Decision Making for Cool Cats

When I was a little boy a teacher once complained to my mother that I was “too nonchalant.” My mother was indifferent about that, but my attitude drove this teacher buggy. This one would try whatever she could to upset me. But no matter how hard she tried, she just could not get under my skin.

Instead of me getting upset, it was she who became angry. I never intended it. People do not like when you aren’t upsettable. Something inside them gets frustrated when It is denied the power to demoralize and control. (I swear, I think I won her over at some point. She came to love me. Her name was Mrs. Ryan.) You could be accused of being cold and uncaring when the opposite is true.

Recently one such frustrated person asked, “Don’t you ever wonder about anything?” No! I absolutely do not. That isn’t to say that I’m never curious or that I never consider new information or ideas. Quite the contrary. This is an age of information. One cannot live in a technologically advancing world without the capacity to use our brains.

But I don’t lose myself inside it. I don’t suspend awareness or dive into the stream of thought as if to tackle and defeat an enemy. Sure I access that God-given computer. But I also remain conscious, allowing awareness to become a sort of lens, making more clear whatever needs to be resolved or understood. Intellect is meant to be subordinated to intuition—not the other way around. So while access to intellect is necessary, it should never run the show.

When it does, we end up playing God. Something in us exploits self-consciousness over God-consciousness. There is a difference between the two, and to whichever is our allegiance, the nature of our intelligent life shall correspond.

When consciousness is allowed to rise over ideas it acts like a glass, not so much to amplify, but to clarify whatever comes into view. As intuitiveness activates, our understanding increases. It could be about a problem, some life-choice, or even the sciences, philosophy, and art. Yes, creativity benefits too, from the sharpening focus of conscious awareness.

Whatever right is, the key to being right is to not make decisions. It isn’t to ambitiously try to fix a problem. It is to remain in the present, viewing from an objective perspective, so that we can. In that, there is really power and a freedom to choose, without getting lost in a process.

This is not as esoteric or difficult as it sounds. It really is the simplest of all courses. It just takes a little practice, first on the small things, the little ideas, the minute mental distractions that run under the lens of consciousness when you meditate. This private exercise of consciousness becomes a stress rehearsal for meeting the world.

Then as life heats up, you will find that you’re prepared for the bigger things. You give up all struggle and automatically begin taking things more easily. You remain cool and calm under pressure, not because you’ve suppressed worry or retreated from thinking, but because you are cool. You’ve practiced conscious awareness and can remain sane in an unsane world.

None of this will be surprising to you if you are using my Non-Contemplative Meditation technique. But please be warned. Some don’t like awake and aware people. They find us unsettling. To them, an awake, conscious person whose free of emotional baggage can appear too unconcerned. All that they’ve known has been emotive involvement in their own lives. They worship compassion, bask in caring and just aren’t accustomed to anyone handling stress well.

They see the absence of struggle as a shortcoming and don’t even think it’s really possible. They could resent your peacefulness. Forgive them. Don’t hate them. Just as you forgive and don’t hate anything else—for which reason they become wary of you. Don’t judge. Innocence is a threat to darkness. Too bad for them. Others may see how easy and simple life is for you and will be drawn to it. Your example could get them to give up struggle with decision making, too.

See that when living a God-centered existence there really are no decisions to make. There’s only the automatic selection of what is right. When you are awake and aware the right path becomes plain and clear without so much effort in deciding just what that is. Of course, there is laboring in a peace-filled existence. Actually, lots of it. Toil, work, and honest commerce sharpens virtue and develops a closeness with our Creator when it is free of ambition-fueled effort.

In living this way, I find that all of the next best things in life have already been provided and that by simply moving through them, God-given solutions come automatically. They are never ever wrong either. Try it yourself and you’ll remain the coolest cat around.