Upkeep. What we are Keeping Up..

If you think about it for a moment, you'll notice that a large portion of our day is spent maintaining something in our experience. Whether its a car, a body image, a home, or something non-physical like a sense of security, or comfort, or self worth, we devote a large portion of our time keeping up a particular experience.

And we need to ask ourselves, when we are in "upkeep" mode, what are we really keeping up? Nothing mentioned above can be said to be at cause of anything, so there has to be something deeper, more subtle that we are trying to maintain. We invariably are lead to the thoughts and beliefs we hold in consciousness as being at cause, so its in the dimension of Mind that we must put our attention and focus when trying to determine why we spend so much of our time in the "upkeep" of these things.

In truth, we are merely keeping up one (or more) of the illusions of phenomenal existence. Neale Donald Walsch, in his book Communion with God, very clearly outlined what those illusions are. You can find them here. Each of these illusions operate in our lives to a certain degree, which is determined by our conscious awareness of their activity. (The more awareness, the less they operate in our lives indiscriminately). 

So be sure to take some time to read over what the illusions are, and how they are operating in your life, and what is at effect because of them. For instance, the first illusion is the Illusion of Need. As it is explained in the linked article, this illusion leads to the dreadful pursuit of happiness. And of course, we don't really know what happiness is (thanks to the following illusions), so we project this need on to all the different things we are told will make us happy. 

We seek happiness in the exterior world, and therefore place our attention on the material things in our life (including the body) in a vain attempt of securing our happiness in them. We buy cars, electronics, games, clothing, makeup, accessories, drugs, etc.. all in the name of fulfilling a need. Of course, these things don't fulfill anything (not permanently) so we are forced to consume more of these things to get back to this illusory state of need-fulfillment. 

So all of this "Stuff" we try to accumulate in our lives are at Effect, while the Upkeep of the illusion of Need, is what is truly at Cause.  On an energetic level, this upkeep is literally exhausting, and can lead to negative emotional, mental, and physical responses. All of this upkeep is adding 'weight' into the sack we carry around, the sack of our identity. And most of us are completely unaware of these illusions being active in our lives, so we spend an entire lifetime dragging around our "Ego Sack", stopping once in awhile to offer maintenance to all of the things we consider reflections of who we are. When in fact, we are trying to sew our shadow back on as it keeps up in this endless cycle of cat and mouse, fulfilling needs that do not truly exist. 

So check out the article "10 illusions of humanity" and spend some time contemplating all the  different ways we are keeping up these illusions. Know that as you place awareness on any area of your life, the light of Consciousness begins to dissolve these illusions, revealing the true power that lies at your center. 

You are not the 'stuff of life'. 
You are before it. 

Aum