On first approach, the idea of various different degrees of livingness is foreign to most of us. Either a thing is living or it isn't. Troward in the Dore lectures introduces degrees of livingness when he discusses the function of mind or consciousness. A fish is more living than a rock and a terrier more living than a fish. What small boy, he asks, would not prefer the terrier to the goldfish as a playmate? Thus the degree of enthusiasm in the boy meets the enthusiasm in the terrier and vice versa. This is what is referred to as the Law of Correspondence and it works in both directions. Life co-responds to my expectation of it.
In the reading today from 30 Day Mental Diet, Kinnear tells us to live with enthusiasm; to be engaged; to do something creative and constructive. So what is it that kills our enthusiasm for living without necessarily limiting our success? Self-doubt, self-condemnation and guilt.
One of the most significant and life-changing realizations for me came when I was almost 50 years old. I had a GREAT job, where I was loved and respected. I was well payed, certainly not at the top of my profession as a secondary school teacher but doing well. I had, according to my mother, the VERY best of all possible worlds in that I had good benefits and a pension. I was slated to retire in 2012, get the golden handshake and move to Arizona for the winters. In short, I was living my mother's definition of success and I was living it very well. In order to live that "well" though I had to forget that there were pieces of me, lost, or worse, hidden and denied.
Once I began, as Kinnear suggests, to look at the negative conditions and situations with which I had surrounded myself, I began to realize that they were a "necessity" I had permitted in the name of success. I began to understand that success in order to be truly meaningful had to be MY success. Since that day, I have continually grown in my understanding of what success means to me. There has been trial and error; ups and downs, even "boom and bust" but, through it all, I have continued to define success for myself. Every thought I have about my life is the beginning of a new sequence of events that I now know I can have to my liking; that enliven me, enrich my life and bring me ever closer to that which I call "God".
"The recognition of God ... with the cosmic drive of which the life-personality is the spearhead is the only road to fulfillment"
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Terry, I love your thought provoking and insightful writing - Delicious !!!
ReplyDeleteI can especially relate to this passage "the degree of enthusiasm in the boy meets the enthusiasm in the terrier and vice versa. This is what is referred to as the Law of Correspondence and it works in both directions. Life co-responds to my expectation of it."
It's always so powerful when one experiences and is conscious of a Law playing out in her life. :-)
I also, appreciate the question; Am I living my definition of success or someone else's and What is my definition of success ?" Hmm, a good one to ponder and explore.
thanks again Terry, so appreciate your passsion and love.