Creative Aggression

Aggression is an energy flow.  We use aggression when we pick up a coffee cup, when we hug a friend, when we swat a mosquito, when we pound a nail with a hammer, and when we take a breath.  A blossoming flower is aggressive.  The wind is aggressive when it rustles the tops of trees.  Aggression is a creative thrust of energy in a particular direction. By its very nature, creative aggression alters the status quo - it changes probabilities.

While one of the most important components to conscious creation is figuring out what you WANT to create, the other part of that knowing is allowing ourselves to EXPECT that what we want will be created in physical reality.  Expectation is the driving force which gives birth to creation; it's the aggression which pushes our inner ideas and dreams into manifestation in physical reality.

Our ten-month old puppy, Merlin, has been showing me a thing or two about aggression and creating what I want.  He's one of those dogs you can describe as having a "will-to-power" - he'll roll over on his back in one minute, but the next moment, if I show any signs of ambivalence about either what he's doing or what I expect out of him, he's pushing the boundaries.  Usually he's jumping up and nipping or clamping down on my hand, not enough to hurt but quite enough to get me rather annoyed about it.  On the other hand (pun intended), he's really smart and quick to learn - he knows sit, speak, lay down, jump (on command for food), come, shake hands, eat dinner, go outside, etc.

Merlin has been an excellent and immediate feedback system for me in regards to applying creative aggression with my own thoughts and expectations.  Many times I've had to get really angry with his behavior in order to get in touch with my OWN sense of natural aggression in setting boundaries for what I find acceptable behavior.  The anger I feel has allowed me to punch through my own passive tendencies towards merely "hoping" for something and then saying "oh, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be" or other such disclaimer or denial of my own power.  It's one thing to learn to "go with the flow" and its another thing when the usual flow or status quo involves compromise with the Self.  Then it's time to apply some creative aggressive towards a creation that's more in alignment with "who I am."

As conscious creators, one of the BEST uses for our own aggression is with our thoughts and beliefs, the actual focusing tools we use to create in physical reality!  We've all heard about the benefits of having a positive attitude, and most of us have experienced "thinking well" of a situation in order to get the most out of it.  So in this case we can stop reacting to things the way we're USED to, and choose a more positive reaction instead.

Fundamentally, however, this is still in the realm of REACTION here, and applying our aggression to creating solutions to problems within a given context.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, but it's only one level of applying creative aggression.  You may have noticed how much easier it is to apply ourselves to fixing problems instead of applying ourselves to "creating" - putting our own precious ideas and concepts "out there."  The first is a reaction and the second is creative aggression.  We're readily trained with reaction but not so familiar with the creative mind set.

With Merlin, I had achieved the ability to react to what he was doing, and had ideas about how I would prefer his behavior to be.  But I had no sense of how passive my approach had initially been until our beloved pooch made me so angry that I "channeled" enough energy to punch through my life-long habits of reactivity and powerlessness.  Such a funny little example, but with such major personal ramifications!

It got me to thinking... how often did I NOT back up what I've wanted to create with my own creative aggression?  I think that in certain areas of our lives many of us have gotten used to NOT having what we want, and since it feels so usual or "natural" to us, asserting another choice into the usual flow feels extremely disruptive.  And I for one was certainly taught how BAD it was to be disruptive, to challenge what IS.... to aggressively assert your own desires, and back those up INSTEAD of supporting a system or status quo of any sort.

This is true even with little things.  Let's say the store at which you usually shop doesn't carry these potato chips you really like.  The status quo is NOT having the chips.  But you really get the desire to have some of these chips.  Do you talk yourself out of it with "rational excuses" because you "know" from past experience that the store doesn't have them?  Do you "hope" that that store may have "just" started carrying this brand of chips, but aren't really expecting it?  Or do you choose what you want in the moment, and then put your own creative aggression into the mix, allowing physical reality to be re-created in the now moment, simply to accommodate your desire?

The last case seems to be the most audacious and CREATIVELY AGGRESSIVE step in the world - to simply EXPECT to get what you want.  What self-centeredness!  What audacity!  What self-importance!  What... conscious creation!  For me, it seemed extremely unusual to allow myself such a high level of confidence but it also felt right.  After all, what is confidence, but a sense of trust in the self which allows our energy to flow freely, unimpeded by opposing beliefs or tendencies, toward our chosen focus.
 

Expansion

Creative aggression is often the key to expanding beyond our normal ideas of who we are and what we can do.  The funny thing about expansion, in the consciousness-metaphysical sense, is that once we expand, we are still who we are, a specific focus in physical reality.  That is, once we have internalized the changes we have intended, we have a new skill or experience under our belt, but at the time of the actual change in physical reality, we've already become the new "self"!  Simple! <grin>

But how does it FEEL to expand?  What's the process we undergo? I was thinking about this as it applies to expanding beyond only the conventional rational focus.  When I thought of myself as separate, as only an "ego", I defined "expansion" as discovering a larger part of myself and then learning to work in harmony with it.  But when I've gotten to the point of understanding that the only "separation" is one of belief, I had to redefine what "expansion" meant to me.  Instead of me simply working with this "other" part of "me," I was instead re-identifying myself as a person with this particular ability that I had associated as "out there".  So instead of working in a "separate" harmony, as, for instance, with a coworker, the person that I am had internalized the power represented by the "other".  The coworker example again - instead of working with another person, I had learned and internalized the skills that the coworker has and then been able to channel them and use them as I wished.

So here's my brief list of steps involved in an expansion of consciousness.  If it helps, you can consider an expansion to be adding any ability to your repertoire that you didn't feel you had "before".

1. Recognize what you consider to be your own identity - who you think you are and what you can do.  (i.e., at this time the ego is a good example.)
2. Accept that there is more to you than just what you defined yourself to be in number one.  This is your goal or vision for what CAN be.  Sometimes there will be examples in physical reality already to help you, sometimes you'll have to simply go with your inner vision or idea. (i.e. - more than your physical focus)
3. Open a dialogue.  In other words, begin allowing conscious communication with this unknown part of you - get to know it.  (i.e., learning to listen to intuition)
4. Align your definition of self with this other part (clear out all limiting beliefs that you previously used to separate yourself from this aspect) so that energy can flow between you and this other part clearly, directly, and abundantly. (i.e., trusting intuition and following impulses)
5. Finally, move from working WITH this other part to internalizing this other part, and associated abilities, as now being part of what you consider to be your own identity. (i.e. BEING your own expanded, creative self)

1. I identify myself as a person who does not know how to pound in a nail, yet that is my goal.
2. I recognize that ability to pound in a nail does exist already, just not in my personal experience.
3. I look at the hammer.  Feel it.  Grip it.  Swing it.  Get used to how it feels in my hand.  I also look at the nail in the same manner.  I start getting ideas about how I can use the hammer to pound in the nail.
4. I take the hammer and the nail and take my first experiential try.  I may hit it or I may miss.  I may not hit it hard enough, or too hard, or at a bad angle.  I try again and again until my swing is smooth, my force is just right, and my angle is accurate.
5. I identify myself as a person who DOES know how to pound in a nail, and proceed to do so, accomplishing my goal.  In the future, I don't need to "think twice" before I choose to pick up my hammer again as my confidence and trust in my ability is complete.

How They Fit Together

Now, how do Creative Aggression and Expansion fit together?  Well, for a while now I've felt like I'd been sort of "stuck" between steps 4 and 5.  That is, I really understood the ins and outs of a particular creation, I was aligned with it and felt good about it, but how was I going to get from where I WAS to the place where I actualized my intended creation?  Although I KNEW that this is where I was headed, the idea of no longer feeling separate (especially in this one particular area) seemed really weird because it was so completely different than how I grew up thinking life actually WAS.

For me, it was allowing myself the audacity and aggression to now simply EXPECT that my creation would manifest, despite conventional "wisdom" which says it's impossible and all that.  In other words, I had to allow myself that aggressive burst of energy (that probably came partially due to the anger of feeling "stuck") to leave where I was and jump up to the next step.  Mostly, I think it was simply time that I "forced" myself to admit I was already there, and it was just habit and sentimentality that kept me in step 4.

I mean, internalizing the idea of learning to pound in a nail with a hammer is one thing, but internalizing the idea that you can create things, especially seemingly "big" things, in physical reality with intention and by following impulses seemed to require a bigger step, or a little extra taste of creative aggression in order to move me from my very comfortable and boring place of repetition and ambivalence.  There was only so long I could go with denying or doubting that I knew I was a conscious creator because the BOREDOM and STAGNATION was going to KILL me if I did that. <grin>  And I'm no where NEAR ready to leave physical reality right now!