Welcome to the next article in this series on positive change. By now you should have had a chance to read the first four articles, in the following order. If not, please do so before you read this article.
- Is It Really Possible To Create The Change You Want In Your Life?
- What I Can Teach You About Getting What You Want
- Why Creating The Change You Want Is All About You
- Don’t Let Ignorance Stop You
You already have all the tools you need, and some advice on major pitfalls to avoid as you pursue the changes you want to manifest in your life. I’ve attempted to make this series as practical as possible, at least to the degree that I find these concepts practical in my own life.
All of the ideas I’ve presented to you thus far relate entirely to your own mindset, everything is internal. Some things might appear external on first inspection, but they are not, all of this is about your own interpretation and use of what is in the world around you.
As a recap, here is the structure for reaping positive change in your life -
- Repeat processes until you have what you want, you are where you want to be and can do what you want to do. Masters become masters through continuous improvement over time, but everyone starts at the beginning.
- Become self aware so you take the power of interpreting the world into your own hands. With this power your emotional response and follow-up actions are congruent with the kind of person you are becoming. Choose the positive viewpoint if you want to be happier and healthier.
- Master the art of continuous improvement even in the face of set-backs, which are inevitable. Your emotions are varied, and unless you master the previous two steps, at some point during your journey towards change, you will experience feelings that will hinder or even completely derail your attempt to change your life for the better. Being able to do it anyway, even when you don’t feel like it, means your negative emotions will not last long and will have minimal impact on your performance.
- Make smart choices and don’t follow the crowd by default. Most people do what everyone else does, and unfortunately the group consensus often causes more harm than good. Your power rests in your ability to think, and importantly, act independently based on what you believe is the right choice for your given situation, not just what everyone else does.
- When you’re not sure what the smart choice is, or you require more information to determine the right choice, then follow the success models of people who have done what you want to do or have what you want. Whenever you have the opportunity to learn from verifiable experts, gurus, teachers, trainers or mentors – which is pretty much all the time thanks to the knowledge economy we presently live in – do it.
- Avoid defaulting to ignorance in response to new inputs. As much as possible, drop preconceived notions and view everything in the world without judgment. The opposite of self awareness is ignorance. While it’s important to remain as open as possible, at some point you do have to make a choice. Balance smart decision making based on previous success models, within a flexible belief structure, but make sure you eventually take action.
The next step in this process is where things can become a little tricky. Up to this point everything we’ve looked at is within the realm of your control to some degree because it’s about you, however you don’t operate within a vacuum.
You have the power to interpret all things around you as you choose, but the physical world is also influenced by all the other people and things in it. Since you choose to exist in the world, you have to become aware of how the outside realm impacts you, and how you impact it, especially if you want to leverage it to help you realize positive change.
A Study In Spirituality
To continue this series it’s inevitable that spirituality enters the conversation. I’ve skirted around the subject already when looking at the nature of truth, however it has been possible up to this point to “understand” the ideas I’ve introduced in an intellectual way.
From this point forward in the series, intellectual understanding may have to give way at times to belief, which if you are deeply pragmatic, a hard-line scientist or academic, are restricted by a religion you have decided to adhere to, or have beliefs that contradict what I write, will cause friction.
There’s not much I can say about this, other than I hope as I clearly outlined in the previous chapter of this series, that you can open your mind to these ideas, even if you don’t consider them valid. You don’t have to agree, but don’t default to ignorance either.
It will help now, if I give you a little insight into my own background when it comes to matters of spirituality, starting with the subject of religion. Although religion is not necessarily the same thing as spirituality, it is often the first influence in our lives when it comes to subjects not of a physical nature.
My parents are not religious. In fact part of their motivation to move away from their families to come to Australia just before I was born, was to escape certain religious pressures that were present in their previous lives in Canada. If you take one step further back in my family lineage to my grandparents, religion played a huge part in their lives.
In my own upbringing religion played very little part. I was exposed to certain practices of the Jewish faith because of family in Canada, but only while visiting them there, and also the Christian faith because of the cultural background of Australia and my Ukrainian church-going grandmother on my father’s side (who also lives in Canada). Mainstream media, and certain religious friends, have offered further insights, however it’s fair to say, like most of my current contemporaries in Australia who are part of a largely secular generation, religion is not important to me.
As far as I can tell, religion has been a terribly corrupted force in human history, which is unfortunate because in its purest form, appears to offer truly enlightened ideas. Truth is in practice, and religion is one of the most misinterpreted and thus poorly executed set of ideas I’ve ever come across.
A long story short, I’ve never experienced a calling, and do not adhere to any specific religious order. I see parallels with the ideas I do follow and religious concepts, particularly in Buddhism, though I haven’t studied any religion enough to really talk conclusively, so it’s best to say that most of the concepts I’ve developed are very much a collective of influences, which includes religion, but is not strictly religious.
If not religion, then how exactly does “spirituality” come into this conversation on manifesting positive change, and why should you care?
That answer is complex, so let me explain…
Oh My God I Am Going To Die
I have a very specific memory from when I was a child, probably sometime around the age of five.
At the time I wouldn’t have called it a spiritual question, because I was too young to know what that means, but as far as I can tell it’s the first time I challenged the nature of my existence …and unfortunately came out wanting for an answer.
I was lying in bed just before going to sleep, in that state where you are tired so your mind and emotions can be a little haphazard, especially as a child still not fully developed and in control of all the tools your body gifts you with.
I found myself thinking about how I am just a tiny speck on this massively diverse planet, full of so many things I will never understand, and this planet is just one in a galaxy full of more things I don’t understand, and the galaxy exists in a universe so vast that the tools I’m trying to use to understand these things, my mind and body, are not capable of doing so.
I felt infinitely insignificant, yet I existed and that must have a reason behind it, which is something I was trying to understand.
Then I realized at some point I won’t be here. I’ll be dead and this sense of awareness I have now will no longer exist. I won’t exist.
As a five year old, heck, as an anything-year-old, the concept of non-existence, of no longer being physical or experiencing conscious reality, is, well, impossible to comprehend. I found these ideas extremely uncomfortable and more than anything I wanted to know why – what’s the point of “being” if in the end you don’t anymore?
I don’t know why I questioned these things or how I started along this thought train, but I’m sure it has something to do with a fear of death and very likely has a lot to do with television, in particular science fiction, which challenges the notion of reality on a regular basis (I was a fan from a young age, in particular Doctor Who and Star Trek).
I’ve since had these thoughts throughout my life many times, which unfortunately I cannot ever hope to “understand” in a physical sense, though I have managed to move closer to a sense of acceptance of the ideas, though I’m far from at peace with them.
The Scariest Moment In My Life
Ultimately I believe, and certainly for me this is the case, that you find – or at least go searching for – some form of spirituality when you start asking questions like why you exist and what is death. Often a tragedy can accelerate this process, which is unfortunate, but seems to be a mechanism the universe employs to force change when it really needs to happen.
In my case nothing concrete happened until my early twenties. I cruised through my teen years largely entertained by the material world, then suffered through typical teen angst and experienced all kinds of lows and highs – the best and worst that life has to offer.
As I entered my early twenties, plenty of poor thinking habits, bad self-esteem and self-inflicted drama resulted in anxiety and panic attacks, which I have written about before on this blog.
As much as I experienced fear and suffering during this phase of my life, as is often the case in our world of polarity, it forced me to really ask myself some important questions and come to terms with who I am.
I’ve not written about this on my blog before because I haven’t felt it appropriate, and frankly I don’t like talking about it, so I’m going to be brief. There was an incident in my life that really rocked me, but it was the catalyst for some serious awakening, which has forever improved my life since then. In many ways I’m thankful for this horrible experience.
I have an inherited heart condition from my father, which although not that big a deal (he’s lived all of his life with it with no significant problems), when combined with panic attacks and anxiety, which I cleverly added to the mix, makes for a nasty combination. During my twenties this condition, or really the fear I had of it, had a profound impact on how I lived, and in particular how I thought.
One particular incident, you could call it the epicenter of this earthquake of fear, occurred during a particularly “dramatic” part of my life (of my own doing of course), on top of which I was also experiencing a cold, and I managed to trigger the heart condition.
I was taken to hospital, and because I couldn’t stop the condition myself was given a drug that slowed my heart down for a moment to help it right itself. It was literally the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.
Those who have never experienced panic attacks or haven’t had things go a little wayward with their heart, or experienced a significant illness or challenge to their sense of existence, won’t understand this, but when these things happen you really do question death because you are very clearly reminded of it. Your heart is your engine, and when it doesn’t work right, you realize how fragile your body really is. You FEEL how fragile it is.
This wasn’t my only trip to hospital, but it was the worst experience and a turning point in my life. I remember leaving hospital with my mother, walking the corridor to the car park. I was thinking about what I was going to do and feeling fear about what I had experienced.
Then something inside me changed.
I’m not going to say this was a moment in time that changed me forever in an instant, but it was a spark of clarity and determination, which combined with many other moments of a similar nature, led to permanent change.
You see most of the problems I had, although resulting in physical symptoms, where actually a result of my broken mind. At least that’s what I chose to believe, because then I knew I could repair myself. Of course you can’t control what you are born with, but I could choose how I dealt with it, reacted to it and thought about it.
This experience forced me to make smarter choices, led me on a path to much greater self awareness and frankly, made me a much happier person. It took a long time, over many years, but this moment and many experiences like it, opened in me a very powerful sense of awareness, which ultimately led me to foster a form of spirituality as well. I changed how my mind worked, and started to build a new belief system.
The Force Behind Everything
You could be wondering what all this has to do with creating positive change in your life.
I’ve related these stories from my past because they started me on a path that has led to very significant positive changes in my life. Every single major improvement in my life has come about largely because I question the nature of my reality. If I have a greater sense of my purpose and place in life, then I’m in a better position to leverage how the physical world works.
In the upcoming articles in this series I will explain how your ability to manifest the change you want depends a lot on how capable you are of working within the system that you exist in. It’s an infinitely complex system, but because you exist in your body, the amount of input from everything around you is minimal, at least compared to what’s actually happening.
In other words, your body and mind is filtering everything so you’re capable of functioning within the world. This is neither good nor bad (or both), it’s just the way it is, and as a result, you need to learn what are the variables outside of you that have the greatest impact on you. What are the 80/20 elements that have the strongest influence on how you live your life, and how you can best leverage them for benefit?
Based on my understanding and experience as a human thus far, I’ve noticed there are two key elements, one very tangible, and one much more spiritual, which have the strongest impact on what happens to you. They are -
- All the other humans on this planet, in particular those you come into contact with somehow during your life time.
- The greater universe, or intelligence, or spirit, or god, or whatever you want to call it, behind how everything works.
I will discuss other humans later, I want to deal with point number two now.
For much of my life, I wasn’t sure whether there was any kind of god or intelligence behind how things work.
Personally the word “god” has way too much baggage for me to take it as an accurate label. It doesn’t work very well as a label because everyone defines it differently. Considering how fundamental “god” is to so many people on this planet, in particular within religion, this is not a label you want to misinterpret, so I prefer to use something else.
I went about calling the force behind things, the “universe”, for lack of a better word. Frankly, I don’t think a single word is ever going to be accurate to describe a concept so large and not entirely comprehensible by our senses, such is the limitation of our current communication system, our languages.
Regardless, in my life, I’ve come to know this force and decided, if it’s real and impacts how my life progresses, I should learn how it works and become friends with it.
I wasn’t always like this, for much of my life I was closer to agnostic. That was until I started to seriously look for answers to these questions rather than choose to suffer in the futility of a meaningless existence, or at least that was how I viewed the world when feeling less than happy.
Coming up next in this series I will reveal to you the process I went through to discover what forces are at play, how they influence me, and if I choose to perceive them and accept them as real, how I can leverage them for my benefit.
Even if you are not at all spiritual, the process I will reveal to you is just as relevant, because you can do it from a purely practical sense, if you choose to. I’ll begin explaining the process in the next chapter in this series.
Update: Part 6 is now available: Is There A Force Behind Everything In Life?
Yaro Starak
Revealed
Thank you for a remarkably candid and lucid post which gives some answers to questions that have been troubling me for quite some time. The clarificaion on spirituality particularly is fascinating and I have learned a new approach to my own condition.
Your Message
the positive changes can be brought about in the human beings only thro spiritual practises
(real ones) which is not after powers and which can remove the recordings of the past of which you are a slave.need more pl contact me
I wanna tell you about struggle and fear, and the choice to go on anyway, I wanna tell you about love that transcends the stupidity of living, I wanna tell you about strength that pushes you forward and into life, I wanna tell you about adventures that make you believe…
Yaro I love the fact that the world is ready for this concept. Yes we are the artist of our life, and we can make a positive choice at every moment if we get into that habit.
Looking forward to how you carry this on.
I myself am waiting for a greater recognition of the concept “do unto others,” especially in relation to animals and food. If we want personal wellbeing we’d better start looking out for others.
Great article Yaro – a really amazing insight into human nature and the spirit told in a fascinatingly truthful way
Hey Yaro,
WOW! Thanks for sharing you personal story of how scary it was for you at that point in your life. My father has a similar heart condition like that, and had gone to hospital twice for that. Though I knew that it was because he pushed himself too hard and I’ve learnt from those. For me it’s the complete opposite to my father and thankfully I didn’t inherit the heart condition (touch wood).
I’m very eager to read your next post and by the way, I’ve been inspired and have been reading Perry Marshall’s newsletters nowadays. Thanks to you!
Talk soon!
Appreciation for sharing your personal story .
Sounds like a scary moment. I think you were lucky you had that life-changing moment young. It’s a bit sad when you hear about people who are 60 who have one and are suddenly full of regrets. I’ve been blogging for about a year now and live in Noosa. I’ve been studying blogging and working out who to follow for the best tips. Great to be able to learn from you and thanks for sharing your personal and geeky expertise:)
That’s so TRUE. You become what you think about, it’s a thought process that change you for the better. If you want to become a better person and become better at what you do you have to continually improve it everyday until it becomes a routine, and you HAVE to be around others that are doing the same thing too, you work off each other and you will get to where you want to be wether in life or in business etc. Good post Yaro
I totally agree. It’s like birds of a feather flock together
Great post!
very informative especialy the two key elements.
in my opinion, agnosticism is sometimes a result of high level of self-esteem,self-confidence, assertiveness or all together …
and thank you for sharing your personal story, your bio is also interesting and impressive.
Wow! This was an extremely deep article and I think I might have to read it a couple of times to fully comprehend everything you’ve communicated. I found the first four articles in this series really helpful, so I’m hooked on whatever else you share as I currently work on introducing postive change by design in my own life.
Thank you.
Great post! I think it’s important to really improve your self as a person according to what you see is best fit. Set goals and get on your way to achieving them!
I really must say that this is probably one of your best posts I have ever read. Only found your site less than a month ago so haven’t had much of a chance to make it through some of your archives but I really do enjoy and appreciate your work.
Hello. I just finished reading all the posts in this series so far. Quite a journey. Spirituality is a big word and means so many things to different people. I felt (perhaps projected) more and more through the lines of your posts that you have, in my mind, a healthy spiritual life-style. You seem like a person that would be great to hang out with and talk about these topics.
Anyway, the latest post confirmed my “suspicion” with your “buddhistic phrases” here and there.
It is really inspiring to see that there are people like you, in this business, that are open-minded to spirituality and that you include it as a necessary component. That’s “integral” of you.
Normally I find these topics at secluded forums and most of them are a kind of immature narcissism that brings little depth. (a little harsh perhaps…) Elsewhere people shy away from it, thinking it is pre-modern and mythical.
In any case, I just started my own blog and it is inspiring to see that these kinds of posts are possible. You bring a valuable and often neglected aspect to the topic of business. I am happy to see that what interests me and what I write about is also covered by a successful blogger like you.
Cheers for your bravery and inspiration!
A great eye opener and inspirational post once again Yaro. What I love the most from this post is how the 80-20 principle affects large portion of your life.
I am pretty excited on your next post revealing those “forces” that comes into the play.
Wow, Yaro… What a beautifully written post
Love it…
Very good information. I gained great insight from reading this article.
Great post. It shows the “Secret” Power of Attraction. Think about it!
Really good article here. Two points in particular stand out:
1. #6 above: We seem to be hard-wired to emotionally revert to a “last-known-good” state when under novel emotional stress. That is, whatever our default emotional state is, that’s where we go if we haven’t trained ourselves out of it.
2. The traditional practice of religion seems to have outweighed it’s social utility. Thus we’re hobbled with a practice unsuitable for the modern world, enforced by people who do not examine these practices, nor examine themselves.
This is unfortunate for many reasons too varied to examine here.
Oh I really connected with this piece.
I felt like you were penning the words I wish I could express. I have a pretty similar mindset to you Yaro. Brought up with strict religious faiths around me, but never could connect with the idea of religion or god for that matter.
I’ve never really had dread about dying though, what will be, will be.
But in a sense I am now spiritual, and personal development lead me to that part of my heart that had always been closed off. Where I could think about spirituality in a different sense…which I embrace much better than say organised religion.
I too had one of those “broken mind” experience, that helped me become the person I am today. I became a lot more self aware, and it was pinnacle for allowing to find out who I really am and what my path is. So I am so grateful for it
Thanks for sharing your words, they brought a tear to my eye
Hi Yaro,
Well, everything is internal only in the sense that it is up to us what response we make.
Other than this we must respond to the external – otherwise there is nothing to change, no friction experienced etc.
Looking forward to hearing about your spiritual practice.
I am very much on a similar journey and you know I call it “connections”. But I think you have explained it in a great a deeper level then I ever could! Awesome post
Wow, what an amazing story. Very inspirational. I always read your blogs but this time, I was moved to leave you a comment. Thanks for sharing, lots of gem in this article.
Yaro,
You have been awakened my friend. I’ve been on this same journey for some years and I love to see others who I respect and admire like you find this for themselves.
I’m so happy for you!
It may be a “new” direction, but one that I believe will provide a much more meaningful and fulfilling life.
Congratulations.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and for having the courage to publish this series. Finally seeing what’s real and what’s not changes everything.
What is the difference between religion and spirituality?
Every now and again, a great Spirit, like Jesus, Abraham or Mohamed comes to Earth and plants a signpost pointing to a better way of living.
After the master has departed, the spiritual being finds one of those signs and heads off down the path to which it is pointing, to see what they can discover for themselves.
The religious beings all gather in front of the sign post and create lots of rituals in order to worship the signpost.
Life is an opportunity to add value to all that has gone before.
@Brian,
I struck out from the signposts some time ago as “the traditions of men” milling about the post waiting for someone to come back and “rescue” them from this adventure were beginning to tie me down. I do recall a verse saying..”straight is the way, and narrow the gate and few be there that find it”. How much more interesting to go and find than sit and wait for this to be better. We make it better because we seek and find…and share. I build things for others and leave them behind.
Yaro.. thoughtfully posted as always..thanks
Yaro,
Awesome post! Incredible that you would risk opening up to your readers so personally.
You have had some truly incredible experiences and God is leading you to Him, even if you are nervous about embracing the term “God” or a particular faith. [The term "faith" is ideologically used to frame a worldview; the term "religion" refers to the man-made rules and enforced rituals inside of the faith. -- i.e. Christian is the faith; Catholic is the religion; Islam is the faith; Suni is the religion.]
Religion is always a distortion and excess of the faith it claims to represent and religious seats are always occupied by power hungry, control freaks. Every major faith suffers from religious zealots whose only purpose is to defame and distort the original intent of that faith. This does not mean it is wisdom to toss out the faith; only the religious rules of man – people often forget that Jesus hated the Pharisees.
But not to worry, He is faithful to those who seek Him and you will not be disappointed as long as you keep seeking Him. He loves you inside or outside any established center of worship.
From an experiential point of view [yes, this is my experience], you will not miss God when He personally touches you. There is no mistaking His touch. My prayer is that He touch you as He touched me — with a Holy fire from heaven from the top of my skull to the tips of my toes — personally, and in a way you do not miss. I never felt so completely loved as that night He woke me to touch me [1998].
This will give you much peace and understanding. And you may be surprised what you learn from the experience [although it may not be PC]. But, have no fear God is a peace loving God and He will give you peace.
Remember, if God were small enough to comprehend, He would hardly be qualified to be God. Try not to figure Him out, but rather to please Him, reverence Him and worship Him in the ways He leads you.
Words ARE inadequate to explain the Designer and Sustainer of our universe. “And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not possible for a man to utter.”
How AWESOME is that?
Blessings!
Nicely done
because I intend none. I use ego strictly as a tag (as ego is a loaded word too!). God is anything or any one that has done all of this. 
Let’s call him God, and God knows stuff! It is a very beautiful picture you see when you look at it like that, as I am sure you also appreciate life in a much more ‘broader’ way, because you relate it to ‘some form of entity’ that has done all of it. Good luck m’man, and ‘God’ bless us all. 
What you have tried to do with the work ‘god’ is quite interesting. If you are ‘worried’ that the word ‘god’ is too loaded, then as some of the comments to this very post show, so is words like ‘spirituality’.
I am a big fan of ‘thinking’ and ‘stimulus-response’ type of framework of ‘managing’ one’s brain, and I understand – I think – where you are coming from. I would suggest that you try to drop the ‘ego’ – without taking offense
Fascinating…profound…raw…moving. I believe it takes a very strong person to reveal so much, especially in such a public forum. Thank you for making me stop just a moment and look beyond the “reality” which I have sitting right in front of me and remembering there is a bigger picture to all of this.
Yaro,
Thanks for posting this. I give you a lot of credit for expressing your inner-thoughts so publicly and discovering spirituality is an individual experience and a necessary need to feed so soon. Interestingly, I struggled with this for eons and it took a simple comment from one I respected a great deal to help me see I was already very spiritual in many ways (that didn’t require religion as a major component). It served to fix what ailed me. Once she pointed to the factors that made this so, it changed my world perspective – along with my focus and associated attitude. Keep the great introspective revelations coming! They’re a joy to read and a great reminder on how to keep things right in your head.
Our attitude towards ‘suffering’ causes us as much suffering as the real thing.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts. It is great inspiration for new comers loke me.
Your Message
Hi Yaro, I’ve just had this little inspiration that spirituality is both an idea and something lived. It requires being open to the forces of causality,their impressions and expressions, defining who we are in relationship to these forces by choice, will and interpretation of the circumstances and our best judgement. Someone said that experience is where our personal narrative meets the axis of history and culture. It would seem to me that our personal narrative is the active voice and present tense, history and culture being the epitome of the past. So perhaps the ball really is in our court. Perspective adds a lot to our vision of reality. Thanks for sharing your personal experience and consolidated wisdom. Much appreciated!
What you said here ‘Perspective adds a lot to our vision of reality.’ rings true for me.
Though it seems I need to make the same mistakes many, many times until I get the message.
There are no shortcuts to wisdom… thankfully.
Thanks for sharing such personal struggles and especially your spiritual journey. While each person’s spiritual journey is unique, every journey seeks Truth.
I believe Truth can be known. I also believe you can “become friends with it,” as you so accurately said in your post. One day you might even find that the “it” is actually a “who.” I encourage you to keep searching. You will find what you are searching for if you search with all your heart.
Yaro,
You’ve tackled a huge topic and are handling it beautifully – as usual!
Spirituality is a subject we tend to ignore while we focus on the temporary physical aspect of ourselves. I do think this is changing as people are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with that which does not work.
Spirituality must be part of the equation because we are spiritual beings. So why not address it?
I love the fact that you’re doing it on your blog.
Looking forward to the next installment!
Robert
Your Message
Hello Yaro,
You clearly have a great capacity for self-reflection, as well as the ability to externalise your reflections in a way that resonates with your readers.
Of course, you are not alone in wanting to theorise about a “force behind things”, as indicated by the supportive responses you have received to this article. The problem is there are potentially as many theories as there are humans on the planet. How are we to assess which one or ones are correct, useful, and helpful, and which one or ones are downright wrong and possibly even dangerous?
The diverse cognitive abilities of homo sapiens, including a sometimes unbridled imagination, are simultaneously our greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses. If it’s possible to imagine it, then we humans surely have or surely will. But we have to keep in mind that that is all we are doing–using our imagination. Even though we can be absolutely convinced of the truth and reality of our personal opinions, beliefs, spiritual awakenings, profund insights, supernatural experiences, soul journeys, and the like, we have to remind ourselves that they may not and probably do NOT exist in reality. They exist inside the grey matter inside our heads, between our ears–the brain controls ALL our sensory experiences.
Our notions of “spirituality” do NOT exist outside our own brains, our own heads. We know this because science would have confirmed such notions long before now, if they really did exist. Because of its strengths, and despite its limitations, science (a diverse collection of methodologies across a diverse range of disciplines) remains THE BEST means we have of testing reality, although a good scientist will NEVER pretend to arrive at “the truth”. This is because science has to always remain open to new evidence, even when there is scientific consensus and we can talk about “scientific truth” (as for Darwinian evolution). And, yes, science addresses ALL life’s questions, about the physical (through the ‘hard’ sciences like physics and biology) AND the metaphysical (through the ‘soft’ sciences like sociology, psychology, and, more broadly, philosophy).
It is a huge responsibility to put oneself forward as a ‘guru’ of one sort or another, and, in today’s global blogosphere, it’s a very easy thing to do. It also takes great courage to disclose our innermost selves. But we need to ground our opinions and advice in something more than our idiosyncratic life experience. And, if we ever find ourselves suffering “the futility of a meaningless existence”, then it might be time to seek professional help.
The only absolute truth that homo sapiens–and every other of the millions of species we share our universe with–has is the cycle of birth-growth-stabilisation-decline-death. The laws of nature have NEVER ONCE been contradicted (imagine that!). So, the most important task we will ever undertake as humans is to come to grips with our humanity, our evolutionary-biology, our mortality, no matter what our imaginations would prefer for us.
Calling ourselves “spiritual beings” is ultimately meaningless if it is used as 1) an imaginary and metaphysical/supernatural shield to deflect our fears about the realities of life and the inevitability and irrevocability of death, and 2) a substitute for real (i.e., scientific) knowledge. That millions of caring, intelligent, well-adjusted and self-fulfilled people around the world DO come to grips with the fact of this time-limited and “natural” life is proof positive that it CAN be done. The question then becomes: why can’t everyone else do this?
If you could go back in time and take those painful moments out of your life would you? Ill go out on a limb here and say I don’t think so. Isn’t that profound in and of itself? If your not crushed and defeated by your struggles and difficulties, if you find a way to overcome, that journey to overcome always seems to bring about a greater awareness and higher understanding. Its quite an amazing process we all go through in our own way.
Relying on our own resources will eventually leave us depleted. We were created for relationship, not religion, and there is a hole within us that God wants to fill. I have tried to fill it with other things, and eventually came back to that same empty feeling. Only by seeking the Lord, do I find Truth.
Blessings to you, Yaro, as you seek with your whole heart.
Something bothers me about this whole idea of some vague, vast unknown power or force or “god”. It’s so common for those who tap into this power to assume that such a force is at least benign and more likely benevolent. Any attempt to try to suggest that there might be malevolent forces at play in the universe are commonly met with derision or scorn.
Such reactions puzzle me. Most of us are repulsed by certain common things like religions that kill in the name of their god or the exploitation of children or even simple things like ignoring the pleas of a person in need.
If there is a spiritual force in the universe that can draw us toward good things, it seems practically self-evident that such a force could not explain the existence of things that are repulsive. That then seems to imply the existence of a spiritual force that draws some toward repulsive things.
Since spirituality is something that we perceive dimly, as if looking through a translucent glass, how do we establish with a high level of confidence that the spiritual force we’ve tapped into is benevolent?
You asked, “how do we establish with a high level of confidence that the spiritual force we’ve tapped into is benevolent?”
I have asked that question many times, and the answer seems to depend entirely upon your perspective in looking at the evidence. In one sense, the force behind the universe, and all of existence is neutral, in that it does not discriminate how it’s power is being used.
The mechanics of the universe can be employed for evil purposes, but the evil intent that creates violence, cruelty, and bigotry, originates from within the immaturity of the human spirit.
The universe and the force behind it, whatever you choose to call it, is strongly biased towards order, creative development, growth, and synergy. Sometimes new growth happens through destruction of the old, so in that sense perhaps the universe can be called dispassionate.
The answer to your question then is: You will know if the force you have tapped into is benevolent, if your intent in using the force is benevolent.
Not sure if a link is allowed in the comments here, but I wrote some thoughts recently on good and evil, and whether they exist as separate realities in the universe. The link is: http://www.zen-moments.com/do-good-and-evil-exist.html
So Yaro’s use of the mechanics of the universal force is in keeping with the nature of the force. He is using it to create with synergy, rather than to create at the expense of everything and everyone around him. And so, because he is in step with the nature of the force, the force will always be with him.
And may the force be with you as well (couldn’t resist the Star Wars reference).
John
Thank you Yaro, for this amazing an inspiring article. Religion is very important!
Thanks for sharing Yaro! Thanks for reminding me of the importance of becoming aware of myself!!!
Great post!!! Very well worth the Re-tweet!!
“As a five year old, heck, as an anything-year-old, the concept of non-existence, of no longer being physical or experiencing conscious reality, is, well, impossible to comprehend.”
Well, not entirely. It is not much different from when you go to sleep at night and wake up the next morning having had no experience of the interval in between (with the exception of dreams, which only occur during one stage of sleep). An even better example is putting put out, say, during a surgical procedure. Or, more poignantly, your lack of experience for the 13.4 billion years of time before you were born.
A good post on a delicate subject.
A few months ago I discovered the Way of the Peaceful Warrior series by Dan Millman and the books have given me a new way to view the universe and spirituality. I see many common themes in them with regards to your article series as well.
Keep up the good work,
Craig
everyone starts at the beginning… it is true yaro… i hope in one year time, i’ll achieve what i want….:-)
Same thing in my mind buddy. All it takes is the proper way of doing such things plus the killer determination and positive views of all things we will get.
Cool article. Nice and long, I guess it needs to be when there is so much to say!
Thanks Yaro for sharing with us
Ps: It’s nice to see all the positive comments
Marty
Heartfelt and honest… thanks for opening up about the inner journey. this is a powerful series and a new direction — love it.
Hello Yaro
Life is an amazing journey and our place on this planet no one else can fulfil
We always have choices, regarding any person, place, situation or other in
our days.
I have always loved a book found many years ago in a old book store -
The Game of Life and How to Play it – Florence Scovel Schinn
Plus many other authors throughout my life thus far.
Thank you for you insight and sharing your experiences.
I look forward to reading more of your series,
All the best
Susan
PS: I also enjoyed reading other readers comments – thank you for taking the time
to share your thoughts.
Hi Yaro thanks for sharing this article, I learnt a lot and hope to implement on my lfie
Hey Yaro
Yeah, there certainly is a strong force in the universe that many will never become aware of. In your words “The quicker you can make it your friend the better” There are rules and secrets to the powerful universe and the quicker we learn them the more successful we will be in this short time we have here on earth.
Enjoyed the post
Adrian
Your Message
Hi Yaro, I like your way of thinking and writing and feel happy that you are moving more into the psychology of life (as I call it) rather than just coaching how to make a million. I just finished listening to 4 Cds by Michael Meade. he is a story teller and teacher that has started the MOSAIC project helping “youth at risk” in the USA. His CD is about THE SOUL OF CHANGE. he states that change, so greatly desired, is not easy accomplished because GENUINE change requires that one’s whole life be altered – MIND , BODY, SPIRIT & SOUL.
I trust this is your path in life.
Many spiritual authors write of the potential power of the “collective consciousness”- a worldwide awakening of our spiritual minds.
If you’re interested in this topic and you haven’t read The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle) or one of the many translations of the Tao te Ching (I’m curently re-reading Wayne Dyer’s version – easy to understand and apply) – these are great starting points.
But don’t just read them and intellectualize them – live them, act on them, make them happen.
Hey Yaro,
Another great post. I have definitely tried to use the 80/20 rule in many aspects of my life since reading your original in-depth post – one for the favorites.
Cemil