At every moment of our lives, we create anew our image of ourselves, and our image of the world, in the form of our thoughts and our desires. However, we remain largely unconscious of the role played by our mind as it spins its web of circumstance around us.<\/p>\n
We would rather believe that we are victims of a fate or destiny which allocates pain, defeat and suffering according to some random plan. But what we call destiny is nothing more than the loosely knit pattern of events which we ourselves have woven.<\/p>\n
Being blind to the role which we have played in the creation of these events, we are easily misled into imagining that we are held in the thrall of an iron fate. But the fate that we have woven for ourselves is the product of our former thoughts and actions, and these can be undone, and woven again according to new desires. Destiny has its firmest grip on those who are convinced of its immutable power.<\/p>\n
Maharaj scoffs at these shallow fears:\u00a0“Steady faith is stronger than destiny. Destiny is the result of causes mostly accidental and is therefore loosely woven. Confidence and good hope will overcome it easily.”<\/em>\u00a0 20<\/strong><\/p>\n And to those who claim that the world is simply beyond their power to control, he answers:<\/p>\n “On the contrary, a world of which you are the only source and ground is fully within your power to change. What is created can always be un-created, and re-created. All will happen as you want it, provided you really want it.”\u00a0<\/em> 21<\/strong><\/p>\n Ramana Maharshi responds in similar fashion to those who believe that their lives are bound by inherited limitations:<\/p>\n Question:\u00a0 “Distractions result from inherited tendencies. Can they be cast off too?<\/em><\/p>\n Maharshi:\u00a0 Yes. Many have done so. Believe it! They did so because they believed they could.”<\/em>\u00a0 22<\/strong><\/p>\n The reason why we lack the power to change the circumstances of our lives, is because we have come to believe that we cannot do so. Our beliefs, in fact, are the most powerful determinants of our lives. Beliefs are simply thoughts which have been enshrined by absolute conviction.<\/p>\n Our beliefs are those thoughts with which we have associated ourselves, and in which we have come to express complete confidence. It is the conviction with which we hold our beliefs which gives those thoughts so much force, and which enables them to mould the circumstances of our lives.<\/p>\n Our beliefs are derived from our thoughts, and it is these beliefs which then create for us the patterns of what we call “reality”. This has been neatly summarized by Gary Zukav:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Reality\u2019 is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think determines what we perceive.<\/em><\/p>\n “What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality. The central focus of this process initially at any rate, is \u2018what we think\u2019.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 23<\/strong><\/p>\n “Reality”, as quantum mechanics affirms, is dependent upon the observer. And what the observer observes is dependent on what he or she thinks. Thought, reinforced by confidence, which elevates it to belief, has a magical power to transform the world.<\/p>\n These thoughts are strengthened by will power, for it is the will which provides the persistence necessary to bring these thoughts to life. Any man or woman who resolves to pursue a path of action, and who firmly believes that the desired objective can be obtained, and who is fortified by the power of will, can overcome enormous obstacles which may lie in the path of attainment.<\/p>\n The power of thought is strengthened too by the power of emotion.<\/p>\n Any strongly felt emotion adds enormous energy to the manifestation of thought. When emotion is linked with any deeply held belief, it assists in bringing these beliefs to life in the form of physical events. These events take on a character which serves to reinforce the beliefs which gave them birth.<\/p>\n The cardinal fact about our universe, is that it brings about those precise circumstances and events which exactly mirror those thoughts that have been projected upon it. The subtle irony of belief, is that this ability to manifest, does not depend on whether the<\/em> content of belief is valid or not<\/em>.<\/p>\n Every belief bears results in direct proportion to its inherent force. The characteristic nature of this universe of thought and form, is that the substratum of energy which makes up our universe, is moulded by thought into that form which exactly reflects the originating thought.<\/p>\n The universe thus mirrors the mind of the thinker. However, this mirroring effect has a subtle but dominating effect upon the mind of the thinker. By its ability to present physical evidence in a form which exactly matches the initiating thought, the universe creates in the mind of the observer the conviction that what is seen and experienced is \u201creal\u201d, and that it represents the \u201ctrue nature of reality\u201d.<\/p>\n So when the universe produces evidence which mirrors my belief, I naturally come to the conclusion that it does so because that is the way that nature \u201creally is\u201d. My experience seems a simple fact of nature. Yet it leads to an inevitable conclusion.<\/p>\n The simple fact of nature, is that all \u201cfacts of nature\u201d vary with the thoughts and beliefs of each individual thinker.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Every thinker will be able to find physical evidence to sustain and support his or her belief. So if I hold a particular belief, and my friend holds a belief that is diametrically opposed to mine, we will both find evidence in nature to support our opposing beliefs<\/em>.<\/p>\n This seemingly absurd conclusion is based upon the fact that there simply is no such thing as a real, physical universe situated “out there”, that is common to us both. There are only images and events which are registered upon our respective consciousnesses. It is folly, therefore, to think that both our worlds of experience must manifest according to some consistent set of rules, that can only permit certain types of behaviour and no other.<\/p>\n The universe, as Maharaj has pointed out, is not a fixed phenomenon bound by predetermined rules.\u00a0 It is the manifestation of a principle that is characterized by complete creative freedom.<\/p>\n Not only is anything possible in our world of fluid expression, but the universe is quite capable of expressing itself in contrasting ways. The universe may appear absurd, insofar as it is able to manifest in these conflicting terms, but this does not demonstrate any intrinsic flaw in the constitution of the universe.<\/p>\n Being an unlimited expression of a creative principle, the universe simply reflects whatever thoughts are projected upon it. In its varying and unending forms of expression, the cosmos will always elude those who seek to compress it into a particular category of law.<\/p>\n The universe can never be limited<\/em> by any<\/em> set of rules of behaviour<\/em>.<\/p>\n Those rules which appear to bind the universe, are merely fixed expressions of fixed beliefs. They continue to apply only for as long as the underlying beliefs are maintained. As soon as these beliefs change, the universe responds by changing accordingly.<\/p>\n We can see therefore the trap that snares the blind believer. Since all believers meet experiences in life which mirror their deeply-held beliefs, it is impossible for them to experience anything different in life, until they are prepared to alter these beliefs.<\/p>\n And this is precisely what they are most loath to do. For why should people change their beliefs, when their experiences in life provide them with evidence that justifies those beliefs? If what I experience in life exactly matches my belief, then it is obvious to me that my beliefs are \u201ccorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n But people who hold opposing beliefs to mine also find evidence in experience to justify their own beliefs. That is why it is so difficult in life to reconcile people who hold opposing beliefs. It was this simple truism that prompted William Blake to observe that those who did not believe in miracles made it certain that they would never experience one.<\/p>\n The skeptic denounces miracles, and submits in evidence that he or she has never experienced one. The convert on the other hand, holds the opposite view, simply because he or she has experienced one. The two are equally the creators of, and ultimately the victims of, their own beliefs. For all beliefs are limiting, and they in turn become barriers against further experience.<\/p>\n All beliefs must ultimately be transcended.\u00a0 In the continuing refrain of his descent into The Center of the Cyclone<\/em>, John Lilly affirms:\u00a0“In the province of the mind, what is believed to be true is true or becomes true, within limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further limits to be transcended.”<\/em>\u00a0 24<\/strong><\/p>\n What we believe to be true becomes true for us in our \u00adexperience. Yet however satisfying this may prove to be in terms of achievement, it represents a limit to our future expression. These beliefs must necessarily be transcended if we are not to remain bound within the narrow limits of our past experience.<\/p>\n Often our most creative beliefs in life are our fears. Fear is desire directed at an unwanted target. Our fears are as potent as our positive beliefs, and are equally capable of creating those very conditions which are the basis of our fears.<\/p>\n Fear becomes an even more powerful force, since it combines thought with emotion. When we hold an image of a negative event in our minds, and couple this with an added emotive charge, we initiate a powerful signal in our minds, which then automatically begins to set in motion those very circumstances which we fear.<\/p>\n We see this most frequently in the cases of poverty, failure and disease. The more we focus on these images in our minds, the more our outward circumstances are moulded by our thoughts, and plunge us into the very situations that we dread.<\/p>\n Fear lies at the heart of all \u201cdisease\u201d. Yet disease merely demonstrates the efficacy of that same force which could equally well revolutionize our lives instead in the direction of harmony and peace.<\/p>\n For instead of concentrating our mental energies on thoughts of failure and hardship, we have only to reverse them and hold in their place thoughts of achievement, joy and health. The energy of life will then bring these chosen goals inevitably in their train.<\/p>\n The secret of success in life is to possess the skill to visualize intently the goal that is desired, and the resolution to pursue this goal until it is achieved. For as Maharaj has pointed out: “What is imagined and willed becomes actuality – here lies the danger as well as the way out.”<\/em>\u00a0 25<\/strong><\/p>\n Continued in Part Four<\/strong><\/p>\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n 20<\/strong>\u00a0 “I Am That\u201d, Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman, Book I, Chetana, Bombay, 1973, p.87.<\/p>\n 21 <\/strong>\u00a0Ibid, Book I, p. 48.<\/p>\n 22<\/strong>\u00a0 “Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi”, recorded by Swami Saraswathi, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai, 1968, p. 29.<\/p>\n 23<\/strong>\u00a0 Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”, Bantam, New York, 1980, p. 313.<\/p>\n 24<\/strong>\u00a0 John Lilly, “The Center of the Cyclone”, Bantam, New York, 1973, pp. XV-XVI.<\/p>\n 25<\/strong>\u00a0 “I Am That”, Book I, op.cit., p. 241.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At every moment of our lives, we create anew our image of ourselves, and our image of the world, in the form of our thoughts and our desires. 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