Prosperity Engine — Update — Leverage of Imagination

[image error] Statue of a powerful man bending a massive bar. This is the power of leverage, and symbolic of the power of imagination. Photo: #16923_1920 PublicDomainPictures (CC0) Pixabay.

To some people, a “problem” is a challenge that is either insurmountable or one that puts us at effect. Naturally, this is the wrong viewpoint. That’s “victim-speak.”

When you view any challenge as a fun puzzle to solve, you tend to solve them more quickly. Remember: Time flies when you’re having fun. And, corollary to that, more gets done per unit of time when you’re not struggling against the mental friction of worry, frustration, resentment or annoyance.

Blasting through barriers can be fun, especially when you find the right viewpoint concerning those barriers. And that’s the beauty of any supposed “problem.” You tend to get exactly the type of problem you need in order to learn your next lesson, spiritually. When you are grateful for the lesson, you learn quickly and move on to the next level. In this sense, there is no such thing as a “problem.” This is because you are at cause rather than at effect. And gratitude is far more fun as an emotion than dread. Again, obvious!

But think about this: You can also have fun with dread, frustration, resentment and worry. I call this the “Shooter Video Game” attitude. One of the genres of video games involve shooting an enemy in order to score points or to reach an objective. But here, you’re zapping negative feelings with gratitude in order to brighten up your subconscious. Do I detect a sudden smile in my reader?

[image error] Line drawing of the power of leverage, the magnitude of power we get from imagination. Drawing: #148273 OpenClipart-Vectors (CC0) Pixabay.

This can be extended to what I call “mind-flutter.” During meditation, the mind will sometimes flit from one vector to another. This doesn’t necessarily involve thoughts or even specific, well-defined feelings. The mind merely jumps to “facing” in one mental direction to another. And sometimes, it does this several times a second. It’s a bit like rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep. So, the objective is to be aware of the mental jump and to insert a blast of gratitude aimed right at the mental behavior. Flit—gratitude! Flit—gratitude! See?

But why would you be grateful? For one, you can be grateful for the discovery. Every time you become more aware, you gain back a little bit more of your power. Jesus said that the truth will set you free. Awareness opens the door toward truth; gratitude includes responsibility which cinches the acquisition of truth—the truth of the mental behavior and possibly even its source. And when you take responsibility for an object or condition (including mental behavior), you suck the time (persistence) right out of that object or condition.

More Pleasant Fiction—Using Imagination as Power Leverage



[image error] Imagination is powerful, like pretending we are the Emperor of the Virgo Supercluster traveling on Earth incognito. Awareness on reality, attention on the possibilities. Photo: #5381812_1920 Victoria_Borodinova (CC0) Pixabay, and PGC 9074 and PGC 9071 galaxies, Judy Schmidt, ESA, Hubble, NASA (PD).

We saw in an earlier article how we could imagine ourselves to be the Emperor of the Virgo Supercluster, so that the $5 Quadrillion value of this planet is less than “pocket lint” to you. This is not fanciful delusion. This is exercising your imagination to stretch your mind. Also, it helps you explore the feelings that such a viewpoint would provoke. This helps in self-discovery. But it also helps in exercising a new habit—one of comfortable prosperity, rather than lonely lack.

All negative emotions can be vaporized with a similar use of imagination.

One of my readers confided that they had tried Dr. Joe Dispenza’s approach, and couldn’t get it to work. They had read my book, The Science of Miracles, and liked the distinction I had made about “importance” being a barrier to miracles. But later, when health concerns reached a critical point, requiring a visit to the emergency room, they couldn’t see how they were making the visit “important.” They confided that they had freaked out and needed help with what seemed to be a life-threatening health “problem.”

Quite often, ego gets in the way, and people cannot see the forest for the trees. Freaking out made the situation “urgent,” “important,” a “big problem”—putting them at effect, rather than at cause. That attitude likely also made it difficult for them to have Dispenza’s routines work. When I first learned about Dispenza’s methods, I rejoiced. It was exactly that for which I had been looking.

But what can you do in a situation that could end up killing you?

First of all, “freaking out” solves nothing. It only makes it worse. Joe Dispenza taught this. I teach this. Just about every self-help coach and mentor I know about teaches some version of this.

[image error] A crescent wrench provides us with a perfect example of leverage. Our efforts are magnified to turn a bolt head that a human hand alone cannot turn. Photo: #1551456_1920 by 41330 (CC0) Pixabay.

The lesson of Apache raiders comes to mind. When a team of raiders would climb a cliff to attack their enemy, if one of their party fell, that individual would not scream. Period! Why scream? Would screaming get a quick rescue? Would screaming stop their fall? Would death be any less traumatic with a quick scream in the send-off? Of course not!

For the same reason, it remains entirely idiotic for people to honk their automobile horns in slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic. Madness!

On the flip side, doing the opposite of “freaking out” might actually save your life.

I’ve mentioned this story elsewhere, but it bears repeating: It concerns an avid skydiver who had both of his chutes fail during one of his jumps. On the way to the ground, he gave up his life to God. He had the humility to accept his impending death, but had the foundational faith that God has infinite power. There was no urgency in asking God to do anything. Only the light, background confidence that God could save him, if the skydiver asked. And he also had the humility that God could say, “No.” This combination package of humble confidence gave him the two ingredients constituting faith—the power of miracles. Moments later, he dusted himself off, walking away from his collision with the ground, with only a few scratches and bruises.

When circumstances threaten to overwhelm you, give up! Give the request to God. He has the power to help if you ask properly. Fear of death, doubt, arrogance and other negative attitudes will give undesirable results. Always!

One trick I’ve used with negative emotions is to take the driver’s seat on the source of the fear. If I were choking to death and happened to remember this trick, I would imagine that I’m choking on a hippopotamus, or Mount Everest, or even on the Moon. Imagine a 2,100 mile orb stuck in my throat! I would make it impossible to clear the obstruction, for in that willingness to make it impossible, I open the door to miracles. I reach for a different viewpoint than that the pitiful victim.

The skydiver could have changed his attitude in the last tenth of a second to one of fear, panic and an arrogant demand from God to save him. Then, he would not have lived to tell his tale.

That’s why this work is so important. Doing an occasional miracle when all the right attitudes fall into perfect alignment is one thing. But being able to do miracles on demand—having that level of mental and spiritual stability—is the sweet spot we’re ultimately after. That’s when we get to go home. That’s when we’ve graduated with our Super-Turbo 9000 Prosperity Engine.

Prosperity Engine Progress



[image error] Imagination benefits from the inspiration of scenes like this — a church in a scenic, mountain valley. Photo: #4984899 Alexvi82 (CC0) Pixabay.

Human activity masks the flutter in the mind that meditation reveals.

This is one perfect reason for the Sabbath as a day of rest, but too few take real advantage of this. They do too much, instead of resting. I’ve done that blunder most of my life.

Instead of improving their minds and awakening their own spiritual self, they go through the motions of church or temple and other activities. They spend too much time looking outward from the separate, selfish self, instead of looking from the whole as spirit connected to all people through God.

But we can move beyond this. Meditation can help, but we must learn to meditate on the fly, as well—to be poised in mind and spirit while doing other things. We need to be critically aware of where our subconscious is pointing at all times. This is not something we “worry” about, but something for which we create gratitude with every bit of awareness. We keep nudging awareness toward greater and greater insight. We keep nudging “frustration” and other negative emotions into the dustbin of mental oblivion—with gratitude for the lessons learned.

During meditation, the mind tends to flit from one vector to another. Mostly, this can be vague feelings, but occasionally a conscious thought. With each flit, add gratitude for the awareness of the mental movement. Within one single second, I sensed at least 2-3 flits. With most of them, I was able to insert an intention of gratitude. Powerful stuff, this.

I suspect that some people are not motivated enough to meditate like clockwork. I’ve long been curious of the individual by whom someone else could set their own clocks.

I suppose that such an ability is part habit and part skill. So far, my own inability in this area has caused only moderate problems, but eventually, I’d like to handle it.

For those who want progress, but still haven’t been able to muster the interest or will to meditate like clockwork, don’t despair. Any meditation is progress. And becoming aware of mental activity while living life is also progress. You don’t have to stop in the middle of work to meditate on a negative feeling which came into mental view. Merely smile, with gratitude, and continue your work, or whatever other activity in which you’re involved.

But here, we need to make a distinction. By “awareness,” I’m talking about attentiveness with “neutral affinity”—neither aversion (negative attitude) nor desire (positive attitude). For instance, being aware of mental noise and responding with something like, “I’ll never make it. I hate this noise. I wish I could make it all go away.” See the two attitudes? One is negative—“hate”—and the other is positive—“wish.” Both are not neutral, and thus corrosive to progress. At neutral affinity, the door to the infinite opens up. This is an infinitely thin discontinuity where ego is perfectly zero.

Yeah, love that zero!

Lately, I’ve become more aware of a flurry of emotions when I wake up in the morning. These have ranged from strong to mild. Some have included flitting between reluctant negative to hopeful positive feelings.

These morning situations could have been frustrating, eroding progress, but I chose gratitude. I was grateful for each point of awareness—zapping each feeling and each mental jump with the emotion of delight.

Effortless Cooperation vs. Conflict



[image error] Chess is the type of conflict game that can benefit from both intelligence and imagination. Photo: #1215079_1920 Devanath (CC0) Pixabay.

I have had a growing realization in the last few years that I really have liked conflict. But I’ve also dreaded it. Talk about conflicted!

I have long known, as a writer, that a story needs conflict to be interesting. The slice of life movie that contains no internal or external conflict is the extreme of boring.

But there is also the element of learning. By attempting to help others understand something, I also learn. That’s the fun part. But coming up against a snarky ego can be painful. That’s the person who won’t listen to any logic, but has a toxic put-down for everything you could possibly say. It’s like taking a long hot bath in battery acid. Yikes!

I delayed publishing this article. Something didn’t seem complete. This noon, 2020:1013 [PHT], I realized that my decades-long delight with conflict and showing how someone else is logically wrong, is itself wrong. To some people, this may have been obvious, and that’s okay. But they may not know why it’s wrong—not all the reasons. The big breakthrough that just hit me is the powerful realization that conflict—or “resisting” evil—is itself a sin. Any action that is not filled with love of others is sinful. It sticks the attention on egoistic separation, rather than on generosity and gratitude. The enthusiastic young adult frequently becomes outraged at the passive attitude of wiser elders.

And, as I was proofreading this for publication, I realized that my new focus on effortless cooperation opens the door to the entire planet helping me achieve my goals. So, “thanks” in advance for that. I appreciate all the help I receive so effortlessly. Now, I realize why my book sales had been stalled. And I can be grateful for even that lesson.

In Scientology, we learn that when the client becomes critical of something—logically pointing out some error or deficit—they have what is called a “missed withhold.” Emotionally—subconsciously—their attention is stuck on some crime of their own, and they remain unconsciously afraid someone will discover it. Somehow, something in the client’s environment triggered the attention shifting to the withheld (suppressed memory of the) crime.

What has been my crime—my “sin?” Quite simply, it’s this: Looking toward separation and ego (hate or other negative emotion), rather than toward oneness and spirit (love). It is also me dwelling on conflict and problems, rather than on cooperation and solutions.

“Oh,” my ego says, “but I am right, and I can prove it. Logic and science are on my side.” And ego would be perfectly right as far as that goes. But that “rightness” is a dagger murdering others for selfish reasons. Ego loves to be “first,” and Christ said that the “first” shall become last, and the “last” shall become first. This wisdom is becoming more and more obvious.

Each of us has some blind spot, and we cannot discover what that is if we ever think we have it all figured out. Humility is the cure for self-imposed blindness. This is a lesson I have needed to learn repeatedly. And I’m grateful each time.

Multi-Dimensional Concept Space vs. 1-Dimensional Intelligence



[image error] A great deal of imagination went into creating the Space Shuttle and its support systems of technology and people. Overcoming conflict! Space Shuttle launch overcoming gravity. Photo: NASA (PD).

I’ve also realized that goals can be in the wrong direction. Reversing direction can also be wrong. This type of problem occurs when we think only 1-Dimensionally—in dichotomies or 2-sided opposites. This is like a mathematical line, with one direction pointing toward some positive idea (love, compassion, generosity, wisdom), while the other direction is pointing toward the opposite idea (hate, indifference, selfishness, stupidity). And neither direction is ultimately right. Only the perfect (“paramita”) of each positive idea is right, and it is nowhere to be found within that dichotomous (“two-sided”) line.

When I was shy, I had the unspoken goal to avoid conflict and to avoid criticizing others. To engage in either activity was to open my wound of painful shyness so that others could shovel in the “salt” of ridicule.

Later, when I overcame much of my selfish shyness, I had the goal to confront others for their poor logic and to criticize their poor conclusions. I really thought I was helping. Imagine that! Both occasions—the period of shyness and the period of brave “teaching”—my focus had been on conflict. Both attitudes were egoistic—selfish!

Now, I have the goal of finding effortless cooperation and focusing on what people do right. Lots of work to do there, but one approach includes asking probing, laser-focused questions. Not everyone is going to be helped by this, but it’s far better than telling others what to think, especially when they don’t want to listen. Asking questions tends to get them to do the work—something which involves them in creating more awareness and solutions. This Big new goal includes finding more people with whom to exercise effortless cooperation. When I find people who respond well to the questions, I might well have another “cooperation partner.”

No more conflict. No more arguments. No more frustration. No more lame time spent correcting the logical fallacies of others. If you see me doing any of these, help me to snap out of it. But by asking the right questions, the other person is left with a decision. Most will likely choose to ignore the idea of learning. They don’t yet have the humility for learning, so any more effort spent by me would have been wasted.

Boy, am I going to have fun practicing this! Just imagine the different flavors of questions we can ask to get another person interested and motivated, especially about becoming more self-aware.

And those who are not yet awake enough to be interested will have to come later. We can still care about all of humanity, but remain focused on helping those who are ready to be helped.

Helpful Hint

If you ever find yourself assaulted by a niggling little worry, and your attempts with gratitude don’t seem to dissolve it, then try the following:

Imagine the worst extreme that the worry has to offer. Facing such a tiny evil is not the same as fixing your attention on it. By wresting control over the worry from whatever dark, subconscious automaticity is feeding it to you, the source of that worry loses its power, and you regain your own power. Try this sometimes when you feel unavoidably stuck. You might be surprised by the powerful results.

Coming Up Next

In the next article, we will take a different, more in-depth look at “toxic importance,” exploring various ways to eliminate the strong habit to make things important, and thus “impossible.” Improving this skill can help you home in on doing miracles, either for the first time, or to make it a regular part of your life.