Prosperity Attraction - you create your own reality

Making progress on the spiritual path does not mean that you have to reject any kind of pleasure and fun and live an austere and harsh life. This idea sometimes holds people from taking the first step toward spiritual growth. Walking on a spiritual path does not require that you avoid everything coming through the five senses, and treating yourself harshly and rigorously.

Pleasure and enjoyment do not hold you from making spiritual progress, but the attachment to them does. It is the attachment that has to go. Attachment is a kind of fear, addiction and lack of freedom. It is the fear of loss.

It might seem to you as a paradox, but you can enjoy life, but at the same time stay unattached anything you experience.

It is the inner attitude that is important. Someone, who has progressed on the inner path, can live and enjoy life, like anyone else, but at the same time not be attached to anything. Such a person may not seek pleasure deliberately, but when there is pleasure, he/she can enjoy it while it lasts, without being attached to it. When the source of pleasure is gone, there is no clinging to it or wishing it stayed, neither there is regret and or a feeling of loss.

Here is what Ramesh Balsekar says on this subject in his book “Who Cares?!”:

“The difference between the sage and the ordinary person, in regard to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, is that while the ordinary person is continually in search of such pleasures, the sage does not hanker after such pleasures, but enjoys them with zest when they happen in the ordinary course of life. The sage does not seek pleasure, nor does he reject it when it happens.”

Ramesh Balsekar also quotes the words the sage Ashtavakra: “Absence of attachment to sense objects is liberation; passion for sense objects is bondage.”

Overcoming attachment and developing detachment lead to peace of mind and happiness.

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Have you been following along with the reading and webcasts from the Oprah and Eckhart Tolle webinar on A New Earth? I just got the latest stats on this ground-breaking event:

• 826,000 people are registered.
• There have been over 4.5 million streams/downloads of the webcasts.
• People from 130 countries are participating.

If you missed last night’s webcast or any of the previous webcasts, you can download the video, audio or transcript of all the shows at the A New Earth download page.

The Core of Ego and Law of Attraction

This week the focus is on The Core of Ego. If you’re a Law of Attraction practitioner, I’m sure you saw the connection between the some of the concepts in this chapter and some of the lessons from Law of Attraction!

Eckhart describes how one of the ego’s favorite activity is complaining. From Law of Attraction, we know that complaining is is a form of focusing our attention on what we don’t want. As long as we continue to complain about what is “wrong” in our lives (ego) it is difficult to get more of what we want in our lives.

Why do you complain? (We all do!) Are there certain areas of your life that you find yourself complaining about more than others? Why?

Tolle suggests that merely becoming aware of the ego limits its ability to direct our thoughts and actions. Have you found this to be true? And if so, what steps will you take to become aware of your ego?

Truth: Relative or Absolute

Another key point in this chapter focused on Truth and how we use truth both as individuals and as groups to maintain our sense of superiority. Tolle writes this about Truth and religions:

All religions are equally false and equally true, depending on how you use them. You can use them in service of the ego, or you can use them in service of the Truth. If you believe only your religion is the Truth, you are using it in the service of the ego. Used in such a way, religion becomes ideology and creates an illusory sense of superiority as well as division and conflict between people. In the service of Truth, religious teachings represent signposts or maps left behind by awakened humans to assist you in spiritual awakening.

All of us have moments in our lives when we are in service of ego and times when we are in service of the truth. How do you know the difference? What do you feel when you catch yourself serving ego? What do you feel when you recognize that you are serving the Truth? And what steps can you take, in the moment when you catch yourself serving ego, to begin making the shift back to Truth?

Other Thoughts/Questions:

• Does a gradual path really take us to the place of being free and joyous? Or must we have the sudden awakening AKA the AHA Moment?
• What is your definition of inner peace?
• What are some experience that you want to share this week?

Week 3 Quotes (Flower Petals):

Your greatest protection is being conscious.

Whatever you fight, you strengthen and what you resist persists.

In week 2 of the Oprah, Eckhart Tolle webinar on A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life Purpose, we begin an exploration of ego. Let’s use this space to continue to explore this concept.

What does ego mean to you?

How did Tolle’s explanation of ego in the book and/or webinar deepen or shift your understanding of the concept?

Identifying with objects

In the book, Tolle tells the story of a dying woman who accused one of her caregivers of stealing her diamond ring. Tolle describes the anger this woman experienced because of the loss of this “valuable” object. He went on to share that:

“In the last few weeks of her life, as her body became weaker, she became more and more radiate, as if light were shining through her. She gave many of her possessions away, some to the woman she thought had stolen the ring, and with each thing she gave away, her joy deepened.”

What objects do you identify with?

Look around your home or office and ask yourself “how many of the things I see do I describe as ‘mine?’”

How would it feel to give these things away?

Can you imagine being in a state where giving away these possessions would bring deeper joy?

What is in the way of that happening now?

Your Week 2 Flower Petals:

In the workbook for the webinar we are being asked to pick our two favorite passages or quotes from the book. At the end of the 10-weeks, we will have a beautiful flower whose petals inspire us to continue the process of awakening.

What are your petals from week 2?

Here are mine.

When you don’t cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life.

Yielding means inner acceptance of what is. You are open to life. Resistance is an inner contraction, a hardening of the ego. You are closed. Whatever action you take in a state of inner resistance (which we could also call negativity) will create more outer resistance, and the universe will not be on your side; life will not be helpful. If the shutters are closed, the sunlight cannot come in. When you yield internally, when you surrender, a new dimension of consciousness opens up. If action is possible or necessary, your action will be in alignment with the whole and supported by creative intelligence.

Use the comments space below to leave your quotes, answers to the questions above, or any thoughts, observations or further questions you might have.

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