There is NO Giving

[Max Power]

When we believe we must give something to get something, we are thinking in terms of sacrifice. Some may think of it as an exchange or bartering, you give to get.

According to ACIM, and I believe this is truth, it is the belief in sacrifice. The ego believes it must sacrifice something of value to receive something else it values. We sacrifice our time, doing work to receive money, which we exchange or trade for goods and services, which we aquire and store or use, which we then need to work more to replenish.

The ritual of sacrifice isn't just religious, we all prescribe to various forms of sacrificial thoughts - mostly about money and goods but it can be love, time, our youth, our creativity, or a million other things.

When we accept everything is the same substance in various forms, we see the folly of thinking there is any actual exchange, the only thing exchanged is our perception of the form the energy takes, and to do that we needn't have to give up anything at all - only our thoughts, we simply change our mind and see things differently.

This is an offering - you offer a different thought which changes your perceptions and allows the thing you desire to manifest into form.

==============================================

I didn't write this, but now I think about it.......of course I did.

Thanks TL

Max

I very rarely link, but it's worth it for the knowledge above, NO guru bullshit, just a special friend who is way smarter than Max Power!

Law of Consciousness

[Uplift]

That resonates with me. Giving and recieving have the same basis, being. Self generating, self sufficient being. Being that can create the illusion of splitting, separation, and then the experience of giving and receiving.

[MartialDev]

Sacrifice is an absolute requirement. Show me someone who has made no sacrifice, and I'll show you someone who has no attainment.

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

Sacrifice is an absolute requirement. Show me someone who has made no sacrifice, and I'll show you someone who has no attainment.

Depends how one defines sacrifice, I think.

In the world of competition, you're right: no sacrifice = no results.

In the world of abundance and creation, however, there's no such thing as sacrifice. Effort is not expended as a means to an end (work to earn money), but rather because the effort is an end unto itself (work because it gives me pleasure; the rewards come naturally).

I've come to realize that, from my own personal perspective, the world of competition is a means to drive creativity and create abundance. As an end to itself, competition is destructive. But as a means to abundance, competition is creative.

[maryelyn]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

Sacrifice is an absolute requirement. Show me someone who has made no sacrifice, and I'll show you someone who has no attainment.

why? why is this so? what is so inherently 'good' and 'noble' about self sacrifice? where does that belief come from?

[torilink]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

Sacrifice is an absolute requirement. Show me someone who has made no sacrifice, and I'll show you someone who has no attainment.

Sacrifice is essential to the ego. Absolutely - the ego demands it.

In truth there is no sacrifice, it is a misperception.

[Max Power]

Sacrifice is actually fear.

If you believe that you have to give something to get something, then you are living in fear of a power that demands sacrifice to attainment and that means you place creation outside of yourself.You can do that, but it's hardly a enjoyable way to exist, always at the mercy of something that you can't know or control.

If you believe that thought is the creative mechanism, then you are using thought to render formless energy into dense physical reality and there is no giving, no sacrifice. All you're really doing is changing the shape of energy and in your pure natural state that's all you are.

You are in fact the very thing you change, that is why change has to be from inside you, you never change the outside world, you change yourself inside. There really is no exchange, no giving, no receiving, just a rearrangment of energy by conscious choice.

Max

[cylon]

Originally Posted by Max Power

You are in fact the very thing you change, that is why change has to be from inside you, you never change the outside world, you change yourself inside. There really is no exchange, no giving, no receiving, just a rearrangment of energy by conscious choice.

Max

Ok this is making more sense to me. Previously I thought I was like a magnet with physical objects literally hurling themselves towards me from great distances. But I guess that supposes that there is seperation between things.

This is why I don't see the Law of Attraction in effect when, for instance, I'm watching a show with the actor Michael Douglas. I remember a story my buddy told me of how when he was a baby, Michael Douglas held him on an airplane. The moment I remembered that story, Michael douglas says "...but it's still your baby! I'm just the babysitter." or something like that. There was no baby, it was a metaphor. How could I "attract" that? I was just remembering a story. I didn't want Michael Douglas to say it, but he said it anyway. Or the other day when I was thinking I hadn't seen a coyote in a while, and one literally jumps right in front of me, the instant I had the thought (of course maybe I "sensed" him, don't know.) But I don't think I was actually INTENDING that.

It's just weird. That show I saw is decades old yet it responds to what I'm thinking in the present. Now I'm off topic.

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by cylon

.) It's just weird. That show I saw is decades old yet it responds to what I'm thinking in the present. Now I'm off topic.

I saw something here the other day, something I've always wanted to see for over 25 years, at one stage I actively seeked it out, but never found it, then a few days ago, here it was.

I started wondering why see it now? Why not years ago when I wanted it? Why now?

We think that time is continuous and has deepth, but I don't think that's right. Time is the ultimate deceptive illusion, while it gives us a way to track growth, growth itself is also a perception.

Eveything is inside a constant moment, so when you see something you wanted years ago and that seems from a long time ago, it's not a long time at all. It's still that one single constant moment.

It's like container theroy, everything required is already inside the container and the container is formless energy, we just change and rearrange the energy into stuff and create time to allude to growth.

Max

[cylon]

Time as illusion makes sense. That's the only explanation that makes sense to me at least. We think things are linear but they aren't. One moment. Damn this is weird but I can't deny it.

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by cylon

Ok this is making more sense to me. Previously I thought I was like a magnet with physical objects literally hurling themselves towards me from great distances. But I guess that supposes that there is seperation between things.

This is why I don't see the Law of Attraction in effect when, for instance, I'm watching a show with the actor Michael Douglas. I remember a story my buddy told me of how when he was a baby, Michael Douglas held him on an airplane. The moment I remembered that story, Michael douglas says "...but it's still your baby! I'm just the babysitter." or something like that. There was no baby, it was a metaphor. How could I "attract" that? I was just remembering a story. I didn't want Michael Douglas to say it, but he said it anyway. Or the other day when I was thinking I hadn't seen a coyote in a while, and one literally jumps right in front of me, the instant I had the thought (of course maybe I "sensed" him, don't know.) But I don't think I was actually INTENDING that.

It's just weird. That show I saw is decades old yet it responds to what I'm thinking in the present. Now I'm off topic.

Man! you're bringing back some memories... I can remember when those things were happening to me... Wait until people start verbally responding to your thoughts... I remember thinking one time to myself "they can't really hear me, can they...?" and a lady turned right at me, looked me square in the eye and said "oh yeah, we can hear you"... (Eh hem.. You'll have to excuse me, I think i'm now sitting in poo...)

You can't help but think "oh, this is f-d up". It puts a smile on my face now, but at the time you'd of thought I'd saw a ghost...

[cylon]

Dude I don't see why it can't happen to you again, except you keep mentioning that this is what "used to happen to you".

I'm figuring it out as I go along, but the one constant seems to be, when I doubt it and look for it, they don't appear to happen (which I now know, they really ARE happening, just in the way I expect, which is not to seem them... so I see what I expect, nothing).

But when I relax and think of the times they did happen, and realize that I don't need to push for it, is when they start happening again.

Like last week, with my San Francisco thing. I was listening to the radio, all excited thinking "man I wonder if I'll hear SF today!" Then I thought, "yeah, but don't force it. It will just be fun if they say it, but if they don't, it'll probably be somewhere else", that INSTANT they said "san francisco". This has been happening all last week, I'll think SF, then relax a little, and they say it.

I think when you're concerned it's not "working", that's what you get. When you just know it's going to happen eventually, and not to rush it, it happens twice as fast.

At least this has been my experience so far. Also, having so many of them, all at once, can freak you out so you may resist it for awhile. I think a lot of it has to do with fear.

[Lil Chris]

There's no doubt about it... I think your absolutely right... I need to relax and allow these things to happen...

Sorry, I just get really excited to hear you discussing your experiences and the intensity level of them... and I want them back (maybe at a lower intensity level)

[Nelson]

Sacrifice is an absolute requirement. Show me someone who has made no sacrifice, and I'll show you someone who has no attainment.

MartialDev is talking in terms of ruthlessness. He means trade, not sacrifice - but they carry the same meaning.

Try manifesting a totally fit body like Arnold Schwarzenegger without spending any time lifting weight. Try becoming a black belt without years of intense practice.

You must "sacrifice" time, energy, disempowering beliefs, unhealthy habits and many other things to achieve greatness. These must be given up. You cannot sit on your rump and manifest a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Period.

However, it is entirely possible to ENJOY your trade-offs or "sacrifice", it's all in your own perception:

While some people say "Oh noes! I have to give up junk food?"

Others choose to say, "Now I'm eating food that will give me tons of energy and stength. Now I'm becoming healthier and more vibrant EVERY DAY!"

One type of person is "sacrificing", the other person is simply trading his time and energy for a happier and more succesful life.

Yes, sacrifice is required, but looking at it as a sacrifice is not. It's more like you're investing in your self.

[cylon]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

There's no doubt about it... I think your absolutely right... I need to relax and allow these things to happen...

Sorry, I just get really excited to hear you discussing your experiences and the intensity level of them... and I want them back (maybe at a lower intensity level)

Yeah, trust me your encouragement has shown me I'm on the right path.

[dorothy hanna]

The truth is, EVERYTHING IS FREE!

[MartialDev]

Originally Posted by Nelson

MartialDev is talking in terms of ruthlessness. He means trade, not sacrifice - but they carry the same meaning.

I think not; sacrifice recognizes the possibility that you might end up with nothing.

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

I think not; sacrifice recognizes the possibility that you might end up with nothing.

Sacrifice means you have to do something or give something to get something and that is based on fear of denial.

You are afraid that if you don't do something, then you'll be denied something.

Sacrifice=Fear=Denial=Vicitm Mentality.

That is a crap way to live and it's even a form of self enslavement.

Max

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by Max Power

You are afraid that if you don't do something, then you'll be denied something.

No.

A soldier may sacrifice himself by leaping on a grenade (which, alas, is something that's going on pretty much everyday in Iraq). He won't be denied anything except through the act of sacrifice, in which he'll likely lose his life, but he'll save the lives of his men.

In my own personal case, I've sacrificed considerable resources in giving money away to friends who have been in dire straits. I don't ever expect to get the money back, but the only thing I'm denied are the resources that I've willingly given away. It does my heart good, they get some financial breathing room, and everybody wins. There's no denial in the equation at all.

If there is, then that's entirely in the world you've created. But it's not in mine.

[cylon]

Originally Posted by cdn2wheeler

It does my heart good, they get some financial breathing room, and everybody wins. There's no denial in the equation at all.

That's not sacrafice, that's doing something that you want to do.

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by cylon

That's not sacrafice, that's doing something that you want to do.

Well, yes. But I still was denied use of those resources, which I really could have used at the time. Wouldn't that be considered a sacrifice?

[cylon]

Originally Posted by cdn2wheeler

Well, yes. But I still was denied use of those resources, which I really could have used at the time. Wouldn't that be considered a sacrifice?

I don't know. In my mind sacrafice has means doing something you don't want to do because you think in the long run, it will pay off rewards that make up for it. It usually involves lots of frustration and resentment.

But you got your reward in the moment of giving, and don't seem too worried about the money.

[cdn2wheeler]

Yes, I see what you mean; that by giving some friends a wad'o dough, the benefit I got from the giving more than made up for the loss of the resources.

Hard to say, really. I bounce back and forth with it in my mind as I sit here...