View Related
Nick Shutler
One simple change in my life, one slight shift in perspective has transformed and enriched my world. At first I thought that after my initial enlightenment that I had been awakened and I had attained an ultimate or peak of awareness and that was my lot. How wrong could I have been? I can now see that initial shift which seemed to me to be a massive jump or shift in perspective, which it was at that time, I now find that maintaining that perception has allowed my growth to continue.
As I learn more my perception alters accordingly, natural I suppose…
The fundamental shift was through the realisation that we are all first and foremost spiritual beings; we inhabit these earthly bodies so that we may interact and experience this dense vibrational or earthly dimension. The physical body is simply a vessel or instrument of the Spirit…
Of this I am absolutely certain… as I grow and learn this one fact represents itself time and time again and all the parts of the jigsaw just fall in to place… without this basic concept nothing else will make any sense at all.
I’ve also been able to reflect on previous conceptions and deeds and have been able to see the mistakes I’ve made and revaluate and correct the misconceptions thus enabling me to move forward…
One such misconception I have had which has reference to the title is how I felt about people who were wealthy. “The Rich Man”
I read something just the other evening and it really explains quite clearly to me the fundamental principle I am attempting to convey here.
It was in a book by Barbara Ann Brennan “Light Emerging” In her book Barbara uses the word paradigm, meaning a pattern, example, or model, of the way we perceive the world. She says a paradigm is a shared set of assumptions that explain the world to us and help us predict its behaviour. We take these assumptions for granted. We define them as basic reality and don’t think about them further.
Does a fish Notice the water?
She Quotes Werner Erhard saying
“Most of our notions about the world come from come a set of assumptions which we take for granted, and for the most part, we don’t examine or question,” We bring these assumptions to the table with us as a given. They are so much part of who we are that it is difficult to separate ourselves from or able to talk about them”.
Here Werner and Barbara are clearly talking about Perception and the way we perceive the world… It is a fundamental error that we all make when we encounter a difficulty, problem or obstacle in our lives. Our initial reaction is to shift the emphasis of the problem away from ourselves and toward another.
So often I have avoided questioning my own motives and rarely taking the time to reflect honestly and with maturity my own motives for the reaction to external problems or obstacles. Through observing and understanding this in myself I can now see and I honestly believe this is one of the biggest problems that the majority of people encounter.
As a consequence on a far greater scale the problem has manifested in society and has been causing major problems for a very long time…
For instance, recently I was working as a Carpenter in Sidmouth, Devon. The clients were very wealthy. They were, though very materially blessed, quite the same as you or I in nearly every other respect. Colin and Lesley were struggling or endeavouring to bring up their two young children. They were not at all spoilt, but well-mannered, polite and a little on the shy side. They lived in a large thatched house on the cliff edge overlooking the sea and the beach a really idyllic setting. This is the second time I had been to this house; the first time was during the major conversion and alteration where the building was being restored to its original Victorian style. Previously the owners had found it too big and had the upper part of the house converted in to a small flat or apartment. During this initial restoration Colin and Lesley were I believe staying in London and travelled up periodically to discuss the alterations and their requirements with the contracts manager. During this time I never met the clients. During the second phase the last of the renovations were being done and I felt intrusive. The family had only recently moved in and were trying to make a home for themselves which must have been difficult considering the invasion of their space by me and about six other builders. We would arrive at 8.00 in the morning and not leave till about 5.00 in the afternoon. There were vans and people everywhere and this went on five days a week for quite some time. It was obvious to me that some considerable stress must have been experienced by the whole family and the whole situation must have been very unsettling for them.
One afternoon we were sat having our lunch in the garden, there was a new carpenter, Dennis a really nice old chap he was the oldest carpenter I know 73 years old and still going strong… In passing conversation we spoke about Colin and Lesley and their two lovely children. Dennis commented on what a wonderful start the children had in life I think he must have been referring to their material status. It struck me as unusual that someone should make a positive comment about the family as up till now I had only heard derogatory remarks and snide comments concerning their wealth and status.
Dennis’s comment made me think, it sort of struck a chord in me and I had to pause for thought… Were the children really privileged and did they really have the head start in life that Dennis implied they had?
When we look a little more deeply it may not be as clear cut as we may have thought. Remember, first and foremost we are Spiritual beings, it is our very nature, our essence. It is about energy. We are pure energy, life force! We all co-exist and integrate, keeping an open mind we are all both student and teacher in this college of life which continues well beyond this short earthly life. No one individual no matter their accumulated wealth or assumed status in our society is any greater or lesser than another. We are all parts of the greater whole, just like the atoms and cells within our own bodies and indeed the stars and planetary systems within our physical universe. There is no division there is no separation, the perception of separation is an illusion. Look at your body. Is a hand more important than a foot or an eye more important than an ear? In our lives we are offered the opportunity to learn and to realise how connected we all are and how deep these connections really go. We are here to dispel the illusion of separateness. There are really no boundaries and any belief to the contrary is an illusion. Deep inside we know this...
To know this when I look around me I can see there is something fundamentally wrong in our society it is so disturbing to see how divided and fragmented we have all become and increasingly so.
Look at the divisions and prejudice that plagues our world, there are so many. Race, colour, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, status, wealth, class, Intelligence and even the way people speak or dress causes division. Everyone seems to be looking for someone else to blame for the problems in the world… Does a fish notice the water?
For instance as a so called working class man I tend to associate with working class people. We tend to work for the middle and upper classes and I know this causes much resentment. We see every day people who are more materially blessed than ourselves and we maybe resent them for the chances we never had and all the material things that are out of our reach. The hub of our society revolves around and is driven by materialistic desires and we see others who have been more successful materially and we may be led to believe that we have failed in life.
To some it may feel like they are having their noses rubbed in it, so some may feel justified in feeling resentful and this resentment voiced or not helps to add to the divisions within our communities.
Where does the root of this particular division stem from???
It is one of the main principles instilled in us through the education system, we are told that failure is bad and success is good, failure is punished and success rewarded… There are many questions posed through this avenue of investigation…
I thought about what Dennis had said when he implied that the children had had such a good start in life, materially, maybe but as we know “man cannot live on bread alone”.
Those children will grow up not being able to mix with the majority of other children they will be isolated by this one very small difference,
But In essence they are the same as you or I.
They feel the hardships of life, the same as we do, money and material possessions do not protect anyone from the bumps and bruises, and the trials and tribulations of life. In some ways money or excesses of it bring their own unique set of problems. Maturity, discipline and self-control are needed and sadly many of these attributes are either very rare or missing completely in today’s world. Today, people are very slow to mature emotionally and spiritually, they are held back to a degree by all the disinformation and distractions of modern living and a reliance on a consumer society. The problems, that lack of self-control and the attainment of wealth bring are evident when we observe how some individuals slide in to drug abuse and alcoholism when the restraints of having to be careful with money are lifted, the lack of self-control then becomes very evident…
Another associated burden of wealth and purported status is envy…
Many wealthy people are I feel quite lonely; not having the freedom to associate and express themselves freely, the barrier of envy isolates them from the working classes. These people only feel comfortable with people of similar class or standing where they feel that the barriers of envy and station are no longer an issue. They can become disillusioned with people. They tend to have associates rather than friends. Having money they become targets for the fraudsters and thieves. A distrust of people becomes second nature as they endeavour to protect and covet their possessions. An attachment to money and material things becomes quite pronounced in some individuals which can lead in to descending negative spiral which manifests as imbalances in the energy systems leading to physical illness….
So in retrospect are the children as lucky and privileged as we once may have thought? Is the grass really greener on the other side?
In hind sight I know as a young man I would be the jealous one. I was the nodding dog, failing to realise my own insecurities. Always blaming others for my own shortcomings rather than trying to shift my own set perceptions, never looking any deeper than I needed to or stopping to ponder or taking the time to think more deeply about any situation. Maybe I was afraid what I might find there and maybe I was not mature enough to be able to look it in the face!
But now times are changing, I am beginning to wake up.
I am beginning to notice the water!
Nick Shutler & Inspirers
Post Article:
Submit Your Own Article