I have opinions; no getting around that.

I guess when all's said and done everything we think is an opinion. Whether it's arrived at from our own processes, or adopted, or just 'there' from our upbringing or whatever, it's all opinion. Because time and again in this 3-D world we are part of, we prove that we just can't ever know stuff with certainty. So if you tell me what seems like to you a fact, for me it just won't be, unless it matches my opinion. I will admit that my opinions seem less certain over time, which probably makes me less of an interesting conversationalist as time goes on. But still, they're there, and I find thinking about things, how they came to be, how they might be better, and so on etc all really seductive and fascinating stuff.

So what's the problem then?

Well, I have an opinion on that. Over the years I have looked into all sorts of cupboards and corners seeking insight, wisdom and growth in what you'd call a spiritual sense. One of my main lines of enquiry was about seeing sameness in things, like the way different religions so often share variations on the same themes. But sameness would seem to extend to more than dogma and teaching. I have concluded (this is all opinion, remember) that everything is the same. I am you and all that. That I and the world are indivisible in some very fundamental sense. This works for me, so for now I'm going with it. As part of that, I have had to accept that everything that is me must affect everything else that I would traditionally think of as 'not me'. And vice-versa. Bear with me, I haven't forgotten where we're headed with this one.

What about time then? We all seem to have a memory, and if I think back looking for a moment when I did or said something that I might do differently given another chance, I never have far to look. So when I do that, the memory is here *now* and I'm feeling not-so-great because of it now, and thus it's affecting my whole world. All because I have a little ol' memory of me being a dipshit. I am of the opinion that at a deep (some people call it subconscious or unconscious) level, we never miss a thing, we take it all in, and we never forget. This is all opinion, remember. So time is irrelevant for my opinion piece here.

I mentioned how opinions could be arrived at from one's own processes, and from other sources. As a result of looking in some of those spiritual cupboards and corners, I had some of my own experiences, which have left me with some opinions so stong that I think of them as being as useful as fact. If such a thing as irrefutable fact could exist. The main fact I speak of here is that we exist in concert with a force/energy/being/googly thing that I often refer to as Divinity, and that we are at once at one with it, and separate from it. The purpose of life in this way of looking at stuff is to be as much at one with Divinity as one can be. And every time we think we 'know' better than Divinity, ie *have an opinion* we get a bit further away, and life is just that little bit less rich and fulsome as a result. And we have a 'memory' of this separation which we carry forward.

So, I'm thinking that opinions get in the way of our quest for growth. Mostly.

OMG, that means I'm doomed forever!!!

Or not, because this is where that cleaning stuff I mentioned the other day comes in. All those bazillions of memories (imo, remember) are constantly popping up, seen or unseen, and reinforcing our separation. Getting in the road of us having any Divine inspiration, or 'being in the flow' or whatever you wish to call it. However, the moment we notice any such thing occuring there are really really easy things we can do which instantly and forever 'clean up' a 'memory' in question, and get us back (for at least an instant) into our Divine connection.

Bruce Lee was a seeker, looking for the ultimate bare-hand fighting art. He studied lots of different things, and looked for the 'heart' of a way, or teaching. He decided to take the approach of absorbing what was useful to him, and reject what was useless. I like this approach, and as a result have picked up a few little disciplines (opinions from other sources) that work for me. I have seen them work for everyone who's tried them so far too, but that of course could just be a warped perceptive 'opinion' of my own. You decide, as always. The disciplines I speak of here are using simple 'cleaning tools' whenever I a) remember and b) feel it to be required - which is virtually always.

I'm sure I'll revisit this a lot later, and feel free to ask any questions you want - questions always give me a chance to practice cleaning with my opinions and maybe occasionally channel a bit of Divinity somewhere in an answer. Anyway, my very favourite cleaning tool of all is

Lemon.

Yep, just lemon. There's no special breathing, or intention, or visualisation - you can just do it however you want. You can drink some lemon juice, pick up a lemon, smell lemon, or just say to yourself 'lemon' which is mostly what I do.

There are no rules or special initiations here. You can just try. Every time you have a thought where you mae a judgement, have an opinion, or an emotional reaction you don't like, just do lemon. You can do it two thousand times a day easy if you want. when I first started, I giggled a lot. Because you reach these moments of sort of critical mass, which has been described as 'resetting your mind to zero.' It's awesome.

But that's just an opinion, really.


Lemon.