Re: A & B Influences and the Law of 3
Since OPs aren't the subject of this thread (and, I know, I brought them up), I won't write a lot on this.
I agree that belief and proofs can be and are self-created. I also agree that belief affects reality. The question of whether belief is more primary than experience, though, is a hard question when you're arguing for transcending labels. How do you transcend that which is the most primary reality? If beliefs/labels shape all experience, how do you experience anything without them?
I guess it's about staying flexible, not being tied to any one belief system. Letting go of preconceptions, being open to surprises, letting ourselves be guided by our hearts.
As far as labels go, I think we can transcend them by seeing past appearances to the essence of a person or situation.
...Funnily, much of this thread in the last couple of days has been about transcending labels. Yet, I find myself faced with that big fat question mark now. Maybe the solution is striking a balance between labels and non-labels...
Yes, again, by seeing past appearances.
To me, it's just more important to focus on what I'm creating, rather than spend any time or energy on possible sources of interference.
I like this idea, even though it undermines this thread because the thread is mostly about being able to discern and avoid interference. The idea appeals to me because it's positive, and saying, focus on the positive. I like being and feeling positive. The statement assumes, however, a situation in which somebody is able to be creative at all.
...Here's a metaphor that makes sense to me out the reason behind spending energy on identifying possible sources of interference: Suppose you're a kid and you're building a treehouse in a giant, neat tree in the woods behind your house. To do it, you're hauling boards and nails and a hammer to the tree. But somewhere between your house and the tree is a stray, rabid dog. Everytime you try to pass he barks at you and tries to bite you. You have to run from him, shoo him away, or clamber up the tree, work, and then wait for him to leave you alone before hauling more boards. So why not stop and somehow get rid of the dog? Why be chased by a mean dog everytime you want to be in your treehouse?
What would Love do?
That rabid dog is a sick dog, who is a danger not just to the kid but to
itself and others as well. That kid ought to call the Humane Society to come and get it, or ask his mom to do so.
So the focus is not just on gettng rid of the mean dog, but on taking care of it, and dealing with what it represents in your life and that of others. And similarly, there are constructive ways of dealing with any person or situation we are confronted with, that will work out for all concerned. But if we are solely focused on the inconvenience and trouble of the dog (or whatever), those solutions wil not be as apparent to us.
There are those who are so distracted or bullied by "A" influences, that they're unable to create. It may be true that they're creating it all, even the interference, and probably is, but there is still the matter of disentangling the mind from interferences...Sometimes they bite, or drag you by the leg, or scare you away.
This is where prayer comes in, it raises our consciousness above the level of difficulty, so that we are able to perceive and act on our inner
guidance. As it says in the Bible: "I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help." The "hills" represent elevated thought--prayer.
It all comes down to love or fear and which is dominant in the person at any given time. Ideas in themselves are not intrinsically of either emotion.
Maybe ideas are intrinsically of some emotion. Maybe emotion is deeper than thought. "God hates sinners" is an idea, a classic Fundamental Protestant belief. It seems to carry a specific emotion. Maybe it's more true to say that I produce a specific emotion in reaction to hearing and seeing "hate" based upon my history of associations with that word. I don't know. I do know that even if I try to say "God hates sinners" with love that I feel a friction. The intent of love and the idea "God hates sinners" doesn't seem compatible.
Approaching this idea with love, we can perceive that although this is not our truth, it is one that is right for certain people at a certain point on their path. We may even recognize that in our evolution, we may have held similar beliefs in the past. From a still higher perspective, keeping in mind that we are multidimensional, we may recognize that this "past" aspect of ourselves exists now. In allowing and accepting this part of ourselves, we help to heal all the other aspects as well.
Of course, we can also choose to approach the idea with fear, twisting ourselves into pretzels trying to avoid this fate of sinning and thus being hated by God, or conversely, looking down on people who hold such "backward" and "unenlightened" ideas.
Just a couple of examples...