I once read that how the world looks to us is a good reflection of ourselves. As above, so below. As within, so without.
I have been meditating on this and I think that how our immediate surroundings look to us is a good reflection of our inner state. If you look around you right now, at the walls of your bedroom, or furniture or wherever you are, how does it look? Do the inanimate objects appear distant and cold? Do you feel disconnected from the physical world around you? In regards to Deepak Chopra ideas about personal power, to be in sync with the world around you, to be in “flow”, your surroundings should not look frightening or incomprehensible.
If you practice love and/or are at peace with the world you’re in, then your surroundings should reflect that. You should envision the world directly outside of yourself as supporting and embracing you, because we create our realities and that means the world is a part of us. We should not feel disconnected, separate, divided or unsupported by what we see directly outside of our bodies. That means improper learned thought-processes are at work.
So I think we should be reflective and keep in mind how we’re subtly experiencing the world directly outside us.
That is a beautiful sentiment my friend and while I do understand what you are saying and also agree with it to some degree,
My experiences mean I can not truly resonate with the teachings of Deepak Chopra.
I’m an animal rights activist and the world outside of me most certainly does not support and embrace me or my views and I find a lot of things frightening and incomprehensible and this is most certainly not due to
I witness some horrific acts of cruelty and wilful ignorance and it is in no way a “good reflection of myself”
I am a loving, kind, honest individual who values life and the beauty of nature.
I am warm, giving and empathic, I love to laugh, usually have a smile on my face and have a childlike wonder for little things yet my outside world is filled with cruelty, sadness and despair…Did I create my own reality, you tell me?
… a mess.
But I do agree. I think people definitely surround themselves with what reflects what’s inside. Even its just little things.
But really I think that’s just called self expression.
Being a horrible person isn’t the only way to manifest horrible things in your life. Expecting them works that way too. Living in fear of situations can create what you fear. It isn’t enough to project goodness outwards, you have to project it inwards as well and be at peace within yourself.
I think our experiences are either created by ourselves or karma. And by karma here I just mean events before we were born, maybe in the spiritual world. We either created them there or created the potentiality/vulnerability for these things to happen, for one reason or another.
Deepak Chopra teachings say that we need to delve into our subconscious feelings through meditation to understand hidden emotions, to heal and resolve them and understand ourselves better. While “taking responsibility for our lives” can be empowering, I can also see how it can look like victim-blaming. Victim-blaming doesn’t heal though, obviously. The good thing to take away from it is the fact that we CAN make our worlds better from this point on by consciously creating it and bettering ourselves through deeper healing/resolving.
It’s true that being at peace with the world doesn’t erase the realities out there, but I believe it helps. Like a rippling pond. That’s a Buddhist belief anyway, and in my present opinion they are the closest old religion to the truth, but not absolutely correct. You can work on your animal activism and still focus on the positive aspects of reality.
Are we talking about physical things, like whether your room’s messy and interior decoration? I just meant to be aware of how your outside world makes you feel, your relationship to things you see outside yourself. Both ways I’d say that is called self expression.
I have reread both our posts a few times to make sure I understand. The first few paragraphs of what I said to you don’t specifically relate to what you said, I was just trying to clarify my stance to anyone reading this. Maybe I should’ve made that more clear.
I know this stance I’m taking is a New Age one. But my beliefs are changing the more I get into LHP. So maybe they’ll change again.
I was going to reply with a polite “let’s agree to disagree” but after re-reading your reply, I feel the need to ask…
If you are aware of how patronising you come across?
And are you quoting directly from a book or are these your own thoughts?
Its not often that someone can seriously push my buttons but you have managed it!!
I’m glad! How you react to outside sources is a reflection of yourself. So ponder that.
Maybe I do come across as patronizing. I’m not too concerned about that. I try to make my response be as clear as I can in regards to what I’m trying to say and what I believe about the topic.
These thoughts I’m sharing are New Agey, RHP and Deepak Chopra stuff. Which is believed by many. I am open to personal exploration and discussing alternative ideas and will admit that my beliefs can and do change.
Just read your second message and now feel the need to apologise, I did take it personally but now you’ve explained I need to take my “patronising” comment back!
I’ve broken one of the rules of the forum and did a knee jerk response…not like me and I am sorry!
I think that (regardless of taking a LHP or RHP stance, or any religion at all) we can all agree that reflecting on how you feel about your surroundings when in a meditative state (separate or at peace with) gives you insight about yourself. People can tick me off, but I try to take responsibility for my own emotions and emotional vulnerabilities. Now if someone came in now and beat me up, that could be because there was a negative gap in my ability to manifest my best life. Even so, I’m not so enlightened that I could resist killing that person with magic later. I don’t know. I do have a temper sometimes.
… a mess.
)