, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Imagine a world where we are all operating from a place of connection and aliveness, in alignment with the Universe, with each other, and within ourselves. Operating from a place of wisdom, inspiration, reverence, gratitude, wonder, and awe…and perhaps even a little childhood magic. “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Indeed.
D 🩵
