The Three Houses of Awareness
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by James Rick
There are three modes of awareness that are represented here as houses. Where do you spend the most time and why?
#1: THE HABIT HOUSE
The habit house is based on programmed or habitual thoughts. Living in the habit house is very much like living on auto-pilot. The lights are on but nobody is home. All babies are born into the habit house and some never get out. Those who live in the habit house live for the survival of the body and the self image. They are conditioned by eons of evolution (instinctive) and eventually decades of social programming.
Those who live in the habit house live with unquestioned beliefs and concerns that stem from fear and insecurity. By sheer luck some born into the habit house are exposed to the ‘right’ environment and thrive on positive programming, but for many the habit house is not a very kind place to live.
What might it feel like to live in the habit house?
For people in the habit house, life happens to them. They wake up and immediately think about what they need to do for the day. They rush around all day accomplishing little of what they wanted, wondering where the time went. They react with anger or sadness if someone says or does something offensive to them. They seek revenge. They become attached to the things that bring them pleasure and so they experience envy or jealousy. They care very much what people think about them (above all else). They believe they are their identity. They believe completely in whatever faith they were born into. They are prejudiced against other faiths or people different from them. They often visit their memories with guilt or regret. Even though they suffer constantly, they are afraid to die and leave the habit house because it’s so familiar.
The habit house can be a kinder place to live if they discover programming that is empowering. For example inspiring books or people. In a positive environment the habit house is a much more pleasurable place to be.
#2: THE FUTURE HOUSE
The future house is based on goal oriented thoughts.
People that live in the future house are more proactive than those who live in the habit house. They direct the course of their own lives. They plan how they want to use future time. They visualize the outcomes they desire and very often they live the experiences they intentionally created. For this reason the future house can be a very appealing place to live. But because we are talking about awareness – the future house requires much more focus than the habit house and so even though the future house might offer more rewards than the habit house – many people check in to the future house for a little while (a few seconds or minutes) but soon find themselves living back in the habit house. For most people, the future house is more like a temporary hotel stay and the habit house is their primary residence.
Not all stays at the future house are pleasant.
If a person lives in fear –they will fantasize about horrific accidents or failures. They will horde resources and power. They will be like the fool that dies a thousand deaths versus the brave that dies only one.
The most important point about living in the future house and have a positive experience while living there is focus. In the simple advice given by Napoleon Hill: keep your mind focused upon that which you want and off of that which you don’t want; this is the basic tenet of the law of attraction.
How do you move your awareness into the future house? Plan, visualize and affirm the kind of future you wish to create. Set clear goals and make them real by working towards them every day. Awareness has a tendency to bounce out of the future house and go back into the habit house – every time it does, move it back into the future house or the third house coming up.
#3: THE NOW HOUSE
The now house is the present. When all thoughts are suspended there is no room for habitual thoughts or future thinking. Past and future are only thoughts. They are only as real as the memories or thoughts that create them and memories can only be recalled from right now and the future can only be created from right now.
Imagine yourself standing in front a projector with three buttons on it. One button says PAST, another button says PRESENT and another button says FUTURE. You can only play one movie on the screen at a time. The screen represents your awareness. If you press the PAST button you find yourself in the habit house reliving old memories, black and white films etc. The movies you play don’t just appear on a screen they are intense virtual realities. But you can shut them off the moment you press another button in the NOW house. So you press the FUTURE button and you suddenly find yourself living out a future experience. It’s not just displayed on the screen – you are immersed in the environment of a future scenario. Now you press the PRESENT button and there is no more movies being played. You have suspended all movies. You observe with clarity whatever is on the screen before you right now, right this second. It’s very difficult to have such clarity when the PAST button is on or the FUTURE button is on. In fact it’s impossible to remember you’re in the NOW house, until push the PRESENT button. That’s because the PAST movies and the FUTURE movies seem so real and your awareness screen is easily filled up by them.
But when you shut them off your awareness is screen completely clear and aware of only what’s happening right now in the now house.
Examples of practices that turn off the PAST and FUTURE buttons: Zen, Tao, Buddhism, Mindfulness and partnering with your breath. These practices awaken you to the now. And even though they might seem a bit more boring than the past or future movies – they set the stage for the experience of aliveness. There is a freedom in aliveness that cannot be felt in the past or the future. Because of this, some have claimed that this is the only house you should ever live in. I feel each house offers us a benefit.
THE BENEFITS OF EACH HOUSE
Benefits of the Habit House
The habit house is useful for entering a ‘flow’ state in a conversation or in a performance. To perform a coordinated act like skiing, surfing or even running requires letting habit take over the nervous system and focusing on the outcome. To have a fluid speech or conversation requires full engagement with the person you are communicating with – it’s very difficult to split your awareness between your breath and the conversation. Try it! It’s perfectly natural for the subconscious brain to take over repetitive behaviors as a way to preserve conscious processing power. So to fight this feature of evolution is silly. But remember habits are most beneficial when you are aware and consciously cultivating them.
Benefits of the Future House
The future house is useful for being pro-active. Time is your life’s most valuable resource, why wouldn’t you plan how you’re going to use it? The use of a resource without a plan will inevitably lead to waste. So the future house is useful for life efficiency. But how is efficiency measured? Actions are either leading you away from or closer to goals, if an action is bringing you closer to a goal that is said to be an efficient action. Efficiency is therefore measured in terms of goal attainment. Without goals how can you measure efficiency? So to be efficient with your time you must have a clear goal. The future house is where you setup and focus on goals.
Benefits of the Now House
The now house is useful for observing with clarity. It can interrupt patterns of the habit house that are not serving you. It can pull you away from the future house so you’re not always striving to be there when you’re here. The now house allows you to come alive, to awaken and observe your multi-dimensional self with greater distinction. It allows you to integrate the conflicting forces inside yourself so you can live with much greater integrity. Integrity enables you to make and keep commitments, which builds will power. Will power gives you control over your physical and mental self in any way that you choose.
Because each house offers a benefit, it’s when you arrive at the point of choosing which house is appropriate for your experience that you live the most empowered, free life. Rather than being a victim of habit, or a never satisfied goal achiever or a passive observer of reality you can cycle between the houses of awareness. Reliving an enjoyable memory, appreciating life in moment and planning an even better life in the next. When you operate with awareness, you are free to decide the life you want to experience.
One Response to “The Three Houses of Awareness”
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September 14th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Thank you James for the thoughts about the 3 houses, you make a great deal of sense. Here I am now. I know where I came from, I know how to create a better life in future and I know how to live in the moment. I am happy most of the time, even when I experience pain there is a part of me that is joyful and grateful. People like you make the world a better place.
Lila.