Thought Control and The Ruby Slippers
The nexus of power lies in the moment we decide to let go of our limiting beliefs.
Think of Dorthy in The Wizard of Oz. The story begins with a natural disaster that lands Dorthy far from home in a land where she doesn’t know how things work. In order to get home again, she has to overcome a great many obstacles, endure set backs and suffering, but she is highly motivated, willing to persevere and she has help along the way. In the end, Oz is a mirage, the wizard is a fraud and she finds out from a wise woman that she has always had everything she needed to achieve her goals. With the gift of the Ruby Slippers she focuses her thoughts and believes herself home. Why then, did she have to follow The Yellow Brick Road at all?
The movie, The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939, reflects and supports some core beliefs of the North American middle class mindset. Perhaps, The Yellow Brick Road as the way to The Emerald City, is the path to success and the place where all your dreams come true. Except it doesn’t always work that way. For many people, myself included, the life that is dreamed of, remains, Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
Why does The Yellow Brick Road only work for some people?
Because we create what we believe to be possible, not what we wish would happen. Also, nothing great is ever achieved without effort. I am not suggesting that poor and working class people don’t work hard, because we do. I am proposing that success and fulfillment depend on what effort is applied and in what direction. If all it took to become successful and rich was hard work and never giving up, poor people would cease to exist.
My belief system is grounded in my parents’ beliefs and their roots of grinding poverty and endless labour. “You will work hard for most of your life, doing what you don’t want to do”, My father said, “Get used to it.” or “Dreams are for those whose feet don’t hurt at the end of the day.”
Following The Yellow Brick Road wasn’t going to work for me, because I wasn’t in possession of the necessary supporting mythology: I didn’t believe it would work. I didn’t believe I was worthy of support and happy endings. I understood from an early age, that I would need to acquire all the necessary life skills to survive on my own. I went out into the world as a young adult believing that I was going to encounter obstacles at every turn and that for me, life would never be easy. Guess what happened?
For the next ten years, I lived my life according to my own values, and encountered the obstacles and endured the hardships that I expected to find. I loved adventure and so I travelled, hitchhiking around and being a free spirit. In my twenties, I could endure sleeping rough and eating whatever I could find, but as a lifestyle it was not sustainable. Although I viewed myself as a stealth citizen who wanted to live outside the conformist 9 to 5; being cold, hungry and vulnerable, took a toll on my health. I learned to compromise, working part time jobs that I didn’t much care about in order to access the basics: shelter, warmth, food.
My transition from feral to domestic was a slow evolution. I eventually allowed myself to become connected to other people in my community, formed friendships, completed a trade certification in carpentry and graduated from art school. As an artist, I lived the next 30 years below the poverty line. I was committed to struggle, addicted to stress and resistant to change.
What would it take for me to give up my resistance, give in to possibilities and become open to change? Without Ruby Slippers, my road to self acceptance has taken more than 40 years.
I woke up this morning and realized that I, like Dorthy, was in possession of everything I needed to live my best life. I am living the life that I dreamed of when I was 17 and first left home. I live in a small cottage, in the trees by a river. I am self employed, work from home, and enjoy what I do. I have family, extended family, friends and community.
My Yellow Brick Road was more of steep goat track clinging to a cliff side flanked by a terrifying abyss. That path was life, giving me what I asked for, what I thought was real and true and necessary based on my experience. There are easier paths and different coloured roads available. I know that now. The years that I spent stumbling around looking for alternatives were not wasted. That was just what it took for me to come to understand that wishing is not believing, and letting go is the key to coming home.
Et tu Toto?
Cheers,
Marika Jemma February 27, 2020
