in order to wake up from the over controller we have to intentionally
recognize oh that's the over controller in action. In other words we can't wake
up from a part of our persona or ego that we're not aware of and I often talk
about you know that circle of awareness again that Joseph Campbell describes
the line that goes through. Anything below the line is what's out of
consciousness well if we're moving through the day we're always trying to
manage things we're trying to control other people to get them to cooperate or
we're trying to judge and manage our self. If the controller is next and we
don't recognize oh that's the over controller's in action, then we're
identified with it or identify with anything we're not aware of that's below
the line but once we can begin to see it it comes above the line and then we have
choice. So the trick is when you run into the over controller how are you relating
to it and if you judge the over controller you're just bringing more
controlling to your life you're... it's another kind of the over controller
coming around again so the trick is to relate to the over controller not from
the over controller. In other words relate to it from a larger space of compassion
and presence. I'm going to come back to that again because even as you were
listening already thus far I suspect for many of you you were thinking oh god
this is a bad part of me and I've got to work on it you know it's kind of that
sinking feeling of all I'm a controlling person I know that more than most people
here probably you know so if we're going around feeling like I'm a control freak
and it's really ugly and bad or you know this is a pathology or whatever and even
the words I'm using over controller makes it sound like it's bad.
I want to see if we can step out of that because that's another controlling
reaction and get this that it's universal we are designed through
evolution to have an ego that's going to try to control itself and its environment
for its furtherance. Okay that's universal every one of us and the more
fear more wounding we've experienced in a lifetime or genetically or whatever
the more activated that controller is going to be it's not our fault if you
have a well developed over controller it's just the result of past
conditioning and if you can behold, it witness it with kindness, then you can
loosen the identity so let's take a pause here again just invite you to
close your eyes for a moment and sense even thus far how you're detecting okay
there's some conditioning here towards controlling that plays in my life that
actually can cause suffering there's that conditioning to try to manage and
that this is a universal part of my humanity that the people sitting on
either side of me also have this conditioning to control
and right here from the start of this exploration sense your aspiration to
relate to the over controller with kindness with patience with humor with
appreciation it's trying to help you just not doing it in the most
strategically wise way
To relate to the over controller, not from makes it possible to eventually if you
imagine that over controller like Sisyphus rolling the boulder just really
pushing trying hard imagine Sisyphus just deciding to let the boulder go and
just imagine the space that opens up the possibilities of enjoying the view going home
and dipping dipping in a stream and
showering off all that sweat and just relaxing join the life that's here. We
don't have to keep pushing so much that's what's possible when we begin to
witness the over controller without judgment with just kindness