Trying to wear Dad's pants. Fake positive thinking vs. real perspective changing.

I asked the great spiritual teacher what to do about feeling like I have no time and no energy to do all the things I want to do, and the great teacher said: "change your psychology." And to elaborate, said, "stay in alignment" (her way of saying stay connected to, aware of, referring to and guided by source, God, spirit, high consciousness, higher vibration, whatever you want to call it).

And 'you are creating this with your thoughts, just stop saying, thinking all the mental chatter about not having time etc.'

I trust this teacher, but this last point is one that often rubs me the wrong way. I hear it bandied around all across the spiritual community. "think positive thoughts, don't let yourself think negative thoughts" and it strikes me as very insincere and weird. It sounds like I'm being asked to pretend that I don't think I'm super busy, which is basically lying to myself. Like trying to ignore a burning building and assuming that will make the fire go away. It sounds like the doublethink of Orson Well's 1986. It just generally seems unhealthy, inauthentic, weird and janky.

That's probably because it often is, in practice. But I'm sure that's not what the teacher would have wanted. There is another way to do it. But it requires the ability to pull back out of your own perspective and realize that your perspective is just one of many, and ultimately no more true than any other perspective. Most of the meaning in our lives (all of it?) comes from us, not some ultimate reality. A person dies and that means things to us that makes us cry. Another person dies and that means things to us that makes us relieved. The difference is not in the act: a person dying, but in the meaning we've attached to it. This person is dear, that person is terrible. This is bad, that is good. The act itself is meaning agnostic. Like a tree falling in a forest with nobody there to hear it. Except instead of "hear" we need to replace it with "give meaning to"

When you really see that, then it is no longer lying to yourself, to drop one perspective and meaning set, in favor of one that creates a preferable experience.

There do seem to be perspectives that are larger, more complete, and thus better models for the world. We function more smoothly, with less effort, and less suffering. We create more love and light in the world. It's not absolute truth, but it is closer to that ineffable light, and so more brightly expresses the qualities of it: love, peace, truth, etc. Like coming closer to the sun and getting more light and warmth.

So, I will try that. The teacher goes one step further, saying, these thoughts you have actually end up creating that reality for you. I suppose that's objectively true. Taking perspectives ends up having self-fulfilling effects. I think she means it even a step further, but that's getting quite far into the realm of "all is just the mind" and though that may be true, and I can intellectually grasp it, it's not quite my experience, so trying to live by it is like the five year old trying to wear dad's pants. kind of awkward, doesn't really fit yet.

OK, thus concludes this months post, only... what, 3 weeks late? I think I'll count anything in the same month as basically on time for this blog.

Until next time, one person who reads this ;D