Tim/Mounds,
I spent some time considering how to reply because I did not want a back-and-forth that would appear as if I'm belaboring the matter. However, at the risk of seeming to proselytize, I have to respond point-for-point because these are important issues here and it seems like I should share what I've come to understand about them. Please read my reflections with the knowledge that a lot of goodwill cannot come across over an internet forum!
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Originally Posted by Mounds  Regardless of whether we choose a mindset or not, we'll end up with a mindset!  |
The point is to be aware of one's mindset. It would appear that many New Agers (same as Christians/Hindus/etc.) are not -- not aware that they are
choosing to believe in something, instead of being forced to believe in this something because it is a fact.
For example, some Jews believe that pork, shellfish, etc. are literally dirty and will somehow harm you physically. Others take it simply as a life-long test of faith. Still others understand it to be mere cultural artifacts, but which they choose to follow because such practices bind the community together. Then there are those who shrug at it all but still consider themselves Jews. See the difference?
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Originally Posted by Mounds It's just the way we're wired.
Some people have the mindset that spiders are scary, everything happens to them, or that freedom is a lottery ticket away. Many of those people have never heard of the concepts we discuss here. Still, they have a mindset. |
I "believe in" the Buddhist/Taoist "no-mind." I know it for myself because I have "been" "there." It is possible to get beyond mindsets.
I know that sounds weird since it appears that I have quite a mindset here, and a rather entrenched one -- but that's the tragedy of language, where the moment you put "something" into words, you've "lost" that something ("so to speak!" Truth is, "it" was never "captured" by words in the first place so it cannot be "lost" at all)....
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Originally Posted by Mounds The catch is whether or not it works in your life. If it works, who cares? If it creates dissonance, do something about it! |
This is why I have a problem with "business," and the business of "personal development" and "intention manifestation" in general: if it works, who cares?
I'm a science major, and you know, science majors love to look down on humanities majors -- and, truth to tell, the vast majority of people majoring in English or Philosophy aren't serious about those subjects, really, but imagine (and often justifiably so) an easy "A."
But neither are most science majors; they're just in it for the money, thinking they're going to be doctors or engineers -- they could care less about exploring our world and healing lives. But the funny fact is, there is
so much cheating going on in the science courses! In fact, though it is really easy to b.s. your way through an essay (it's amazing how many professors just don't care), a science exam (at least at the undergraduate level, with 200 students in a lecture hall) is even easier to cheat on -- in fact, the humanities exam, with its essays, only allows but "gaming" or BSing but the science exams can be outright cheated on....
Anyway, the point is, this "if it works, who cares?" attitude is so dangerous on so many different levels...consider the temptation of Jesus (or Buddha at the cusp of enlightenment -- it's a common motif no matter the hero): you want world peace? You want a just world? Okay! I am the god of this world, power has been granted me to provide all this and more. Just bow down to me and acknowledge my suzerainty and lions shall lie down with lambs immediately! If it works, who cares??
Yes, in the language of PD/IM/etc. I have a "self-limiting belief," which is that it does matter how I arrive at the answer.
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Originally Posted by Mounds As an example, I used to have the mindset that the Law of Attraction was baloney. Instead of leaving it at that, I became abrasive towards people who believe in LOA. When you're mindset leads to that sort of behaviour, you can be pretty sure you've got the scarcity/victim mindset going on. |
I used to do tarot cards and numerology. I've investigated this stuff myself already, and I mean I really studied it. I could even do a reading now, though it's been years and years since I've practiced on anyone!
So it's not like I look down on people, having been there myself. But except insofar as I recognize that I've grown beyond such escapist activities and attest to such a fact, it will seem as if I am denigrating others' belief systems.
This is why it is important to have a mind capable of subtlety and yet strong enough not to become lost in nuances.
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Originally Posted by Mounds Moving into an abundant/empowered mindset means that I can talk about it, I can join in on the fun, log off, and not have to practice it myself. |
I can talk about it too, as I think you see -- but I do not feel like it is anything spectacular.
Here's a real Secret: you were already empowered. You cannot help but be empowered. That you have come to hear of this basic truth through LOA/IM auspices speaks not to
their truth, just like anyone can tell you that smoking is bad without having to be a doctor.
LOA/IM speaks in terms of a freedom
from. That's what philosophers call a "negative" freedom. It's a primitive freedom, one which even animals desire.
There is another freedom, another power. LOA/IM don't speak of this because it doesn't know it at all -- which is why LOA/IM efforts are focused on money, cars, and the usual (it's why no LOA/IM pitch ever talks about world peace, hunger, injustice...nope, apparently "the power of the universe" is only good enough to get you a better love, a better romantic partner...).
Anyway, here's a tip for the road (of life): if someone's making good money from it (anything spiritual), you can be sure it's false.
Why is that? Why the traditional tension between holiness and wealth -- why is it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven?
There is a reason. That reason is power. Power corrupts. Like fat cells, which the body needs but too much of which will destroy the body, power is necessary -- but too much and it destroys the soul (so to speak; there is no literal "soul").
Those who make an "abundant" living repackaging spiritual truths (ah, the power of marketing, which no one ever admits to being under!) have failed the test of Jesus and Buddha (referenced above), all the holy men of myth -- they have traded the hard life of God for the peace of death.
"If it works, so what?"
That's "what."
(P.S.: It's now occurred to me that you may think I was reacting to your parable [in which case my comments can be seen as besides the point]. I wasn't. Just wanted to be clear on that.
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