Quote from The Field Center: The “Art of Betrayal”

“I love the paradoxical nature of Field training. It seems to me that its recognition and incorporation of paradox give it a maturity I have yet to find in other models that offer to instruct in how to create our lives consciously. Those who have taken our Course will recognize the central and recurring role of paradox, evident in Field training statements such as, “Everything happens backwards,” “You can have whatever you want as long as you already have it,” “The reaction comes first,” and others. Paradox isn’t easy for the mind to grasp; in fact, it doesn’t much care for it at all. Yet, there is an honesty in it, a refusal to settle for oversimplification and formula, and this leaves me feeling proud of Field training the way one might feel proud of a daughter or son who embodies a deep and abiding integrity. We don’t teach “Visualize this and affirm it” and all that. We point out that we can create whatever we’re willing to live up to, that we have to do more than see the fulfillment we want; we have to be it. And this leads to betrayal, as an art. The art of betrayal is a twin to the art of trust. Both begin with an understanding that one already is engaged in them. In that regard, we have no choice. We’re already trusting and already betraying something; it’s just a question of what. So, when someone emails or calls, and the complaint is that the person is afraid to trust, usually I point out that he or she is trusting the fear. This works wonders. Moving from not-trusting to trusting is huge, an impossible leap across a chasm of contradiction. Moving from trusting something you don’t want to trust (e.g., fear) to something you do (e.g., that things work out), on the other hand, is only a slight midcourse correction, a matter of a few degrees. Suddenly, the student has awakened from the reality-dream “I am not trusting” to one in which the desired condition of trust is already being fulfilled, even if less than skillfully (“I am trusting, but trusting fear.”) The burden of proof has shifted: “Since I’m already trusting, why not trust something better than fear?” The question is, of course, rhetorical. We can be conscious in our betrayals. This can fall hard on the ear; we’re so used to betray meaning “to deceive or double-cross.” It helps to look at the etymology. Betray comes from the Latin for “hand over or deliver up to,” in the sense, most curiously, of “entrust,” which explains why the same root occurs in the word tradition—something handed over or entrusted to future generations. Paradoxically, to betray is to entrust to. While standard dictionaries provide several meanings for betray, all but one involve some breach of confidence. The one, more innocent meaning is “to reveal,” as in, “Her sudden smile betrayed her true feelings.” This turns out to be useful. Slip it into contexts where the meaning is assumed to be pejorative, and something interesting is betrayed (revealed). For example, in Christianity, there is the idea that “Judas betrayed Jesus.” So, Judas revealed Jesus, pointed him out, handed him over—not in the sense of double-crossing him—but in the sense of acknowledging him. Metaphysically, Jesus represents identity (I AM) and “salvation” (fulfillment). Judas, then, would represent desire. What we desire betrays who we are. It brings it to light. It also betrays the next better version of us, the one we could be, in fulfillment of the desire. In these terms, the “Jesus and Judas” of consciousness “save” us. They deliver us from lack into greater life. All through artful betrayal.
To betray artfully means to take seriously those things that reveal our identifications, and make better choices. It means to entrust the self only to those things that suit us—and most importantly, in practice, to remain true to the better betrayal we’ve chosen.”

I’m personally working on several unrealistic dreams at the moment – and have every expecting that they will work out grandly.

laura
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