The Weekly Universe
Volume #45
“Your mind rejects commands.
It responds to seduction.
“Imagine if...”
“Notice how great it would feel if...”
Create the positive emotion first. Following through becomes effortless.
Example:
“Imagine how good it would feel if you went to the gym, imagine how good it would be for your body, imagine how good you would feel afterwards…”
That positive imagination brings forth a positive response. Test it out.
Now, let me ask you this: How many times have you commanded yourself to change and felt your own mind push back?
Instead Imagine giving yourself a suggestion so compelling your brain wants to follow through.”
“Teaching my daughter about taxes and payroll withholding.
She did chores all week so I owe her $10
I hand her $7
> this isn’t $10
“right, I withheld the rest”
> what does that mean
“I kept $3 of your money”
> but it’s my money
“It was your money”
> what are you even doing with it?
“Funding household infrastructure”
> what
“The roof over your head. The hallway you walk through to get to the bathroom. The door locks that keep strangers out”
> you’re charging me for the hallway
“I’m charging you for access to the hallway. The hallway itself was a capital expenditure”
> you’re my dad. you’re supposed to---
“I’m also your government”
> what if I don’t want to pay for the hallway
“Then I can’t guarantee the hallway”
> it’s a hallway. It’s already there
“For now”
She asks what else the $3 covers
“Meals, dispute resolution, nightlight maintenance”
> dispute resolution?
“When your brother takes your toys and I make him give them back. That’s taxpayer funded”
> that’s just parenting
“That’s the Department of Justice”
> what about meals. You already feed me
“That’s a social program. Not everyone qualifies”
> I’m your daughter
“Which is why you’re currently enrolled”
She wants to see where the money goes
I tell her that would require a FOIA request
> what’s that
“A form asking me to show you what I do with your money. Processing time is 6 to 8 weeks”
> 6 weeks to see where my $3 went?
“Could be longer. We’re understaffed”
> there’s two of you
She asks how she gets any of it back
“It’s already spent”
> you spent my money already?
“We had a budget shortfall”
> you just took it 20 seconds ago
“And the deficit existed 30 seconds ago. The timing worked out”
> so I’m not getting it back
“I didn’t say that. You might qualify for a refund”
> of my own money
“Correct. You just have to fill out a form telling me how much you made”
> you know how much I made. You paid me
“Right but I need you to tell me how much I paid you”
> so you already know the answer
“The point is compliance”
She asks what happens if she gets the number wrong
“Penalty”
> from the money I don’t have because you already spent it?
“We could set up a payment plan”
> I’m 8
“Monthly installments. Very manageable”
> you’re going to penalize me for getting wrong a number you already know and then make me pay you back with money you took from me
“Now you’re getting it”
> I want to talk to mom
“Mom’s not a qualified representative. She can’t help you here”
She stormed off to her room saying how this is extortion.
Slammed the door.
That’s my little citizen.
I’ve never been more proud.”
What’s the answer?
“If you shuffle a deck of cards properly, the exact order you get has almost certainly never existed before in human history and never will again.
The number of possible arrangements of 52 cards is 52 factorial, which works out to a number so large that it has 68 digits. To put it in perspective: even if every person who ever lived shuffled a deck once per second since the beginning of the universe, you would still barely scratch the surface of all possible arrangements.
So every time you shuffle a deck, you are most likely holding a sequence that is completely unique in the history of the universe.”
"My Guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji) has affected me by loving me, and therefore I love you. So this is a meditation. You attend with your mind to a point in the heart space in the middle of the chest and you will say, “I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness.”
You were “I am ego” and now you’re going to become the reality of your true self with a capital “S.” As you sink into this practice you’re going to start thinking about things like, “I can do without this, this is crap” and that’s the ego. When Maharaji said to me, “I want you to love everybody” I said, “I can’t do it” which meant that my ego couldn’t do it, and he just ignored it because he wanted to dance with my soul.
Keep repeating to yourself, “I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness.” Remember to mentally focus your attention in the middle of the chest. You are going to make loving awareness the pivot point of your consciousness. In the future you will know yourself as loving awareness - if somebody asks you your name of course you don’t say ,“I am loving awareness” but you will say to yourself, while walking down the street or going into the marketplace, “I am loving awareness.” Now take on that identity instead of the identity you had before. You shift your identity to, “I am loving awareness.”
The awareness is not a thing, it’s no objective thing. You can’t point to awareness- you’re aware of your eyes seeing, you’re aware of your ears hearing, you’re aware of your thoughts as they come out of your mind. So “this will never work” is a thought, and just label it as a thought. Label thoughts. This loving awareness is the witness of your incarnation.”
-Ram Dass
That’s all for this week :)