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My very handy computer dictionary defines altar and temple in the following manner:

altar
noun
the table in a Christian church at which the bread and wine are consecrated in communion services.
• a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, esp. for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity.

temple
noun
a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.

Now, lest you imagine that I am a Christian, I will tell you that I am not. I am not anything you could ever possibly define, and neither are you. Now that we are free from bullshit definitions and labels, we can use the above definitions, and all religions in fact, for our own empowerment, experiment, and joy.

This article is about the utility of using an altar and a temple as metaphors for understanding how to make quick and lasting changes in our lives.

Let’s explore that definition a little more closely.

The altar in a Christian sense is, “the table in a Christian church at which the bread and wine are consecrated in communion services.” What is the metaphor behind the bread and wine? Some posit that the bread, the body of Christ, is semen, while the wine is menstrual blood. This idea communicates the mysteries and miracles of conception and birth.

Others see the bread as the body of god, and the wine as the blood. Yet others think of the bread as matter and the wine as energy. Further, a student of Art might see the bread as form and the wine as content.

For the purposes of Creative Deconstruction, where we steal every useful technique from every place we can find them, I propose that the bread and wine represent simple mundane items that have the power to affect our lives in powerful ways, if viewed from the proper perspective.

The proper perspective is this: everything on an altar has its proper place and function. The second definition of altar from above reads, “a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, esp. for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity.” Now, imagine your deeper self, the part of you beating the heart, working the lungs, operating bodily functions, and making your mind possible…this part is the “deity” you will serve with your altar and temple.

Every single item, person, and even your thoughts and manners of thinking, emotions, everything, the food you eat, the toothbrush you use, and all the clutter and stuff in your life, each of them plays some role for you. Each of them triggers a different emotional experience. Each of them triggers a cascade of thoughts, reactions, and activities in your mind and body.

Since we are imagining that you yourself are the God or Goddess indwelling in the temple of your life with various altars scattered about dedicated to your service and empowerment, it follows that we can use the screen of our conscious mind as a tool for upgrading and redesigning our altars and temple spaces in a more conscious and deliberate manner.

To begin, you must identify the true desires of the god inside you. Creative Deconstruction offers multiple approaches for accomplishing just that. What I mean by that is the dream or ultimate life you have thrown aside for a life of compromise where you do things you don’t like in order to get by. That is no longer a satisfying option for anyone, so give it up. If you need help, check in over at Creative Deconstruction Services page (here).

So, once you have uncovered and remembered your true dreams and desires, independent of any other forces in your life, you have the foundation to begin. If you have not found your true desires and dream life, you will design your altars and temple spaces to constantly aim your attention at the goal of discovering yourself more fully.

From there, go through everything you surround yourself with. Start with a desk, a car, your bedroom, or other such space. Make a list of your friends and associates. Now, deduce how each item, person, place, and thing fits into your goals on this planet. Notice whether they strengthen or weaken you in your pursuits.

From there, you can make decisions to scrap the weakening or distracting items, and to enhance and add positive triggers to aim your mind and body constantly toward your goals and desires. You can do it one piece at a time if you wish. If you are having trouble identifying just how an item, person, place, or thing affects you, try the following exercise:

Write out in your journal: “What does __________________ mean to me?” (Insert person, place, thing, habit, thought process into the blank space.) Do this for long enough to indentify what kinds of meanings your surroundings have been infused with. Start small and work up from there.

Once you build some momentum, your life will shift effortlessly in your favor. The idea here is to recognize that the things around us which we ignore are actually the background upon which our lives take place. This background influences us constantly in both subtle and direct ways. By shifting the background, we can shift the whole life.

Enjoy Everything! Infuse all things with arrows pointing toward your highest aims.

This post is inspired by Mark Joyner, and some of his Simpleology Business and Life Coaching Tools.

You rock!

-Garrett Daun