# Change Your Perspective



## Lichaart (Feb 23, 2017)

Most people feel the world is a chaotic mess. The premise of this article is that there are other ways to understand and view the world. It is a matter of changing one's view of what the world is, and what it is for. Here is a step-by-step approach to help a person change his perceptions.

*FIRST STEPS*

*The first step* in shifting your perspective is to give up the idea that you know the right way to view the world. One needs to be willing to be taught anew. This requires emptiness or not judging ahead of time and being open to learning more about the subject.

The attitude may be expressed as: "I am not sure what the world is or is for." This clears the slate. It is necessary to keep coming back to this basic attitude, as old preconceived notions will often try to reassert themselves.

*A second step*, which further helps to release past attitudes about events, is to say: "All events are neutral. I don't take sides. I give meaning to events by the way I interpret them".

This is a difficult belief as it would seem to ignore realities such as disease, death, starvation or other horrors. However, it goes back to the first step that I really am not sure what the world is about, so therefore I will not judge events, even though they seem horrible by the normal standards. The idea that events, of themselves, do not have meaning is helpful if we want to assign a new meaning to events that may otherwise not make much sense. Surely much in our world does not make much sense logically.

A corollary is the statement "the world is innocent". This statement is important because we are often quick to pass judgment, deciding who is at fault, who is responsible, who did what. This is exemplified in our legal system, which is a massive system for placing guilt and blame outside oneself.

However, if all events are in themselves neutral, then placing blame or responsibility outside oneself may simply be a way to be more comfortable, or a way to feel superior, or a way to deny responsibility or involvement in a situation.

*A PLACE TO LEARN LESSONS*

*The purpose of the world. *What if the purpose of the world is not to make us happy, comfortable and secure, but rather as a creation designed to wake us up, to help us to learn certain lessons, or to be more aware of ourselves and the truth about life?

If life were totally smooth and unruffled, chances are most people would learn less and not think about life too much. In contrast, by experiencing challenges, health problems, personal crises, financial, moral and other dilemmas, we become more aware, more awake and we often dig deep in order to overcome and succeed in the world.

It is possible to view all events as precisely and exactly that which is needed to wake up a particular person, community or nation. Each event and situation represents the perfect grace of the Creator brought to us for our good.

Some people will, of course, interpret this to mean they are guilty of some terrible sin because they are ill, or poor, or appear unfortunate. This is not so.

It is the old mindset at work. Some religions have controlled people with this kind of thinking for millennia. They teach something like "you are ill because it is your destiny to be ill, so it is too bad and you must suffer".

This is not quite true because you might choose illness to help other wake up, for example, or to teach yourself or someone else a wonderful lesson. There is really no way to know this.

This means that, in truth, no situation is necessarily better than another. It is simply a different variety of experience. For example, if a person had been healthy instead of having to stay home and rest, that person might have been run over by a car and killed. So who is to say that being perfectly healthy is better? In fact, perhaps one's illness or other disability may have kept the person alive.

Another example is that some people lament that they are not wealthy. However, in truth, if such a person had been born very rich, perhaps he or she would have attracted a very selfish mate who would have ruined their life. However, because the person did not have a lot of money, the selfish people were not attracted, and this was a benefit.

I hope this kind of thinking does not seem false or silly. It is, in fact, very real. It is just another way to look at things that can help one to be grateful for what one has and stop complaining, regretting, worrying and fretting so much.

*IS THE WORLD FAIR AND JUST?*

Some say the world is very unfair because some people are wealthy, while others are poor. Some are smart and beautiful, while others are dull and homely looking. Some people enjoy good health, while others are racked by illness.

However, there are lessons one can learn by being in poverty, and others that one can learn by having a lot of money. There are lessons one can learn by having one's health, and other lessons to learn if one is ill.

Let us take just one example of this unfairness and a possible solution. Karl Marx and later, his student, Vladimir Lenin, believed that if they just got rid of capitalism everything would be fair and just. Capitalism allows and even encourages people to work hard to become wealthy.

However, the nation, the Soviet Union, was a miserable failure. The idea of making all people equal doesn't work because people all have varying abilities and varying desires to work hard.

No government or economic system is going to even out all these inequalities between people. Instead, the communist and socialist nations create a new type of unfairness or tyranny in which a small elite group that runs the government dictates what is fair and just. In reality, they are no more qualified to do this than anyone else, and they always favor their friends and political allies. If you disagree with their ideas, they punish you, and may imprison you.

The American solution to the problem of economic inequality is to offer everyone similar opportunities and then let people do what they wish with their time and abilities. This is called equality of opportunity, and not equality of outcome. It is much more practical and has worked well. Today it is not being implemented as much, and the result is more poverty and unrest.

If your mind starts in on this track, it is time to return to the earlier steps and realize that we don't know the total picture. We don't know the exact meaning of particular events, what they really are or what they are for. Therefore, a much better approach is to realize that the world is fine as it is. It offers an opportunity for people to learn lessons, to grow spiritually and to overcome many difficulties and handicaps. The best that a government can do in many cases is to not get in the way of people's decisions as to how to help themselves and others to learn what they need to learn.

*A helpful affirmation. *One way to affirm that the world is perfect is to say often, "I abide in a perfectly loving universe. I can be at peace with whatever is occurring around me".

Again this may sound fake, but it is not necessarily so. It is simply a reminder that perhaps there is another way to look at things.

A GRAND CONSPIRACY

Conspiracies are usually considered bad. However, the word conspire simply means 'to breathe together'. It is possible to perceive this world as a gigantic and extremely complex 'breathing together process'. It is a coming together of events, perfectly orchestrated at the deepest level, to heal our minds, to wake us up, to demonstrate to us our total power and responsibility for our lives, or to teach us how best to live.

*This means that all things are working for good*, and that you are always in the right place at the right time. It means that love is real, and being expressed through every event and situation, no matter how brutal or negative they may seem.

*THAT WHICH PUSHES THE BUTTONS*

What about people and events that push your buttons? As a general principle, anything or any behavior that upsets you is worth examining. Often it is bringing you to the edge of your fear and insecurity. 
An excellent, though often difficult response, is to thank the person or event for bringing this to your attention. Once you have unearthed the fear, and exposed it as the real cause of the upset, often a similar situation or behavior will not provoke the same reaction.

If you suppress or judge a person or situation, it may occur again until you can get past your defensive responses. If you find yourself seeking accomplices, people who agree with your point of view, you are probably just defending your illusions.
When someone pushes your buttons, try to see it as gift, part of the perfection of the world. You are being shown your edge of fear or limitation. You are being given a chance to let go of fear and judgment.

*WHAT ABOUT FEAR OF SURVIVAL?*

One may say, this is all fine in certain situations, but how about when it involves the very survival of the body? This is a tough one. At some point, one realizes that the body is just a form. This may be what Christ tried to demonstrate on the cross. The Roman soldiers could not stop his message of love, just by destroying his physical form. In the same way, you cannot be stopped from sharing your treasure by illness or even death of the body. The content is what matters. Admittedly, this takes practice, but it is a good practice because we all eventually face death.

Why not be peaceful and relaxed about your mortality, instead of fearful, as is the American way? The author lived in Mexico with a group of aboriginal people who had little fear of death. It was a delightful experience that he has not experienced ever again.

*CONCLUSION*

Dare to try a grand experiment. Allow yourself to see the world as perfect the way it is. Imagine that it may be an orchestration of the grace the Creator in order to help us wake up and learn important lessons and have certain experiences.

When you find yourself in fear or distress, see it as a temptation to be discouraged, and realize you can choose again. You may not win any popularity contests with this perspective, but you will attract wonderful new friends who also see the world this way. And many times a few good friends and a positive attitude are worth it all.


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## Pondererer (May 18, 2016)

A very good read! Kind of funny because this is alot of the thoughts that i have been having. Going back and forth in my mind if the world is actually fair and just? Especially when you talk about capitalism vs communism and one begins to think about what is the correct solution? Because both has some merits and backfiring aspecs. My mind has actually been stuck on issues like these trying to come up with a solution. It's very hard because everytime you come up with a "solution", there are always some weakness in that one, which the old crappy solution didnt' have.

I think a better way to view things, rather than "perfect", even tho that may be true, is to say "It is what it is, and that's okay". It's not my personal job to fix everything "wrong" with the world, but to be my best self and bring the world what i have to offer, even if it may be a idiotic, ungrateful and wrong world. I'm not saying i think so, because i don't even know what i think. My mind goes back and forth in a circle. But when one is stuck in that negative state, a good way to move forward is "it is what it is, and that's okay". It kind of disarms you.


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## mlogan (Dec 11, 2013)

Agree whith you pal. A change of view can make us mor open and things more acceptable, or, for instance, push us for action. Thks for good advice


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## Broken (Jan 1, 2017)

Agree with the part about viewing things as innocent. I've been trying that recently with direct experience ie thoughts, emotions, symptoms. Treating them as an innocent defence mechanism with love rather than fear helps. Fear prolongs what you're trying to run away from with DP. Trying to gift a soft loving attention to direct stimuli is helping, as opposed to fear which causes contraction and seemingly worsens the symptoms. Whatever is here is a part of you, be kind to yourself


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