What Really Determines How We Live Our Lives?

Janet,

Thanks for joining the conversation.

Regards, Morty

Hi Joseph,

In the 10-week course I am now conducting everyone has learned how to transcend the meaning they give to events as they occur. They can realize that they make up the meaning and be left with nothing but reality.

Regards, Morty

After I read this I was on lesson 190 in my Course in Miracles book. There are some similarities I thought were pretty interesting:

Pain is a sign of illusions reign in place of truth. It demonstrates God is denied, confused with fear, perceived as mad, and seen as traitor to Himself. If God is real there is no pain. If pain is real, there is no God.

The world may seem to cause you pain. And yet the world, as causeless, has no power to cause. As an illusion, it is what you wish. Your idle wishes represent its pains.

Pain is illusion; Joy is reality. Pain is but sleep; Joy is awakening. Pain is deception; Joy alone is truth.

And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven.

I think is would be fair to say Occurring = Illusions, Pain, Hell; Reality = Truth, Joy, Heaven

Hello AKH,

Truth is an interesting thing. Only the Universe knows the Truth. What we have to do is be honest and open about how things really are. We need to be vulnerable to having others see us for who we are. In order to do that, we must accept ourselves unconditionally, so that we can not worry about other people’s opinions. Easier said than done. We have the Truth inside of us. It’s called Intuition. Our gut feeling is Intuition. We ignore it so even our own truth is hard to find sometimes. I don’t k now if I have answered anything here. Thanks Morty for letting us express through your blog and thank you for your system.

Hi AKH,

In the post I wanted to distinguish between “reality” and how reality shows up or occurs for us. And what I mean by reality is what ‘s on a video recording. What we would see and hear. That’s “out there.” The meaning is what’s in our minds. And everyone’s meaning can be (and frequently are) different.

Regards, Morty

Janet,

I agree totally. In the long run the best thing is to eliminate the beliefs and conditionings that determine how things occur to us. But in the short run, before we have the chance to eliminate all the relevant beleifs, this is a good tool.

I’ve eliminated hundreds of beliefs and still find times when this technique is useful.

Regards, Morty

Hi Rena,

Thanks for taking the time to write and thanks for sharing our work with others.

It is true that there are significant differences in cultures, but I would contend the impact of a culture on our behavior is via the beleifs people form in that culture. For example in a given culture we might conclude that people of a certain race of religion are dangerous (think Israel and Palestine) as a result of hearing that all around us constantly and seeing events that would lead to such beliefs.

So the source of the beliefs might be the culture, but the beliefs are still held by individuals.

Also, clearly the type of education we receive has a significant impact on our lives. But some of the “best” public schools in wealthy neighborhoods still teach kids to memorize and accept the accepted answers.

Regards, Morty

Hi Joseph,

Good to hear from you. Trust that all is well.

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my post.

My sense is that it is very difficult and rare for people to be able to transcend how things are occurring to them (which ultimately comes from our beliefs and conditionings). I think it is a lot easier to dissolve the meaning we have just given the reality in front of us and to eliminate the beliefs and conditionings.

We have hundreds of clients a year who have been unable to transcend their beliefs and come for help to eliminate them permanently.

Regards, Morty

Morty,

Thanks for the wonderful post. I agree with you that there is an intermediate step (“meaning”) between belief and our behavior. Thanks for shedding lights on this.

I have a question for you about “truth”. You used the term “a truth” in your post. Now, a person can come up with many interpretations of the same event and these are all “a truth”s. The question is how do you choose one of the truths. If you choose the most beneficial one, then your inner mind might tell you that you are “just making it up” or “you are just using “grapes are sour” type of tricks” or “you are just coming up with arbitrary justifications” or “you are just trying to trick yourself”. Then I think that most likely there is no one “ultimate truth” – humans can never find the “ultimate truth” – this world operates under “multiple truths”. The problem then is how do you prove that all “a truths” are equally true. And anybody can justify anything. What are your thoughts? Thanks a bunch.

Kind Regards,

AKH

Why? always around thoughts only ? Capture thoughts Capture Life.

Hello Morty,
In order to change our minds ‘in the moment’ of event, we have to live consciously. We have to be vigilant and aware. Under those circumstances, I would think that going to the source of our beliefs and conditionings, and changing our minds about that, would be the ultimate answer. Your system is great! Are you not trying to reinvent the wheel?

Good Morning Morty!

I found your post through your interview with Paul Hoffman sent in his SuccessSongs e-mail, and am so glad I did.
This writing is gold! Thank you for all the insights on your blog, I believe these are changing the way thousands (maybe millions) of people are thinking for the better! I share your page with my friends and family on Facebook, and it’s helping them just as much.
Do you ever consider how this works on a cultural level?
The culture I grew up in has often held a victim mentality. An example of this would be shopping in a store and automatically assuming that you are being watched for shoplifting because of your nationality. While I was “closely monitored” in a store once as a child with no thought of shoplifting, I resist even letting this thought occur to me while shopping because I often wondered if the worrying itself would create that reality and make me look suspicious.
It seems cultures are more apt to hold certain thoughts and beliefs, not because of they look the same, but because they’re more closely related. But when people view the reality these cultures create through the lens of skin-tone, it’s as if the outward appearances, not the beliefs, is what determines how a person is treated, or treats others.
When studying social classes and different income levels in college, the same scenario seemed to occur. The conclusion many make is that education is the key to breaking out of poverty, but the very education that low-income children recieve actually keep them in the low-income bracket when they grew up. I read articles and studies of how the children of the elite were taught how to think–even being allowed to challenge teachers, and give their personal opinion on a subject, not simply how to “get the right answer.” The difference is not income, but thought!
If you have time, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject.

I wish you all the best! :)

~Rena

I think there is also something at play here that I used when I quit smoking over 10 years ago.

I had smoke for over 20 years, up to 2 packs a day during most years, and had decided to stop smoking. Knowing that I would be weak and would want to continue to buy cigarettes or bum one off someone, I told myself that if my will to quit was ever weakened that I would tell myself to choose to either continue to not smoke or to give up the idea of quitting and smoke for the rest of my life without ever trying to quit again. It was an all or nothing, now or never approach and it really worked.

I knew my mind’s behavior and I willfully intervened by dealing with cravings by creating a mental choice. Each time I chose, my entire future was at stake and it was easier to choose. “One little cigarette” or “Just one more pack” or “I’ll try this again next week/month/year” was not an option.