Self and Potentiality

 Through the law of pure potentiality I can create anything, any time, anywhere. 

Deepak Chopra

Warning: Some self-disclosure involved. 

I am reciting that today as it was the centering thought for Day 8 of Deepak Chopra's 21 Day Meditation for Abundance. I have done this meditation series before and I also read the book he referred to today as well, The Seven Secret's to Spiritual Success. He mentioned the book, I felt compelled to write the title down, then suddenly  I remembered I read it 12 years ago and that I have it in my collection of many, many books I have read in hope they would improve my situation...so I went and found it.  I began reading it again. 

So I am wondering what Confucius would have to say about my reciting that mantra when he did not believe, it seemed, in any law outside man made order and ren ( our natural inclination to do good). He did not believe in divine orders like the law of potentiality, karma  or destiny  as the cause of what we were able to manifest or not manifest. He saw the reality of poverty but I am still not quite sure if he was saying that the poor should be ashamed for their situations or that the powers that be should be ashamed for allowing poverty...and right in this moment,  I am not quite keen on his very internalistic view of sucking it up and finding satisfaction in that situation, even though that has been what I have been attempting to do as a part of my own spiritual practice for decades now. Obviously, I am not settling in to what is in my life the way I have been training myself to do.  I am doing an abundance meditation, for goodness sake. What does that say?  Repeating to myself and to anyone who will listen: Through the law of potentiality I can create anything, any time, anywhere. I am trying to use whatever means  I can to change my situation. :)

I Want my Situation to Change 

I have been observing my mind as I was walking the dogs today, trying to get to see the knower in there while I watched what my mind was doing with my object of consciousness, this increasingly turbulent situation.  The more I put attention on it, the more I stirred it up making it go from neutral to "unpleasant" very fast.  And all the other things I got going on just jumped right in. I had the familiar knot in my gut, the clenching of my jaw...I felt tense!  So I saw this all happening and felt it wanting to accompany me as I headed out. Then something happened.  I watched as a part of me just breathed, just concentrated on each step, noticed the flowers, the trees, the beautiful sky emerging after days of cloud cover, as I felt and listened to the breeze. Each step was slow and effortless without me putting any effort in to make it so ( lol).  There was no words...well maybe a few but I gently  observed them, and labelled them as "thinking" and watched as  they just went away. Then I was back to my step and what I was noticing.  My whole body felt unusually light.  And I found myself walking at a delightful slow pace that I was not accustomed to. It was very pleasant.

Now on the way one of the thoughts grouped in the pile of "thinking" was the thought  that I had another book to read. "Oh maybe this one will be the one to take me from this...to change it all once and for all." And I had this "aha" realization... I could suddenly see how I reach for spiritual and personal development books like an alcoholic reaches for a drink.  I want something to drown my worry in...something to push all the "yucky's " back down.Hope that the book I am about to read will give me some great insight that I can change my life with, does that.  I have used these types of books my entire life and the thought of this book was renewing in me that familiar "hope" .  It was going to either change my life or it was going to distract me from my life.  Now this thought, "Oh you are about to use this book as a means to push down those uncomfortable feelings you have about your situation that are emerging."  just came in...poof...it was gone.  I did not cling to the realization...I just watched it come in ...get grouped with all the other thoughts under that label "thinking" and then leave. I was back to enjoying my walk. 

Self Referral

I wish I could deal with life for the rest of my life in the same way I  was somehow dealing with it on my walk.  I was amazingly mindful and peaceful despite what my habit mind wanted to do and I didn't try to be.  It just happened. I was experiencing what Chopra would call, Self-referral. 

It wasn't until I came home that the uncomfortable feelings re-emerged...and sure enough, there was that desire to stuff them down by reading this book.  I even read the first chapter. Then I said, "No!  Feel!" 

Can we feel without object referral?

You see, I don't know what to feel and experience.  I am still lost in story. So many events of dramatic quality have unfolded in front of me since January ( many more before) and I am still trying to put it all into concepts.  I am still trying to just allow them in. I am writing the story but not  yet reading it out loud, let alone experiencing it  and feeling it.  I think this is what happens when we face so many challenges at once, when our attention is on too many objects at once , maybe?  

I have the opportunity to share my experience with someone tomorrow and I don't know where to begin. There is just too much.  What is important is not the story, not the thoughts  but the feeling experience...just so I don't stuff what wants to come up back down...those feelings need to be felt and released. 

Without the story, what would I feel, I wonder.  Can we even feel without some type of story attached? Can we  simply talk about how we  feel and not about all the crazy things that happened and are happening? Can we experience without referring to the external objects we believe lead to our feelings? 

Object Referral 

As I was prior to my walk and afterwards, many of us are lost in what Deepak Chopra refers to as "object referral" . In object referral we are always influenced by objects outside the Self, which include situations, circumstances, people and things. ...we feel an intense need to control things. we have an intense need for external power. The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are needs that are based on fear. ... Being ego based power, it lasts only as long as the object of reference is there. 

This book was an object of referral. I was going to use this little book and the hope it would help me  to regain ego power. This book was going to teach me how to fix my life as all the other books were going to do.  That is not going to happen! While I am reading it, I will truly enjoy it and I will learn from it and share what I learn...but it is not going to change  Life...and it is only going to keep me from feeling what I don't want to feel for as long as I am reading it.  It's a short book. 

I can read this book but I do not need it. I need to get back to Self! 

Experiencing Self/ Experiencing Potentiality 

What was happening on my walk, much to my surprise, was a pure experience of Self. When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power. 

How did I go there without trying to?

Well Self is connected to this invisible field of potentiality. There is no separation.  We can access it  by doing several things Deepak Chopra tells us: by spending time in nature ( I was surrounded by nature), by practicing silence ( I was alone and silent), by meditating ( I was doing a very easy informal walking meditation), and by practicing non-judgement (I have been practicing putting away "Bad, wrong, shouldn't be for months now).

And when you are grounded in the knowledge of your true Self-when you really understand your true nature-you will never feel guilty, fearful, or insecure about money , or affluence, or fulfilling your desires, because you will realize the essence of all material wealth is life energy, it is pure potentiality. And pure potentiality is your intrinsic nature. 

All is well! 

Deepak Chopra ( 1994) The Seven spiritual Laws of Success. California: Amber-Allan/New World 

Deepak Chopra 21 Day Meditation for Abundance. Spotify