Visionary Mind Shifts^{TM
(previously Power To Stand: A Course In Greatness)
Written by Michael Skye for the Vision Force Academy}

Warning:  Each Visionary Mind Shift may be easy enough to grasp at a glance, yet each is a puzzle piece in a larger puzzle called the Vision Force Matrix.  The more you integrate this shift with the other shifts, the more the matrix will begin to emerge.  Your understanding of the distinctions and the matrix itself will evolve as you move through the course.  To speed that evolution, do your best to view each word and distinction as something new, a mystery, rather than by relating it to what you already know.

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Visionary Distinction:

Trained Goodness  |  Natural Greatness

part 1

A provocative inquiry into human consciousness (and "conscience")

Preface:

Please consider that your life, your spirit, is at stake in this session.  But not just yours, your children's.  The concepts herein dive deeply (yet simply) into some of our biggest challenges as human beings: how to live lives of greatness, and how to raise great children.  How seriously you approach this session could profoundly impact your life and the lives of your children... and the world.  How will you face this session?

Introduction:

The person of greatness, who will act powerfully from his own highest inner guidance, is at once a danger to the powers that be... and exactly who he needs to be for himself, his family, and the world around him.  The person of greatness holds the power to transform the world around her.

The person of goodness, on the other hand, will follow and obey the powers that be rather than listen to and act from his own highest inner guidance, and is thus a danger to us all.  She does not hold the power to transform the world around her, and often makes it worse, all the while trying to maintain the illusion of her self-righteousness.

What separates the person of goodness from the person of greatness?  

In a word, we could say "Conscience."  But that word is perhaps too common or simplistic.  Further, most of us assume that we know what "Conscience" is.  

What is "Conscience?"

Consider that the word, conscience, was invented to name a universal human dynamic.  In other words, it was obvious that human beings everywhere have some sense of right and wrong, which influences our choices.  And so we created a word to identify that phenomena. 

So please forget about its religious or spiritual connotations or explanations for the moment, and consider that conscience, regardless of its source, refers to something common to human beings.  And let's look at it again, as if for the first time.  

Think of conscience as an inner compass that continually reminds us to look at our choices, and make sure our actions align with our values.  

Human beings have a consciousness (or conscience) that works via ongoing signals to face reality (especially when there is incongruence), and to stand (especially when there is a threat to one's values).  See the chart below.

Conscience As (Part Of) A Natural Greatness Guidance System

	Pleasurable Feeling	Painful Feeling
To Face (Thought) or Not To Face?
Before	Feel Called To Face; Consider facing and feel inspired/moved to face (honor/peace/love for self as stand)	Feel Warning To Not Choose Not to Face; Consider not facing and feel bad/uneasy (guilt / anxiety for  considering compromising / threatening self as stand)
After	Feel Honor For Facing; Reflect on choosing to face and feel good (honor/peace/love for self as stand).	Feel Guilt For Not Facing; Reflect on choosing not to face and feel bad (guilt/shame for compromising self as stand).
To Stand (Action) or Not To Stand
Before	Feel Called To Stand; Consider standing and feel inspired/moved (honor/peace/love for self as stand)	Feel Warning To Not Choose Not To Stand; Consider not standing and feel bad/uneasy (guilt/anxiety for  considering compromising / threatening self as stand)
After	Feel Honor For Standing; Reflect on choosing to stand and feel good (honor/peace/love for self as stand).	Feel Guilt For Not Standing; Reflect on choosing not to face and feel bad (guilt/shame for compromising self as stand).
*Nevermind for the moment if this is not fully clear.  This is just the beginning.

So, conscience 1a) calls you to face reality, 1b) warns you against not facing, 1c) rewards you for facing, 1d) pains you for not facing, 2a) calls you to stand, 2b) warns you against not standing for your values, 2c) rewards you for standing, and 2d) pains you for not standing.  In summary, it leads you to live powerfully and courageously in line with your values in life by 1) continually looking honestly at reality, yourself and your values, and 2) continually act on behalf of your values even in the face of fear.

So what?

This is essentially a call to greatness, is it not?  

So then, could greatness be natural?

Could it be that we each possess a natural greatness guidance system?

And if so, then why so much training to be good?  And how does this goodness training interfere with our natural conscience, our call to greatness?

If you were threatened by your child's, your student's, your employee's or your citizens independent conscience/consciousness... how could you train him or her to not follow his own conscience/consciousness?

Well, here's one way:

1) Teach him that it is wrong to think and choose for himself, and then teach him what to think

2) Punish him for thinking or choosing differently than your commands

3) Reward him for blind obedience 

In essence, tell him that to be good is to agree and obey with you, and train him to follow.  Sooner or later, he will pay attention to your goodness guidance system rather than his greatness guidance system.  Before thinking or acting, he will think first of what you say to do, and how he might be rewarded or punished.

Now... of course most of our adults/superiors/authorities in this world simply want what's best for us.  As adults, we need to help our children learn to be good, upstanding, responsible citizens and successful people, right?  We can't just let them do whatever they want!  Consider that as human beings in the early 21st century, we simply don't yet know much about developing greatness in our children or ourselves.

Not only are we not taught how to develop greatness in our children, we are conditioned and taught to train our children to be "good."

And, even when we sense that goodness training is killing the greatness or spirit in our youth, it simply seems more "practical" to train them to be "good."

Think about it.  If you need to get your school kids from classroom A to classroom B, it's simply seems more efficient to tell them that walking in a single file line is good, and going their own way is not, and then reward/punish them based on their actions.

So, regardless of why we often train each other to be good  rather than develop each other's natural greatness, let's face now the obvious problem at hand: our goodness training is interfering with our natural greatness!  What to do about it?

To be continued in the next session...

Natural Greatness vs. Trained Goodness (part 2)
 

Visionary Advantage: 

A visionary (as we define it) operates via a vision that calls her to greatness.  Think of vision as a multiplier of your conscience.  Imagine... more than feeling called to be honest with yourself, and more than feeling called to stand for your values... Imagine seeing a vision that calls you to face anything and everything, and stand without compromise day in and day out... until the end!  Imagine having the kind of vision that calls not just your self, but your team and even your adversaries to greatness!

That's the power of tomorrow's visionaries.  The new breed of revolutionaries are all visionaries--people who call themselves AND the world around them to greatness. 
 

Visionary Dynamic:

The more you face and stand, the more you will see the kind of vision that calls yourself and others to greatness.  

The more you see the kind of vision that calls yourself and others to greatness, the more you will face and stand.

The more you face and stand, the more others will face and stand.  The more others face and stand, the more still others will face and stand.

It's not hard to see how one single person living as a visionary can literally change not just the world around him, but humanity itself.

 
Visionary Challenge:

Ask yourself what kind of formal and informal goodness training you've had.  Now... have you had training in greatness?  What about vision?  What would such training be worth to you?  To your children?

Meet other visionaries and discuss how to integrate this distinction into your life on the Forum Boards.
 

Visionary Training:

Beyond greatness training, there is visionary training.

Consider that as a human being you have all you need for greatness.  Human consciousness works via calling us to 1) face, and 2) stand.  You probably sense that to some extent you've been trained or conditioned to ignore or turn away from your own conscience and consciousness.  And you probably have a good idea of how this negatively impacts your power in life and your sense of fulfillment in this world.

Well what if you were to experience your natural greatness guidance system in all its power?  What if you were to live consciously and skillfully as a visionary?  Is that even possible?

The iStand Experience(TM) (LIVE Training Event)
 

Additional Resources:

Being A Visionary Is Your Birthright (Article)

Visionary Mind

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