Corollaries

In the last post, I started explaining the concept of Blind Faithº -- the bedrock belief that everything everything is working out for our highest possible good(s).

And though I think I gave a pretty good answer to this question already, I can still imagine someone wondering: "WHY?"

Because I have other plans for this post, I don't want to spend much more time on this at present, but I will give the following three assertions in response:

• First, I happen to believe, as I mentioned already, that we all live and die, perceive and ignore, experience and avoid the entire world of life based almost solely on what we believe about it. The perspective we hold on life is the essence of what we live and experience.
• I also happen to believe that we are all connected -- that is, absolutely and utterly interlaced and continuous -- All is One, as they say. From our mingling atoms, to the energy connecting us and the empathy we share with everyone, we are as indivisible from stars as we are from each other. That is, we are all vital parts of the same thing.
• Finally, I also believe that the whole thing of which we are all parts cannot, truly speaking, ever do itself harm. There is no source of suffering in the universe, there is only a source of benevolent abundance, and our willingness to allow it in our lives or not.

I can't say for certain if these beliefs are antecedents or offspring of my Blind Faith in the process of existence. On the one hand, they feed into and make possible this bedrock reliance on our safe growth and development. Knowing that belief creates experience, knowing that my belief and experience have told me that everything is part of the same thing, and knowing that there's no reason to believe that the universe would need or want or even be able to harm itself -- does, in fact, make it easier to believe that everything is working out for all of our highest possible good(s). On the other hand, Blind Faith is all that underpins that knowing. I just believe those assertions to be true. And further, it is my trust in the continual evolving of our potentials in particular that guides me to believe the above assertions to be true.

It's rather like a hot air balloon. You wouldn't say that it's the air alone, or the heat alone, or the silk alone, or the stitching alone, or the tie-lines alone that make it fly. They all have to be there working together. The air is held by the  stitched silk, the silk balloon is held to the frame for the flame and the basket for the pilot by the tie lines -- the flame heats the air up so that it swells in the balloon, which lifts against the tie-lines, which pulls the rigging upward with the balloon, which means the flame stays with the balloon and heats the air, etc. etc.. Who can tell which one comes first or is the most important when you're soaring through the sky?

Put all together, my philosophical hot air balloon works something like this: 

I hold that the overriding principle in all of my experience of life is that everything is infinitely interwoven, part of the same universal thing; and that this entirety is benevolent to itself, and has orchestrated all of its parts so that everything is working together for the furtherest possible development of everything that is, toward our highest and most evolved well-being; and when we allow ourselves to hold that belief long enough to habitualize it into our default perspective, then we perceive nothing but the continual joyful unfolding of our potential.

The bottom line for the moment is -- it's worthwhile to hold the perspective "that everything always works out for me", in part, just because it conditions us to see that happening in our lives. The more often we remind ourselves that it's all going perfectly, the more regularly we will experience just that. The more consistently we consider our experiences to be good for us, the more good experiences we get to have!

In terms of action, you might be asking, "Once I get my Blind Faith up and running -- what do I do?" How do you turn Blind Faith into the job you want, or the relationship you want, or the lifestyle you want? And I would certainly be remiss if I left you, as I unfortunately did my friend (in the conversation I described in the previous post) without any further explanation.

Here's some actions that happen for me while I am living the life of Blind Faith: 

• For starters and foremost-ers -- I give a lot of gratitude. I'm giving thanks for the many blessings of life every single day. When something goes "wrong", I give thanks for the right. When something goes "worse", I appreciate that it's as good as it is. Even when I am at my lowest, I am giving thanks for what I must be gathering from it. That energy of being thankful for what is unfolding is both the means and the end of living a fulfilled life.
• Another thing I do a lot is look for the good that is coming. I look for proof of the good that's already in my life. I make note of the ease I am having. I count my blessings. I expect that the asshole who cut me off in traffic, made me miss the exit off the freeway, and made me too late for my important appointment has actually done me a favor, and as soon as I come to my senses I will realize what that is. I know it's all working out, so I am anticipating how that will occur, and I am ready when the moment comes to jump -- which usually means I make all of the appointments I am supposed to make with no trouble at all.
• In addition to looking for the proof that life is working out well for me (and thereby self-justifying my faith), I am also on the lookout for how well life is working for other people. I'm giving thanks for other people's successes and achievements and wisdom and abundance. I'm counting the blessings I see in other's lives as we meet in passing. I've even been thankful for the jokey signs of certain panhandlers...
• Another practice in which I regularly engage is relaxing. I take a pause from all activity, and just breathe deeply and fully. Even if it is just mere moments at a time, I get clear and centered and light, and I lean into the extremely calming notion that everything everything is working out perfectly for me. It's an excellent respite from thinking and doing stuff all the time, but much more importantly, this is an vital practice because it is re-programming my subconscious. This is a simple but effective form of self-hypnosis -- little daily increments of getting the largest, most powerful part of my brain on board with remembering and helping me act as if everything is proceeding as it should (which, of course, is how I want me to act!).
•  I also practice having fun. I grew up thinking everything had to be for some purpose. "You have to be doing something meaningful with your time or you're wasting it." Even something as simple and personal as making art had to have some higher purpose. I have since come to realize that the only real purpose -- for anything and everything -- is because it feels good and right. We may not be able to make laws or run a society based on it, but every person as the master and law of him/herself must abide by it or perish. We must and can only do what feels good and right to each of us. Having fun feels good for me, and more importantly, it's proving my faith to the everything. Again, it is both the means and the end in itself.
• Another vital practice is nurturing the inevitable manifestations of the life I want and the good coming to me. I make room for the things I am welcoming. I make preparations for the fruition of my plans. I look for the things I am being offered to do in order to allow what I want to come. I act in order to express my belief -- I pick up my shovel so that my faith can move the mountain.

When we act, it is important to remember that we have to have our minds ahead of us, or no matter what action(s) we take we will be putting the cart before the horse. As Buddha supposedly said (and someone wrote down in the Dharmapada), "with our thoughts we make the world" -- our hands just move it around. When our minds are working with us, expecting good things, looking for more things for which to be grateful, receiving the experience of life in faith that all is and will be well -- then even the smallest action has the weight of an epic triumph. Or as Jesus reportedly pointed out -- the "faith alone" is enough to move the mountain, if you have that, then all you have to do is "tell the mountain to throw itself in the sea and it will be done" (Matthew 21:21).

So get out there. Be full of Blind Faith. And enjoy yourself -- it's all going to be just lovely.

∞

Be well.

º the unshakeable definition of all things, circumstances, and events as positive agents in our becoming.

How Do You Feel About Money?

Growing up in the buckle of the Bible Belt of the South, I inherited a lot of nonsensical ideas about money. "It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to enter the eye of a needle," and "Don't store up treasures where moth and rust may destroy them..." and that sort of thing. Until I was in my mid-twenties I thought the old psalm said, "Money is the root of all evil," and of course, the revelation when it came was only to understand that it wasn't the thing itself, it was "The love of money" which was the root of all that evil. Rich people were greedy, slobbering demons, as far as I understood it, who would stop at nothing to take the last teeny morsel from the mouth of anyone in their paths.

After recovering from that harsh upbringing, it has taken me years to unearth and overcome the remaining brainwashing I was given around money. In the last decade, I have come to understand and appreciate it, not just as "another form of energy" like food, and love, and all the rest; and not just as a useful trade note for ease of exchange; but also as means to lots of things I really enjoy like: housing, and food, and health care, not to mention, wine and chocolate and family vacations. And considering where I had come from, I felt like I'd come a long way with my relationship with money. 

That is, until I started to become familiar with T. Harv Eker and his wonderful book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. This little gem is full of eye-openers on the subject of the differences between the ways rich people and poor people conceptualize money and earning money. The thing that clicked for me in a way I had never before considered was that rich people think about having money not just spending it. Before, I had only thought well of money as a means to get things I wanted or needed, or to empower others to get what they wanted or needed. At best I fantasized about all the people I could help with more money. And always, in my fantasies and imagining of being rich, I was giving lots of money away, spending tons, and using charity to justify the wealth.

Then, quite suddenly, I was handed this concept of just having money, not as a means, but as an end in itself. Rich people don't focus their money attention on how they'll spend it -- they know they'll have no trouble doing that. Rich people focus instead on having money, and making more, and keeping lots and lots of it. And they aren't ashamed to just possess the money itself. It doesn't have to be headed toward the greater civic or collective good, in order to be worthwhile or guilt-free. And it doesn't have to be simply a middleman to personal pleasure. Money is the intention, not it's potential trappings.

The second discovery that changed my money thinking was Morgana Rea's (patented) Prosperity Coaching technique of transforming one's interactions with money into a literal relationship with it. She teaches people to stop relating to money as a loveless ogre that you're ashamed to even bring into the room; and instead to relate with money as if it was the most wonderful, understanding and supportive, generous lover you've ever had -- a "Money Honey", she calls it. You get rid of your old inhibiting programming around money, and initiate a new directive to your mind to interact with an actual character (in your thoughts) who is a representation of your money, and ask it how best to woo and keep it.

Both of these concepts worked together to crystallize the idea for me that Money is Nice. It isn't a monster waiting to get me. It isn't a trickster waiting to teach me an embarrassing lesson. It isn't a demoralizer, or a family-wrecker, or gate-way obsession. It isn't just for charity projects. It isn't just for buying all the things we need. Money is nice all by itself. 

Now, the fear of scarcity... that thing is really the root of all evil.

And by the way, camels could, after the city gates were closed for the night, enter through a small portal in the wall called "the eye of the needle". Though it was difficult to get the camel to move forward on its belly, any camel could do it.

Ω

Want some help changing your relationship with money? You can hire me to walk you through your own process to a rich life. See the contact page for more information.

Be well.