9.
Understanding the Secret of Life
NOTE:
This is an excerpt from the book The
Least You Should Know About Life.
There is one secret behind all religious, spiritual and self-help teachings
found on this planet. They all say essentially the same thing in different
ways.
For example, consider a person who feels sorry for himself and feels
the whole world is against him. The message he is sending out is that
life is a struggle. The cosmic mirror is designed to give people exactly
what they ask for. Yet the cosmic mirror cannot read minds, so it must
judge based on people’s attitude and actions—what you are
sending out. It is like a mirror that cannot tell that you want it to
smile at you. The cosmic mirror does not understand that you prefer
certain outer circumstances and dislike others. The mirror has no value
judgments and does not understand human likes and dislikes. It can only
respond to what you project into the mirror—exactly like a physical
mirror.
If you believe life is a struggle, you will send out the mental image
that life is a struggle. The cosmic mirror will say, “Oh, that
person wants to experience a struggle,” and it will reflect back
to you circumstances that make your life a struggle.
When people experience such circumstances, they often respond negatively
and they send that negativity into the mirror. The mirror reasons, “Oh
they want to experience even more of a struggle,” and it fulfills
their wishes. Thus, people’s negative beliefs about life become
self-fulfilling prophecies and their lives turn into downward spirals.
The Buddha taught this and said that life is suffering until you develop
right desires through non-attachment. Jesus taught this, and that is
why he said, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil”
(Matthew 5:39) The reason is that when you resist evil, you send out
a negative message – the message that you want to fight an adversary
– and the cosmic mirror can only reflect back situations in which
you are seemingly opposed by an adversary. What was Jesus’ solution—his
master key for breaking this negative, self-fulfilling spiral? It was
very simple, yet extremely profound, “But whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew
5:39).
The beauty of this instruction is that if you can respond positively
to any situation, the cosmic mirror will reason that you want to have
a positive experience. And in due time, it WILL inevitably reflect back
positive circumstances. If you refuse to fight the adversary, the mirror
will say, “Oh, that person no longer wants to fight an adversary;
I will send conditions in which there is no adversary.” Jesus
knew that this simply cannot fail—as long as you have faith in
the process and are willing to truly and fundamentally change yourself,
change your attitude and approach to life.
The message of all true spiritual teachings is that you can indeed change
yourself. There are several valid teachings that can give you the understanding
and the practical tools you need in order to produce this change. What
you need to supply is the will, the will to stop doing the same thing,
the will to separate yourself from the common insanity and begin by
changing yourself.
If you have that will, put it into action. If you don’t –
yet – have that will, be honest with yourself. Stop acting like
a victim, thinking there is nothing you can do to change your life.
At least be willing to admit that if you are not taking back your power
to make conscious choices, you are doing so as the result of a conscious
choice—not because you have no other options. Stop using the age-old,
worn-out excuse, “I had no choice.”
The most fundamental fact of life is that you always have choices, you
always have more than one option. You may not be able to change the
outer circumstances, but you can ALWAYS change the way you respond to
those circumstances. And by doing so, you will instantly change your
life experience. The simple fact is that by reading this, you have lost
the right to go through life seeing yourself as a victim. You can no
longer claim that “I had no other choice.”
You now know that you have the option of making conscious choices. You
have a right to ignore that option, but you can no longer blame other
people, life, fate, bad luck or God for your own – now conscious
– choice. So since you can no longer live in the illusion that
you have no alternative, why not give up the need to feel like a victim?
Why not accept that life is an incredible opportunity, an opportunity
to make your own life better and to make the conditions on this planet
better. All it takes is the conscious choice that you are willing to
make conscious choices.
It may seem scary to make such choices, but this comes from a lack of
understanding. When you have the right understanding – the understanding
that empowers you to make truly conscious choices – making choices
is no longer scary. It is a privilege and a joy. If you are willing
to learn how to make better choices, let us start by looking at where
you find the understanding that will empower you to make enlightened
choices.
10.
Understanding outer knowledge versus inner knowing
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Copyright
© 2007 by Kim Michaels |
