The Genius Must Die

In order for one to actualize their goals, their calling (Dharma) one must learn to kill the genius within.

Who is the genius? It's that irrational side deep within the recesses of the subconscious that tends to keep one limited in their beliefs of what they can do and the ability to go forth to actualize it. The first and foremost goal of the mind is to survive and the mind has a tendency to hold on to the familiar because it knows that it kept them alive up until now. The things that the mind knows can be things such as detrimental actions and habits. However, the mind also knows that these detrimental actions and habits did not kill the individual and would, therefore, rather hold on to those than letting go of them and plunging forth into the unknown even if it, on a logical level, seems like a better and more beneficial route to take.

An example of this is can be having more money. Statistically, within 3 years of winning the lottery, people tend to lose all their winnings on mindless spendings and gifts. How could a person set themselves on a downward spiral of mindless spending to where they have spent the millions of dollars in, approximately, a thousand days taking them back to where they were before they got the winning numbers? Could it be that living as a millionaire was too much of an unknown to their reality to the point that it created a discomfort on a subconscious level in which they had the winner had the incessant need to get rid of that money to get back to where they used to be because they were so familiar to their experiences of being poor to where it felt safer to be that way?

Another example of this is the sabotage of relationships. I'm sure you know someone in your life who's a chronic saboteur of his/her relationships. Such people tend to have built such a familiarity with abusive relationships to where when they date a significant other who is loving, caring, selfless amongst other find qualities, they would do things to sabotage that relationship on a subconscious level because it's too much of an unknown to them to want to stay in that relationship. That sabotage can come in the form of neglect, cheating or simply running away. Again, that genius at the back of the mind kept feeding excuses to why and how it could go, and should, go wrong. Making reasons for the demise of that relationship, dragging it to the ground because the unfamiliarity of being in a loving relationship have presented itself as a threat to the individual's reality.

As you ponder over the words you've just read, ask yourself which aspects of your life have you held yourself back because the thought moving forward was too much of a leap and an unfamiliarity that the genius saboteur inside you made excuses for yourself from going on that path to keep you where you are? How long has this held you back? Now you know who the Genius is and why he must die.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson from her book:A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles