Chapter 13
Existential Gravity
Gravity is an indisputable, significant, and powerful force in our world, solar system, galaxy, and universe. It is the force (or power) that holds celestial bodies together. It is also the force that makes possible physical life as we know it here on the Earth.
The SAL Theory posits the existence, significance, and power of metaphysical gravity as a metaphorical analogue to physical gravity.
In referring to metaphysical gravity, we employ the term Existential Gravity, and suggest that it serves as a negative force to inhibit Existential Growth and influence the onset of existential atrophy.
Law 9
Existential Gravity exists to inhibit Existential Growth and
influence the onset of existential atrophy.
Existential Gravity (XGrav) exists in many different forms. It creates adversarial tugs and pulls in the lives of all human beings, including self-action leaders.
Examples of XGrav include: addictions, bad habits, negative peer pressure, temptations, weaknesses, and any other force or inertia that inhibits Existential Growth or influences the onset of existential atrophy.
EXISTENTIAL GRAVITY (XGrav)
Addictions, bad habits, negative peer pressure, temptations, weaknesses, and any other force or intertia that inhibits Existential Growth or influences the onset of existential atrophy.
Existential Gravity is analogous to the Earth's gravitational pull, which inhibits animate organisms and inanimate objects from rising above its surface or beyond its atmosphere.
Like physical gravity, no human being is exempt or immune from the tugs and pulls of Existential Gravity. At lower levels of Existential Growth (XGrow), XGrav exerts stronger forces. At higher levels, it exerts weaker forces. On the first seven levels of Existential Growth, XGrav exists to varying degrees of strength on a spectrum of upwardly regressing XGrav. Upon reaching level eight—Self-Transcendence—you rise above the pull of XGrav and are no longer subject to its power (more on the nine levels of Existential Growth to come in the next chapter).
Existential Gravity has the potential to produce ponderous challenges in YOUR life. It's what makes the transcendence of human flaws, weaknesses, challenges, and circumstances so difficult and time consuming. However, no matter how hard it may be to resist its power, remember that abdicating your self-sovereignty to XGrav will, if left unchecked, lead to failure, misery, penury, and even despair.
One of the most problematic elements of Existential Gravity (XGrav) lies in its personification. When other people serve as a source of XGrav, they become existential crabs, which in turn create a "Crab Effect" upon your efforts to learn, grow, and progress as a self-action leader. Existential Crabs are people and organizations that act to undermine your progress and inhibit your Existential Growth.
EXISTENTIAL CRABS
People and organizations that act to undermine your progress
and inhibit your Existential Growth.
The "Crab Effect" refers to a phenomenon observed among live sea crabs when placed together in a bucket. If a single crab is placed in a bucket, it possesses the power to escape on its own. But if multiple crabs are placed in the bucket
together, none of them will escape because group members will prevent any individual crab from obtaining freedom by pulling each other down whenever one tries to escape.
CRAB EFFECT
A phenomenon whereby a single crab may free itself from the confines of a bucket, but a group of crabs will prevent each other from similarly escaping by pulling each other down.
Some existential "Crabs" are more nefarious than others; but all are potentially detrimental to YOUR progress as a self-action leader.
The GOOD NEWS of SAL is that self-action leaders possess power to transcend Existential Gravity (XGrav) over time through Self-Action Leadership.
Corollary 9.1
Self-action leaders possess power to transcend Existential Gravity
over time through Self-Action Leadership.
Rising above Existential Gravity is not always
easy, but it is always
possible. Just as mankind has learned to transcend Earth's physical gravity through aerodynamics and other scientific inventions, YOU can learn to transcend whatever Existential Gravity comes your way through Self-Action Leadership.
It is not always easy to pursue a worthy goal when others around you circumvent, humiliate, mock, ruin, tease, or otherwise seek to foil your freedom, growth, and success. Moreover, it can be very difficult to break bad habits, overcome addictions, or effectively manage cognitive distortions and mental illness when those challenges are deeply ingrained.
That is the bad news.
The good news is that difficulty does not spell impossibility.
Thus, it is virtually always possible to overcome Existential Gravity to earn Existential Growth. Indeed, everyone can choose to grow existentially, and that includes YOU!
Unfortunately, far too many people renounce their royal birthright as a self-action leader and succumb to a combination of negative peer pressure and their own flaws and weaknesses. This abdication is understandable; after all, holding on to the throne of civilized humanity is not easy—as history as amply evinced! Forces abound to usurp it whenever and wherever possible, and some of mankind's greatest potentialities eventually became fatalities in the face of XGrav's ongoing onslaught. In the pithy parlance of Henry Miller: Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature.
"Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature."
—Henry Miller
Remaining royal demands that you fight the good fight and remain ever diligent and vigilant in your quest for Existential Growth and inner peace. The battles are—and will yet be—adventurous and exciting, but they will not be easy! In the penetrating prose of one great leader: The greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.
"The greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."
—David Oman McKay
David O. McKay is right!
Life is filled with long and lonely battles fought in a protracted and solitary fashion. It is all part and parcel of a vital war waged for your own freedom and Existential Growth. It is a lonely and long, but absolutely vital struggle!
It is a lonely fight because YOU are the only one who can give the order to engage the enemy within. It is a long struggle because life is long—no matter how short it may seem looking backwards in time. And it is a vital quest because your personal freedom and inner peace is always on the line.
The idea and vision of life as an ongoing war may sound depressing, but keep in mind the stakes: if YOU are progressively victorious, your life will be blessed with joy, fulfillment, love, and peace. But if your enemies (within or without) win, your life will be filled with anxiety, failure, regret, sadness, and turmoil.
How will YOU choose to respond to the Existential Gravity that will bear down upon you throughout your life? How you answer this question will ultimately determine the design of your destiny.
Among the very best news about SAL is that, as higher levels of Existential Growth are reached, Existential Gravity is commensurately transcended.
Corollary 9.2
As higher levels of Existential Growth are reached,
Existential Gravity is commensurately transcended.
As you rise to higher levels of Existential Growth, you are blessed with the gradual diminishment of Existential Gravity. At the two highest levels of Existential Growth, Self-Transcendence (Level 8) and Creation (Level 9), Existential Gravity ceases to exert power over you. Full descriptions of the different levels of Existential Growth will be provided in the next chapter.
This is indeed wonderful news!
It means that as Existential Gravity is transcended, your journey toward higher levels of Existential Growth becomes generally easier.
Corollary 9.3
As Existential Gravity is transcended, your journey toward
higher levels of Existential Growth becomes generally easier.
In the SAL Theory, a rocket ship serves as a metaphor for a self-action leader seeking one's freedom from Existential Gravity to earn Existential Growth.
To reach outer space, a physical rocket ship must transcend atmospheric pressure, gravity, temperature changes, and weather that exist in different layers of the Earth's atmosphere.
As a rocket travels higher into the upper levels of the Earth's atmosphere, the air becomes thinner and Earth's gravitational pull gets weaker. As atmospheric pressures and gravity diminish with altitude, less fuel is needed to maintain the same speed and propulsion.
Rocket ships carry enormous amounts of fuel on their journeys into space. The majority of this fuel is burned up within the first few minutes after takeoff. As the air thins and Earth's gravitational pull weakens, less fuel is needed to maintain the same propulsion and speed.
This is an ideal metaphor for your own metaphysical journey to higher levels of Existential Growth. Transcending lower levels of Existential Growth require greater efforts and more time. The reason for this is twofold. First, self-action leaders are less mature and more insecure about themselves and their own abilities when they inhabit lower levels. Second, the challenges and trials are often greater and more difficult to transcend on lower levels. Thus, the higher you rise in your own Existential Growth, the easier your journey becomes (generally speaking).
With all of the introductory and prefacing material now in place, the time has come to introduce the very heart of the SAL Theory: the Nine Stages of Existential Growth.
Read on to learn all about it!
In Your Journal
-
What kinds of Existential Gravity are you most susceptible to?
-
To what degree are you susceptible to the kinds of XGrav you’ve
previously identified?
-
Who are some of the existential crabs that have afflicted you in the past?
How did they try to pull you down? Did you do anything to try and limit
their negative influence?
-
What existential crabs are currently afflicting you? How are they trying to
pull you down? What can you do to mitigate their negative influence?
-
What existential crabs do you think might afflict you in the future? How
might they try to pull you down? What could you do to prepare yourself to
curtail or rise above their negative influence?
—Dr. JJ
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Author's Note: This is the 404th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 213th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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