How to change the world

Hello friends,

One of my absolute favorite things in this world (I'd say not as far up the list as chocolate, but definitely beating out sunsets) is how the world conspires to bring you exactly what you need when you need it. Recently, I've begun to feel a little frustration at life, a character trait I try to avoid.

While on break at work a few days ago, I decided to go out and enjoy the lovely spring weather rather than sit in the back room and stare at cinderblock walls and video game cases for half an hour. I took a yellow legal pad and a pen out with me, and when I was done eating I started writing out my ideas on why it can be so hard for me to manifest change in my life. In a nutshell, my thoughts took a form of Issac Newton's Second Law of Motion, F=ma (the amount of force needed to move an object equals it's mass times the rate of change you want) and applied it to will working upon the Universe. From this rather depressing view, the reason I have been unable to change my life is that the Universe is too big and I am too little. I may be able to change the small things, give myself some good luck from time to time, but the greater changes were beyond me.

Well, leave it to the Universe to dispel my illusions. A few years back, I bought a book called "Notes From the Universe" by Mike Dooley at a used book sale, stuck it on my shelf, and promptly forgot about it. I pulled it out yesterday on a whim and fell completely in love. Philosophically, it reminds me of a more upbeat version of CWG, structurally it makes me think of the Messiah's Handbook mentioned in "Illusions". Just a series of 1 page or less thoughts and reminders, many having to do with.... big shock coming..... how to bring your desires into your life.

Someone trying to tell me something? Maybe? :-)

In a nutshell, this book brought me a wonderful, wonderful truth. I have been unable to change my life because I am trying to change what is, which is impossible. What is is immutable, unavoidable, and denying it is nothing more than an exercise in futility. On the other hand, what will be is as malleable as Play-Doh, completely up for grabs for anyone with the insight to realize it. Literally. Realize as in real-ize, make real.

Idiot that I am, I've missed this completely. I've been like a hiker who comes to a big boulder in his path. Instead of just walking around it, I decided "this boulder is in my path, and if I wish to stay on my path I will have to push it out of my way". This book is like another hiker who walks up and says, "Uh, dude, just go around", and I look up, smack myself in the forehead, and say "Duh!"

JCS

Unity solves nothing

I got to a place about 4-5 years ago where I thought I'd figured out The Big One, that my beliefs and ideas had found a final basic shape and everything else from there on out was just details. Unity was the Grand Truth, and our attachment to outcomes was the cause of all our misery. We needed to "let go and let God", surrendering our free will to the Will of All and just going with the flow. Problem was, as time went on I found myself feeling less and less content, less and less focused, less and less at peace. A little over a year ago all that changed, and I can now look back upon that time and put my finger on what the problem was.

My soul was bored.

You see, Unity may be the Ultimate Truth, but Unity is also incredibly, horrendously, cataclysmically boring, at least for your soul. It's great bliss for your mind and heart, don't get me wrong, but your soul just kinda sits there and says "yeah, yeah, been Here, done this, bought the T-shirt, didn't fit." You soul knows Unity already because your soul is Unity, and It/you came here to experience something that was not Unity. That's the whole point of physical existence, to be un-Unified.

We are the otters of the universe, to quote Richard Bach, playful, curious creatures who like nothing better than something new and different. Our soul is our inner child, and hanging out in nothing but Unity is the spiritual equivalent of taking your inner child shoe shopping; all well and good if the shoes light up and do neat things, but gets old really fast. Our soul doesn't want Unity, it wants to jump in mud puddles and sing loudly to bad songs and get the lyrics wrong and chase fireflies at twilight and imagine clouds as turtles and elephants and dragons and have fun!!

Realizing Unity helps us appreciate these things, but it doesn't bring them to us. They're already there, most people just don't see 'em.