Todd Hayen
I keep attempting to feel great, and I try to see the great in my life, the important things that I am grateful for, and the beauty all around me.
I do not believe I have an issue with this, as long as it doesn’t consist of attempting to see the great in my government (Trudeau in Canada) or the great in the federal government of my native land (the United States– of which I am still very much a citizen).
I just can’t do that. There is really little positive there.
I understand, however, that this “looking for things to be grateful for” isn’t just about “things”– whether it be ownerships (“I am grateful I have a roofing system over my head”) or ideas (“I am grateful I enjoy my other half, and/or my kids, and grateful for the love they offer me”). It is likewise being grateful for chances and potentialities. This is when you can broadly state, “I am grateful for the goodness in people which will ultimately prevail over evil.”
I think I do all that as well, although, similar to most things, I could do it more. What I can not do is neglect the important things in my life that I believe ought to be corrected. I can not go into full denial and see the injustice, the hate, the oppression, simply as an “look” that I need not worry myself with. According to spiritual metaphysics these things I “see” are illusions, and the only truth are things that show the reality of God and love.
I believe this. However I have another method to translate a few of these spiritual tenets. These “other methods” may in reality be the interpretations that are actually planned. But from my experience it does not appear that many people are in positioning with them.
I do hear people these days getting rather testy with the spiritual types who are continuously promoting positive thinking and criticizing those who state we should just take a look at the good ideas, hold love as ruling supreme and live life as if there is absolutely nothing awful going on. These folks who are testy are generally materialists and “doers” and when they see a fire they do whatever they can to put it out. It outrages them to see people relatively sitting by the wayside contemplating their navel in meditation, or smelling the flowers on their early morning nature walk, appearing to do absolutely nothing at all.
These star gazers are not the sheep who are blind, but are really shrew-types who have chosen to look beyond the look of problem on the planet, which they think is illusory, and look instead to the spiritual fact: peace, love, God– Christ Awareness. I have no problem with these individuals.
Realistically, nevertheless, I believe there are actually really few of them who are actually doing what they declare. I will not pass judgment on them individually and make a mindful evaluation, however as a group I believe it is extremely unlikely a large percentage can engage in this sort of spiritual discipline.
That being stated, I do understand a couple of who are. And I think they are extremely crucial in this battle. They hold fact, like monks do in an abbey, through nonstop prayer. They have no time at all for anything else however to constantly hold love in their hearts, and I enjoy they exist doing simply that.
I get a bit irritated though when the folks who declare they are holding God’s truth start blaming me burping out unsightly condemnations such as, “why are you always so disagreeable? Why do you produce this wicked world with your unfavorable ideas? You call yourself spiritual, but you demand bringing manifestation to this dark world you think about, therefore develop?”
I can always inform the genuine spiritually enlightened from the “wan na be” when I hear this. The authentic ones would see me as an impression too and would not give me a second thought. The wan na be sees my negative, Dr. Doom, self as a threat. There are no real “hazards.” A threat is a fear, and individuals who have actually done real spiritual inner work fear little or nothing.
That is what I am getting at here: worry is the operative word. Jesus strolled through the material world. He did not turn away from it claiming it was an illusion (although he knew it was) but rather he engaged in it. He faced it. He experienced it. And most importantly he tried to do something about it. What made him different in how he approached the illusion of suffering, hate, and death? He felt no worry.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy personnel they comfort me.” This is probably among the most essential verses in the Bible, or at least among the most essential for our present times or throughout whenever of despair (Psalm 23). You may not be the spiritual type. You might even be an atheist, so then the very first part would be the only part appropriate for you. It is still a sensible and truthful declaration. Fear no evil. Fear absolutely nothing.
What is worry?
Fear is the belief that the pain you ponder feeling in your physical and/or psychological body is overwhelming. That has to do with it. You may state, “no, I fear for my kids’s safety, I fear job security, I fear a lot more than that.” Ok, sure, however when you decrease it down, no matter how sophisticated you get, the fear always comes down to believing you will be conquered with discomfort.
However what is that? What is discomfort?
That concern would take a book to respond to, and the response might still be lacking. Suffice it to state that discomfort, from a spiritual point of view, is illusory as well. A brave person is typically stated to face pain with the resolve that it will not take them down. We might all be a little braver.
Personally, I discover dealing with the challenge of decreasing fear of psychological pain in my life to be my main difficulty. I lost my very first partner to cancer 20 years earlier and I never envisioned such anguish. I still fear that sort of discomfort, however the other fears I do feel I have a little bit of a deal with on.
It is interesting that almost every other shrew I have spoken to about such things does not fear death. I also do not fear death, much easier stated than done! However I still go through my life bewaring to survive and not get seriously hurt, however I do not limit my life due to fear.
I think generally humans are built by doing this, but external sources are continuously informing us we need to fear disease and death– who do you think the pharmaceutical business stay in service. These external forces compromise this natural belief that we are basically “ok” to live a complete and total life.
Our Western culture has actually gradually been losing religion for the previous 200 years. I think as a result, we have actually lost much of our capability to deal with difficulties without a devastating fear.
Individuals who believe in God for the most part think they are somewhat safeguarded from an arbitrary and meaningless death or arbitrary and pointless suffering. “For thou art with me; thy rod and thy personnel they comfort me.” Obviously the church, over centuries, has actually done an excellent job instilling fear into followers, especially the worry of the devil. Eternal damnation is a bit even worse than simply an earthly death.
Needless to state this online forum is not the location to discuss the mistakes of organized religious beliefs. And although I do recognize those errors and the horrendous consequences of them, I still come out on the other end thinking that what God represents to me is far greater than what the arranged faiths throughout history have represented His power to be.
So that is all a part of this “positive thinking” argument. And maybe I went too far into the weedy swampland with the position God takes in it, and the value of a belief in the tenet, “there is more to this than material life, death, and suffering,” but I believe it is very important to bring it into the discussion.
Merely due to the fact that I compose, talk, and think of the falling apart of a material world structure (that includes humankind itself) doesn’t mean I think that is completion. Vice versa. All should pass away prior to renewal. And I think, for me, and perhaps a number of you reading this, that my calling is to be engaged physically in this transformation (read my short article “Hail the Dirt Warrior.”)
I think that if God enables me to see a material reality that has actually currently been made manifest, and it is wicked, or unsightly, or damaging, then my calling is to do whatever I can to bring it into a higher positioning with God: As above, so below.
Another requiring another individual may be to hold fact passively– to keep love in their heart, and honour exemplary materialization. This is my calling and that is theirs. I say this just since I wonder if some individuals reading this have had the very same experience I have with people close to them calling them negative.
Keep in mind all callings need to be exercised as free from fear as possible. You still should act in faith, and in a knowing that love will prevail. If you are a warrior, you still should go into battle brave.
Yes, evil is an illusion emerging in the material world, however the defeat of evil is a human leisure activity that has huge favorable consequences. Our training school (and showing ground) occurs in the manifest world.
That is at least what I believe, and the illusion this manifest world represents is just an illusion when positioned next to the reality of God. To us while in our product type, it represents a physical distinction between great and wicked. We are here on earth, in this product kind, to fix up that difference.
Todd Hayen is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychiatric therapy and an MA in Awareness Research Studies. He focuses on Jungian, stereotypical, psychology. Todd likewise writes for his own substack, which you can read here
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