Spirit – Soul, Courage – Page 11 – Living The Emerson Rule

April 7, 2022April 7, 2022

Relax; Don’t Believe What You See

Moving the needle on deeply entrenched belief systems is like walking in quicksand. It’s the struggle that traps me. I can emerge if I relax, float and slowly rise.

Still, changing course can be difficult considering objective reality reveals what I believe. The stumbling blocks are what I see with my eyes, feel on my skin, smell with my nose. The belief itself perpetuates its existence, giving it added legitimacy.

When I’m unwilling to modify a belief, nothing changes. Life marches on and I drag today into tomorrow – my hopes and desires seemingly futile. But if I’m open to examine the truths I consider unquestionable and absolute, change becomes possible.

Instant self-transformation is not a thing; yet the wish for magical fulfillment isn’t unique. Imagine parting a curtain and stepping through a portal to the heart’s desire. Let’s walk through that mysterious veil to a different world. Tempting; but a mean slippery slope. It’s better to follow a progressive path. A gradual change is less jarring, and more likely I can enjoy the company of my familiars along the way.

It’s possible to interrupt a recurring difficulty by observing my reactions to people and events. They reveal my self-concept, which could be sweet and satisfying or prickly and uncomfortable. It all plays out in front of me in the tangible world. The key is to suspend judgement; positive or negative. Let me be tolerant, charitable even with my observations.

Noticing the feeling is the first Step to relieve the pressure of judgement. Acknowledging its mine; how frequently and intensely it appears puts the emotion in perspective. This insight eventually allows me to set the burden down; to relax.

In a world that demands instant gratification, patience isn’t always appreciated. Taking baby steps to a heartfelt goal is learned behavior. We can definitely get there from here, a degree at a time. The trick is to stop struggling – float and slowly rise.

“You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

January 12, 2021December 30, 2022

Reactions Reveal Belief

Practicing Eckhart Tolle’s advice to “watch the thinker” as described in his book The Power of Now showed me how often my mind was overrun with trivia. It was enlightening to find my thoughts dominated by the refrain of a song or a scene from a sit-com. It took conscious, persistent work to retrain my mental habits. I still enjoy humming a favorite tune or thinking about some show’s witty or memorable dialog; just not incessantly.

This quote caught my attention because my current studies have me reflecting on my reactions as an indication of my beliefs. Watching my own reactions and finding the implied belief takes watching my thoughts to a different level. Of course, I started with my most uncomfortable and disagreeable reactions. Modifying them I thought was the best way to improve my life.

My beliefs supporting contrary, querulous and dismal responses weren’t too surprising. Common-sense and a little analytical thinking showed the limitation and absurdity of the beliefs that don’t serve me. Using a few practical techniques and tactics to re-direct my habits is moving me toward more pleasant perspectives.

This morning I was struck by my tendency to focus on dark impulses before turning to thoughts and beliefs that are joyful.

“.. what you see when you look at something depends not so much on what is there as on the assumption you make when you look.” – Neville Goddard

In The Power of Assumption’s chapter on Attitude, Neville Goddard counsels a woman frustrated by her contentious relationship with a coworker. Goddard asks about her mental conversations with her colleague; suggesting she most likely was having exchanges with him in her head that were critical and acrimonious. She admitted as much; saying she forcefully told him off every day on her way to work.

“.. others only echo that which we whisper to them in secret.”

“.. many people are mentally engrossed in conversation and few appear to be happy about it, but the very intensity of that feeling must lead them quickly to the unpleasant incident they themselves have mentally created and therefore must now encounter.”

Goddard explained that she could change this dynamic by imagining her conversations with him as pleasant and congenial. He encouraged her to hear the man praise her, and her responding with thanks. By doing this, methodically, with good intent, she reported a total turn-around with this relationship.

Giving attention to building my own joyful thought muscles I create that energy in my life. Momentum like this will improve my life more than simply pruning dead-end thoughts. Both are probably needed, but their order could be reversed.

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

January 4, 2021December 30, 2022

Imagination – Desire, Intent, Action

“Man, through his imaginal activity, literally ‘calls into existence the things that do not exist’. .”
– Neville Goddard

Using my imagination to call into existence what I desire appeals to my sense of autonomy. Neville Goddard inspires me to use my imagination to influence and mold my reality. I can do this consciously, or allow my thoughts to unfold mechanically. If I choose to live habitually – unconscious of different choices, different paths; I may very well have a fine life. Or a horrible one if I wallow in a half empty glass. Making use of my imagination consciously can bring to life astonishing creations.

“The world moves with motiveless necessity. By this is meant that it has no motive of its own, but is under the necessity of manifesting your concept, the arrangement of your mind and your mind is always arranged in the image of all you believe and consented to as true.”

“Health, wealth, beauty and genius are not created; they are only manifested by the arrangement of your mind – that is, by your concept of yourself (and your concept of yourself is all that you accept and consent to as true). What you consent to can only be discovered by an uncritical observation of your reactions to life. Your reactions reveal where you live psychologically; and where you live psychologically determines how you live in the outer visible world.”

My quest is to understand where I live psychologically and interrupt the habits that create an outer world that is anything less than desirable. Putting into practice Goddard’s teachings and techniques “consciously and deliberately” is fun, challenging and sometimes a rude awakening.

Fun, because I get to dwell on the things I want! Challenging, because I apparently want things that seem to be in direct opposition to each other. The rude awakening comes trying to reconcile my desires with what I believe to be true.

I want to be slim, trim and fit effortlessly — I believe I must eat right and exercise to reach my ideal. Why can’t I just eat a magic bean and *poof* my metabolism goes into hyper drive allowing me to sit on my ass and eat bon bons? Because I don’t believe in the magic metabolism bean. If you do – I’m jealous!

Goddard recommends we use the meditative state to envision the end result of what we desire.

“We must use our Imagination to achieve particular ends, even if the ends are all trivia.”

“Nothing stands between man and the fulfillment of his dream but facts: And facts are the creations of imagining. If man changes his imagining, he will change the facts.”

Meditation allows me to use my imagination to see things in my mind’s eye – things I believe CAN become true, even if they aren’t true in this moment. These imaginings are not magic beans. Goddard contends that “all transformation begins with an intense, burning desire to be transformed.” I must REALLY want to change from the inside out.

I must see myself doing / having that thing I want – feeling with “absolute fidelity” that I am that now. These desires earnestly lived in my imagination can manifest in my outer world.

Or; I can sit back and ride the wave of the life I was born into. Accept the cultural, societal and familial habits I grew up and grew old with. These customs and routines are comfortable; even the prickly and miserable practices. I know what to expect. Changing who I am can be scarier than simply riding the momentum of my life. But with imagination, desire and intent I can act and create magic.

“If the road which I have shown is very difficult, it yet can be discovered. And clearly it must be very hard if it is so rarely found. For how could it be that it is neglected by practically all, if salvation . . could be found without difficulty. But all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.”
— Spinoza

December 9, 2020December 30, 2022

A Belief So Deep

Finding the roots of a fervently held belief isn’t easy. They’re stealthy. We’re fed values and opinions from the moment of our birth. Culture delivers norms and customs that drive our behaviors. If I parse a belief down can I find its origin? Is it so foundational other certainties are built on it? If I choose to modify a foundational belief, will my life fold like a house of cards?

These are questions that if examined deeply and honestly impact my self-concept, which my ego depends on for my identity. But if I ignore them I could be just a collection of habits, repetitive acts, routines and duties.

Beliefs can be benign like: body weight goes up and down depending on how much I eat and how often I exercise. Personal experience, critical thinking and recognized health experts help establish evidence this belief relies on.

Some beliefs are trickier; like politics. Someone told me they belong to a particular political party because they’re fiscally conservative. They couldn’t easily substantiate their belief with accepted facts or personal experience, but were confident in their stance.

Faith can be a conviction that requires fealty not facts. The question I may want to ask myself; am I okay with the world reflected around me? That world has a direct correlation to what I believe. If I don’t like what I see, maybe a deep and honest look at things is warranted.

Reading the works of Neville Goddard has me reflecting on the concept I have of myself.

“. . we illuminate or darken our lives by the concepts we hold of ourselves.”

“Because life molds the outer world to reflect the inner arrangement of our minds, there is no way of bringing about the outer perfection we seek other than by the transformation of ourselves.”

“We can rely absolutely on the justice of this law to give us only that which is of the nature of ourselves.”

On an external level I know who I am. I understand many of my motivations, intentions and desires. Could I tell you where they came from? Perhaps. Maybe I could identify their origin, but unless I investigate how can I know if they’re true to me or a default product of my upbringing and environment?

Using the reflective mirror of my life allows me to scrutinize what I see, and if I don’t like it – dig deeper; determine what doesn’t serve me and consider making a change.

“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to.” – Byron Katie