MENTAL LAW IS NOT A CHOICE:
You do not choose to use Mental Law. It is the principle by which you live. It is the manner in which your intelligence lives life.
Like gravity, the Law of Mind is a universal principle, which acts everywhere whether it can be seen to act or not.
Thought is creative; thoughts are things, and it is done unto you as you believe.
Your only choice is HOW you will use it; deliberately, consciously and with orderly results, or randomly, unconciously and with chaotic random results.
Directing your conscious thought seems easy, but casual surface thought do not immediately create. Directing your inner belief takes more work.
Do you doubt that it's worth it?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - LIFE
LIFE:
What is LIFE, anyway? What distinguishes live stuff from dead?
Life is not an energy, because energy has power but no impulse, no volition.
A rock, which is energy in matter form, has order in its crystal structures, but it has no life as we would define it, so life is more than just order.
But we speak of a LIfe Force. What are we talking about?
Life is that force which presses forward to impose order upon the energy and matter of the Universe. It is like the breeze that creates orderly ripples on the surface of the deep. It continually presses forward to expand, imposing its orderly patterns on more and more of the chaos of the world.
It is that force, that impulse, that we look to as the evidence of a Power. And that force, that impulse, that Power, is in us. But along with it goes not just Power, but Intelligence. Energy plus Intelligence equals LIFE!
Look within yourself for the answers, and look with faith, with knowing. And your own personal answers will come.
What is LIFE, anyway? What distinguishes live stuff from dead?
Life is not an energy, because energy has power but no impulse, no volition.
A rock, which is energy in matter form, has order in its crystal structures, but it has no life as we would define it, so life is more than just order.
But we speak of a LIfe Force. What are we talking about?
Life is that force which presses forward to impose order upon the energy and matter of the Universe. It is like the breeze that creates orderly ripples on the surface of the deep. It continually presses forward to expand, imposing its orderly patterns on more and more of the chaos of the world.
It is that force, that impulse, that we look to as the evidence of a Power. And that force, that impulse, that Power, is in us. But along with it goes not just Power, but Intelligence. Energy plus Intelligence equals LIFE!
Look within yourself for the answers, and look with faith, with knowing. And your own personal answers will come.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - USE OF PRAYER
THE USE OF PRAYER:
The process of prayer, to many people, is the process of beseeching God to do something. It involves abasing oneself, and crying out for help in an attitude of pleading, if not desperation. In this manner, most peoples' view of prayer is just like Bill Talliaferro says; cry for the cavalry to come riding in. It is a plea to please, please save our miserable rear ends from the savages of our misfortune.
Here are the BELIEF systems which often underlie that kind of prayer:
1) God is a power outside of ourselves. That is, we are separate from God.
2) We are powerless, miserable creatures; not empowered beings.
3) We are in a state of misfortune; victims of circumstance beyong our control, and when we cry for help, we may not get it, unless our begging is loud enough to be heard. In other words, God is not just distant, he is deaf, too!
None of those beliefs are valid, according to the teachings of Mental Science. They amount to a denial of the good which we are (at the Conscious level) supposedly asking for. The Science of Mind proposes the following approach to prayer, known as SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT:
1) There is no Power but the One Power, the first Cause. All things are manifestations of that power.
2) There is no Life but the One Life. All life is a manifestation of that Life.
3) If that is true, then that is the source of our power, and our life. This means that we are one with each other, and we are one with the Universal Power that created us. There is no separation. There never was, except in our own BELIEF system. And as we believed, so it was DONE to us. The only separation was created in response to our belief.
4) Therefore, as we believe in our success, our healing, our fortune, our good in any form, it WILL be done for us.
Notice that an erroneous belief works exactly like a negative prayer, to get us into difficulty. Though it may be unconscious in origin, it works effectively, over and over, till we substitute a conscious process to unseat it.
This is not designed to convince God of anything. God does not need to be convinced of our wholeness. Prayer treatment is done to create a movement of thought in our mind, to bring about our belief, our faith, in the desired outcome. Then, by the universal mental principle, our good is brought about.
The belief in our Unity is the key. Our opportunity as human beings is to explore that Unity, till we not only know it in our minds, but can feel it in our hearts. We should treat our alienation as we would treat to heal an illness. Hence the name, prayer treatment.
The process of prayer, to many people, is the process of beseeching God to do something. It involves abasing oneself, and crying out for help in an attitude of pleading, if not desperation. In this manner, most peoples' view of prayer is just like Bill Talliaferro says; cry for the cavalry to come riding in. It is a plea to please, please save our miserable rear ends from the savages of our misfortune.
Here are the BELIEF systems which often underlie that kind of prayer:
1) God is a power outside of ourselves. That is, we are separate from God.
2) We are powerless, miserable creatures; not empowered beings.
3) We are in a state of misfortune; victims of circumstance beyong our control, and when we cry for help, we may not get it, unless our begging is loud enough to be heard. In other words, God is not just distant, he is deaf, too!
None of those beliefs are valid, according to the teachings of Mental Science. They amount to a denial of the good which we are (at the Conscious level) supposedly asking for. The Science of Mind proposes the following approach to prayer, known as SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT:
1) There is no Power but the One Power, the first Cause. All things are manifestations of that power.
2) There is no Life but the One Life. All life is a manifestation of that Life.
3) If that is true, then that is the source of our power, and our life. This means that we are one with each other, and we are one with the Universal Power that created us. There is no separation. There never was, except in our own BELIEF system. And as we believed, so it was DONE to us. The only separation was created in response to our belief.
4) Therefore, as we believe in our success, our healing, our fortune, our good in any form, it WILL be done for us.
Notice that an erroneous belief works exactly like a negative prayer, to get us into difficulty. Though it may be unconscious in origin, it works effectively, over and over, till we substitute a conscious process to unseat it.
This is not designed to convince God of anything. God does not need to be convinced of our wholeness. Prayer treatment is done to create a movement of thought in our mind, to bring about our belief, our faith, in the desired outcome. Then, by the universal mental principle, our good is brought about.
The belief in our Unity is the key. Our opportunity as human beings is to explore that Unity, till we not only know it in our minds, but can feel it in our hearts. We should treat our alienation as we would treat to heal an illness. Hence the name, prayer treatment.
Monday, January 28, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - KNOWING
OUR KNOWING:
If we are clear on our spiritual nature, on the spiritual nature of all the world, then we can develop a steady, confident knowing that our goals will be fulfilled, our dreams will be realized. Knowing that through every minute of every day gives an incredible new dimension of peace and security to your life.
This is the altenative to calling for the cavalry, as Dr. Bill Talliaferro (pronounced 'Tolliver') used to say, to come and rescue our embattled wagon train. (Dr. Talliaferro was pastor of the Fort Lauderdale Science of Mind Center.)
Replace your cries for help with the secure knowledge that you are already rescued (there never was anything to rescue you from but the untamed wilderness of your own thought). Know that the outcome will be for the best.
Like Pogo used to say in the cartoon strip, "We has met the enemy, and he is Us.".
Getting to that stage of constant knowing takes time and study. This is what classes in Mental Science, The Science of Mind, are designed to do. Over the first year or two of these classes, you will learn to distinguish beliefs that serve you well from those that don't. You will learn a new way to view the world; one that provides a framework for health, prosperity, and happiness.
If we are clear on our spiritual nature, on the spiritual nature of all the world, then we can develop a steady, confident knowing that our goals will be fulfilled, our dreams will be realized. Knowing that through every minute of every day gives an incredible new dimension of peace and security to your life.
This is the altenative to calling for the cavalry, as Dr. Bill Talliaferro (pronounced 'Tolliver') used to say, to come and rescue our embattled wagon train. (Dr. Talliaferro was pastor of the Fort Lauderdale Science of Mind Center.)
Replace your cries for help with the secure knowledge that you are already rescued (there never was anything to rescue you from but the untamed wilderness of your own thought). Know that the outcome will be for the best.
Like Pogo used to say in the cartoon strip, "We has met the enemy, and he is Us.".
Getting to that stage of constant knowing takes time and study. This is what classes in Mental Science, The Science of Mind, are designed to do. Over the first year or two of these classes, you will learn to distinguish beliefs that serve you well from those that don't. You will learn a new way to view the world; one that provides a framework for health, prosperity, and happiness.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - DOUBTS
DOUBTS:
We are all familiar with the quote from Jesus, "If you have as much faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains." A mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds of any plant; yet the plant itself can be huge; sometimes over 6 feet tall. A seed, any seed, doesn't wonder what to grow into. It has no room for doubt. It can't say, "Maybe I should grow into a turnip instead."
But we are more complex, and have freedom of choice, and so we doubt. We're not sure that we can be happy, prosperous or content. We fret and we worry whether we'll get that job, pay those bills, whether we'll be loved, and the more we fret and worry, the more we signal to the Universe in general, "Don't send love, I'm not sure I can have that. Don't make me prosperous, I'm not sure I can handle it. Don't send joy, because I'm not sure I really deserve it."
Most of us have trouble with doubt. We are not always conscious of it. Usually it takes the place of subconscious thoughts and feelings which block our conscious thinking. This is where personal surrender comes in. We can use it to circumvent our doubts, by simply saying this:"
I know the One Universal Power is a force for good. I know it presses forth to express good in all its forms. Only my misguided thought acts to block this good from my experience. Therefore I now surrender all my fear, all my doubt, all my concerns, to allow the true nature of the Ultimate Reality to take over, and let me now be granted what this Universal Power wants for me."
Ernest Holmes main message is this: Thoughts are things. They create forms into which Universal Mind pours its energy- provided they are accompanied by the force of an emotion- that faith or conviction that causes us to cry "Enough! I am willing now, to have what is mine, by right of having the proper consciousness."
We are all familiar with the quote from Jesus, "If you have as much faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains." A mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds of any plant; yet the plant itself can be huge; sometimes over 6 feet tall. A seed, any seed, doesn't wonder what to grow into. It has no room for doubt. It can't say, "Maybe I should grow into a turnip instead."
But we are more complex, and have freedom of choice, and so we doubt. We're not sure that we can be happy, prosperous or content. We fret and we worry whether we'll get that job, pay those bills, whether we'll be loved, and the more we fret and worry, the more we signal to the Universe in general, "Don't send love, I'm not sure I can have that. Don't make me prosperous, I'm not sure I can handle it. Don't send joy, because I'm not sure I really deserve it."
Most of us have trouble with doubt. We are not always conscious of it. Usually it takes the place of subconscious thoughts and feelings which block our conscious thinking. This is where personal surrender comes in. We can use it to circumvent our doubts, by simply saying this:"
I know the One Universal Power is a force for good. I know it presses forth to express good in all its forms. Only my misguided thought acts to block this good from my experience. Therefore I now surrender all my fear, all my doubt, all my concerns, to allow the true nature of the Ultimate Reality to take over, and let me now be granted what this Universal Power wants for me."
Ernest Holmes main message is this: Thoughts are things. They create forms into which Universal Mind pours its energy- provided they are accompanied by the force of an emotion- that faith or conviction that causes us to cry "Enough! I am willing now, to have what is mine, by right of having the proper consciousness."
Saturday, January 26, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - IDLE THOUGHTS
IDLE THOUGHTS:
Idle thoughts are unclear thoughts- vague thoughts, without any consistency to them. Undisciplined minds produce a lot of these. Would you build a house without a clear plan to start with? Would you live a life without a clear plan to start with? Who would say "No" to the first, but "Yes" to the latter?
Unless your thoughts are clear, firm, and steady, you will not achieve anything with them. Clarity means detail, the kind of detail that comes from solid thinking. This is the kind of thinking that is normally achieved over a period of time. It doesn't have to be hard, though. Right thinking is no harder than wrong thinking.
Idle thoughts are also thoughts without any emotion attached to them. We are indifferent to these kinds of thoughts. They come and go, and don't trigger any action. Emotional committment is the key to producing the physical result out of the original thought. This comniittment also goes by the name of Faith.
Faith is conviction, an emotional accompaniment to a thought. It is the solid knowledge that your idea is right, that it is possible, and that its time has definitely come. The thought provides a form for action on a spiritual level; or mental level, if you like that term better. The emotional committment will attract energy to the form and the result will be a demonstrated achievement. Your faith, your conviction, provides the impulse for action; this is the push that makes the whole world move aside to accomplish your goal.
Idle thoughts are unclear thoughts- vague thoughts, without any consistency to them. Undisciplined minds produce a lot of these. Would you build a house without a clear plan to start with? Would you live a life without a clear plan to start with? Who would say "No" to the first, but "Yes" to the latter?
Unless your thoughts are clear, firm, and steady, you will not achieve anything with them. Clarity means detail, the kind of detail that comes from solid thinking. This is the kind of thinking that is normally achieved over a period of time. It doesn't have to be hard, though. Right thinking is no harder than wrong thinking.
Idle thoughts are also thoughts without any emotion attached to them. We are indifferent to these kinds of thoughts. They come and go, and don't trigger any action. Emotional committment is the key to producing the physical result out of the original thought. This comniittment also goes by the name of Faith.
Faith is conviction, an emotional accompaniment to a thought. It is the solid knowledge that your idea is right, that it is possible, and that its time has definitely come. The thought provides a form for action on a spiritual level; or mental level, if you like that term better. The emotional committment will attract energy to the form and the result will be a demonstrated achievement. Your faith, your conviction, provides the impulse for action; this is the push that makes the whole world move aside to accomplish your goal.
Friday, January 25, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW - THOUGHTS ARE THINGS
THOUGHTS AS "THINGS":
Our spiritual world is viewed by us from a physical perspective. Because of that perspective, things are not always as they appear to us. We know things mainly by our senses, and these are misleading.
Our senses would tell us that because a building appears solid, it is more real than a thought. Yet every building started only as a thought, as an idea, and somehow that idea had the ability to organize matter into the form of the finished building. Now which is more real, the idea or the product? Can the effect be more real than the cause? Shouldn't we consider the Cause to be at least as real? This is why Holmes says "Thoughts are Things."
Furthermore, buildings are not solid at all, as any quantum physicist will tell you. Each atom is nearly all empty space, with interlinking electric and fields holding the nuclei together at the proper distance, while they vibrate madly depending on the temperature at the moment.
The cause, or the idea, and the effect, or the material result, are actually two sides of the very same coin. One is the form, the other is the substance. Our thoughts and ideas create an invisible form which, with effort, can be translated into a physical presence through manipulation of matter and energy, which as we know, are just different forms of the same thing.
But of course not all thoughts become things. That is why we tend to think of thoughts as unreal- it is because so many of our thoughts are idle, and do not produce any results in our lives. Idle thoughts are not wrong, they are a reality of life, so long as we do not expect any result from them.
When thoughts are casual or contradictory, they create only randomness, which is perhaps why we experience so much of it in our lives!
Our spiritual world is viewed by us from a physical perspective. Because of that perspective, things are not always as they appear to us. We know things mainly by our senses, and these are misleading.
Our senses would tell us that because a building appears solid, it is more real than a thought. Yet every building started only as a thought, as an idea, and somehow that idea had the ability to organize matter into the form of the finished building. Now which is more real, the idea or the product? Can the effect be more real than the cause? Shouldn't we consider the Cause to be at least as real? This is why Holmes says "Thoughts are Things."
Furthermore, buildings are not solid at all, as any quantum physicist will tell you. Each atom is nearly all empty space, with interlinking electric and fields holding the nuclei together at the proper distance, while they vibrate madly depending on the temperature at the moment.
The cause, or the idea, and the effect, or the material result, are actually two sides of the very same coin. One is the form, the other is the substance. Our thoughts and ideas create an invisible form which, with effort, can be translated into a physical presence through manipulation of matter and energy, which as we know, are just different forms of the same thing.
But of course not all thoughts become things. That is why we tend to think of thoughts as unreal- it is because so many of our thoughts are idle, and do not produce any results in our lives. Idle thoughts are not wrong, they are a reality of life, so long as we do not expect any result from them.
When thoughts are casual or contradictory, they create only randomness, which is perhaps why we experience so much of it in our lives!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW
Mental Law:
There are laws that govern the mental universe, just as science has uncovered laws that govern the physical universe. Not only that, but common sense tells us that these are not separate universes, but that at a deep level they are really one and the same. The mental universe underlies the physical one, and forms the basis for its existence.
Perhaps the foremost mental Law is "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he".
This goes hand in hand with another great New Testament quotation, "As ye have believed, so be it done to you."
Our beliefs have the ability to shape our lives. This is why it is so important to get them right; to get rid of unhelpful beliefs and work on greating helpful ones.
There are no good or bad beliefs; we judge them as good or bad according to their results in our lives. In other words, there are beliefs that provide better results than others. As Jesus said, "By their fruits, ye shall know them." By the results, we shall know good from bad.
In the Science of Mind text, Ernest Holmes tried to compile all of the mental laws that he uncovered during years of study. They are also dealt with in the works of Thomas Troward, and in Emerson's Essays.
These laws apply only in the context of a spiritual view of the world. Our first step, then, is to substitute such a view for our common view of the world as basically material with spirit concealed in the background. The most useful view will turn out to be that the world is basically spiritual, with physical manifestations as the result of spiritual movement or action.
To take this view seriously and to adopt it as a basis for life's decisions is to run contrary to a lot of 'conventional' wisdom. This is the subject of my book "Turn the World on Its Head".
There are laws that govern the mental universe, just as science has uncovered laws that govern the physical universe. Not only that, but common sense tells us that these are not separate universes, but that at a deep level they are really one and the same. The mental universe underlies the physical one, and forms the basis for its existence.
Perhaps the foremost mental Law is "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he".
This goes hand in hand with another great New Testament quotation, "As ye have believed, so be it done to you."
Our beliefs have the ability to shape our lives. This is why it is so important to get them right; to get rid of unhelpful beliefs and work on greating helpful ones.
There are no good or bad beliefs; we judge them as good or bad according to their results in our lives. In other words, there are beliefs that provide better results than others. As Jesus said, "By their fruits, ye shall know them." By the results, we shall know good from bad.
In the Science of Mind text, Ernest Holmes tried to compile all of the mental laws that he uncovered during years of study. They are also dealt with in the works of Thomas Troward, and in Emerson's Essays.
These laws apply only in the context of a spiritual view of the world. Our first step, then, is to substitute such a view for our common view of the world as basically material with spirit concealed in the background. The most useful view will turn out to be that the world is basically spiritual, with physical manifestations as the result of spiritual movement or action.
To take this view seriously and to adopt it as a basis for life's decisions is to run contrary to a lot of 'conventional' wisdom. This is the subject of my book "Turn the World on Its Head".
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
LIFE AND THE LAW
START OF A NEW BLOG SERIES - LIFE AND THE LAW - THE NATURE OF LIFE AND THE LAWS OF MIND THAT GOVERN IT. ENJOY!
APPLYING MENTAL LAW TO YOUR LIFE
It would not be fair for anyone else to impose any beliefs upon you. Your personal beliefs are your own business.
It is a fact however, that some beliefs are more useful to you than others; and if you want peace, health, prosperity and joy in your life, then your beliefs can either bring you to that or can hinder you.
The Science of Mind® teaching proposes beliefs that are liberating instead of enslaving, that are based on you taking responsibility for your thinking instead of looking to others to tell you what to think.
It is an important thing for you to learn to choose and to change your belief, so that your beliefs can be examined by you, directed by you in useful ways, and translated by you into a happier, better life.
The same truths taught in Mental Science study can be found in the Bible, but we know that those truths can also be found elsewhere in the great literature and philosophy of the ages. Accordingly, it is good to learn to take the truth from wherever you find it.
There are aspects of Law that are hard for some to grasp. There are passages of the Bible and other literature that are hard to follow as well. One quote that I like from Ernest S. Holmes is this:
"If a thing is true, then there is a WAY in which it is true, and once we undertand the way, we will see the truth of it."
Learn to trust your own intelligence and understanding. Do not accept anything automatically without giving it some thought. I recommend Emerson's Essay on "Self-Reliance" as a model.
APPLYING MENTAL LAW TO YOUR LIFE
It would not be fair for anyone else to impose any beliefs upon you. Your personal beliefs are your own business.
It is a fact however, that some beliefs are more useful to you than others; and if you want peace, health, prosperity and joy in your life, then your beliefs can either bring you to that or can hinder you.
The Science of Mind® teaching proposes beliefs that are liberating instead of enslaving, that are based on you taking responsibility for your thinking instead of looking to others to tell you what to think.
It is an important thing for you to learn to choose and to change your belief, so that your beliefs can be examined by you, directed by you in useful ways, and translated by you into a happier, better life.
The same truths taught in Mental Science study can be found in the Bible, but we know that those truths can also be found elsewhere in the great literature and philosophy of the ages. Accordingly, it is good to learn to take the truth from wherever you find it.
There are aspects of Law that are hard for some to grasp. There are passages of the Bible and other literature that are hard to follow as well. One quote that I like from Ernest S. Holmes is this:
"If a thing is true, then there is a WAY in which it is true, and once we undertand the way, we will see the truth of it."
Learn to trust your own intelligence and understanding. Do not accept anything automatically without giving it some thought. I recommend Emerson's Essay on "Self-Reliance" as a model.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 23 - IMAGINING A NEW WORLD
Our creative ideas are drawn from the Universal realm, where infinite possibilities await our acceptance. Creation starts with imagining the form of the new, being open to the flow of ideas, and finally acceptance of a final solution.
Remember, there was a time when we could not conceive of Television. Today we probably have too much of it. In between those points, something happened.
The essence of the Science of Mind is that your belief becomes your experience. To go from mere thought to belief requires imagination.
What experience do you want?
Do you want Peace? Imagine it. Feel it. Believe it.
Do you want Abundance? Imagine it. Feel it. Believe it.
Do you want Fulfillment? Imagine it. Feel it. Believe it.
In due course, your idea will become a reality, as if by magic, which of course it is. It is the magic of a wonderfully benevolent, all-powerful, intelligent Universe, of which we are an active part; not just spectators, but full participants in the wonderful process of creation, which is for us our daily life. We provide the focus of creation, through our imagination.
The process of prayer treatment, affirmative prayer, done as prescribed by Dr. Ernest S. Holmes, will reach the furthest heights of your subconscious mind and resonate there, as a clear instruction of what should be done. It is a recipe for participation in the creative process.
Remember, all of the creative power behind our world is at your disposal. Reach inward for it, use it, and it will create for you a life of excitement, joy and prosperity.
THIS IS THE CONCLUSION OF OUR LENGTHY SERIES ON CREATIVITY. I WILL PLACE IT AS A DOWNLOADABLE BOOK ON LULU.COM, AS A COMPANION VOLUME TO MY MORE SECULAR BOOK OR CREATIVE THINKING, PLANNING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING, MAXI - MIND.
Monday, January 21, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 22 - TAO, MASCULINE AND FEMININE
The Yang and the Yin are the matching Chinese symbols of creation, together forming the symbol of the Tao. They correspond to the masculine and feminine principle. The masculine principle of nature is the initiator, the actor, the force for change. The feminine principle has to do with acceptance, gestation, and finally birth. It is also the force or principle of inertia, or the holding of form.
Don't get these masculine and feminine principles mixed up with our notions of men and women. These are meant to be treated as pure principles, and they exist everywhere in nature, and in men and women alike.
Here's how it works.
The world remains the same, unless it is changed. It takes a force to produce any change. However, nothing is created if there is constant change; things must take a final form before anything is created. A canvas that never dries never makes a painting. The male principle, or Yang, is the force that creates the movement; the female Yin principle is our acceptance, our willingness to forego final judgment a bit, while we work with these strange new things, then finally let them settle into usable form, and freeze them there.
The Tao symbol, the circle, represents completion. It is made up of the two principles interacting or intertwined, but with each having a spot of the other within it.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 21 - ACCEPTANCE
We can't always wait for a dream to give us a fresh insight; sometimes we are looking for new answers in the course of a day's work. There are many ways to stimulate our mind to think creatively, or to see things in new ways:
This is where imagination comes in. Set a snare for a new idea, by forming a vision, an ideal which is beyond reality today. Nurture it, build it, add to it, till you start to see the truth of it, the fact of it, the possibility of it. What you are doing is building your faith in the future.
"Faith is the certain knowledge of things desired......the assurance of things unseen."
Imagination is a builder of faith. Your faith will be rewarded with the realization of your path toward your goal. New images, new symbols will lead the way.
It's not hard to get new ideas. The problem is, our instinct is to reject them, because they don't feel night. They don't fit our existing mental models, so we have an uncomfortable feeling about them. They are also not practical right out of the box. We need to work with these ideas to find a practical answer. If we reject them too soon, we won't get a creative result.
Acceptance is the flip side of creativity.
This is where imagination comes in. Set a snare for a new idea, by forming a vision, an ideal which is beyond reality today. Nurture it, build it, add to it, till you start to see the truth of it, the fact of it, the possibility of it. What you are doing is building your faith in the future.
"Faith is the certain knowledge of things desired......the assurance of things unseen."
Imagination is a builder of faith. Your faith will be rewarded with the realization of your path toward your goal. New images, new symbols will lead the way.
It's not hard to get new ideas. The problem is, our instinct is to reject them, because they don't feel night. They don't fit our existing mental models, so we have an uncomfortable feeling about them. They are also not practical right out of the box. We need to work with these ideas to find a practical answer. If we reject them too soon, we won't get a creative result.
Acceptance is the flip side of creativity.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 20 - IMAGINATION AND SYMBOLS
Imagination comes from the word image, or picture. It is about forming a picture in the mind's eye - a vision. We can build our own vision; but it will only be made of things we already know. To have a new vision, we must open up to the ideas that come from the infinite Mind through our unconscious. We escape the busyness of our waking mind, and place ourselves into the flow of symbols.
This can be done many ways; by setting our problems aside and having some fun; by taking a walk, or a nap, or just gazing out the window. It can occur in sleep or in meditation.
Symbols from the subconscious must be translated into words or images in the conscious mind. This is a little like riding a bicycle; you can learn it, but you either do it our you don't. It seems hard when you don't, and it's easy when you do.
There are Bible stories which describe this process, involving the translation of dreams, either the dreamer's own, or someone else's. It crops up in stones about Daniel, Jacob, and Joseph. In these cases, no one could understand the symbols in the dreams, except the hero of the story, and he knew night away what they meant. As Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
"Man and His Symbols" by Carl Jung is one of the best sources to begin understanding how symbolism is the means of communication between the inner and deeper levels of Mind and our outer conscious awareness.
This can be done many ways; by setting our problems aside and having some fun; by taking a walk, or a nap, or just gazing out the window. It can occur in sleep or in meditation.
Symbols from the subconscious must be translated into words or images in the conscious mind. This is a little like riding a bicycle; you can learn it, but you either do it our you don't. It seems hard when you don't, and it's easy when you do.
There are Bible stories which describe this process, involving the translation of dreams, either the dreamer's own, or someone else's. It crops up in stones about Daniel, Jacob, and Joseph. In these cases, no one could understand the symbols in the dreams, except the hero of the story, and he knew night away what they meant. As Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
"Man and His Symbols" by Carl Jung is one of the best sources to begin understanding how symbolism is the means of communication between the inner and deeper levels of Mind and our outer conscious awareness.
Friday, January 18, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 19 - UNLIMITED IDEAS
CHECK OUT "MAXI-MIND", MY BOOK ON CREATIVE THINKING!Since our subconscious mind is a part of the sea of Spirit, our conscious mind must go through the subconscious to access those ideas in the realm of Universal Mind. And what ideas are those? Well, when we move our mind from the realm of the Particular and specific to the Universal, we also move from Finite to the Infinite, from limitation to unlimited possibility.
The Seas have no boundaries, only the icebergs, islands, continents, have boundaries. It may look to us like the Atlantic stops at the land, but really it flows all around the land to join with the Pacific. We have given them two separate names for our own convenience.
In the same way, our conscious and subconscious are not really separate. One flows into the other smoothly and seamlessly. The focus of our thinking can be shifted deeper into the subconscious, if we can get our mental 'chatter', out of the way. The Chatter is all those little distractions, nagging thoughts, bits and pieces of shifting attention that keeps us from focusing our mind inward. It is inward that we must go, because as we have shown, nothing new is ever outward of us. Outward is always just the same old stuff, stuff that has been invented already by others.
Our creative ability involves reaching into and through the subconscious, and drawing out fully formed ideas, which are in infinite number in the sea of Mind. Everyone has this ability. The ideas come in the form of symbols and images, because the deep subconscious is not the place where language resides. Language is a function of the conscious mind, and that part of the subconscious that lies close to it.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 18 - THERE IS A SOURCE
New ideas cannot be taught, because no one knows to teach them. They can only burst forth from, or through, the creative thinker. These thoughts can only come from within such a thinker, since they do not yet exist in the world outside of her.
This tells us there is a Source, a wellspring of ideas and answers, accessed from within us. If this were not the case, nothing new would ever be thought; we could only learn what others already know, and anything new could be only the result of accident, or perhaps the odd fortunate misunderstanding. That would not be enough to account for our progress.
Three quarters of an iceberg floats below the surface of the sea. We see only the top quarter floating above the water. This is similar to our conscious mind, the part we notice every day, the part we think we are thinking with. Below the surface, in contact with a sea of Universal Thought, is the subconscious, much larger, but invisible to us. Both parts are made of the same stuff as the sea in which they exist. As the iceberg is made of seawater, so the Mind is pure Consciousness.
The iceberg has form, and the sea does not. The sea pours in wherever form is created. So the stuff of Mind flows in where our thought provides form.
Pure Mind, or Spirit, is our source, and since it is everywhere, it is always within us.
This tells us there is a Source, a wellspring of ideas and answers, accessed from within us. If this were not the case, nothing new would ever be thought; we could only learn what others already know, and anything new could be only the result of accident, or perhaps the odd fortunate misunderstanding. That would not be enough to account for our progress.
Three quarters of an iceberg floats below the surface of the sea. We see only the top quarter floating above the water. This is similar to our conscious mind, the part we notice every day, the part we think we are thinking with. Below the surface, in contact with a sea of Universal Thought, is the subconscious, much larger, but invisible to us. Both parts are made of the same stuff as the sea in which they exist. As the iceberg is made of seawater, so the Mind is pure Consciousness.
The iceberg has form, and the sea does not. The sea pours in wherever form is created. So the stuff of Mind flows in where our thought provides form.
Pure Mind, or Spirit, is our source, and since it is everywhere, it is always within us.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 17 - WHERE DO WE GET NEW IDEAS?
CHECK OUT "MAXI-MIND", MY BOOK ON CREATIVE THINKING!Where do new ideas come from?
It's easy to say that new ideas come from our imagination. Imagination is our ability to visualize beyond what is in front of our eyes. But what is it that allows us to imagine?
It's tempting to say that what we imagine isn't real. That is a common mistake. Imagining is the first step in the process of making something real. Reality is of two kinds -one kind is in the world of the invisible - the other in our physical, visible world. Of the two, the invisible is more real, because it represents cause, while the physical world is an effect.
I realize that is backwards to what we learned as we grew up.
Humanity was once a race of primitive cave and forest dwellers. How did complex devices like the automobile, television, or computer arise from the race that once chased small animals with sticks? How did we come to build civilizations, sciences and bodies of great knowledge?
Come to think of it, how did we learn to chase small animals with sticks?
The answer is linked to the complexity of our intelligence, because creatures of lesser intellect do not exhibit this kind of behaviour. Rabbits today live just like rabbits of ten thousand years ago - so do deer, foxes, birds and mice. But people of today have a life so different from the people of long ago that they are scarcely recognizable.
It is more than just the ability to learn, because there is no way for us to learn of things that don't exist. How could we have learned how to build a television system? Who was there to teach that? No one, until it was invented.
Monday, January 14, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 16 - WHY ARE WE?
Why? Why us? Why this illusion of separateness in a world that appears solid, but which we know (thanks to Einstein) is fashioned from the energy of pure light. Why would the Creator have done such a thing?
I think the answer lies in the nature of Unity versus diversity, of togetherness versus separateness. Unity cannot be divided against itself. So long as God remained ONE, there would have been only one sequence of thoughts, one point of view, one line of experience, fulfillment, and creativity. By contrast, there are billions of us, all facing separate challenges from separate points of view. We bring richness and depth to the experience of God as we struggle to fulfill our purpose.
Only our apart-ness enables us to have different experiences from one another; to develop different creative ideas and patterns of thinking. Only the forming this illusion of separate consciousness could the richness of diversity be combined in Unity once again!
This notion of a diversified creator who is, at once, all things, does challenge our usual thought of the infallible God. From our limited point of view, for God to be always right, never wrong, would mean that God would have to have only ONE point of view - the right one.
I believe that notion puts human limits on God. I believe God to have many billions of points of view. And yes, they are always right, because right just isn't what we thought it was. God is not limited to one thing. God is the sum total of all possibilities.
Right thinking, right action, for each of us, is what we find when we have sought and found ONE-ness with our inner reality, our true self, the Creator at the heart of each of us. For each one of us that rightness, that truth, is different - having its own unique form and expression.
The miracle of this creation is that by allowing our uniqueness to blossom and express itself fully, we are adding our share to that glorious unity that is God.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 15 - THE "WORD"
"INSIGHTS" - A GREAT READ TO START THE YEAR! CLICK TO CHECK IT OUT ON LULU.COM
At the beginning of the Gospel of John, the bible says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
As a communications engineer, this speaks volumes to me. The WORD means information, meaning, intelligence and structure, such as flows from the process of thought. This means that God is pure thought energy, or conciousness. God not only IS conciousness, but ALL consciousness resided with God.
In other words, pure thought provides the structure and the impetus to form and fill the universe, and the thought energy acts within the substance of the Creator to cause energy to flow and fill the structures of creation.
"The word was with God" means that these thoughts flowed within the body of God as the Creator.
"The word was God" means that God's own self-awareness flows from this consciousness, from these thoughts, as well. Our Universe is nothing less than what God thinks It is!
When Moses asked "who are you", the answer was "I am that am". In other words, "I am that which is..." When all things are encompassed within one's being, one cannot relate to who or to what. One just is - everything. When you dig beneath all the things that you think you are, and believe you are, you just are.
This feeling of cosmic ONEness or complete lack of separateness is our key, our sign that we have touched our own awareness 04 the Creator in us. For we are of God. We can be nothing other.
Our human ego has been designed to give us a sense of separateness or individuality, to enable us to operate independently, and exercise that freedom of will which is the gift of our creation.
Realize that this separate identity is our personal illusion. Your separate self is like the fake storefronts in the old western movies, a facade, a temporary thought construction. Aside from that facade, we are made in the image and likeness of our creator - that is, with the full creative ability to form and manipulate our so-called 'reality'.
Friday, January 11, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 14 - ONE CREATOR
CAN WE PROVE GOD? WELL, SORT OF.
There is no 'proof' of God that does not depend in some way upon belief. But there are arguments, and there is evidence. The meaning of this evidence is something for each person to decide. There is a 'scientific' way to handle this evidence - and that is by experiment.
In this area, it doesn't quite work like the science we are used to. Using the conventional scientific method, we begin with some evidence, or data, we form an hypothesis - an explanation - and then we experiment to verify the hypothesis. Once verified, we rely upon a second or third independent experimenter to duplicate our results.
This almost works with metaphysics, but not really - because the hypothesis is that there is SOMETHING which responds to our dominant thoughts and beliefs to create the experience of life that we want. Since the overall contents of our mind includes the unconscious, it is not really possible to firmly verify that it has worked - except to ourselves! We cannot prove it to anyone else. Others can, however, prove it for themselves. Because this law works within the individual, we must encourage others to do their own experiment - they cannot duplicate ours.
The way that we prove our concept and our experience of God is to act out of faith - and then watch what happens. If things start to happen, and we begin to understand the rules of why things are happening - then we have tested our ideas with success. If we can get fairly consistent results, then we have a model or concept that works!
But there's a catch. If it is done unto you as you believe, then ANY concept you have of God, if you truly believe it, will be proven for you. This will be just as true of a God a vengeance as for a God of Love, because the Law of God is to always deliver on your true beliefs. So all concepts of the Creator become self-consistent. Ouch!
ONE CREATOR FOR EVERYTHING
If we choose to believe there is a creator, a creative energy or force, behind our experience, then what exactly did she create? The answer has to be EVERYTHING, because if you have something besides the creator, and she didn't create that, then what did? Another creator? And if there's two, what created them? It opens a real can of worms, doesn't it? If we start with effects and their causes, and trace the causes backward, it is logical that we will arrive at one, single, all inclusive cause.
So in back of everything, there's ONE creator. And if he created everything, what's it made of? There wasn't any material, or if there was, who created it? Why, it was that other creator again! It got here first!
The Bible begins with "In the beginning, God" - whatever we believe God to be.
If there was nothing originally but God, the Creator, then all things are made out of the substance of God. To put it another way, if only God existed, before anything was created, then any change in the form of God would result in something being created. Starting with nothing, any change produces something, or else there wouldn't have been a change.
Confused? Many are. Just let it be for now.
There is no 'proof' of God that does not depend in some way upon belief. But there are arguments, and there is evidence. The meaning of this evidence is something for each person to decide. There is a 'scientific' way to handle this evidence - and that is by experiment.
In this area, it doesn't quite work like the science we are used to. Using the conventional scientific method, we begin with some evidence, or data, we form an hypothesis - an explanation - and then we experiment to verify the hypothesis. Once verified, we rely upon a second or third independent experimenter to duplicate our results.
This almost works with metaphysics, but not really - because the hypothesis is that there is SOMETHING which responds to our dominant thoughts and beliefs to create the experience of life that we want. Since the overall contents of our mind includes the unconscious, it is not really possible to firmly verify that it has worked - except to ourselves! We cannot prove it to anyone else. Others can, however, prove it for themselves. Because this law works within the individual, we must encourage others to do their own experiment - they cannot duplicate ours.
The way that we prove our concept and our experience of God is to act out of faith - and then watch what happens. If things start to happen, and we begin to understand the rules of why things are happening - then we have tested our ideas with success. If we can get fairly consistent results, then we have a model or concept that works!
But there's a catch. If it is done unto you as you believe, then ANY concept you have of God, if you truly believe it, will be proven for you. This will be just as true of a God a vengeance as for a God of Love, because the Law of God is to always deliver on your true beliefs. So all concepts of the Creator become self-consistent. Ouch!
ONE CREATOR FOR EVERYTHING
If we choose to believe there is a creator, a creative energy or force, behind our experience, then what exactly did she create? The answer has to be EVERYTHING, because if you have something besides the creator, and she didn't create that, then what did? Another creator? And if there's two, what created them? It opens a real can of worms, doesn't it? If we start with effects and their causes, and trace the causes backward, it is logical that we will arrive at one, single, all inclusive cause.
So in back of everything, there's ONE creator. And if he created everything, what's it made of? There wasn't any material, or if there was, who created it? Why, it was that other creator again! It got here first!
The Bible begins with "In the beginning, God" - whatever we believe God to be.
If there was nothing originally but God, the Creator, then all things are made out of the substance of God. To put it another way, if only God existed, before anything was created, then any change in the form of God would result in something being created. Starting with nothing, any change produces something, or else there wouldn't have been a change.
Confused? Many are. Just let it be for now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 13 - THE GREAT MYSTERY
THE GREAT MYSTERY OF CREATION
Philosophers from the time of Aristotle have grappled with the idea of an underlying cause to everything we see in the world we occupy. This notion of a chain of causes leading back to a 'prime cause' is one that we can readily relate to.
Basically the idea is this: Everything we experience has come about as a result of some change or some event, which can be pointed to as the CAUSE of that particular experience. But that change or that event itself was caused by something, and so on, back into past time, till eventually, we must reach some ultimate or 'first cause'. A very reasonable sounding concept, but there are problems with it.
The problem is first that the notion of cause and effect assumes a time sequence from past toward the future. In that model, once the energy of the first cause gave things their initial push, like the cue ball hitting the assembled colored ball on a pool table, things then can go bouncing along all by themselves, all in a pre-determined order, till finally things wind down and stop dead. No, in our search for God, the first cause falls somewhat short.
We rather prefer to think of a Creator rather than just a cause - a creator is involved with its creation not just for an initial shove, but throughout all of time. The key difference lies in the notion of time. Our creator is not bound by a time sequence, but operates outside of time as we know it. We may assume this because time is intimately associated with space, and with forms, and objects, and in the absence of these, we have no definition of time.
Philosophers from the time of Aristotle have grappled with the idea of an underlying cause to everything we see in the world we occupy. This notion of a chain of causes leading back to a 'prime cause' is one that we can readily relate to.
Basically the idea is this: Everything we experience has come about as a result of some change or some event, which can be pointed to as the CAUSE of that particular experience. But that change or that event itself was caused by something, and so on, back into past time, till eventually, we must reach some ultimate or 'first cause'. A very reasonable sounding concept, but there are problems with it.
The problem is first that the notion of cause and effect assumes a time sequence from past toward the future. In that model, once the energy of the first cause gave things their initial push, like the cue ball hitting the assembled colored ball on a pool table, things then can go bouncing along all by themselves, all in a pre-determined order, till finally things wind down and stop dead. No, in our search for God, the first cause falls somewhat short.
We rather prefer to think of a Creator rather than just a cause - a creator is involved with its creation not just for an initial shove, but throughout all of time. The key difference lies in the notion of time. Our creator is not bound by a time sequence, but operates outside of time as we know it. We may assume this because time is intimately associated with space, and with forms, and objects, and in the absence of these, we have no definition of time.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 12 - YOU ARE CREATING RIGHT NOW
ENHANCE YOUR LIFE
Being creative is fun. Doing it right works to enhance our life.
When you have trouble getting clear, you can tell, because your results are scattered and random. Take the time to be clear and get that focus. But do it after you have allowed your enthusiasm to run with it for awhile. Don’t cut off the process before the zany ideas are out on the table.
You just never know when one of them will be your answer.
THE SCIENCE OF MIND
The Science of Mind starts with the premise that we are immersed in an infinite Power, and formed by an infinite Principle of Intelligence.
We call upon this at all times as we go about our lives. We are creating, right now, whether we know it or not, whether we want to or not. We are each agents of creativity, and we should know our responsibility to create wisely and well.
Our intention here at the Centre is to teach people to create better lives, and to contribute to the creation of a better, kinder, richer world. Our classes are aimed at that.
Through all of us, God is expanding Its activity in the world.
No wonder the universe keeps expanding!
Being creative is fun. Doing it right works to enhance our life.
When you have trouble getting clear, you can tell, because your results are scattered and random. Take the time to be clear and get that focus. But do it after you have allowed your enthusiasm to run with it for awhile. Don’t cut off the process before the zany ideas are out on the table.
You just never know when one of them will be your answer.
THE SCIENCE OF MIND
The Science of Mind starts with the premise that we are immersed in an infinite Power, and formed by an infinite Principle of Intelligence.
We call upon this at all times as we go about our lives. We are creating, right now, whether we know it or not, whether we want to or not. We are each agents of creativity, and we should know our responsibility to create wisely and well.
Our intention here at the Centre is to teach people to create better lives, and to contribute to the creation of a better, kinder, richer world. Our classes are aimed at that.
Through all of us, God is expanding Its activity in the world.
No wonder the universe keeps expanding!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 11 - HOW IT WORKS
HOW CREATIVITY WORKS
The creative process calls for interactive harmony between conscious and unconscious mind.
The conscious mind provides the impulse to do something. I call this the Love, because it represents desire, caring and the urge for attraction. We want to attract our desire.
Our conscious desire is transformed into intention, which transfers itself to the unconscious mind. Our unconscious mind is our link to the Law of Nature, and the attitude called for is one of Acceptance. We are ready to Accept the results of our Desire. Ernest Holmes said the action of God is Love and Law. This is the creative process, and we are the actors. We are blessed with the ability to imagine, and with the ability to use conscious intention.
When desire runs wild, the process is like the greenlight exercise, with ideas bubbling out almost randomly. When we try to restrict it, we interfere with the process – we curb the enthusiasm.
But our acceptance must be focused on a particular outcome, or we will get overlapping multiple manifestations. It would be like desiring a new truck, and then accepting every truck that came our way, regardless of age, size, or condition. When we had a yard full of rusty old trucks, we might wish we had been more focused.
What we want to achieve is clarity of purpose, without being too rigid about the outcome. There is a balance. If we are completely unclear, we will get wishy-washy results. Too specific, and we are raising needless barriers to success.
The creative process calls for interactive harmony between conscious and unconscious mind.
The conscious mind provides the impulse to do something. I call this the Love, because it represents desire, caring and the urge for attraction. We want to attract our desire.
Our conscious desire is transformed into intention, which transfers itself to the unconscious mind. Our unconscious mind is our link to the Law of Nature, and the attitude called for is one of Acceptance. We are ready to Accept the results of our Desire. Ernest Holmes said the action of God is Love and Law. This is the creative process, and we are the actors. We are blessed with the ability to imagine, and with the ability to use conscious intention.
When desire runs wild, the process is like the greenlight exercise, with ideas bubbling out almost randomly. When we try to restrict it, we interfere with the process – we curb the enthusiasm.
But our acceptance must be focused on a particular outcome, or we will get overlapping multiple manifestations. It would be like desiring a new truck, and then accepting every truck that came our way, regardless of age, size, or condition. When we had a yard full of rusty old trucks, we might wish we had been more focused.
What we want to achieve is clarity of purpose, without being too rigid about the outcome. There is a balance. If we are completely unclear, we will get wishy-washy results. Too specific, and we are raising needless barriers to success.
Monday, January 7, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 10 - CREATIVE EXAMPLES
CREATIVE EXAMPLES - RESULTS
Who could have imagined that a fortune would be made from selling ‘pet rocks’? Such ideas are not derived from mainstream thinking. This had to be one of those 'silly' solutions that 99% of people would reject.
Dr. Edward DeBono, a leading and legendary professor of creativity, or as he refers to it, lateral thinking, once told a story about the phone company in Australia, which had placed payphones on remote beaches miles from anywhere. They were required by their regulator to maintain these phones. They were seldom used, and were mainly for emergencies. Swimmers, divers and surfers normally do not carry pocket change. Furthermore, checking these phones to see if the coin boxes were full involved hundreds of miles of driving, for little reward. SaskTel had the same problems in the north.
Of course we now have coinless pay phones. using cards. Not much help to small kids who need to call.
Using the greenlight process, someone suggested a payless payphone. The idea seemed like nonsense – how could a pay phone be payless? But they turned the idea over. The result was a telephone with no coin box and no card slot – it was payless. The calls are paid for by commercial sponsors – and you must listen to a 30 second commercial before you can dial a call. The result is not only payless, but a phone that needs almost no maintenance.
Who could have imagined that a fortune would be made from selling ‘pet rocks’? Such ideas are not derived from mainstream thinking. This had to be one of those 'silly' solutions that 99% of people would reject.
Dr. Edward DeBono, a leading and legendary professor of creativity, or as he refers to it, lateral thinking, once told a story about the phone company in Australia, which had placed payphones on remote beaches miles from anywhere. They were required by their regulator to maintain these phones. They were seldom used, and were mainly for emergencies. Swimmers, divers and surfers normally do not carry pocket change. Furthermore, checking these phones to see if the coin boxes were full involved hundreds of miles of driving, for little reward. SaskTel had the same problems in the north.
Of course we now have coinless pay phones. using cards. Not much help to small kids who need to call.
Using the greenlight process, someone suggested a payless payphone. The idea seemed like nonsense – how could a pay phone be payless? But they turned the idea over. The result was a telephone with no coin box and no card slot – it was payless. The calls are paid for by commercial sponsors – and you must listen to a 30 second commercial before you can dial a call. The result is not only payless, but a phone that needs almost no maintenance.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 9 - CREATING NEW IDEAS
HOW TO CREATE
How can you create better experiences in your life?
You will find this is (sort of) a repeat from a previous blog - same ideas, different words!
There is a process – a simple one – for enhancing your creativity on a daily basis. It is used a lot in business, and it is called brainstorming, or the greenlight/redlight system.
To "GREENLIGHT" means to list ideas without any judgment – letting the silly ones and the clever ones pour out all together onto a list. It’s good to do this with a small group – a family, or a work team.
Remember, no judgment – just scatter a bunch of ideas with your brains running wild.
Then you switch to "REDLIGHT" mode. Go through the list and set aside the ideas that seem like they might be sensible. Save them for later. Use your judgment - now you can be critical, if you want.
Like it says in the TV commercial, "BUT WAIT." Now comes the important part – go through the silly stuff, and turn each one over, to see if it suggests a workable idea. Do the goofy ideas have an opposite? Does a play on words bring out any ideas? Is there any way in which the silliness has some merit?
What you are doing is trying to break out of a rut, to break away from a pattern. This process can often leave the ordinary answers behind.
Some people are completely wedded to the ordinary, the conventional. Let yourself go! You can always reject things later on.
How can you create better experiences in your life?
You will find this is (sort of) a repeat from a previous blog - same ideas, different words!
There is a process – a simple one – for enhancing your creativity on a daily basis. It is used a lot in business, and it is called brainstorming, or the greenlight/redlight system.
To "GREENLIGHT" means to list ideas without any judgment – letting the silly ones and the clever ones pour out all together onto a list. It’s good to do this with a small group – a family, or a work team.
Remember, no judgment – just scatter a bunch of ideas with your brains running wild.
Then you switch to "REDLIGHT" mode. Go through the list and set aside the ideas that seem like they might be sensible. Save them for later. Use your judgment - now you can be critical, if you want.
Like it says in the TV commercial, "BUT WAIT." Now comes the important part – go through the silly stuff, and turn each one over, to see if it suggests a workable idea. Do the goofy ideas have an opposite? Does a play on words bring out any ideas? Is there any way in which the silliness has some merit?
What you are doing is trying to break out of a rut, to break away from a pattern. This process can often leave the ordinary answers behind.
Some people are completely wedded to the ordinary, the conventional. Let yourself go! You can always reject things later on.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 8 - IMAGINATION
IMAGINATION
Where do new ideas come from? From our imagination. But what is it that allows us to imagine? Imagination is our ability to see what is not in front of us. That means imagination is linked to faith.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
When we imagine, we are creating a form in Mind. This form has attractive ability. The power of Divine substance is attracted to mental forms, and tends to bring them into full manifestation, if they are clear and more than momentary. Therefore our imagination leads to the mental 'substance' that is known as faith.
It's tempting to say that what we imagine isn't real. That is a common mistake. Imagining is the first step in the process of making something real. Reality is of two kinds -one kind is in the world of the invisible - the other in our physical, visible world. Of the two, the invisible is more real, because it represents cause, while the physical world is an effect.
That is backwards to what we learned as we grew up.
Humanity once dwelt in caves and forests, in the most primitive of conditions. How is it that we now design complex devices automobiles, electronics or space stations? We once carried sticks and chased small animals with them. How did we come to build civilizations, sciences and bodies of great knowledge? How did we leap that huge gap?
Come to think of it, how did we learn to chase small animals with sticks?
The answer is linked to the complexity of our intelligence, because creatures of lesser intellect do not exhibit this kind of behaviour. Rabbits today live just like rabbits of ten thousand years ago - so do deer, foxes, birds and mice. But people of today have a life so different from the people of long ago that they are scarcely recognizable.
It is more than just the ability to learn, because there is no way for us to learn of things that don't exist. How could we have learned how to build a television system? Who was there to teach that? No one, until it was invented.
New ideas cannot be taught, because no one knows to teach them. They can only burst forth from, or through, the creative thinker. These thoughts can only come from within such a thinker, since they do not yet exist in the world outside of her.
This tells us there is a Source, a wellspring of ideas and answers, accessed from within us. If this were not the case, nothing new would ever be thought; we could only learn what others already know, and anything new could be only the result of accident, or perhaps the odd fortunate misunderstanding. That would not be enough to account for our progress.
Where do new ideas come from? From our imagination. But what is it that allows us to imagine? Imagination is our ability to see what is not in front of us. That means imagination is linked to faith.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
When we imagine, we are creating a form in Mind. This form has attractive ability. The power of Divine substance is attracted to mental forms, and tends to bring them into full manifestation, if they are clear and more than momentary. Therefore our imagination leads to the mental 'substance' that is known as faith.
It's tempting to say that what we imagine isn't real. That is a common mistake. Imagining is the first step in the process of making something real. Reality is of two kinds -one kind is in the world of the invisible - the other in our physical, visible world. Of the two, the invisible is more real, because it represents cause, while the physical world is an effect.
That is backwards to what we learned as we grew up.
Humanity once dwelt in caves and forests, in the most primitive of conditions. How is it that we now design complex devices automobiles, electronics or space stations? We once carried sticks and chased small animals with them. How did we come to build civilizations, sciences and bodies of great knowledge? How did we leap that huge gap?
Come to think of it, how did we learn to chase small animals with sticks?
The answer is linked to the complexity of our intelligence, because creatures of lesser intellect do not exhibit this kind of behaviour. Rabbits today live just like rabbits of ten thousand years ago - so do deer, foxes, birds and mice. But people of today have a life so different from the people of long ago that they are scarcely recognizable.
It is more than just the ability to learn, because there is no way for us to learn of things that don't exist. How could we have learned how to build a television system? Who was there to teach that? No one, until it was invented.
New ideas cannot be taught, because no one knows to teach them. They can only burst forth from, or through, the creative thinker. These thoughts can only come from within such a thinker, since they do not yet exist in the world outside of her.
This tells us there is a Source, a wellspring of ideas and answers, accessed from within us. If this were not the case, nothing new would ever be thought; we could only learn what others already know, and anything new could be only the result of accident, or perhaps the odd fortunate misunderstanding. That would not be enough to account for our progress.
Friday, January 4, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 7 - THINKING CLEARLY
‘CLEAR’ IS OFTEN ORDINARY
Unfortunately, most people derive their clearest thinking by adopting it from the people around them. We copy our neighbours; we fall into line with the teachings of the past generations; we adopt the ideas of the media. These are what we take on as our ‘clear’ ideas – and when we do, we lead the most ordinary of lives.
Being truly creative is a discipline that tends to attract more innovative thinkers – maybe that’s why there aren’t as many! The innovators are the ones who have dared to step a little bit outside of the box that our society has built. They are the ones who want something more from life – and they are willing to not only think – but to think about their thinking.
Becoming aware of your thought process is the best way to identify the blocks to innovative thinking.
Our unconscious fears are usually the greatest blocks to innovation. Some fear failure, even more fear success, and the burdens and responsibilities that go with it. Most people simply fear standing apart from the crowd, drawing attention.
Whatever your fears are, you can identify them and surpass them by scrutinizing your thought process and the feelings around it. What are you most often reacting to? What is muddying up your intentions?
"INSIGHTS" - A GREAT READ FOR THE NEW YEAR!
Unfortunately, most people derive their clearest thinking by adopting it from the people around them. We copy our neighbours; we fall into line with the teachings of the past generations; we adopt the ideas of the media. These are what we take on as our ‘clear’ ideas – and when we do, we lead the most ordinary of lives.
Being truly creative is a discipline that tends to attract more innovative thinkers – maybe that’s why there aren’t as many! The innovators are the ones who have dared to step a little bit outside of the box that our society has built. They are the ones who want something more from life – and they are willing to not only think – but to think about their thinking.
Becoming aware of your thought process is the best way to identify the blocks to innovative thinking.
Our unconscious fears are usually the greatest blocks to innovation. Some fear failure, even more fear success, and the burdens and responsibilities that go with it. Most people simply fear standing apart from the crowd, drawing attention.
Whatever your fears are, you can identify them and surpass them by scrutinizing your thought process and the feelings around it. What are you most often reacting to? What is muddying up your intentions?
"INSIGHTS" - A GREAT READ FOR THE NEW YEAR!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 6 - CREATIVE PRINCIPLE
THE CREATIVE PRINCIPLE
If you have read metaphysical literature, or taken classes such as The Science of Mind, you may have learned the Creative Principle. To summarize it, the conscious, aware part of your Mind determines the creation of your experience. This conscious thought moves into the great unconsious field of Mind, where the Laws of nature are unconsciously operating all the time. This unconscious field always responds to the thoughts impressed upon it, provided they are not ambiguous – provided they are clear. In due course, a physical counterpart will appear, matching the mental equivalent that you have provided.
The process is as exact as the clarity of your thought and belief makes it.
Perhaps you imagine going shopping. You quickly picture going downtown, maybe visiting the bank, then the store. Then you think no more about it – you set out, go to the bank and the store, and come home. It never occurs to you to doubt it. It doesn’t summon up any fears, or difficulties. You just do it. The process is largely unconscious, following from the original, brief, conscious thought. That’s how life is meant to work. That is the creative Principle in action.
It is characterized by a unity of thought, belief, and action.
When fear and doubt creep in, that’s when the Principle begins to falter. It can only do for us what we can think in a clear manner. Unclear thinking produces matching results; perhaps a wandering trip that never quite gets downtown. Negative, fearful thinking may produce a traffic jam, an accident, or other blockage to action.
We are trained to see the action of the world as separate, apart from ourselves. We may tend to see the forces that guide and control everything as something distant and apart. This is what it feels like to be separate from God. We then feel manipulated and controlled by circumstances.
There is a Oneness to things that is infinite in scope. It includes us, because we cannot limit the infinite to be apart from us- how could we? When we understand this Oneness, and really feel our place in it, we become co-creators with it, and we live in harmony with the Spirit of Life.
If you have read metaphysical literature, or taken classes such as The Science of Mind, you may have learned the Creative Principle. To summarize it, the conscious, aware part of your Mind determines the creation of your experience. This conscious thought moves into the great unconsious field of Mind, where the Laws of nature are unconsciously operating all the time. This unconscious field always responds to the thoughts impressed upon it, provided they are not ambiguous – provided they are clear. In due course, a physical counterpart will appear, matching the mental equivalent that you have provided.
The process is as exact as the clarity of your thought and belief makes it.
Perhaps you imagine going shopping. You quickly picture going downtown, maybe visiting the bank, then the store. Then you think no more about it – you set out, go to the bank and the store, and come home. It never occurs to you to doubt it. It doesn’t summon up any fears, or difficulties. You just do it. The process is largely unconscious, following from the original, brief, conscious thought. That’s how life is meant to work. That is the creative Principle in action.
It is characterized by a unity of thought, belief, and action.
When fear and doubt creep in, that’s when the Principle begins to falter. It can only do for us what we can think in a clear manner. Unclear thinking produces matching results; perhaps a wandering trip that never quite gets downtown. Negative, fearful thinking may produce a traffic jam, an accident, or other blockage to action.
We are trained to see the action of the world as separate, apart from ourselves. We may tend to see the forces that guide and control everything as something distant and apart. This is what it feels like to be separate from God. We then feel manipulated and controlled by circumstances.
There is a Oneness to things that is infinite in scope. It includes us, because we cannot limit the infinite to be apart from us- how could we? When we understand this Oneness, and really feel our place in it, we become co-creators with it, and we live in harmony with the Spirit of Life.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 5 -
THE CREATIVE FORCE
New Thought teachings, such as the Science of Mind, are heavily focused on the Creative Process, and creativity. Since God is defined as the Creator, the science we teach is the science of the nature of this Creative Force, and the process by which It works.
It is the nature of God to give. Since God is all there is, there is nothing for God to want, other than to express outwardly in more and more possibilities. We are surrounded by a Mind, an Intelligence, and a field of invisible substance, which awaits our desire - and It's only function is to give. There is nothing It needs; nothing It lacks; but there is an urge, a desire, to express through Its creations - including through us.
Why then should change be difficult? Perhaps only because this Being, this Presence only says "Yes" to us, so that when we express smallness, when we feel inadequate, its only role is to agree, and say "Yes, you are."
We teach people how to take charge and create their own life. We teach that there is a Single Power, a Force, a Universal Intelligence that is the creative impulse and the medium we all call upon. When we adapt our thinking, and learn to express the hope of greatness, the confidence of success - in other words, to express FAITH, then the surrounding Spirit also says "Yes!"
We create nothing in our life. What we do is we express our intentions, and it is created for us by the Spiritual Being that is us, as us, in that moment. When we can touch that Being within us, the power to create anything in life is allowed to flow.
This God-Mind might seem to us like a force of nature; but in fact It isn’t, because It is the source of nature – It created nature, and It represents to us the very force and intelligence that our nature is made of. God creates out of Itself, since there is no other, and It becomes that which is created.
This energy and intelligence takes form as our world, and as you and me. Since It is us, as us, we have available to us that same ability to imagine forms, and to see them emerge into reality and become part of our experience.
We live out our lives in this world of space and time; it is beyond space and time, beyond all the limitations and measurements that we use to define where, and when, and how long, and how much. Both space and time are aspects of the material universe, and are linked to its behavior.
We know that creation goes on all around us, all the time. Normally, we don’t notice it, and we don’t think much about it. Every atom in your body has cycled in and out of existence a billion times while you read this sentence. You have essentially been re-created that many times. And yet you think it’s hard for you to change!
When we understand the incredible mechanisms of creativity, great things are possible.
For a great example of creative thinking of a poetic and artistic nature see this blog:
http://vivkata.blogspot.com/
New Thought teachings, such as the Science of Mind, are heavily focused on the Creative Process, and creativity. Since God is defined as the Creator, the science we teach is the science of the nature of this Creative Force, and the process by which It works.
It is the nature of God to give. Since God is all there is, there is nothing for God to want, other than to express outwardly in more and more possibilities. We are surrounded by a Mind, an Intelligence, and a field of invisible substance, which awaits our desire - and It's only function is to give. There is nothing It needs; nothing It lacks; but there is an urge, a desire, to express through Its creations - including through us.
Why then should change be difficult? Perhaps only because this Being, this Presence only says "Yes" to us, so that when we express smallness, when we feel inadequate, its only role is to agree, and say "Yes, you are."
We teach people how to take charge and create their own life. We teach that there is a Single Power, a Force, a Universal Intelligence that is the creative impulse and the medium we all call upon. When we adapt our thinking, and learn to express the hope of greatness, the confidence of success - in other words, to express FAITH, then the surrounding Spirit also says "Yes!"
We create nothing in our life. What we do is we express our intentions, and it is created for us by the Spiritual Being that is us, as us, in that moment. When we can touch that Being within us, the power to create anything in life is allowed to flow.
This God-Mind might seem to us like a force of nature; but in fact It isn’t, because It is the source of nature – It created nature, and It represents to us the very force and intelligence that our nature is made of. God creates out of Itself, since there is no other, and It becomes that which is created.
This energy and intelligence takes form as our world, and as you and me. Since It is us, as us, we have available to us that same ability to imagine forms, and to see them emerge into reality and become part of our experience.
We live out our lives in this world of space and time; it is beyond space and time, beyond all the limitations and measurements that we use to define where, and when, and how long, and how much. Both space and time are aspects of the material universe, and are linked to its behavior.
We know that creation goes on all around us, all the time. Normally, we don’t notice it, and we don’t think much about it. Every atom in your body has cycled in and out of existence a billion times while you read this sentence. You have essentially been re-created that many times. And yet you think it’s hard for you to change!
When we understand the incredible mechanisms of creativity, great things are possible.
For a great example of creative thinking of a poetic and artistic nature see this blog:
http://vivkata.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
CREATIVITY - PART 4
We live in a universe of Law - that means of cause and effect. We see things as a chain of effects which have causes, and each cause is the effect of a previous cause. Going backward this way from effect to cause, we arrive at First Cause. First Cause is another name for the Thing Itself, the Primary Cause, that which we call God. All other causes are secondary. (Of course we only assume it works from effect to cause; it may be that time is only our illusion, and that effect and cause are two portions of the same event. That is how it looks from a higher level of looking at things, and there are several such levels.)
About 'Things':
All things, whether real, imagined, or still unthought of, exist in POTENTIAL. Those things which are permitted by natural laws and by our prevalent belief systems are brought from POTENTIALITY to POSSIBILITY. Those things which are POSSIBLE, and which fit with the pattern of causes and circumstances, become PROBABLE. Those things for which the PROBABILITY becomes a certainty, (p=1.0) become ACTUAL.
All these states of being, from potentiality to possibility to probability to actuality, all these make up REALITY.
The conscious and sensory side of our life is dominated by Actuality, so that we often are not aware of the Potentiality, which is known only in the unconscious. The thinking side of our life is dominated by Potentiality. Creativity for us is drawing new and different things out of the unconscious, and moving them from merely potential to actual.
What is the best way to do this? Well, we make decisions which bring about our future in three ways:
1) historical trend extension (rearview mirror)
2) gestaltic reaction (crisis management)
3) teleological (future vision)
Decisions made from past data, whether accounting, engineering, or legal precedent, is of the first type. Most business decisions are made this way, by extrapolating the past into the future.
The latter is the most creative. It involves a vision of a desired future, and that involves imagination, or picturing.
I had a good example of imagination as picturing the other day - I watched a man at a payphone in an airport..... everything time he said something, he used his hands to illustrate his point- waving, measuring, pointing. He also nodded his head and shook it, waggled it and ducked it to punctuate each sentence. He clearly imagined the presence of the person he was talking to, and acted exactly as if the other could see him!
Where do new ideas come from? How did we get from cave man to quantum devices, like computers?
The subconscious mind is our link to the infinite potentiality. We imagine, we dream, we envision things that do not yet exist around us. How do we do this?
We tap the great unconscious by getting our conscious mind out of the way temporarily. Why do we mainly dream while asleep? It is because our conscious is set aside and the unconscious has free reign.
In brief, here is the process:
1. Have a silly session. Suspend your logical, conscious mind to generate ideas (some silly, some sublime!)
2. Use MOVEMENT methods to alter the weak or strange ideas (could they be made practical?)
3. Engage logic to classify, categorize, weed out and sort ideas. Now you can reject what doesn't fit.
4. Use Pro & Con analysis to rank and choose the best ideas to pursue.
5. Develop a plan of action.
Have some fun being creative.!!
About 'Things':
All things, whether real, imagined, or still unthought of, exist in POTENTIAL. Those things which are permitted by natural laws and by our prevalent belief systems are brought from POTENTIALITY to POSSIBILITY. Those things which are POSSIBLE, and which fit with the pattern of causes and circumstances, become PROBABLE. Those things for which the PROBABILITY becomes a certainty, (p=1.0) become ACTUAL.
All these states of being, from potentiality to possibility to probability to actuality, all these make up REALITY.
The conscious and sensory side of our life is dominated by Actuality, so that we often are not aware of the Potentiality, which is known only in the unconscious. The thinking side of our life is dominated by Potentiality. Creativity for us is drawing new and different things out of the unconscious, and moving them from merely potential to actual.
What is the best way to do this? Well, we make decisions which bring about our future in three ways:
1) historical trend extension (rearview mirror)
2) gestaltic reaction (crisis management)
3) teleological (future vision)
Decisions made from past data, whether accounting, engineering, or legal precedent, is of the first type. Most business decisions are made this way, by extrapolating the past into the future.
The latter is the most creative. It involves a vision of a desired future, and that involves imagination, or picturing.
I had a good example of imagination as picturing the other day - I watched a man at a payphone in an airport..... everything time he said something, he used his hands to illustrate his point- waving, measuring, pointing. He also nodded his head and shook it, waggled it and ducked it to punctuate each sentence. He clearly imagined the presence of the person he was talking to, and acted exactly as if the other could see him!
Where do new ideas come from? How did we get from cave man to quantum devices, like computers?
The subconscious mind is our link to the infinite potentiality. We imagine, we dream, we envision things that do not yet exist around us. How do we do this?
We tap the great unconscious by getting our conscious mind out of the way temporarily. Why do we mainly dream while asleep? It is because our conscious is set aside and the unconscious has free reign.
In brief, here is the process:
1. Have a silly session. Suspend your logical, conscious mind to generate ideas (some silly, some sublime!)
2. Use MOVEMENT methods to alter the weak or strange ideas (could they be made practical?)
3. Engage logic to classify, categorize, weed out and sort ideas. Now you can reject what doesn't fit.
4. Use Pro & Con analysis to rank and choose the best ideas to pursue.
5. Develop a plan of action.
Have some fun being creative.!!
CREATIVITY - PART 3
It is one thing to do prayer treatment for things that you want. If you move more deeply into this teaching, you will pray to find out what God wants for you. This is not some outer, distant God, a white-haired gentleman in robes behind a great book on a desk. This is the God that is within – the Spirit that makes the difference between life and death for you. This is the ‘I AM’ of your own being, that works through you to create a life. This is the God that has a plan for you. It is the essence of your self that will tell you why you are here. And your prayer is just your signal that you are ready to listen to IT, to allow IT to work for you and through you.
But this God is not going to give you a detailed plan - your own intelligence and freedom of will must supply that. What you will get is an emotional nudging, an urging, an itching, to move in a certain direction or choose a certain way.
You ideas are creative. They are signs from the Spirit within you that something awaits your action. Nurture them through the processes of mediation and prayer treatment. Pray positively to remove each roadblock that comes up. The unconscious mind is your link to Spirit within. Teach it to fetch. Make it your messenger. Program it for total faith in the outcome of your dreams, and be ready to choose whenever the pivotal moments come up!
But this God is not going to give you a detailed plan - your own intelligence and freedom of will must supply that. What you will get is an emotional nudging, an urging, an itching, to move in a certain direction or choose a certain way.
You ideas are creative. They are signs from the Spirit within you that something awaits your action. Nurture them through the processes of mediation and prayer treatment. Pray positively to remove each roadblock that comes up. The unconscious mind is your link to Spirit within. Teach it to fetch. Make it your messenger. Program it for total faith in the outcome of your dreams, and be ready to choose whenever the pivotal moments come up!
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