Empty Spaces
Over the last few years, I’ve been watching, observing, reading, what people around the world are doing and saying.
There has been much focus on the past, ‘the way we were’ – or more correctly the way many people imagined ‘we were’, not actually having been around at the time envisaged.
There have been many considering the way we could be, speculating on how things could be different but with no clear idea of what that would be like. And as you and I know, lack of clarity leads to resistance.
Resistance to anything different.
And that brings me to the third ‘school of thought’, a preference for ‘the way we are’, for preserving the status quo, for keeping everything ‘the same’.
The ‘problem’ is that everyone is ‘wrong’!
There is a saying that you cannot step in the same river twice. We cannot go back to the ‘way we were’, wind back the clock because we cannot change the timeline.
What has happened has happened, what could have happened didn’t. I’ve written about this before, but the thing is – we cannot change ‘now’ by going back to ‘then’.
Let’s consider the present.
The idea that we can remain in a condition of constant stasis, the status quo, again is not possible. If nothing changed, we’d be in ‘Groundhog Day’ – every day the same.
Those who wish to ‘keep things as they are’ of course don’t mean that, but it is the impression they put across – “don’t change anything”.
Not going to happen!
What about the futurists?
The issue here is that there is very little consensus on what the future might be. There is no ‘plan’ no ‘grand design’.
Granted, individuals will have their own plans, goals and ambitions, as you and I have, but we are all parts of a jigsaw for which there is no ‘picture on the box’ to work towards.
All we have is chaos or fantasy, bright or dark, and much confusion between what ‘could’ or ‘might’ happen and what ‘will’ happen.
The fact is that nobody knows.
While you and I can have clear visions of our own futures we have no idea of what they will ‘be’ or where they will ‘be’ in the ‘grand scheme of things’.
But there is no ‘grand scheme of thigs’, no ‘divine plan’, no external ‘higher power’ looking after us or working on our behalf.
It’s just ‘us’, you and I and all the other people on the planet, thinking what we think and believing what we believe that brings it all about.
There are three types of people in the world.
• Those who make things happen and know it.
• Those who believe everything is happening to them outside their control (the victims).
• Those who wake up each day saying, ‘what happened’?
This however is not entirely correct as everyone is continually ‘making things happen’.
I’ve explained before that the Universe/God/Higher Power responds to what every individual wishes for, it has no alternative but to do so, and again I’ve explained before why this is the case.
What takes place on this planet, what ‘happens’, is a result of the whole of humanity’s requirements, as expressed in their wishes and dreams and based on their beliefs.
Nothing just ‘happens’.
But of course, compromises have to be made to achieve the ‘best result’ for everyone and so things usually ‘happen’ in a way that no-one quite expected.
It comes down to belief, to belief and faith.
There are two types of belief – belief on its own and belief with faith.
We may have strong beliefs backed up by complete faith in that belief, or we may have beliefs based on evidence discovered by ourselves or provided by others but no ‘faith’ to go with it.
Many people misunderstand the idea of ‘faith’ because it has religious connotations and there’s a reason for that. Religions provide people with ‘faith’, not in themselves but in the religion.
You see, we cannot have no belief or no faith – we cannot have an empty space, believing nothing or having faith in nothing.
Faith of course is very similar to belief – faith is a strong, firm and steadfast ‘knowing’ that something is true or real (at least for us) without any necessity for supporting ‘evidence’ of any kind.
Faith just ‘is’.
You and I create our own beliefs from what we read, what we see, what we experience and what we think about and add to this our own personal understanding of it all to establish the beliefs we hold.
We then underpin it with faith in ourselves and faith in those beliefs – we don’t need to ‘prove it’ or provide evidence. All we need to do is trust and have faith in our beliefs and our selves.
Other people don’t – they take on beliefs from others, after all it saves them from thinking and as Wallace Wattles said – “Thinking is the hardest and most exhausting of all labour; and hence many people shrink from it.”.
They take on beliefs from others and have faith in the source of those beliefs, TV, radio, social media and so on.
Their faith is not their own and neither are their beliefs.
They believe what they believe and find themselves defending those beliefs because they cannot be without belief.
Even those who prefer to be ‘unaware’ have a belief in their philosophy of ‘it’s nothing to do with me’ and their faith that this is a safe place to be.
So consider – what do you believe?
Is it your belief or someone else’s?
Is it supported by faith and if so faith in what?
Are you someone who makes things happen or someone that things happen to?
Who do you know who needs to read this?