Seeking Your Good
Everybody is seeking their good non-stop, their good as they see it. Everybody wants their good. No one will take less than their absolute good, even if it means breaking the law. In fact, that is the only reason anyone breaks the law. Seeking your good, however, in a world like this is a treacherous occupation, and so we develop a very defensive posture. We focus this search for the good upon certain people, certain objects or substances, or favorite activities, usually unconsciously. If and when this search fails, we may switch our focus. However, the desire and pursuit of the good, whatever we consider it to be, cannot be eradicated.
The good, as we perceive it, is limited and therefore scarce, and subject to not getting it or losing it. All of our power struggles, including war, are due to this perception that the good is limited. Unawareness of the Unlimited Good is the cause of anxiety.
Our perception is that someone may block our good or withhold it: someone may leave us. Our perception is that certain events may block our good or withhold it: our house may burn down. Our perception is that someone may take our good: someone else may get the job I want. These perceptions create anxiety. Threats to our good are anxiety-producing because we are not functioning with spiritual awareness.
While you are in hot pursuit of your good, you are anxious. When you give up the pursuit of it, you get depressed. So we are always caught between trying harder and giving up. Neither one works because all visible, defined, finite goods are symbolic of some invisible, undefined, infinite good.
The dilemma here is that we don’t know what the invisible good is or where it is located. We only know the finite symbols of the good and we do not realize that they are just symbols. For instance, we don’t know that the desire for the good is infinite, or that the good itself is infinite. And more importantly we don’t realize that we are that which we seek. This lack of knowledge is called anxiety.
Let’s say that we are seeking the finite good of acceptance or at least to avoid rejection. We struggle and manipulate to obtain this missing good, but we fail. No one can control the acceptance factor in others because it is an inner condition of one’s own mind. What does finite acceptance represent? Infinite Acceptance or Wholeness.
Or let’s say that one is seeking wealth. What does the finite goal of wealth represent? Perhaps infinite security or infinite abundance. Wealth as an outer condition comes and goes. Wealth as a finite variable cannot be controlled. Inner wealth is not a variable. Inner wealth is infinite if we are conscious. Usually we are not conscious and so we are anxious.
Spiritual wholeness and wealth are facts, but their symbols are finite and changeable. Unawareness of our spiritual wholeness and wealth leads to anxiety-producing symptoms and behaviors. Our story makes us feel inadequate, impotent or deficient. We blame this victim experience on God, on others, on circumstances, and on ourselves. Blame requires punishment. Punishment solves nothing. Only awareness of wholeness and wealth is required. Awareness of wholeness and wealth then manifests in the finite outer world. The Infinite Good is a joyful reality. The rest is just a painful story.
Circumstances are the result of perception. Circumstances show your inner belief system. Things are always thoughts first. If the Infinite Good was not real, you could not have desires for some finite good. Circumstances are pictures of your belief system, your story. When your story changes, your circumstances must change. When you realize the Infinite Good, circumstances will change. As long as you believe in good- and-evil, your circumstances will reflect that. Good-and-evil are just a story that you believe. No wonder anxiety is necessary.
Any time you have pain you are assuming that your Infinite Good is not a present reality. This assumption occurs because you are not present or in reality. You are still hooked on your ego story. Fear is controlling your awareness. You are temporarily blinded to the reality of the Infinite Good. Anxiety registers that blindness. Thank God for anxiety. Thank God for pain. Its your chance to wake up to the Ever Present Good.
The good, as we perceive it, is limited and therefore scarce, and subject to not getting it or losing it. All of our power struggles, including war, are due to this perception that the good is limited. Unawareness of the Unlimited Good is the cause of anxiety.
Our perception is that someone may block our good or withhold it: someone may leave us. Our perception is that certain events may block our good or withhold it: our house may burn down. Our perception is that someone may take our good: someone else may get the job I want. These perceptions create anxiety. Threats to our good are anxiety-producing because we are not functioning with spiritual awareness.
While you are in hot pursuit of your good, you are anxious. When you give up the pursuit of it, you get depressed. So we are always caught between trying harder and giving up. Neither one works because all visible, defined, finite goods are symbolic of some invisible, undefined, infinite good.
The dilemma here is that we don’t know what the invisible good is or where it is located. We only know the finite symbols of the good and we do not realize that they are just symbols. For instance, we don’t know that the desire for the good is infinite, or that the good itself is infinite. And more importantly we don’t realize that we are that which we seek. This lack of knowledge is called anxiety.
Let’s say that we are seeking the finite good of acceptance or at least to avoid rejection. We struggle and manipulate to obtain this missing good, but we fail. No one can control the acceptance factor in others because it is an inner condition of one’s own mind. What does finite acceptance represent? Infinite Acceptance or Wholeness.
Or let’s say that one is seeking wealth. What does the finite goal of wealth represent? Perhaps infinite security or infinite abundance. Wealth as an outer condition comes and goes. Wealth as a finite variable cannot be controlled. Inner wealth is not a variable. Inner wealth is infinite if we are conscious. Usually we are not conscious and so we are anxious.
Spiritual wholeness and wealth are facts, but their symbols are finite and changeable. Unawareness of our spiritual wholeness and wealth leads to anxiety-producing symptoms and behaviors. Our story makes us feel inadequate, impotent or deficient. We blame this victim experience on God, on others, on circumstances, and on ourselves. Blame requires punishment. Punishment solves nothing. Only awareness of wholeness and wealth is required. Awareness of wholeness and wealth then manifests in the finite outer world. The Infinite Good is a joyful reality. The rest is just a painful story.
Circumstances are the result of perception. Circumstances show your inner belief system. Things are always thoughts first. If the Infinite Good was not real, you could not have desires for some finite good. Circumstances are pictures of your belief system, your story. When your story changes, your circumstances must change. When you realize the Infinite Good, circumstances will change. As long as you believe in good- and-evil, your circumstances will reflect that. Good-and-evil are just a story that you believe. No wonder anxiety is necessary.
Any time you have pain you are assuming that your Infinite Good is not a present reality. This assumption occurs because you are not present or in reality. You are still hooked on your ego story. Fear is controlling your awareness. You are temporarily blinded to the reality of the Infinite Good. Anxiety registers that blindness. Thank God for anxiety. Thank God for pain. Its your chance to wake up to the Ever Present Good.
posted by Dr. Joe at 6:31 AM
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