Feeling sorry for ourselves about certain elements of our lives, we invent victim stories that place the blame for our anger, irritation, impatience, and wounded self-importance on other people or outside forces. Victim stories are always lies, a life stance that avoids responsibility for the life we are creating. These victim stories are bad explanations for what is going on, and they keep us circling in an eddy. We cannot emerge.

Our emergence requires that we sustain our poise, embracing life no matter what is happening. When we live in the sublime state of sustained poise, we are present, connected, grateful, creative and light-hearted. Our cup is filled to the brim, as Carlos Castaneda said, and anything you give us is more than we can take.

“We’ve discovered that the universe is not a place; it’s a story, a story of an irreversible sequence of emergent events. For a long time we thought that the universe was an established realm that had its major creativity happening only at the beginning of time. We now understand that the universe is an ongoing creative event. Stars came forth, galaxies came forth, planets have emerged, life burst into existence. This power of emergence could also be called ongoing creativity. In some ways, it’s the greatest discovery in the history of the human sciences—that the universe as a whole, and each being within it, is permeated with the power of emergence.” – Brian Swimm, Cosmologist

How can we tap into our own power of emergence, move toward our great potential, and live a vibrant life of joy and practical advantage? Swimm gives us the answer when he tells us that emergence in the universe is always given the energy it needs. Further, he says, anything that blocks emergence is destroyed. If we are “permeated with the power of emergence,” then we will be given the energy we need, unless we resist our own emergence—obviously a dangerous thing to do.