When our world seems to fall apart and things start going wrong, what do we do? Do we blame ourselves or someone else? Do we start searching for causes and solutions? Do we hold on to our faith in Divine Will and believe that it will all work out?
The notion of the old dying and giving way for something new is as old as the ancient Hindu traditions, where Shiva is the destroyer of the world, following Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver, after which Brahma again creates the world and so on. Shiva is responsible for change both in the form of death and destruction and in the positive sense of the shedding of old habits.
Modern theories of deconstruction include Phenomenology, the philosophy founded by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, who say that the method of defining phenomenon includes three steps -- reduction, construction, and deconstruction -- and they explain that these three are mutually pertinent to one another. In the deconstruction, every object shows itself as a set of possibilities, not merely as a determinate thing. To see a particular object is to see it in terms of possibilities.
So while it seems that our experience is falling apart, possibility is also arising. If we can focus on the new possibility coming into our experience, instead of focusing on the old that no longer serves us and will fall away with change if we allow, we can see that all experience is experience of more, of possibility.
Neville Goddard believes that once we recognize the possibility, imagination is the key to creating our best possible lives. In his book, Awakened Imagination, he says: "The world presents different appearances according as our states of consciousness differ. What we see when we are identified with a state cannot be seen when we are no longer fused with it. By state is meant all that man believes and consents to as true. The world is a revelation of the states with which imagination is fused. It is the state from which we think that determines the objective world in which we live. If we detach ourselves from a state, and we may at any moment, the conditions and circumstances to which that union gave being vanish. The imaginative man does not deny the reality of the sensuous outer world of Becoming, but he knows that it is the inner world of continuous Imagination that is the force by which the sensuous outer world of Becoming is brought to pass."
Artwork by Robert Parker Many thanks.
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What we see when we are identified with a state cannot be seen when we are no longer fused with it.
THEORITICAL concept.
OK, I saw a man stabbing a young man. It haunts me in my dreams sometimes. Awake I don't dwell upon it. How can I become defused from it?
By state is meant all that man believes and consents to as true.
Even if you have a dead conscience? Would that not lead to many horrible consequences? Not unlike the "MORAL RELATIVISM" of the last century?
The world is a revelation of the states with which imagination is fused. I get it...GOOD or BAD.
It is the state from which we think that determines the objective world in which we live.
I have to say UNCLE and yes.
But in conclusion, where does that get us?
This statement from Neville speaks more about your viewpoint than the event viewed or your memory of it. You defuse from it, according to Neville, when your viewpoint changes. Your dream may be inviting this.
Our viewpoint changes many times in our lives as we mature and evolve. As our viewpoint changes, so do our beliefs, perceptions, values, etc. My experience of life today is very different than it was when I was 5 years old because I view the world very differently. My intellectual, emotional, visceral and spiritual processing is different between the two ages because I identify differently with the information coming to me on these levels. I don't agree that it is theoretical. I think it defines the human maturation process. We progress in states and stages, each one resting on the foundation of the one before it because we integrate them into our current viewpoint.
But in conclusion, where does that get us?
It gets us to where we are and where we can be. Neville is telling us when we change our beliefs and that which we consent to be true, our experience changes because our internal state changes, and the process is inside out. Twenty years from now, your memory may not have the same emotional value to you because your viewpoint will probably have changed, perhaps many times. The memory itself may even change with your change of belief and truth. Whether it brings you peace of mind or additional fear will depend on your internal state and your ability to use the tool of your awakened imagination.
You ask great questions, share some unusual perspectives, and seem drawn to mysticism. Good post.
By the way, who is Neville Goddard? What qualifies him to make such universal claims?
Neville was a popular lecturer in the field of spirituality in the Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco areas in the 1940s - 60s. He actually had a weekly LA TV show, and his lectured to thousands of people and the famous Wilshire Theater frequently. He is sometimes associated with the New Thought movement, although his teaching was really subsequent to the development of that movement. He began losing popularity in the late 60s and early 70s when his lectures increasingly related to the bible and his message that the passages in the bible were really diagrams for consciousness raising. Here is a good link for a free glimpse of his work:
www.realneville.com/text_archive_pdf.htm
Enjoy!
Thank you for the question.
It was good to read your argumentation - that was worthy out of itself. We all have experienced the reality of "When our world seems to fall apart and things start going wrong" The question "what do we do then?" - to be or not to be - worries the many. The discussions may be hot and long-the endless indeed. Yet, I think the answer would become the obvious in case we will ask ourselves the same but in different words - What it means to be the healthy?
What is it the health?
The answer to the above is impossible without the comprehension what we are in essence. In case we grasp that being the human is much more than just bearing the human flesh, the situation changes in essence - our dealing with "the world that falls apart" becomes the pleasure of breathing - while being present with the Spirit in us, our worries for what to do change into the joy of gratitude for the participating in the life feast.
By the way, our blogs wonderfully indicate the current state of our health - that's the comments below our posts, that's the amount of our mailing list.
Unfortunately, in the light of the above, my invisible disability becomes the visible... such reality edit my statements into the lovely longings for and thus the question of the destiny arises, but that's already other question.
Your invitation to the discussion was like the best medicine to me. Thank you for the help to sense not alone in the world where success is defined by the number of things we have - where rules not the spirituality, but the purchasing power.
I pray for humility every day. Believe it or not, that in and of itself, changes ones perspective quite substantially.
Thank you for this, Charlie. I wholeheartedly agree. To me, humility means seeing all (including myself) in equal value, so that humility connects me to God and all of life. When my life is "falling apart" this is probably the most important thing to remember.
I always enjoy your posts Molly. You always bring me into a deeper level of thinking.
It was through my spirituality that I began to understand the humility that had always existed in me. Where it exists we begin to simply understand who we are and that are conduct deeply impacts others in ways we cannot always see right away. This is God's work in us for understanding of these truths. Then the fear of pride or arrogance will fall away, no person is able to displease God when we are only in places through our journey through life.
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