Page 90 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

CONCEPTS OF WHAT IS SO

You probably hold concepts not only of yourself but of other people,
processes, and relationships. It is valuable in taming your gremlin to know
the difference between these concepts and the things the concepts represent.

As I mentioned in the preface of this book, “The word is not the thing, nor
the description the described.” Even more simply put, and you needn’t
applaud my originality: “There is no substitute for experience.” Your own
experience.

If your mouth were dry and your throat parched, I could say the word
water to you for eons, and your mouth would stay dry and your throat
parched. I could read you Webster’s definition of water, and still you would
be thirsty. I could even describe to you water’s physical properties, and still

your thirst would remain unquenched. But one small taste of the actual
thing called “water” would aid in relieving your thirst even if you were
unable to spell the word water, much less define it. This same analogy holds
true for every object, process, and relationship, and it has relevance to the
process of taming your gremlin.

As you improve your ability to center yourself and to simply notice, and

as you continue to practice doing so, you will become increasingly
conscious of your gremlin’s use of concepts. Concepts can become hypnotic
convictions that serve as a veil between your essence and the world as it
actually exists. That is why your gremlin uses them. Direct contact with
your own rich experience in the current moment leads to excitement, and
excitement is a prerequisite for experiencing the vibrancy of existence.
Lack of contact will, over time, lead to boredom, and boredom is no more
than a form of deadening yourself, something your gremlin loves for you to

do.