Abundance paradigm versus "reality"?

[OneGrassRoot]

I'm struggling with something and wonder if you guys do as well, and how you deal with it.

It's basically the idea of focusing on what you choose to experience, not necessarily what you are experiencing. Not IGNORING it but focusing most of one's energy on the shift we'd like to experience rather than the current reality.

Poverty, for example.

I can't and won't ignore it, and it's hard not to be in a space of fear/outrage about resources being depleted, hoarded by a small percentage of humans, etc., etc.

And I realize anger and outrage can be a huge catalyst for many to get out of a state of apathy, so it can definitely serve a larger, positive purpose of awakening.

Yet for me, personally, it doesn't work that way. I become so consumed with it (that friggin empath thing) that I become overwhelmed and ineffective. I can very easily shut down.

I, personally, do much better when I can acknowledge what I wish to change and then approach it from the direction of focusing on the change I wish to see...solidly working towards it in some way but my energetic focus being on the shift, not the current reality.

Sorry if that sounds lame or doesn't make sense. :eyes:

So on one hand I believe it's healthy to try to maintain an outlook that there is no scarcity at all (because I believe, on some level, that is indeed true...I believe so much of what we're experiencing is an illusion, but a brutal one that feels so darn real); on the other hand, we ARE in this human experience and witnessing so much lack and injustice and so forth that I'm having a hard time bridging the two: the illusion of lack and the truth of Abundance.

Do you think if more and more people were able to open their hearts, and then open their minds to a degree not yet experienced (the awakening and evolution and "shift" we speak of so often), that solutions to "lack" and that it's really an illusion we've created would become apparent?

Do you think an overwhelming and pervasive attitude of fear (which causes people to be selfish and hoard, lack compassion, etc.) is what is creating this experience of lack of resources?

I'm just so torn because I resonate with the posts relating worry there won't be enough food and water to survive (and I think we can be wise and resourceful in our daily life without necessarily succumbing to a panicked state about it), yet I also believe it's an illusion we have within our power to eliminate, and that if we stay in the fear/lack space, it will just continue.

But how to make this illusion go *poof* when most of us ARE affected by lack (money, resources, well-being, etc.) in our daily lives? I don't know. I feel shallow and callous when I even consider suggesting that people not focus on the lack (because I'm a revolutionary at heart, and injustice and hypocrisy rile me up more than anything) and instead focus on a society they dream of creating. When people are suffering, many times that angers them more...when people suggest something all "airy-fairy."

Yet I know myself well enough to accept that I, personally, can't exist and sustain functionality in an environment of fear and anger.

Is it a matter of truly two different worlds being created, both of value and with a destiny? One world of lack and struggle and another being created through our hearts and visions? Can they be bridged, do you think?

If this makes sense to anyone, bless you. :hug:

[conscious evolution]

1. For some reason

when I read this the Tao Te Ching and the Hua Hu Ching came to mind.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Both of which are completely unknown to me....

though I've certainly heard of the first, at least. :)

Anything more specific to impart? Are you saying I might benefit from becoming familiar with these two things? ;)

Thanks. :hug:

[conscious evolution]

4. Look them up

Nothing specific comes to mind but then again the tomes speak to differant people in differant ways.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. okay :)

:hug:

[Oak2004]

3. Keep it simple

It's impossible to get the world of words to correspond one to one with actual reality. And that's the failure of "The Secret" (nothing secret at all about a common error) and other will it, you get it theories out there. They take a snippet of truth and build an air castle of words around it, and from that one gets contradictions at best, cruelty at worst (i.e., concluding that injustice is the fault of its victims). One can't make sense of any of it by renovating any of the air castles. Every attempt to do so, every apparent success at resolving one set of contradictions with more word theories will yield a whole new set of problems and contradictions and cruelties.

Keep it simple. Faith and works, wisdom and compassion, truth and love: everything out there that has survived the test of time hits those two themes, over and over and over again. It's possible to love without a theory of love, to seek justice where there is none and persist at it; and, I argue, it's altogether impossible to see truth with a head full of a theory of truth, any more than one can see the sights along the road with one's head buried in a guidebook, even the very best guidebook.

Keeping it simple may seem like walking blindly. It's disconcerting to learn to live with things one does not know. Glittering castles made of words seem to offer much more comfort. But it's better to walk in apparent darkness than it is to walk in delusion.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Thanks, Oak2004

Please be patient with me, as I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. ;)

It's possible to love without a theory of love, to seek justice where there is none and persist at it...

To seek justice where there is none. Yes, just because we don't live in a just society, doesn't mean we can't continue to strive to CREATE a just society.

I find that's always been the huge difference between the right-wingers I was raised around, and continue to be surrounded by: We all see the world as unjust, but while they accept it (and, in my mind use it as an excuse to be selfish and even lazy, emotionally and intellectually), I refuse to accept it as the only way things can be.

I'm not sure if that's what you were saying, but it's what I took from it. :)

It's disconcerting to learn to live with things one does not know. Glittering castles made of words seem to offer much more comfort. But it's better to walk in apparent darkness than it is to walk in delusion.

I'm missing the boat on this but would like to understand what you're saying here.

Do you feel that focusing (in words and deed) on something others may feel is a Utopian experience is disconcerting, and that such desires are delusional? Sorry...just trying to understand.

Without a doubt, many have taken advantage of others, especially in modern times, with such approaches. IMHO, the intention -- the core intent -- is in play, and most of the core intention for things such as The Secret was simply to make money. It had little to do with shifting our life experience. Certainly many of those things have give us a bad taste as it pertains to "focusing on the positive."

Maybe this gets down to the bottom line way in which we all see the world differently -- including potentially other levels of existence?

I think I'm confusing myself even more than in my OP. :rofl:

Thanks again for replying, and thanks in advance for having patience with me. :hug:

[Oak2004]

12. Eeek... I need to check after I make posts, *dilligently*

I posted that reply just before I went out on the first non-medical or vet outside-the-house adventure in over a year -- got the out of control weeds growing on my head mowed, and stopped by the grand re-opening of a local crafts store where I picked up all sorts of goodies I've been contentedly playing with ever since... as your response languished without a reply.

My aide is about to get me out of bed in about a minute, so I can't post a decent reply now. But I will get back to this, today.

[Oak2004]

13. Okay, it's still technically "today" when I started this :)

Let me try to explain what I meant (hopefully more clearly this time!) by taking your original post piece by piece


>I'm struggling with something and wonder if you guys do as well, and how you deal with it.

>It's basically the idea of focusing on what you choose to experience, not necessarily what you are >experiencing. Not IGNORING it but focusing most of one's energy on the shift we'd like to experience >rather than the current reality.

That's the point where I think we diverge.

I think it is very important to see things exactly as they are. This isn't as grim an assertion as it might seem. I think there is a real and present continuum between the exactly-as-it-is world where there are peas mixed in with the bird poop on the floor next to me and, somewhere, in town (probably more than one someone, somewhere, in town) cried themselves to sleep under some bush in one of the parks, and the exactly-as-it-is capital-R Reality. By real and present I mean that seeing the poop for what it is, no embellishments, and seeing capital-R Reality, is truly one and the same seeing. See one, see the other. Obscure one, obscure the other. The connection is not theoretical or abstract, but experiential.

So I place a high value on seeing things as they are. It's one of the reasons that I refuse to see atheism and skepticism as some sort of opposite of spirituality and reason as some sort of opposite of mysticism. They want to understand reality as it truly is, and so do I, so where exactly is the opposition?

So as someone who puts a high value on seeing things as they are, I don't like things that get in the way of it. One thing that gets in the way of seeing things as they are-- in fact the prime obscurant-- is a theory of what one should be seeing, especially a theory of reality that assumes that reality can be described in language (any language), because language lacks the complexity to describe reality.

Let me see if I can illustrate my point. Years ago, a book was written, Flatland, to try to explain what it means to live in an n-dimensional universe where n is greater than three. It is the story of a two dimensional world, where daily routine has been disturbed by the arrival of a sphere. The residents of Flatland see the sphere as a point, which grows into a circle, then shrinks back to a point and disappears (if you think about it, this is exactly what a sphere would look like if it passed through a two-dimensional plane).

When we live in the world of language, we're in the position of Flatlanders. We see a two dimensional world illuminated by a two dimensional tool. When Reality does intrude on our two dimensional world, we come up with two dimensional language for it, like "expanding and contracting circle", when in fact the underlying reality is so very much more rich, and complex, and multidimensional. When we build two dimensional theories about n-dimensional reality, they have the potential to blind us to what is actually present.

Theories of abundance are theories, and have the potential to blind. Theories of prosperity are theories, and have the potential to blind. Theories of justice, of injustice, of the nature of good, of evil, theories as to how things should be (yes, even theories of theories!) all have the potential to blind. They can be useful if held loosely in the mind, without belief and with the expectation that they will need to be abandoned at some future date, but unless held loosely, they will blind.

You have a two-dimensional theory of how justice and injustice work, and how it is one can get things done. You may not have thought of it that way, but that is what it is. It's not proving adequate, and you are looking for how to improve your theory so that it better fits your experiences and provides you with greater peace of mind. I am suggesting you consider abandoning it, or at least holding it lightly with the understanding you'll jettison it someday.

>Poverty, for example.

>I can't and won't ignore it, and it's hard not to be in a space of fear/outrage about resources being >depleted, hoarded by a small percentage of humans, etc., etc.

>And I realize anger and outrage can be a huge catalyst for many to get out of a state of apathy, so >it can definitely serve a larger, positive purpose of awakening.

>Yet for me, personally, it doesn't work that way. I become so consumed with it (that friggin empath >thing) that I become overwhelmed and ineffective. I can very easily shut down.

It may be an empath thing. Or you're losing sight of the nature and origin point of your anger, which is of course love. After all, you would not be angry if you did not love, and so love is buried in there somewhere, no matter how angry you get :)

Not all anger has its roots in love of course. Quite a bit is rooted in fear, selfishness, confusion, and outright hate. And even love, when contaminated with a touch of fear, can lose its bearings and think it is fear.

>I, personally, do much better when I can acknowledge what I wish to change and then approach it from >the direction of focusing on the change I wish to see...solidly working towards it in some way but my >energetic focus being on the shift, not the current reality.

I would say it isn't the reality that is getting you. It's your theory blinding you to all but a distorted, two dimensional projection of that reality.

>Sorry if that sounds lame or doesn't make sense. :eyes:

>So on one hand I believe it's healthy to try to maintain an outlook that there is no scarcity at all >(because I believe, on some level, that is indeed true...I believe so much of what we're experiencing >is an illusion, but a brutal one that feels so darn real); on the other hand, we ARE in this human >experience and witnessing so much lack and injustice and so forth that I'm having a hard time >bridging the two: the illusion of lack and the truth of Abundance.

I don't think it's healthy to maintain an outlook that there is no scarcity at all, because such an attitude tells one what one should see, and so prevents one from seeing what is. And I don't buy into quasi-Pythagorian ideas of an imperfect world down below, and a perfect world above. I do know that even the apparent pattern of injustice is a two dimensional projection of a far richer multidimensional reality, but they are not speaking of two different realities, the projection and the real thing. They're one and the same reality.

>Do you think if more and more people were able to open their hearts, and then open their minds to a >degree not yet experienced (the awakening and evolution and "shift" we speak of so often), that >solutions to "lack" and that it's really an illusion we've created would become apparent?

To injustice, yes. But not to natural scarcity.

I am not sure this explanation will make much sense, even to me (I doubt I can put this concept in words very well), but here goes: injustice is an absurdity, the societal equivalent of a psychotic break. It makes no sense and can be overcome. Limitation, though, is another matter altogether. Limitation is not the enemy. Limitation is the structure, the skeleton of what is, without which nothing else is or can be, and without which no motion is possible.

Have you ever seen an illustration (or better yet a tunneling electron microscope image) of the molecular structure of a crystal? The molecules sit aligned in neat, orderly, rows and columns whose positions dictate the eventual structure of the crystal. The act of crystallization limited the molecules to these positions relative to each other, and in doing so created an organized, structured, limited -- and thus both beautiful and useful -- crystal. The difference between the diamond and a lump of coal is limitation.

Limits are not bad. Limits are the best thing going. One can no more have beauty or truth or love or joy without limitation than one can inhale without exhaling, or have day without night. Limitation is a beautiful thing. Injustice, however, sucks.

>Do you think an overwhelming and pervasive attitude of fear (which causes people to be selfish and >hoard, lack compassion, etc.) is what is creating this experience of lack of resources?

I think fear causes a lot of confused behavior, including some (not all) economic injustice, though I'm also equally sure there are limits to the resources we have available to us.

>I'm just so torn because I resonate with the posts relating worry there won't be enough food and >water to survive (and I think we can be wise and resourceful in our daily life without necessarily >succumbing to a panicked state about it), yet I also believe it's an illusion we have within our >power to eliminate, and that if we stay in the fear/lack space, it will just continue.

One can't eliminate any illusion of any sort by mustering one's power to eliminate it. Reality just is. It doesn't require any special effort to create it. One eliminates illusions by letting oneself see things as they are.

Injustice has no there there, of course. It hasn't any substantial reality, but is composed of the collective misdeeds of a highly confused society that would not behave so badly if it had any sense at all. There's room there for employing power, but that's a much more interesting problem than it first appears ;) I hate to leave this dangling like that, but I won't post here what
i might have to say on the subject. Maybe in the "other" ASAH sometime.


>But how to make this illusion go *poof* when most of us ARE affected by lack (money, resources,
>well-being, etc.) in our daily lives? I don't know. I feel shallow and callous when I even consider >suggesting that people not focus on the lack (because I'm a revolutionary at heart, and injustice and >hypocrisy rile me up more than anything) and instead focus on a society they dream of creating. When >people are suffering, many times that angers them more...when people suggest something all "airy-
>fairy."

I'd say just love, and make the best decisions one is capable of regarding tactics. That, and keep asking oneself questions (like these and others), not to find the answer in a theory, but to keep oneself ever oriented towards reality, so that at some point one might see clearly.

>Yet I know myself well enough to accept that I, personally, can't exist and sustain functionality in >an environment of fear and anger.

Maybe I'm about to be overly blunt, but I don't believe you. You are, after all, existing at this moment, and functioning to the best of your ability despite your own anger and fear, and there is nowhere to run to where you can get away from that environment.

OTOH, I will believe a less absolutist statement that the current situation sucks and because you care it is hurting you. And yes, it does suck, and it is hard not to feel crushed under the weight of it all :hug:

>Is it a matter of truly two different worlds being created, both of value and with a destiny? One >world of lack and struggle and another being created through our hearts and visions? Can they be >bridged, do you think?

No, see above, I'm not a neopythagorean (I'm more like a pseudoexistentialist, actually ;) ) . There's one and only one world, and it is neither perfect nor imperfect.

As I mentioned in my original response, the capital-R Reality that is does not form a one to one correspondence with language (any language- the problem is with the very infrastructure of language itself). It is possible to know Truth, but it is not possible to speak Truth. There is no adequate description for what is. The questions you ask have no answer in language. Questions you ask might not even make sense in light of the Actual.

One can, of course, make up a theory describing multidimensional reality in two dimensional terms. Such a theory would be incomplete and/or just plain wrong. I think when one does not know, it is better to be honest with oneself and know one does not know, rather than to pretend one does know. While the discomfort of not knowing can productively drive one to an answer, the false comfort of a false answer tends to blind those it comforts.

When in the darkness of ignorance, walk in darkness knowing one is in darkness. Love (you don't need a theory for that, as I said before). And aspire to know the truth, rather than to explain the truth to yourself.

>If this makes sense to anyone, bless you. :hug:

And I hope I've made a little more sense of my answer.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Whoaaaa.......

:)

:hi:

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond in such detail. It may take me a day or two to read through it and truly absorb, and respond in kind.

Thanks again. I hope you're entering a spell of wellness and feel much, much better this week. :hug:

[I Have A Dream]

8. One of my Facebook friends just posted this...

Ping Li - "Living a truly abundant and fulfilled life and manifesting and creating all of your visions and heart’s desires is not about working harder, it is about aligning your desires and will with the desires and will of God and letting go of your ego’s will to control and allowing the universe to arrange all the details of manifesting your desires..." An excerpt from my book...Free chapter http://tinyurl.com/lwzd2s

(I don't know this person. She just asked me to be her Facebook friend after I joined a Facebook group.)

[FirstLight]

7. let me chew on this a while...

I would like to reply in depth, but don't have enought TIME (yet another illusion, lol) to delve deep right now...

though I did touch on this idea QUITE a bit earlier this week, and it was amazing what the universe showed me as a result...still working it!

[get the red out]

9. I can't control things

I can't control things, so my absolute rage at the way things are only harms me and makes me utterly ineffective in contributing positively to the world. I have found this out the hard way and am sure I will revisit those lessons from time to time again. However, I get even more incensed when I feel like injustice is being swept under the carpet for the sake of a few not wanting to endure the reality of seeing it. There has got to be a middle way, to be detached enough so that misery and injustice do not imprint themselves on me to such an extent that it becomes my focus and projection; and hiding from these things.

I am attempting some detachment lately and have found that there are things I can do to both see injustices and limit it's hold on my energies. I try to stay out of long, raging internet debates with those who can intellectually dismiss wrongs, greatly limit my exposure to sensationalization intended to capture me by my emotions through the story (Cable News), make sure to engage in some kind of positive spiritual activity or conversation frequently so that I can replenish myself with hope because fear and anger deplete me so much. I also try to calmly help others to understand that the injustices I see and know of actually do exist so that they won't live in the illusions fed to them by profit driven sources. Prayer and meditation are also very necessary for me to keep my head on straight.

Anything that is over-done seems to end up defeating its intended purpose IMO. Focusing on "abundance" to the extent that we forget the unfortunate, or as someone else said, BLAME the unfortunate is suspiciously like fear to me. Though I do work on trying to make my thoughts more positive these days because I don't want to start projecting tragedy that has yet to happen, we really should not focus on all sorts of tragedies as inevitable, that is a very self-defeating way to go.

[crikkett]

10. I'm not sure what you're trying to do.

At the beginning of your post it seems that you're asking for advice on how to change your own mind, but then later on it seems that you're trying to change other people's minds.

You can't change other people's minds. You can give them reasons to change their own minds.

Do you think if more and more people were able to open their hearts, and then open their minds to a degree not yet experienced (the awakening and evolution and "shift" we speak of so often), that solutions to "lack" and that it's really an illusion we've created would become apparent?

Um, yes, if what they're opening their eyes/mind to is a different way of life.

Do you think an overwhelming and pervasive attitude of fear (which causes people to be selfish and hoard, lack compassion, etc.) is what is creating this experience of lack of resources?

Yes again, but the answer is to first, find the source of the fear and get away from it. I think it's television. And for lots of people, places like DU. (sorry) Then, the second part of the answer is to seek innovative alternatives to what caused the problem. It takes work and resourcefulness.

I'm just so torn because I resonate with the posts relating worry there won't be enough food and water to survive (and I think we can be wise and resourceful in our daily life without necessarily succumbing to a panicked state about it), yet I also believe it's an illusion we have within our power to eliminate, and that if we stay in the fear/lack space, it will just continue.

But how to make this illusion go *poof* when most of us ARE affected by lack (money, resources, well-being, etc.) in our daily lives? I don't know. I feel shallow and callous when I even consider suggesting that people not focus on the lack (because I'm a revolutionary at heart, and injustice and hypocrisy rile me up more than anything) and instead focus on a society they dream of creating. When people are suffering, many times that angers them more...when people suggest something all "airy-fairy."

This is where I think you're on an impossible mission. You say "I don't know" but you do. See the bolded part of your quote.

If you're torn it's because you know that dwelling on "these threads" is feeding energy to the illusion you want to dissipate. But you can't go away to starve this illusion to death because you're hooked on the idea of trying to get the illusion to kill itself. It won't. Ever.

You have to go away, and starve it of energy. Start up and participate in threads about the illusions you want to empower.

Good luck!
:hi:

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Thanks, crikkett. Here's more....

I have zero retention, so I had forgotten all about writing this. ;)

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm clear about that much within me, at least. ;)

My dilemma -- and thus my ramble -- comes into play when, for example, I'm interacting with someone who is homeless or in another dire life situation.

Acknowledging their current life situation is important to me. Yet, I'm trying to find a way to balance acknowledging a reality -- and thus interacting with those in such a reality -- yet not get sucked into the devastating injustice and pain of that reality, especially since I'm potentially close to living that same reality...we all are...."there but for the Grace of God."

I don't want to ignore those in crisis because it's uncomfortable for ME; that's what too many already do, in my opinion. Yet, in order to be effective in creating a NEW reality, I'm trying to find my own personal way of acknowledging and interacting in that harsh reality yet maintain the focus on a new, more gentle, joyful reality.

Everyone is different. One of my weaknesses is that I have a hard time with boundaries and get sucked in easily...sucked downward.

How to focus on and create this new reality without offending others who are living the harshness is what I was rambling about. People are, understandably, very easily offended when they're in crisis and that crisis isn't acknowledged.

Many of my rambles of late are about communication and community, on a large scale, and the personal struggles I'm having with both. Sorry if I keep confusing you guys. But, I'm confused, so it's hard for me to be clear myself. ;)

Thanks again. :hug: