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Materialism as
a Spiritual guide, an American paradox.
I want ten million dollars
and I know it will be great to have it. And this desire can teach me
about myself. All desires are symbols representing aspects of
yourself that you have forgotten. Call this an American approach to
enlightenment. In America we are rich, we will not give up our
material luxuries, we will continue our mad pursuit of everything
all the time. Lets face it. We will not still the mind, or take the
Buddha’s advice and give up desire, we will seek and acquire, shop
till we drop, we’re American consumers and that’s our spiritual
path. So lets work with that…
Here is an interesting
process you can do. Think about something you want and use a few
questions to get at the core of your beliefs, your values and the
direction of your life. What do you want? I want
$10,000,000.00. Why do you want that? Because then I
will have all the toys, I will be free to play and not work.
What will that give you? A sense of ease, security, fun, the
ability to create more, I can give more, I can help people, I can
start an organization to help kids etc…OK and when you have
all that, what will that give you? I will feel complete, I
will feel powerful and good about myself. OK and what will
that give you? I will be happy because I am making a
difference in people’s lives Ok and what will that give you?
A sense of peace.
If you keep asking the “what
will that give you?” question, all the things you truly want
will stand revealed in layers. What you want is a state of mind. So
start with that state of mind and work your way back to the symbol.
There’s nothing wrong with the symbols, but many people give up what
they really want because they believe in the symbol. People chase
after the money and success (symbols) and give up their quality of
life in the pursuit. Remember this: the pursuit is an affirmation
that you don’t have it. The pursuit is proof of lack. And this is
why pursuit causes stress and unhappiness, it is a state of mind
that is lacking.
Start by being the state of
mind and let the world arrange itself around you. To use the above
example, be the peace, then make a contribution to people, let that
give you joy, feel good about yourself, give more, help more, play
more. All successful entrepreneurs know when you live this way you
make more money. Maybe even ten million, but it won’t matter because
the ten million was just a symbol for what you really wanted, which
was a joyous life. Do this exercise with each thing you desire, it
will be very interesting and revealing. Material desires represent a
state of mind that you want because you know it is good. And how is
it that you know it is good? It is because you have experienced it
before. These states are within you. They are your qualities, they
are your essence, otherwise you wouldn’t remember how they feel.
So everything you want can
be a reminder to be joyous now. So be the quality of what you want
first, the rest will follow, get the benefits before you get the
stuff. This should appeal to us because it’s faster than instant
gratification, and as Americans we are obligated to having it fast.
The next step to this process of manifesting from the core is to use
words of power to keep you polarized in the state you desire while
working toward your goals, and to set a trajectory each day that
keeps you in the zone. So next month I’d like to continue this topic
with these additional points.
Sincerely,
John McKenna |
