Beware of Bewaring!

by **Akindra** Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:35 pm

Or, uh...maybe not

A basic, underpinning philosophy of the so-called New Age is the idea
that we create our own reality. We do so, we are told, with our
thoughts, our words, and our actions. Indeed, it is made very clear to
us that every thought, word, and action is creative. And so, we must
guard against thinking wrongly, speaking wrongly, and acting wrongly.

Buddhists have a reverse take on all this. They speak frequently of
Right Thinking, Right Speaking, and Right Action -- meaning thought,
word, and action that is in alignment with the highest integrity and
the grandest notion we have ever had about ourselves and life.

This is well and good, but it can create complications in the normal
living of everyday life if one becomes obsessive about it. Healthy
spirituality is not about obsession. Obsession is a demonstration of
lack of control, and healthy spirituality is exactly the opposite. It
is about being in control, and thus intentionally creating our own
personal reality.

It has been my observation that many members of the New Thought
Movement do not thoroughly understand this. And so they sometimes get
caught up in their efforts to monitor themselves and to stop themselves
from thinking the "wrong" thoughts, saying the "wrong" things (or
saying things in the "wrong way"), and undertaking the "wrong" actions.
Many of them become fearful around this. This fear does not even allow
them to express a thought of simple caution.

Statements such as, "be sure to lock the front door when you leave the
house, honey", or, "better check that company's portfolio before you
make a big investment", or, "please don't walk to the bus stop if the
meeting ends after 11 p.m.. Just call a taxi, or call me and I'll come
and get you" are met with gentle admonitions or even mild derision.
"Don't say that or you'll create it," is a common statement that I have
heard often through the years. This, of course, is another form of
fear. It is a fearful obsession that the universe will take us
literally in everything that we think and say, and that a simple
statement of common caution will somehow create the exact experience
that we are being cautious about avoiding.

This is what happens when we confuse "fear" and "caution" in our minds.
This is what I call Overthink. It is when we are so aware of the role
of the mind in the creation of our exterior reality that we "over
think" everything. We think about what we are thinking about at such a
level and to such a degree that we are almost unable to move forward in
any thought process at all. We become, quite literally, paralyzed in
our thinking, afraid that anything and everything we say will be turned
into our reality. And so we "monitor" our thoughts to make sure that we
are exercising Right Thinking.

Here's the good news about that. The Universe understands every
underlying feeling that supports all the thoughts that run through our
minds. It is the deepest emotions that are powerful, not the random
ones. It is the deepest feelings that create waves of energy which
ultimately can manifest in our physical reality.

Fear comes in various quantities. Deep fear -- the kind that we can
feel in the pit of our stomach, the kind that leaves our chest cold,
the kind that stops our heart -- generates huge amounts of energy. On
the other hand, what I call "shallow" fear -- the little fears of
day-to-day life that really don't run very deep ("Oh, I'll never find a
parking space") rarely have any important or lasting effect and,
indeed, often prove unfounded.

The emotion of simple caution is understood at the deepest reaches of
our being as having nothing to do with our Innermost Intention. There
is a built-in editing system in the Creation Process which eliminates
the possibility of misconstruing what it is we really want, seek, and
desire to express and experience. To put it simply, the Lord God of Our
Being understands what it is we intend. Clearly, hoping to avoid
something is not an effort to create it. Our Divine Self does not have
to be told this.

So stop worrying about every thought you think and every word you say
and everything you do. Look to see what is on the real agenda. Check
your motivations for everything. What is it that you intend? What is it
that you are seeking to experience? Be clear about that at the level of
your Quiet Awareness and you will have nothing to worry about. Move
forward in your life with confidence that the Big Self understands the
less-than-perfect articulations of the Little Self.

Caution is not fear. It is simply the announcement of a clear choice to
avoid outcomes which do not please us, and which do not represent who
we are and who we choose to be.

Similarly, simple observations are not announcements of our innermost
intentions. "The train is coming," is not a statement that we wish to
be hit by the train. "Uh-oh, it looks like it's going to rain" is not a
statement that we want it to rain. And the Universe understands this.
Again, we don't have to explain things to Divine Awareness.

I was at a picnic some years ago when someone in the group I was with
said, "Uh-oh, it looks like it's going to rain." Someone else in the
group immediately chastised the first person. "Don't say that! You'll
create it!" (Here we go again with that one.) The first person was
suitably chagrined. She should've known better. She'd committed the
Crime Of The Century in the some New Age circles.

I don't believe in any of this stuff. Yes, your words are creative.
Yes, your thoughts produce your reality. Yes, the things that you do
and the actions that you undertake create very real outcomes in the
world of your experience. Yes, all of these things are true. But for
heaven's sake, you don't have to worry about every stray thought, every
chance or commonplace utterance, every absent-minded action. It is
about where you are "coming from," not how well you articulate that.

We have enough to be afraid of without running scared about everything
we are thinking, saying, and doing. Actually, we have nothing to be
afraid of, but we imagine that we do, which is sufficient to produce
the experience. Communion with God
tells us that we need nothing at all. God says that need is an
illusion. If this is true (and it is), then there is never any reason
for us to be afraid of anything at all.

We do not even need our own physical life. We do not need to "survive."
In fact, our survival is guaranteed. We will live forever. We cannot
die because dying is impossible. Given who and what we are, death is
not and can never be part of our experience. The question is not, Will,
we continue living? Question is, What form will we take?

Now, if we are deeply attached to the form in which we currently
appear, then we will be afraid of changing forms. This will seem like a
loss to us. And the potential for such loss can create in us the
peculiar emotional experience that we call "fear."

All suffering is the result of attachment. All attachment is the result
of a mistaken notion of who and what we are and of why we are here upon
the earth.

It is not easy to stay away from attachments. It is not easy to elevate
our thinking to the level at which we understand all of this all of the
time. It is not easy -- unless it is. This is what mastery is all about.

.....By Neale Donald Walsch