Would you like to help me define my, "Definite Cheif Aim"?

[manitou]

Dreaming, without doing anything about it, is not how manifestation works. But this is just my opinion...you can try it your way and see what happens.

 

I guess that's how all of us learn anything.  Trying it our way - good advice, IMO.   I applaud him.  Nobody could've told me nuthin' back in the day.

 

I knew a young Buddhist chick that I met in a campground when I was staying there several winters ago, in Santa Barbara, CA.  She had decided to do just what Dream Bliss is talking about - sort of a 'Buckminster' sort of thing.  She was gorgeous and from Russia - she had been a model and an actress there - but in order to lose all her baggage she shaved her head and decided to go into free-fall and travel the U.S.  The world, in fact.

 

The campground was a Thousand Trails campground that sells membership.  The salesman there talked her into buying a membership so she could be 'safe' as she was traveling around the country.  She bought a membership, and woke up the next morning with a terrible case of buyer's remorse.  She knew this was totally contrary to everything she wanted to do, that it was the opposite of free-fall.

 

So I went up to her rental cabin the next morning and she was in tears.  She asked me if I could get her money back, that she had made a horrible mistake.  I told her, no - I wouldn't get her money back from her, but I could teach her the art of wu-wei.  I glanced down the hill and saw that the salesman, Martin, was coming out of his cabin.  I told her that Martin may be headed this way, and if he was, for her to do set her intent on getting her money back, and do nothing to change the dynamic, and let Martin do all the talking.

 

He walked into her cabin, told her he couldn't get the exact terms of their agreement, and handed the check back to her.  I had to go into the other room and just laugh - it worked so perfectly.

 

For some reason, Natasha and I didn't exchange numbers.  I wish I knew what she's doing and where she's doing it today.  What an exquisite creature she was.  But it was one of those strange situations where I was put into her path for a very specific reason - and she was put into my path for an equally specific reason - to channel to me my Russian grandmother whom I had been looking for for years on Ancestry.  An incredible couple days.

[thetaoiseasy]

4, 5 and 3, in that order of importance.

 

Okay. What does being financially unlimited mean to you? What does being relationship unlimited mean to you? What does being physically unlimited mean to you? This is different for everyone.

 

Some people feel like a king on minimum wage, having a few close friends and family, with no serious health issues. That is very different than being warren buffet, a socialite, and running 100 marathons.

 

Where do u lie on that spectrum?

[Michael Sternbach]

The thing is, yes, the Universe can provide you with everything you need and wish. It will do this to the extent that you fulfill your mission in life. You were bestowed with certain gifts that you are meant to use for the benefit of all. There HAS to be an energy exchange for the LoA to work. Please contemplate this.

[steve]

Before I begin I would appreciate it if we stuck to the topic at hand, not your opinions of the topic. Asking for your support here, your personal beliefs, feelings and opinions notwithstanding.

 

My goal is to make the needed changes in my mindset regarding, in general, abundance VS lack/limitation and, specifically, money. As I will be hitting the road in just under two months, I would like to have done everything I can, tried everything I can, that would aid me, in the very least, in supporting myself along my journey.

 

To this end I am working through Napoleon Hill's book, "Law of Success", the precursor to, "Think and Grow Rich." My intention is do do the same as I did with John Randolph Price's, "The Abundance Book", which I feel did help me. I think going through "Law of Success" and taking, "Think and Grow Rich" on the road with me is the next logical step.

 

Mr. Hill instructs the reader to write down a, "Definite Chief Aim." While he has not yet defined it specifically, as far as I can remember from what I have read, it can be thought of like focusing sunlight through a magnifying lens. Sunlight can be thought of as a desire of something someone wants to do, the Definite Chief Aim can be thought of as a magnifying lens that focuses the energy of this desire.

 

Examples relevant to the time are things like the Wright Brothers with their airplane and Helen Keller, who was blind, deaf and dumb, wanting to speak. Also Andrew Carnegie, who focused on steel.

 

If I have any sort of burning desire, it is this... To live life without limitations. I can not express properly in words how strongly I want this! But you can see how it is unfocused. There is no specific aim here, just a general direction.

 

[This part removed]

 

I figured out, using the rudderless ship example, that this gives me a fixed rudder, or a rudder set in one general direction. So maybe I have to aim at "islands" along the way. Start with exploring this world, beginning with Venice, after I travel to the Big Sur. Just keep going from there, defining an island at a time located in the general direction of the sea of life without limitations.

 

But I wonder if there is a better way to focus this that I am not seeing. Of taking this desire and concentrating its power more specifically. To that end I have started this thread. Any ideas on how to define something more specific here?

 

[This part removed]

 

I am curious to see what you all have to say. I want to get this concretized and written down by the end of this upcoming week.

 

I once went through a process that I found very helpful. 

I spent some time contemplating my core values - the values that I hold most dear and that I respect the most both in myself and others. 

I then committed to keeping these values in mind whenever making important (or even trivial) decisions or taking action in my life. 

 

This was done in the context of doing a lot of mindfulness and insight work, not in a vacuum.

The mindfulness and insight work can sometimes strip us of a lot of who we think we are and can leave a bit of a void.

This void is then filled a with value-based system such that the actions we take and decisions we make are consistent with our core values. 

 

I found it extremely helpful in giving me some guidance and direction in my life so I would offer those thoughts to you. 

 

Fare well in your travels!

[gendao]

If I have any sort of burning desire, it is this... To live life without limitations. I can not express properly in words how strongly I want this!

You may be on the wrong planet for that, then...?

"Earth is a difficult school. 

..."

[thelerner]

Going to Big Sur is a good idea.  Its very beautiful there.

 

I might suggest looking at this question from another angle, a more mundane, but perhaps useful one.

What are some things the situation at Big Sur might want of me?

 

These are things like, can you wash dishes?  can you work a cash register?  do you have a resume or even a letter stating your a good worker and trustworthy. 

Beginnings start small.. fast food, washing cars, baby sitting, apprenticing to be a guide..  There can be greatness in doing odd jobs and making enough money to live poorly cheaply on your own terms. 

 

Hear yea Hear yea, famous troubadours who sing a great truth:

You can't always get what you want, but you find sometimes, you get what you need.

Edited April 11, 2016 by thelerner

[Songtsan]

Money saved is money earned. Learn to live with less: less food, less clothes, less "empty calorie" entertainments such as video games, netflix, etc. Eating less food, you will weigh less, and move around more freely, and live longer. Find satisfaction in simplicity, no need to have extravagant hobbies or distractions. The less you own, the less you are owned by your possessions. So a spartan lifestyle, with a devotion to health, longevity, cultivation, etc. will make you more free and adaptable. If you currently have no income, you could apply for food stamps? And the 'Obama phone' -

free phone: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Enrollment/Safelink/en/NewPublic/index.html - I have one and its good enough for me. 

[DreamBliss]

So many of you have presented me with what you believe the world is like. I appreciate your sharing this, but again I must leave the gifts of these perspectives where you left them. As far as I am concerned, the world can be, and is, exactly what I want it to be. It is for me to mold the world to my desires, not for me to mold my desires to the world.

 

I know we have all been raised to believe similarly, to essentially see the world as a challenge, cold, cruel, an obstacle to overcome, hard, set in stone. I was raised by people who still feel they deserve very little in life, and they have to work hard for what they get. I am done believing, feeling and thinking that way. As far as I am concerned, the world is s substance that I will mold to whatever it is I desire, and that process of forming  my desires is the only work required of me.

 

I use animals in my comparisons to humans because humans, by their own scientific definition, are nothing more than highly evolved animals. And we would all be happier if we could throw out ethics, morality, religion and ever other chain around our collective necks! Humans do act like lemmings and sheep in the way they follow others. They do act like rats in a barrel, willing to claw and scratch they way out. They also act like a virus, devouring this planet and its resources. I myself am acting like a frustrated stallion, in a tiny enclosure, with attractive females just out of reach!

 

I apologize if my opinion of my race offends. But it is my opinion, just a gift that I brought to you, and you can leave it where I left it if you so desire.

 

As far as that scale... I am all the desirable aspects of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Gordon Matthew Sumner (Sting.)

 

As far as what I have to offer of value, I am sad to say very little that I am aware of. I can read and write, and teach the same. I can perform some IT tasks, building computers, installing Windows. I have always been a cart horse, that is the breed of stallion I am. Always carrying or moving things or performing some sort of work. But my enthusiasm for this, as well as my endurance, is limited. I don't want to do that anymore, or dishes, or janitorial work, or baby watching. I can cook a little and teach some cooking.

 

But in the grand scheme of things, valuing myself according to society's terms, I am just about completely worthless and useless. I have little or no value in the eyes of society. But I do not feel that this is my issue, I feel it is society's issue. I may turn out to have greater value to society than society, at large, is capable of realizing. Or maybe I don't have any value at all, and am here to teach people that humans don't have to have a value tacked onto them.

 

So when I am traveling out there, if someone wants someone to hang out with, talk over spiritual matters, go swimming, skydiving, rock climbing or just about anything else with, as long as they are willing to invest the time teaching me, I am willing to learn, and I can be that person it is fun to hang out with. If you have a couple jars of spaghetti sauce and some noodles in your cupboard, maybe some hamburger, I'll make you spaghetti. I can just as easily cook a pizza or make a cheese sandwich. If your computer isn't working well because you have installed a bunch of garbage on it, as long as you are willing to work with me on it, I can clean it up. If you want to upgrade it, in most cases I can do that.

 

I am someone you can have fun hanging out with and at the same time feel safe with. I am someone you can talk to as well as someone you can trust. I have forgotten my perfection, same as everyone else, so there are flaws and rough edges. You may find things about me you don't like. But if you can get past that stuff, I will probably be that person, of which you may write later in life, "He was just always there for me." That is the only real value I have to society and the humans of which it is comprised.

 

Working on my Definite Chief Aim using Mr. Lee's as a sort of guideline. Unfortunately mine will be a couple pages long.

 

The world is your oyster. But if you don't like oysters...

Edited April 11, 2016 by DreamBliss

[DreamBliss]

Money saved is money earned. Learn to live with less: less food, less clothes, less "empty calorie" entertainments such as video games, netflix, etc. Eating less food, you will weigh less, and move around more freely, and live longer. Find satisfaction in simplicity, no need to have extravagant hobbies or distractions. The less you own, the less you are owned by your possessions. So a spartan lifestyle, with a devotion to health, longevity, cultivation, etc. will make you more free and adaptable. If you currently have no income, you could apply for food stamps? And the 'Obama phone' -

free phone: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Enrollment/Safelink/en/NewPublic/index.html - I have one and its good enough for me. 

 

This is another viewpoint I just don't understand. Where in the annuls of time is it written that to be a spiritual person you have to live simply, with little? Everyone who does it, that I have heard from at least, say that they are happier. If they could live more comfortably, with every modern convenience, using the same amount of effort, if, in essence they could exchange their shack straight across, no-strings attached, for a well-furnished mansion, who is to say they wouldn't be just as happy in luxury as in sparsity? Who is to say that these modern conveniences somehow corrupt a person? How can a person be corrupted by anything unless they choose to? Why do authentic gurus in India live in caves instead of palaces? Why do they feel they have to?

 

Sometimes I feel that the spiritual life is being sold as something that has to be hard and lived with very little comfort. But I have yet to see any evidence in the overall laws of creation that things have to be that way. I think this is just another adopted human belief, passed down over the ages, right along with the idea of earning and working hard. I think we truly can make of the world what we will, and sometime ago humans decided the world had to be hard, had to require effort and work for anything of value, that this is the cost of a life filled with desirable things, while the cost of a spiritual life has to be empty of things, yet require just as much if not more effort and work. I think this whole thing is bassackwards!

 

I think having a desirable life can and should be easy, and a spiritual life can and should be filled with an abundance of all desirable things. That we can all live however the hell we want to, that there are no consequences, and the only power our "stuff" has over us is the power we assign it! That fancy leather recliner is no more capable of corrupting you than the bathroom scale is of making you fatter! Why is this so clear to me, so obvious, and yet its like I am the only one seeing it? i feel like I am looking at a unicorn in the woods, I am staring right at it, and yet everyone around me is incapable of seeing it. I honestly do not get it.

 

This gift, like the others before it, I thank you for, but I leave it where you left it. I do not subscribe to this viewpoint, and I am deciding, here and now, that I never will.

Edited April 11, 2016 by DreamBliss

[Junko]

How an attractive female get attracted by frustrated male?

I think attractive female gets attractive male...it's all depend on how deep your love could be.

You must go outside and make an effort to look for your partner.

Yes,it can be hard work particulary you are old already.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Junko

[Karl]

Couple of things. The universe is benevolent, not malevolent. However, reality is reality, like a road is a road. A road is not a vicious attempt to keep us from roaming the grass and forests, it's a useful means to travel from A to B quickly. Similarly, gravity isn't a force that is out to get you to stumble and fall, but a force which sustains life.

 

There is no requirement to live the life of an acetic, or a spiritual monk. Life is not always hard, for some it is easy and abundant. All you need to take care of is your survival and happiness. Whatever you value and desire, if you apply moral laws, you can go ahead and find ways to gain those values-a word of warning, if you obtain values fraudulently you will never be happy. If you think happiness can be achieved by by unearned values, or that 'societies' appreciation is critical to that happiness, or that making the aim of your life the pursuit of emotional pleasures rather than values, then you will find no satisfaction. You cannot make your aim emotional happiness, you must make it productive, independent, honest and just. You must know you are worthy of life, not that life is worthy of you. Have pride/self esteem in holding to your virtues, to who you are as a man in every respect.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Karl

[Karl]

How an attractive female get attracted by frustrated male?

 

Not if they are looking for a man that shares their values. A valueless man will attract a valueless woman. Divorce courts, criminal courts and Jeremy Kyle shows are full of that sort of match making.

[Songtsan]

This is another viewpoint I just don't understand. Where in the annuls of time is it written that to be a spiritual person you have to live simply, with little? Everyone who does it, that I have heard from at least, say that they are happier. If they could live more comfortably, with every modern convenience, using the same amount of effort, if, in essence they could exchange their shack straight across, no-strings attached, for a well-furnished mansion, who is to say they wouldn't be just as happy in luxury as in sparsity? Who is to say that these modern conveniences somehow corrupt a person? How can a person be corrupted by anything unless they choose to? Why do authentic gurus in India live in caves instead of palaces? Why do they feel they have to?

 

Sometimes I feel that the spiritual life is being sold as something that has to be hard and lived with very little comfort. But I have yet to see any evidence in the overall laws of creation that things have to be that way. I think this is just another adopted human belief, passed down over the ages, right along with the idea of earning and working hard. I think we truly can make of the world what we will, and sometime ago humans decided the world had to be hard, had to require effort and work for anything of value, that this is the cost of a life filled with desirable things, while the cost of a spiritual life has to be empty of things, yet require just as much if not more effort and work. I think this whole thing is bassackwards!

 

I think having a desirable life can and should be easy, and a spiritual life can and should be filled with an abundance of all desirable things. That we can all live however the hell we want to, that there are no consequences, and the only power our "stuff" has over us is the power we assign it! That fancy leather recliner is no more capable of corrupting you than the bathroom scale is of making you fatter! Why is this so clear to me, so obvious, and yet its like I am the only one seeing it? i feel like I am looking at a unicorn in the woods, I am staring right at it, and yet everyone around me is incapable of seeing it. I honestly do not get it.

 

This gift, like the others before it, I thank you for, but I leave it where you left it. I do not subscribe to this viewpoint, and I am deciding, here and now, that I never will.

 

It is not some ethical/moral thing, it is simply a matter of pragmatism. I would like nothing more to have a few million dollars lying around to play with. The point is that if your ideal life requires mansions, then you are probably screwed. Everybody and their brother wants to be rich. By adopting a system of satisfaction with very little, you can still be in great bliss, if you follow the practices, which are many, to be so. The shortcut to bliss is in mental cultivation. Detachment equals bliss, if done right. Bliss is a trick. It's alchemy. Your posts indicate dissatisfaction. I recommend a way that requires no outside support. It is simply something you do with yourself which is free and always available. Accept what is easily attained, and limit desirous attitudes towards excess, If excess is naturally become yours, then do as thou wilst. Do not wait for external forms to meet your expectations. Find the bliss that always is available and exists within. 

[Aetherous]

As far as I am concerned, the world can be, and is, exactly what I want it to be.

 

It could be. But it currently is not exactly as your wishes dictate (at least your conscious wishes). Hopefully soon it will be.

[DreamBliss]

Songtsan

OK, I get what you were trying to say now. Thank you. Essentially work with what I have from where I am, Flow not force. I dig that!

 

It could be. But it currently is not exactly as your wishes dictate (at least your conscious wishes). Hopefully soon it will be.

 

I am doing that storytelling thing here. Telling the story of how I want things to be, not as they necessarily are.

[steve]

How an attractive female get attracted by frustrated male?

I think attractive female gets attractive male...it's all depend on how deep your love could be.

You must go outside and make an effort to look for your partner.

Yes,it can be hard work particulary you are old already.

I think in part it depends also on how you feel about yourself. 

[Junko]

I am married woman and don't need to look for a partner!Yeah in this respect one can say I am settled.It's a wonderful feeling to marry, I've been going through this for a long time by now to love ones and be loved.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Junko

[Songtsan]

Songtsan

OK, I get what you were trying to say now. Thank you. Essentially work with what I have from where I am, Flow not force. I dig that!

 

Deeper than that. The desires you have in you are actually tripping you up. If you could cut the root of all of your fascinations, you would be a Buddha. The fascination towards becoming a Buddha is a tripwire too. You choose to be friends or enemies or neutral towards your fascinations. If one is a friend of a fascination, one will seek it, if one is an enemy toward a fascination, one will hate on it, think on how to remove it, and because what one hates is verily oneself, you will hurt yourself. If you experience equanimity towards the fascinations, then you will be in the safest space, neither for or against, neither giving nor taking. If you find this place you will have the freedom that you desire.

 

I am doing that storytelling thing here. Telling the story of how I want things to be, not as they necessarily are.

 

The world is rife with stories, but they are all false realities. Know that the stories you tell yourself in your head about everything are never factual. They may be close, but never hit the mark. If you could get out of story telling mode, and stop the mind from being your host, and you the guest - instead switching it so that you are the host and your mind is the guest, then you will have gained a measure of realness....its hard to do, yet easy to do.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Songtsan

[RiverSnake]

To clarify the previous post I made....Ive noted in my own life that specific goals change over time as we evolve.

But underlying principles that are important to us may never change and can be deep and powerful trajectories life after life. So in that context, my goals are to expand my personal reservoir of Wisdom, Power, Knowledge and continue having fun and playing.

To further elaborate on this point. Buddhist practitioners often make a vow to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. This is a principle and vow that shifts your life trajectory and the vector of your spiritual growth thus aligning you with certain powers. The point behind this (one of many im sure) is to harmonize your path with an underlying virtues principle/intent so you can bypass obstacles (egotistical cravings, power trips...etc).

 

This principle of attuning ones actions to a "noble force" can be applied to any thing (money, love....etc), it just takes deep insight.

Edited April 18, 2016 by OldChi