As a rare miracle story that appears in all four canonical gospels, the "Feeding of the Five Thousand (Men)" has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some more conservative readers take the story at face value and assume that there is nothing to figure out -- Jesus miraculously provided food for thousands of people from an amount that would have fed only a few at best. Others consider the story to reflect a "miracle of sharing" -- most people had a bit of food with them, and when they witnessed one act of generosity they brought out what food they had and shared it with one another. One thing that is clear from the story is that Jesus was unwavering in his confidence regarding abundance; the text never attributes to Jesus a fear or concern about scarcity. If there is anything to emulate in this passage, it is that propensity for abundance thinking.
What keeps us oriented toward scarcity rather than abundance? Quite a lot, actually. A significant portion of advertising attempts to induce in consumers the fear that there is not enough to go around, and that they must act quickly if they want to be safe, well-fed, and happy. Our modern mythologies about finances encourage scarcity thinking as well. We believe at a certain level that there is not enough wealth or resources to meet the needs of everyone, and therefore we must strive to get all that we can so that at least our needs will be met. Those who have money and power have a strong desire to hang on to that money and power, because they fear what might happen if they let go of it. Even though one hears tales (often meant to inspire people to spend money on something they don't need) about millionaires who have been bankrupt many times over before accumulating their current wealth, there are profound cultural differences between the "haves" and the "have-nots" -- systems that perpetuate over generations.
It would be fallacious to suggest that everyone in the world has more wealth than they need. In our individual lives, there is a reality of scarcity that cannot be overlooked if one is honest. Most of us cannot sit back and trust that all of our needs will be taken care of by someone else. If we want to be responsible people, most of us must make decisions about how we are going to spend our time and money so that our lives have integrity with our guiding principles. Budgeting time and money and other resources may seem like an exercise in scarcity thinking, but it is possible that many people in industrialized nations spend their personal resources on things that do not actually matter all that much to them -- things that do not align clearly with their personal guiding principles. So, being intentional about how we use what we do have may reveal that we have more abundance in our personal lives than we often think.
Thinking in terms of abundance and scarcity on a small scale, such as the context of a nuclear family or one individual's life, are possible indicators of the level of irrational fear being courted. When one is thinking in terms of scarcity, one is likely to be more anxious and fear-driven, thus one is more prone to reacting to circumstances rather than living out of one's authentic guiding principles. When one thinks instead in terms of abundance, one is more likely to act out of integrity and invoke an inherent creativity -- one is more in tune with what I have taken to calling "inner divinity" or one's most noble self. This does not mean pretending that one has resources that are not practical realities, and it does not mean making fanciful assumptions that something will manifest just because one wills it. Such behaviors are rejections of one's current reality. What is required for authentic abundance thinking is a humble, honest acknowledgement of current reality and commitment to a meaningful guiding principle (or set of principles). A path toward a compelling vision for a preferred future can only be charted if one is honest about one's point of origin.
As an example, we can turn back to the miracle story. Those who see the story as a "miracle of sharing" might assume that most of those thousands of people who decided to follow Jesus out into the countryside were smart enough to take a little food with them. Perhaps they were keeping their food hidden out of fear that others were less well prepared, and scarcity thinking suggests that we need to protect what we have since there isn't enough to go around. The disciples were really the only ones who demonstrated anxiety in the story, though. As they became concerned about how to feed everyone, it's possible that people in this crowd of thousands were already pulling out their food. Perhaps they were even sharing it with one another by the time the disciples made it around with the offer of a bit of fish and bread. Even those who may have been reluctant to let on that they had come prepared would eventually recognize that they could eat what they had -- and perhaps even share some with other people -- without anyone taking advantage of them. As it turned out, there was an abundance. It was thus easy for people to contribute to the twelve baskets of leftovers, since people with an abundance mindset find it much easier to practice generosity.
When we pull back from the perspective of individual lives to examine the larger state of things in our society and in our world, the fact is that we live in a state of abundance. Human beings have constructed artificial systems to consolidate money and power (out of beliefs founded on irrational fears), the result being that every person does not have equal access to the abundance of our world, but that does not change the fact that we have plenty of resources to meet the needs of everyone. Many of us have become very accustomed to satisfying a large percentage of our wants and desires in addition to our needs, however. Scarcity thinking tends to make us a bit self-absorbed from time to time, and we can develop a sense of entitlement that suggests that we are worth more than other people -- that we deserve something that other people do not deserve. We create imbalance. We create the lines that separate Us from Them. That is our current reality.
We could judge that current reality, and we could suggest that the system needs to change to satisfy our ideas about how things should be. We are limited in the extent of our control, however. We actually have control over our own decisions, and we actually have responsibility for our own thoughts and actions. So, while it can be superficially satisfying to proclaim how the world ought to be, what is potentially even more deeply satisfying is for us to make decisions in our own lives that reflect our awareness of abundance and our own meaningful guiding principles. That will most likely mean something a little bit different to everyone. Perhaps it will mean reallocating some time and money more intentionally. Perhaps it will mean being less anxious and fearful about not getting what we think we deserve. Perhaps it will mean taking a few months and going overseas to build wells or care for children on the fringes of their society. Everyone's life is different.
Most likely, even the most intentional among us will slip into scarcity thinking from time to time. We will want to protect ourselves and what we have, we will be anxious about not having enough, and we will perhaps even make claims that we deserve more than other people. Abundance thinking, however, realigns us to a deeper self, a calmer and less anxious self. Abundance thinking affirms the possibilities available to us and invokes our vast creativity. From abundance thinking, generosity and gratitude flow. My personal guiding principle is that people matter -- that every person has inherent worth and dignity. I simply cannot align with that guiding principle in my life if I think in terms of scarcity. What is your guiding principle? Is it served best by thinking in terms of scarcity or in terms of abundance?
Showing posts with label scarcity thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scarcity thinking. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Deuteronomy 14-30 :Finding Truth in All the Laws
We have already seen the many laws that Israel's leaders established, so the actual information in Deuteronomy 14-30 probably seem fairly familiar. Israelite culture was in many ways all about a particular attitude or perspective, and the laws in these chapters outline how that attitude translates into practical reality. There are laws about being set apart from other cultures in personal habits, laws about how Israelites should treat one another, and laws about how people should view their possessions. Most of the Israelite laws are inappropriate for modern society, but looking beneath the surface can reveal some truths that surpass time and culture.
Some laws cover what food people should eat, what types of animals were suitable for sacrifice, what practices from other cultures one should avoid, what kind of clothes one may wear, and various other restrictions that may even seem heavy-handed and oppressive. The point behind many of these laws, whether the Israelite leaders thought of it this way or not, was for the Israelites to be intentional in their behavior. If you are restricted from wearing certain things or eating certain things, or if you must choose an animal without blemish for a sacrifice, you are likely to become very conscious of your choices. It would be difficult for someone to go on autopilot and stay within the lines of Israelite law. Without imposing heavy-handed restrictions on ourselves, we are still capable of living intentionally. By being thoughtful and purposeful in our decisions, we can create more meaningful lives, even if our intentional actions are different from what other people decide.
Other laws address how people treat one another. More than one witness is necessary to convict someone of a crime. You can't take away someone's source of livelihood to cover a debt. Every seven years, all debts (between Israelites) are cancelled. If an Israelite man sleeps with an unmarried Israelite woman, he must marry her rather than dishonoring her family. Treat people fairly rather than taking advantage of others. Take care of the less fortunate. Essentially, recognize that people are worthy of respect. People are worth more than whatever could be gained by taking advantage of them. No one is a more valuable human being than anyone else, so respect people in all your dealings.
Finally, there are laws that demand sacrifice. Give your best as an offering. If you miss a few grapes when harvesting, don't go back over the vineyard and claim every last one. If you are going to war, don't take men into battle that have a good reason to be at home instead. Essentially, recognize that you have enough. Live from a space of abundance rather than a fear of scarcity.
Of course, there are laws about having the community stone your son to death if he's a drunkard who won't listen to you. And there are laws about marrying your brother's widow in order to father a child that will carry on your brother's name. Their culture was obviously different from ours. They had no problem with invoking the death penalty for what we would consider a minor offense, or not an offense at all. We don't have to get caught up in the literal obedience of laws intended for a culture in its infancy thousands of years ago. Certainly, there is a certain amount of societal control and fear of the outside world that informed the laws, but we can look past that if we choose to. The important bit is to recognize the truth that underlies all of it, the undeniable pieces that remain despite human fears. People are worthy of our respect. We live in abundance. Life is better when we are intentional about our actions.
There are also lists of blessings and curses tied in with obedience to the laws. Do what God wants, and you will live well. Disobey and suffer. It's presented as compensation to be sought and punishment to be feared, but there is also a sense that following the principles will lead inevitably to a rewarding life, while not following the principles will lead inevitably to unhappiness. Chapter 30:11-18 reads:
Without veering too far from the actual scripture, it's safe to say that you have the ability to make wise choices in your life. You can choose to live with an attitude of abundance, to respect other people, to be intentional in your decisions. You already know what is right, even though sometimes it is tempting to choose what is convenient. And what you don't know can be learned or discovered. You are never lost or abandoned, even when the journey is difficult. You are always able to put one foot in front of the other and move forward, even if you are only able to remember a few basic principles.
Guidelines and laws are useful for a society, but they don't mean as much as the principles on which they're built. You know that human beings have value, and thus you have value. Start from there. You know that there is some part of every person that is beautiful and creative, even if it is sometimes difficult to see. Honor that truth. Recognize that you have enough, and that you have something to offer. Be intentional about how you respect other people and yourself. It isn't too difficult, and it isn't beyond your reach.
Some laws cover what food people should eat, what types of animals were suitable for sacrifice, what practices from other cultures one should avoid, what kind of clothes one may wear, and various other restrictions that may even seem heavy-handed and oppressive. The point behind many of these laws, whether the Israelite leaders thought of it this way or not, was for the Israelites to be intentional in their behavior. If you are restricted from wearing certain things or eating certain things, or if you must choose an animal without blemish for a sacrifice, you are likely to become very conscious of your choices. It would be difficult for someone to go on autopilot and stay within the lines of Israelite law. Without imposing heavy-handed restrictions on ourselves, we are still capable of living intentionally. By being thoughtful and purposeful in our decisions, we can create more meaningful lives, even if our intentional actions are different from what other people decide.
Other laws address how people treat one another. More than one witness is necessary to convict someone of a crime. You can't take away someone's source of livelihood to cover a debt. Every seven years, all debts (between Israelites) are cancelled. If an Israelite man sleeps with an unmarried Israelite woman, he must marry her rather than dishonoring her family. Treat people fairly rather than taking advantage of others. Take care of the less fortunate. Essentially, recognize that people are worthy of respect. People are worth more than whatever could be gained by taking advantage of them. No one is a more valuable human being than anyone else, so respect people in all your dealings.
Finally, there are laws that demand sacrifice. Give your best as an offering. If you miss a few grapes when harvesting, don't go back over the vineyard and claim every last one. If you are going to war, don't take men into battle that have a good reason to be at home instead. Essentially, recognize that you have enough. Live from a space of abundance rather than a fear of scarcity.
Of course, there are laws about having the community stone your son to death if he's a drunkard who won't listen to you. And there are laws about marrying your brother's widow in order to father a child that will carry on your brother's name. Their culture was obviously different from ours. They had no problem with invoking the death penalty for what we would consider a minor offense, or not an offense at all. We don't have to get caught up in the literal obedience of laws intended for a culture in its infancy thousands of years ago. Certainly, there is a certain amount of societal control and fear of the outside world that informed the laws, but we can look past that if we choose to. The important bit is to recognize the truth that underlies all of it, the undeniable pieces that remain despite human fears. People are worthy of our respect. We live in abundance. Life is better when we are intentional about our actions.
There are also lists of blessings and curses tied in with obedience to the laws. Do what God wants, and you will live well. Disobey and suffer. It's presented as compensation to be sought and punishment to be feared, but there is also a sense that following the principles will lead inevitably to a rewarding life, while not following the principles will lead inevitably to unhappiness. Chapter 30:11-18 reads:
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess
Without veering too far from the actual scripture, it's safe to say that you have the ability to make wise choices in your life. You can choose to live with an attitude of abundance, to respect other people, to be intentional in your decisions. You already know what is right, even though sometimes it is tempting to choose what is convenient. And what you don't know can be learned or discovered. You are never lost or abandoned, even when the journey is difficult. You are always able to put one foot in front of the other and move forward, even if you are only able to remember a few basic principles.
Guidelines and laws are useful for a society, but they don't mean as much as the principles on which they're built. You know that human beings have value, and thus you have value. Start from there. You know that there is some part of every person that is beautiful and creative, even if it is sometimes difficult to see. Honor that truth. Recognize that you have enough, and that you have something to offer. Be intentional about how you respect other people and yourself. It isn't too difficult, and it isn't beyond your reach.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Numbers 15: Crime and Punishment, Abundance Thinking, and Orchestrating Delayed Gratification
Tucked in the middle of the Israelites' narrative in the book of Numbers is a chapter with more about what sacrifices to offer in atonement for disobedience, followed by a couple of short anecdotes. One of these anecdotes is about a man who was collecting wood on the Sabbath. The Lord had just finished telling Moses that if someone sins unintentionally, they have to make a specific atonement sacrifice to be forgiven. If someone sins intentionally, however, they are to be ostracized -- cut off from the community. So, what happens to this man who is collecting wood on the Sabbath? They kill him.
We aren't told of any opportunity this man is given to make any sort of atonement, and they don't just cut him off from the community. They take him into custody because they aren't sure what should be done to him. Although God just told Moses what to do with people who sin -- intentionally or unintentionally, native Israelite or foreigner. So they ask God what to do with the man, and instead of repeating what he just finished telling Moses, God declared that the man should be stoned to death. There are certainly other places in the biblical narrative where the death penalty is asserted as just punishment for nearly any law-breaking a person might commit, but this was not one of those passages. The appearance of this story at this point is honestly a bit baffling. It serves as another implication that there is something unpredictable and unreliable about the god the Israelites worship.
Somewhat interesting in Numbers 15, as with other passages that describe what offerings must be made, is that most of the sacrifices are food products. The Israelites have been complaining about the lack of food, have died from disease when they ate the "gift" of quail that got blown in from the sea, and have been told that they'll have to keep wandering in a wasteland until a generation of people passes away. And yet, all of this time, the sacrifices that they have been ordered to make for nearly everything have been things like the firstfruits of their flocks or herds or fields or orchards. Why were they complaining about food if they had bulls and goats and doves and grain and olive oil to sacrifice?
Obviously, based on the amount of space the subject is given in the first books of the Bible, sacrificing things is an important symbolic contractual practice in Israelite culture. It isn't at all odd that one would offer the best fruits of one's labor as a sacrifice to atone for disobeying God. It's unthinkable, though, that the Israelites would sacrifice all of their food (which the priesthood would eat) while complaining that they had nothing to eat. Never is the complaint voiced that they have no food because they sacrifice it all to God or because the Levites get all of it. The only logical answer to this strangeness is that this cultural practice of the Israelites was written back into the tale of their wilderness wandering years, implying that sacrifices were a part of their spiritual identity ever since their god first gave them rules to follow. For the orders about what should be sacrificed to make sense in the context of a food-deprived nomadic people, they wouldn't include mandates to sacrifice things to which the people had no access.
So, assuming that the prescriptions for offering various foods to God were contemporary with the Israelites having those foods to offer, there is something rather interesting imbedded in the practice. Sacrifices have at this point been commanded for nearly anything imaginable. Even if a good Israelite managed to go through life without breaking any actual laws, there are supplemental offerings that everyone is supposed to make. It would be difficult to wallow in a scarcity mindset and maintain a practice of giving over a tenth of what one possesses. When the Israelites were eating something unidentifiable from the ground in the desert, it was understandable for them to say, "we're not going to have enough." And no amount of holy punishment could wipe away that fear. But when you have something to give up, and you give away a fraction of it and still have enough, the fear of starvation -- or not having "enough" of something -- loses its teeth a bit.
Once we start accumulating things, it's natural to want to accumulate more things. Or at least better things. What we have isn't good enough for very long. If we didn't have anything to begin with, it would be easy to slip into the mindset that we would always be struggling, that we would never have enough. But there are a lot of people who have very little and seem to be able to appreciate what they do have without worrying about what they don't have. If you have enough that you can give something away, you have enough. The people who realize that, and actually practice giving a little bit away, are more likely to appreciate what they have than the people who always want more.
Our culture doesn't value sacrifice. We are often loathe to give up things that we don't even really need, perhaps because of the irrational belief that we have to protect our possessions. And we're not even talking about food and shelter and survival-level things here. I'm talking about unused exercise equipment, clothes that will never fit us, books we'll never read again, that fourth television set we had to have. The bottom line is that we are capable of examining our lives if we choose to do so. You know whether or not your survival is realistically in jeopardy. If you find that you normally consider yourself to have more than enough -- that you live an abundant life -- you probably also give things away on a regular basis. Generosity and abundance thinking seem to feed into each other.
If, on the other hand, it seems like you are never satisfied with what you have, that you never believe that you have "enough", your scarcity thinking is most likely based on some irrational fear. You can combat that by developing a practice of giving away a few things. You don't have to sacrifice them to God the way the Israelites did, but you can if that works for you (adhering to local fire restrictions, of course). You can also just give things away to other people. People you know or people you don't know. You'll quickly find that if you are honest about what you need and what you won't ever really use, your generosity will reveal that you have plenty. More than enough. Without imposing any household austerity measures. You probably live in enough abundance that you wouldn't miss giving up 10% of what you possess.
Sometimes, our scarcity thinking comes from short-sighted greed that gets in the way of us acknowledging the things that matter most to us. So many things we just want to accumulate have little real value to us in the long run. The Israelites had a clever way of reminding themselves not to focus on fleeting, short-term satisfaction that distracted them from long-term goals as a culture. They put symbolic tassels on their clothing to remind themselves what their culture stood for as a people. Like permanent strings tied around their fingers. It wouldn't be a stretch for us to create some of our own reminders about what matters most in our lives. What would remind you that you have plenty? What would remind you to keep things in perspective? To make decisions that reflect what's actually important to you? If it's tassels on your clothes, start stitching. If it's little notes to yourself scattered around your home, start writing. There are some things that are more important to you than just accumulating more stuff. When you know what those things are, there is no reason not to orchestrate your life around those values.
We aren't told of any opportunity this man is given to make any sort of atonement, and they don't just cut him off from the community. They take him into custody because they aren't sure what should be done to him. Although God just told Moses what to do with people who sin -- intentionally or unintentionally, native Israelite or foreigner. So they ask God what to do with the man, and instead of repeating what he just finished telling Moses, God declared that the man should be stoned to death. There are certainly other places in the biblical narrative where the death penalty is asserted as just punishment for nearly any law-breaking a person might commit, but this was not one of those passages. The appearance of this story at this point is honestly a bit baffling. It serves as another implication that there is something unpredictable and unreliable about the god the Israelites worship.
Somewhat interesting in Numbers 15, as with other passages that describe what offerings must be made, is that most of the sacrifices are food products. The Israelites have been complaining about the lack of food, have died from disease when they ate the "gift" of quail that got blown in from the sea, and have been told that they'll have to keep wandering in a wasteland until a generation of people passes away. And yet, all of this time, the sacrifices that they have been ordered to make for nearly everything have been things like the firstfruits of their flocks or herds or fields or orchards. Why were they complaining about food if they had bulls and goats and doves and grain and olive oil to sacrifice?
Obviously, based on the amount of space the subject is given in the first books of the Bible, sacrificing things is an important symbolic contractual practice in Israelite culture. It isn't at all odd that one would offer the best fruits of one's labor as a sacrifice to atone for disobeying God. It's unthinkable, though, that the Israelites would sacrifice all of their food (which the priesthood would eat) while complaining that they had nothing to eat. Never is the complaint voiced that they have no food because they sacrifice it all to God or because the Levites get all of it. The only logical answer to this strangeness is that this cultural practice of the Israelites was written back into the tale of their wilderness wandering years, implying that sacrifices were a part of their spiritual identity ever since their god first gave them rules to follow. For the orders about what should be sacrificed to make sense in the context of a food-deprived nomadic people, they wouldn't include mandates to sacrifice things to which the people had no access.
So, assuming that the prescriptions for offering various foods to God were contemporary with the Israelites having those foods to offer, there is something rather interesting imbedded in the practice. Sacrifices have at this point been commanded for nearly anything imaginable. Even if a good Israelite managed to go through life without breaking any actual laws, there are supplemental offerings that everyone is supposed to make. It would be difficult to wallow in a scarcity mindset and maintain a practice of giving over a tenth of what one possesses. When the Israelites were eating something unidentifiable from the ground in the desert, it was understandable for them to say, "we're not going to have enough." And no amount of holy punishment could wipe away that fear. But when you have something to give up, and you give away a fraction of it and still have enough, the fear of starvation -- or not having "enough" of something -- loses its teeth a bit.
Once we start accumulating things, it's natural to want to accumulate more things. Or at least better things. What we have isn't good enough for very long. If we didn't have anything to begin with, it would be easy to slip into the mindset that we would always be struggling, that we would never have enough. But there are a lot of people who have very little and seem to be able to appreciate what they do have without worrying about what they don't have. If you have enough that you can give something away, you have enough. The people who realize that, and actually practice giving a little bit away, are more likely to appreciate what they have than the people who always want more.
Our culture doesn't value sacrifice. We are often loathe to give up things that we don't even really need, perhaps because of the irrational belief that we have to protect our possessions. And we're not even talking about food and shelter and survival-level things here. I'm talking about unused exercise equipment, clothes that will never fit us, books we'll never read again, that fourth television set we had to have. The bottom line is that we are capable of examining our lives if we choose to do so. You know whether or not your survival is realistically in jeopardy. If you find that you normally consider yourself to have more than enough -- that you live an abundant life -- you probably also give things away on a regular basis. Generosity and abundance thinking seem to feed into each other.
If, on the other hand, it seems like you are never satisfied with what you have, that you never believe that you have "enough", your scarcity thinking is most likely based on some irrational fear. You can combat that by developing a practice of giving away a few things. You don't have to sacrifice them to God the way the Israelites did, but you can if that works for you (adhering to local fire restrictions, of course). You can also just give things away to other people. People you know or people you don't know. You'll quickly find that if you are honest about what you need and what you won't ever really use, your generosity will reveal that you have plenty. More than enough. Without imposing any household austerity measures. You probably live in enough abundance that you wouldn't miss giving up 10% of what you possess.
Sometimes, our scarcity thinking comes from short-sighted greed that gets in the way of us acknowledging the things that matter most to us. So many things we just want to accumulate have little real value to us in the long run. The Israelites had a clever way of reminding themselves not to focus on fleeting, short-term satisfaction that distracted them from long-term goals as a culture. They put symbolic tassels on their clothing to remind themselves what their culture stood for as a people. Like permanent strings tied around their fingers. It wouldn't be a stretch for us to create some of our own reminders about what matters most in our lives. What would remind you that you have plenty? What would remind you to keep things in perspective? To make decisions that reflect what's actually important to you? If it's tassels on your clothes, start stitching. If it's little notes to yourself scattered around your home, start writing. There are some things that are more important to you than just accumulating more stuff. When you know what those things are, there is no reason not to orchestrate your life around those values.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Fear of Not Having Enough: Challenging the Scarcity Thinking of Genesis 13
I've mentioned that fear can keep us from recognizing the truth, beauty, and creativity within ourselves and other people in various ways. It crops up again in Genesis 13, in a way that has created conflicts that have spanned generations.
Fear can also lead us to dig in our heels about issues of entitlement. Whether we think we deserve something because we have worked hard for it, because someone made a promise to us, or because we deem it unfair that someone else should have something we don’t, a sense of entitlement is a sure way to work against the truth and beauty within us. It may be a salary range, a particular car, a specific-size house, or a piece of land. It could even be a designer purse or pair of shoes or a piece of electronic wonder. Believing that we are entitled to it, whatever it is, can be an incredible roadblock to happiness.
One problem is that we seem never to have enough. If we get the house we want, we need a bigger one. If we get the land we want, we need more of it. If we get the toys we want, we need the newer model. And when we treat people like possessions, it works the same way. Whatever it is that we believe we are entitled to have ultimately fails to satisfy us completely.
Here is a difficult truth, if only because it seems so harsh: Life is not fair. Some people have more and some people have less. Some people get sick and some people stay well. From the outside looking in, it seems that some people have it easy and some people can’t catch a break. There are some things we can do to improve our chances of getting what we want in life. Insisting that our lives be different out of a sense of fairness isn’t one of them.
Not only is life not fair, life does not make any promises. Even if parents and teachers and ministers and authors told us differently, there are no actual guarantees about what we will have or what we will lose in the course of our lives. People who work hard often get the income they want, but not always. People with healthier diets sometimes live longer, but not all of them. There is no secret formula that will ensure with 100% certainty that our lives will be what we want them to be, as individuals or as a people.
There is good news in all of this, even though no one is really entitled to anything and even though there are no guarantees. There is enough. When we engage our innate sense of deep truth, beauty, and creativity, there is enough of whatever it is that we want. There is enough land. There is enough food. There is enough money. There is enough. Certainly, there are some commodities that are scarce, but the things that are necessary are plentiful. We may lack sufficient crude oil for all that we would like to do, but we do not lack sources of energy. Recognizing opportunities and abundance simply requires a different baseline premise.
If we begin with the premise that a divine being made a promise to someone thousands of years ago, and that we are entitled to reap the benefits of that promise, immediately we run into trouble. Other people may have just as much of a sense of entitlement as we do, and both sides may go to great lengths to defend that belief, with neither side being able to offer any real evidence toward the validity of their claim.
If, on the other hand, we begin with the premise that there is plenty, we then get to engage our creativity in an entirely different way. We are capable of creating a multitude of solutions to any challenge of resources, but a sense of entitlement unavoidably limits what we can create. When we start off accepting that no one is entitled to anything, no matter who they are or what promises may have been made, our true strengths as human beings have an opportunity to shine. There is not only a way for everyone to have access to what is necessary, there is certainly a way for everyone to have access to what is desirable, if only we are willing to seek it out and engage our minds and actions in creating it.
Fear can also lead us to dig in our heels about issues of entitlement. Whether we think we deserve something because we have worked hard for it, because someone made a promise to us, or because we deem it unfair that someone else should have something we don’t, a sense of entitlement is a sure way to work against the truth and beauty within us. It may be a salary range, a particular car, a specific-size house, or a piece of land. It could even be a designer purse or pair of shoes or a piece of electronic wonder. Believing that we are entitled to it, whatever it is, can be an incredible roadblock to happiness.
One problem is that we seem never to have enough. If we get the house we want, we need a bigger one. If we get the land we want, we need more of it. If we get the toys we want, we need the newer model. And when we treat people like possessions, it works the same way. Whatever it is that we believe we are entitled to have ultimately fails to satisfy us completely.
Here is a difficult truth, if only because it seems so harsh: Life is not fair. Some people have more and some people have less. Some people get sick and some people stay well. From the outside looking in, it seems that some people have it easy and some people can’t catch a break. There are some things we can do to improve our chances of getting what we want in life. Insisting that our lives be different out of a sense of fairness isn’t one of them.
Not only is life not fair, life does not make any promises. Even if parents and teachers and ministers and authors told us differently, there are no actual guarantees about what we will have or what we will lose in the course of our lives. People who work hard often get the income they want, but not always. People with healthier diets sometimes live longer, but not all of them. There is no secret formula that will ensure with 100% certainty that our lives will be what we want them to be, as individuals or as a people.
There is good news in all of this, even though no one is really entitled to anything and even though there are no guarantees. There is enough. When we engage our innate sense of deep truth, beauty, and creativity, there is enough of whatever it is that we want. There is enough land. There is enough food. There is enough money. There is enough. Certainly, there are some commodities that are scarce, but the things that are necessary are plentiful. We may lack sufficient crude oil for all that we would like to do, but we do not lack sources of energy. Recognizing opportunities and abundance simply requires a different baseline premise.
If we begin with the premise that a divine being made a promise to someone thousands of years ago, and that we are entitled to reap the benefits of that promise, immediately we run into trouble. Other people may have just as much of a sense of entitlement as we do, and both sides may go to great lengths to defend that belief, with neither side being able to offer any real evidence toward the validity of their claim.
If, on the other hand, we begin with the premise that there is plenty, we then get to engage our creativity in an entirely different way. We are capable of creating a multitude of solutions to any challenge of resources, but a sense of entitlement unavoidably limits what we can create. When we start off accepting that no one is entitled to anything, no matter who they are or what promises may have been made, our true strengths as human beings have an opportunity to shine. There is not only a way for everyone to have access to what is necessary, there is certainly a way for everyone to have access to what is desirable, if only we are willing to seek it out and engage our minds and actions in creating it.
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