addiction of emotion we’ve memorized, or when we tell the truth about who
we really are, doing that takes some real energy. Just as it takes energy to
separate two atoms of oxygen that are bonded together, it takes energy to
break the bonds with the people in our lives.
So the individuals in this person’s life who have shared the same
emotional bonds with her rally together and say, “She hasn’t been herself
lately. Maybe she’s lost her mind. Let’s get her to a doctor!”
Now remember that they have been people she shared the same
experiences with; hence, they shared the same emotions. But now she’s
breaking the energetic bonds with everyone and everything—and even
every place—familiar. This is a threatening moment for everyone who has
been playing the same game with her for years. She’s getting off the train.
So they bring her to the doctor, who gives her Prozac or some other drug,
and in a short time, the person’s former personality returns. And there she
is, projecting her old image to the world, right back to shaking hands on
others’ emotional agreements. Once more she’s numb and smiling—
anything to take the feeling away. The lesson goes unlearned.
Yes, the person wasn’t being herself—not the “top-hand” self that
everyone had grown accustomed to. Instead, briefly, she was the “bottom-
hand” self—the one with the past and the pain. And who can blame those
loved ones who insisted on the return to her former numbed self that “went
along to get along”? That new self emerged as unpredictable, even radical.
Who wants to be around that person? Who wants to be around the truth?
What Really Matters in the End
If you need the environment in order to remember who you are as a
somebody, what happens when you die and the environment rolls up and
disappears? Do you know what goes with it? The somebody, the identity,
the image, the personality (top hand) that has identified with all of the
known and predictable elements in life, who was addicted to the
environment. You could have been the most successful, popular, or
beautiful person, and you could have had all the wealth you ever needed ...
but when your life ends and your external reality is taken away, everything
outside of you can no longer define you. It all goes.