What
Is Avatar About Anyway?
by Jim Becker
The other day I was having lunch with a friend and she asked me, "What is Avatar about any way?" Now, I've been involved with Avatar for many years and I have found that there are many ways to describe Avatar, but the only way to truly understand Avatar is to take the course. (There is a reason it is referred to as an experiential course.) Since our lunch break was only an hour long and The Avatar Course runs about nine days, I decided to tell her about my dad's garage.
I spent many uncounted hours helping my father do things around the house every weekend. In fact, my dad's workbench, tucked into a very functional corner of the garage, surrounded by peg board, was the center of activity every weekend. In Florida garages are important, because apparently no builders south of Atlanta have ever conceived of basements.
Due to the lack of a basement, our garage was an amazing collection of things. Some of these were used often and frequently, like the car, and some I can't recall ever being used. I knew what some of the things were for, like the fishing poles and tackle box. Someday we might use them again. Other things were totally unknown bits and pieces that I had no idea where they came from or what they were used for. Like this one unusual contraption that was cast iron and rubber gaskets painted black. It resided in an old Buster Brown shoe box on a shelf next to some vacuum cleaner attachments. Although its parts did move in unison when the handle was turned, it didn't really seem to do anything.
We are all continuously collecting and storing beliefs, often forgetting that we have them or mislabeling them...Too few of us know how to sort through our beliefs in a way that is truly beneficial.
Every so often we would have to clean out the garage. It would become so clogged with stuff that it could no longer properly serve its function. When cleaning time came around we would usually take everything out of the garage piece by piece. The driveway would soon be filled
with our unique collection of garage stuff. In between the, "What the heck is this?" and the "I forgot we even had this," comments we would sort through the items and decide which deserved a continued presence in the new kinder-gentler garage, which items
would be discarded and which items would have a renewed purpose in the house.
When our garage was once again organized, it was a wonder to behold. My mother would come and marvel at the fact that she could now pull her car into the garage and exit it by opening the door rather than gymnastically climbing through a rolled down rear window.
The process of the garage accumulating stuff and becoming more and more difficult to use is much like what happens in our own minds. We are all continuously collecting and storing beliefs, often forgetting that we have them or mislabeling them. We spend our days climbing over and around the beliefs that are in our way hoping that we don't find our selves at a dead end.
Too few of us know how to sort through our beliefs in a way that is truly beneficial. This is where Avatar comes in. The exercises that you do during the course are designed to help you uncover and sort through your beliefs. You can choose which beliefs to discard and which still suit you. in between the, "What the heck is
this?" and the "I forgot I even had this," comments you might just find a happier and more peaceful you. But whatever you find it'll be what you are looking for, because that's what Avatar is
about--you.
Avatar
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Volume XIII Issue 3