The Big Secret is, secrets are dumb and we are better than that.
People who want to have secrets are people who want power over others. Anybody who says to you, “Yes, I can teach you the secrets of blah blah blah universal blah blah blah, sign up for my $6000 course,” might be taking you for a ride.
I am 100% for teachers getting paid what they are worth, absolutely. And there are some energies that have to be mediated. There is a thing called “Caught Teaching,” which is what you get from being around genuine teachers and masters of a craft, who show you by example how to be, or who simply exude an aura that tunes you up to a higher vibration. Those folks are worth their weight in gold – but they will never be the ones trying to convince you that only they know the secrets of the universe. They will be the ones who say, “This is a journey, and I have much to learn.” I have probably told the Pablo Casals story before, but it bears repeating here: Pablo Casals, the greatest cellist of his time, was being interviewed when he was in his 80s, and he mentioned his practice schedule and routine. The interviewer was shocked. “You still practice?” he marveled. “Yes, of course, every day,” the master replied. “Why?” asked the bewildered journalist. “Because I think I am making progress.” Truth!
There are people who have abilities that seem “super human” or “super natural” to those of us on the outside. We think they must somehow be different or special, or they must have discovered “the secret” of their power in some arcane fashion. We’re momentarily sad that we can never be as awesome as them – until we realize that we don’t want the responsibility. But how disillusioned are we when we find out what the real secret is?
I’ll tell you what the real secret is.
It’s hard fucking work, a commitment to practicing your craft every day, relentless study, relentless practice of focus, concentration, meditation, visualization … reading until your eyes bleed and then writing to integrate all you have learned. Hours spent on a daily basis working your ass off to learn how to do this thing you want to do. Just like anything else, really.
If you want to master the piano, be in a ballet company, sing opera, play tennis competitively, be a professional gambler, pick locks, disarm bombs, be a military sharp shooter, write best-selling novels, or just play some mean-ass guitar in a rock’n’roll band, you have to practice your ass off. Watch, learn, read, practice some more, watch, take some master classes, analyze, study, practice more. Then go practice more. Literally, thousands and thousands of hours. It can take decades to get good at this stuff, whatever it is.
Yes, decades. What? Is that a bad thing? Listen, instant gratification is all well and good in a retail environment, but there are just no shortcuts for learning to play the violin well enough for people not to throw tomatoes at you. You can’t become a master of anything overnight.
The other thing is, you have to keep it up. Pablo Casals was absolutely on target when he said he practiced every day. Andres Segovia, the great Spanish classical guitarist, was also a daily practice devotee. He once said, “If I don’t practice for a day, I notice. If I don’t practice for two days, my peers notice. If I don’t practice for a week, my audience notices.” That’s neuroplasticity in action – use it or lose it. It takes three weeks to start losing muscle tone if you stop working out. Use it or lose it. How long does it take to completely forget how to play a musical instrument? A few months? A couple years? If you played clarinet in high school and haven’t touched one since graduation, can you still play? Use it or lose it.
The Secret is to work your ass off to gain the skills you need, and then work your ass off to maintain them.
There are no special powers, no mystic keys which give you semi-divine abilities. There is hard work and dedication.
Which means, literally anyone who has the gumption can learn to do this stuff and do it well. It also means there is no short cut, no instant upgrade, no way to just level-up. You can’t buy it, you can’t beg it, you can’t steal it. But if you decide you want more magic in your life, you can have it at will, and that’s kind of awesome.
So why aren’t more people studying this stuff and becoming more powerful? Because most people don’t do that. They don’t have the patience, the desire, the need, or the interest. It takes a unique person to throw themselves into an esoteric subject and dedicate their lives to doing something most people think isn’t even real. The entire reason that somebody called a Shaman became necessary for the survival of the clan or tribe was because nobody else wanted to do that stuff. Because it isn’t pleasant; sometimes it’s painful, awful, hard, exhausting, dull, repetitive, and dirty work. But somebody has to mediate the energies coming in from land and sky. Somebody has to know how to find solutions to major problems, heal the sick, treat the wounded, birth the babies, disburse the dead. Somebody has to know how to line the rocks up with the right stars so the stone circle amplifies instead of diminishes. And most people just can’t be buggered at all with that stuff – and that has been true for millennia.
It’s totally your choice, which is beautiful. The best part is, if you simply sit and listen to the world around you, you will get an upgrade. Feel the breeze, watch the leaves flutter and the birds flutter, too. Don’t be a passive observer, be a benign participant. Know that you are a part of this ecosystem, that you belong here and you are interdependent with everything else. Listen for the whisper of the beloved spirits of the land, the sweet voice of Earth Mother singing to you.
The Biggest Secret is … there are no secrets.