The Avatar Path
Who does not remember Aang, the Last Airbender? The child monk who have to learn how to deal with the four elements to help saving the world even when he is just a child. This cartoon was an Eureka moment in my life, I watched it and I finally discovered: "I know what I want to be. I want to be an Avatar."
Avatar is a person who manifests in the world something bigger than itself, the Avatar is an instrument. The cartoon presents the idea in a nice way by showing how much hardwork it requires to become and be an Avatar and how much self-improvement Aang needs to work on to make it happen. Self-improvement and manifestation, this is the Avatar Path.
The most important part of the Avatar mission is not the goal of a perfect manifestation but the path itself. The Avatar works on its improvement and can also act as a tutor to others (in a Master-Disciple manner). In each step in order to become an Avatar, the ability to manifest grows, the “Avatar state” starts to appear and become more frequent and powerful.
In real life, who are the Avatars? Entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, philosophers… Avatars are leaders. Spiritual leaders, business leaders, all sort of leaders. In summary, all those who have a vision, improve themselves to manifest their vision, and bring others with them along the way (in a Master-Disciple manner).
Self-improvement and manifestation, this is the Avatar Path.
Please, do not confuse it with job roles. Just because someone is a priest, a CEO, a PhD, or whatever title you may want to give, it does not make it a leader. Leaders are those in the path to enter in the Avatar state.
But how to become an Avatar? Well, I still do not know but I have some idea. There are three main points that I envision for who wants to become an Avatar. The first one is self-improvement, the second is manifestation, and the third one is tutoring. In this post I will cover the first one.
Self-improvement happens through the development of skills. Have a diploma does not prove someone has a skill and it also does not prove someone have all skills needed to become an Avatar. In order to become an Avatar, one needs to develop the skills needed for manifestation. To explain what I mean by that I will use a system of “mystic” studies, stay with me a little bit and you will see there is nothing so mystic after all.
Some time ago I enrolled in a 8 weeks course about chakras with Dolores Garvin. For who studies “mysticism” they are explained as energetic centers of the body. But what I found most interesting is how they can be used to explain the path for liberation and manifestation. The liberation of the self happens when a person can express itself to the world without fears and barriers. The manifestation happens when someone can observe and capture abstract ideas from the world and manifest it in the reality.
The system of chakras contains seven main chakras located along the spine. The energetic flow from the first to the seventh chakra promotes liberation, while the opposite flow, from seventh to first, promotes manifestation. One flow does not happen without the other, and only opening the chakras (keeping them in balance) makes the energy flows. I cannot talk about energy here since I know almost nothing about it, but what I want to say is how the chakras perfectly map into skills that anyone can develop, and how it can bring someone to manifest its visions and become an Avatar. As our focus is on manifestation I will start to explain from the seventh chakra. I would like to reinforce it is still a “work in progress” (and will always be =p) then do not try to kill me if I change my mind completely in, I don’t know, 5 minutes =p
The seventh chakra is located at the top of the head. This chakra is associated with the Universe, that some people like to call God. I like to call it the network. Who never heard about the Butterfly effect? All of us are part of a network, when someone does something, all others get affected. Therefore there is nothing so insignificant that cannot make an impact on the whole network, and there is no one so important that can move the whole network. The skill associated with this chakra is to understand itself as part of this network, and understand there are two forces been applied. The force of action, where you can move the net, and the reactive force where the net moves and you need to accept. The network is alive and the Avatar is just part of it. Have a very good seventh chakra is be aware of it and learn how to deal with this “invisible” network.
The sixth chakra is just under the seventh one. It is called the third eye and is located at the middle of the forefront. The third eye represents the vision, our capacity to perceive the reality as is, without illusions or preconceptions. One of the skills that can be related to the third eye is the creativity, the most intellectual one. In this case, creativity is the capacity to see the world through different perspectives, in special in the ways no one saw before. For creativity I highly recommend the course of Murilo Gun, although I do not know if he has content available in English. Another skill (if we can see as that) related to the third eye is the development of a healthy mindset, a way of thinking, a way on how to see the world. As a pointer for this I recommend the book: Mindset, the new psychology of success.
Going down to the next chakra. The fifth chakra is located at the throat and it is related to communication. Communication is not only speak, and speak well, but also knows how to listen, be present, give attention to the speaker, understand its feelings and emotions more than the words themselves. There is no effective communication if both parts cannot understand each other. The communication can happens through many ways such as by speaking but also by writing.
The fourth chakra is the one that makes the bridge between the external and the internal. This chakra is located at the level of the heart and its skill is empathy. One who wants to manifest something into the world needs to be emphatic, needs to understand how people think and feel. Remember that the Avatar eventually becomes a leader, not a boss. A leader because it helps others to grow, a boss imposes how they should grow. To help someone, first it is needed to understand the person, to lately understand what help really means.
The third chakra is part of the personal sphere. It is located at the solar plexus and it is related to personal power. By personal power I mean the capacity of the person to be itself, have self-confidence and self-motivation. Very often we seek external validation and we end up measuring our steps by what others will talk about us and if they will approve us. This chakra is about be OK with yourself, decide your path, go for it and take responsibility for it. If I can map it into skills they would be initiative, independence, confidence, and self-motivation.
The second chakra is near the sexual region, just below the belly button. This chakra is also related to creativity but a more visceral one. The creativity that comes from the movement, from the body itself. Remember that in this region is the place where happens the “creation of life”. The best relation I can currently do is the association with African music and dance. One does not rationalize the drums, one feels the drums. And it makes you move, almost instinctively. Often we need to make effort to not move (or we made this effort already by blocking any movement we could possibly have =/). The skill for this chakra is also the creativity, but the personal one, the capacity of express feelings and thoughts through motion or something physical.
The first chakra is the last one for the manifestation to happen. And to be honest, I could never fully understand this chakra, sorry =p This chakra represents the most visceral part of humans, it represents the survival instincts. When dying by starvation one does not think “I will eat a nice red apple that I will catch in this and that way”, one goes, grab the apple and eat it. That’s it! The first chakra means “Do it”, it represents the capacity of delivery, the capacity to take the elements of the world and translate the abstract through those elements.
The first step to become an Avatar is self-improvement, is to develop skills but not just one, all those needed to “open the path”. In this process, the vision the person wants to follow becomes more and more clear and the capacity to manifest grows. As much the Avatar evolves in this path, as clearer the vision and stronger the manifestation. One that do not follow the path, cannot arrive at the final goal. The path is the goal. Happy Avatar path for you =)
Please, I will really appreciate if you share your opinion with me at the comments below.