The Phoenix Self: In Search of Methuselah

Lessons from the Fourth Attainment

Postulate — Mastering the as if perception of time and change.

Terrain for The Fourth Attainment — Learning thriving resilience from adversity with uncertainty as your guide.

“Enrique, when your father left, it was abandonment that shocked your world: adversity at full speed. Nevertheless, you overcame the challenge and thrived. So rather than looking at how you were victimized, we will examine the unique strategies you applied from your innate intelligence, and what you learned from guides who graced your life.”

“Professor, the shift of emphasis you present is already having a welcoming effect on me. I invested so much emotional inquiry into trying to understand why my father hurt me, rather than recognizing until now, that I was only developing expertise in victimhood.”

“Well said, Enrique. Never forget that the prison of nostalgia is built on longing for what we lost and blaming ourselves for the losses.”

“Guilty as charged, serving a long sentence in the infamous prison of nostalgia, but no more. I want my freedom.”

“And you shall have it, my dear Enrique. This precious freedom that you owe to yourself, begins when you identify your internal wounded hero who chose not to embrace the victim archetype.”

“The landscape you’re proposing brings meaning and guidance to understand adversity. But please define the victim archetype, and the more fascinating, wounded hero?”

“The victim archetype is helplessness fed by our most haunting fears. Fortunately, the hero lives within our unclaimed worthiness waiting to do battle with dragons that feed on our fears of being abandoned, shamed, and betrayed by those we trusted to protect us when our hearts were young. The victim chooses the path of devaluation, while the hero embraces emotional elegance to access the healing fields of commitment for the wound of abandonment, honor for the wound of shame, and loyalty for the wound of betrayal. The victim is incapable of healing until the hero is summoned to implode the prison of nostalgia.”

Excerpts from Dr. Mario Martinez's book The Phoenix Self (in publishing review).