Hello SOGR friends,

I've been a bit of gnat on the surface of life, flitting from one thing to another, reading voraciously and accumulating ideas etc, but not really getting to 'depth'.

I've decided to take this course in a methodical way and have some serious fun with it. That's my intention.

I've put away all other things as Wally and Rebecca suggest (that's been a big challlenge, or as Phil so eloquently wrote, opportunity and I can see that)

I've started from the beginning, done the lifelab exercise and read chapter one. Wally says in chapter one, that, and I quote "The person who does not desire to live more abundantly is abnormal and so the person who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal"

Does anyone have any ideas about what Wally was meaning here? Rebecca? From observation, it seems more normal, in terms of human society, than abnormal. Those of us who seek to be bigger, better, braver, bolshier and blessed by all manner of good things seem more 'abnormal'. (got carried away with the 'b' words! )

Paix, Carolyn

I don't know - I hear plenty of people saying "if I had the money" or "I wish I could".. and even though they probably won't because of their belief systems, this is what I thought of when I read "The person who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal." ie - people want it (are normal), but their belief system won't allow it to happen.

Hi Carolyn

quote:

From observation, it seems more normal, in terms of human society, than abnormal. Those of us who seek to be bigger, better, braver, bolshier and blessed by all manner of good things seem more 'abnormal'.

I am not sure what you mean by this. Maybe you can elaborate?

I believe it is natural to desire for more things to express ourselves. And in modern society, we get things by exchanging money for them. So, it is normal to desire to get rich.

And along with new discoveries in quantum physics, it is now known that everything in the universe including ourselves are a form of energy.Money is hence a form of energy that is manifested in our lives to improve it when we attain it and when used in the certain way, it gives more life to all.

Much blessings

I have been thinking about this recently.

The expansion of life in the past 100 years since Wally was around has been dramatic. Most people are leading lives that only the most wealthy thought possibable then. Even those consider to be poor have cars, a comfortable home, cell phones, MP3 players, access to airplanes. I know when I was earning much less than I do now I had access to those things. Most people don't realize how rich that they are, and don't realize that they can really have everything that they desire.

I believe that part of our mission in life for us SOGR students is to 1) live our life to the fullest 2) teach others to live life to the fullest. Wally's thoughts were more to all and less to none. Also remember the story of Golden Rule Jones.

In Stephen Covey's latest book "The Eighth Secret" he sums up that thinking in the subtitle "Finding Your voice and Helping Others Find Theirs".

quote:

Originally posted by Kevsky:
I am not sure what you mean by this. Maybe you can elaborate?

quote:

I was thinking about just this when I was walking down our track earlier this morning and enjoying the chortling of the magpies. I've come to recognise that those of us who did not have that urge to be rich (like me) had our natural inclination to grow and develop in all ways, including wealth, stunted in some way by our upbringing, either the messages we took on, or the experiences we had that we accepted as 'how life is' and so I now can see what Wally meant by 'abnormal'. It is normal, or our natural birth right to grow in all ways, including material wealth. Just writing this down and putting the question on the forum has been informative in itself and your question has made it more 'grounded' for me. Thanks for that

And along with new discoveries in quantum physics, it is now known that everything in the universe including ourselves are a form of energy.Money is hence a form of energy that is manifested in our lives to improve it when we attain it and when used in the certain way, it gives more life to all

Thanks for this too. Yes, I agree with that completely, and recognise how my intellectual understanding has not really led to any real change, the subconscious patterns of 'abnormal' have been running my life! til now! Now I'm on to them! Paix, Carolyn

I have just started reading this book so I don't have much to convey yet. However, I too had thoughts already about the issue of "abnormal" and the idea that getting rich is possible for everyone and that getting rich is a necessary component of what it means to be fully human. It would be dishonest of us not to address the very real means and methods by which financial riches are often created: namely, from the sweat and blood of other people for the benefit of a few. This country's independence and riches was made entirely off the backs of slave labor and indentured contract workers like my Ulster Scots ancestors, lest we forget. And let's not forget the incredible damage done to our precious eco system (the real 'wealth' of humanity) by greedy corporate operations. Without clean water, fertile soil and a safe food supply, we can forget about making lots of money.

This book was written back when people of best intentions were not always able to see the trees for the forest. Global warming is a very real modern day plague upon us caused primarily by profit mongering factories of the last century. Getting rich the old fashioned way won't be possible anymore in the years to come. There won't be slave trading, intense pollution (at least not legally), child labor and many other means (including drug dealing and rum running) by which the old world order amassed their personal fortunes.

War is not even rallying people to a common cause anymore because most of us realize that it's the same old story of those in power using the rest of us (taxes and human sacrifice) to increase their personal fortunes... So I think it's best to try to see the new world order sprouting up under our noses and how each of us might best fit into that solution in the spirit of true compassion. If we could only legislate a single payer health care system like other civilized nations, people would have less need to "get rich quick" and take any job necessary in order to have the kind of purposeful, meaningful life touted in this book.

In principle, I don't find this book to be off mark in regards to the spiritual teachings. And I am looking forward to reading it in depth and contributing more to this site But I have known plenty of people with money who don't have a clue how to live a full human life with what they have. Conversely, I know other people who make magic from the little resources they have. You know, they learn how to save and work off debts, learn to make bread instead of buying it so they can feed more people, etc...

The amount of money we all need IS a very real problem but the idea that every man and woman on the planet is able to be financially wealthy without negatively impacting other people and the environment is pure fantasy. This debate would have to get into the equal distribution of global wealth and resources in order to get into depth about what it means just to live in a world where everyone has the basics for survival. I'd like to see some scientist crunch the numbers on the total amount of wealth in the world and then divide that number by the number of people on the planet. What would everyone's net worth be?! Resources are not limitless after all. We live on a planet with finite resources (though our ancestors were much less aware of this reality --often believing the opposite: in limitless natural resources).

Then let's do the same test using only the money and resources actually available to people (not including reserves of fortunes in banks and property that will remain untouched). In other words, if the richest among us were able to hold on to their wealth and properties, what would be left for the rest of us to compete for?

Hi Kaposztasteszta

quote:

The amount of money we all need IS a very real problem but the idea that every man and woman on the planet is able to be financially wealthy without negatively impacting other people and the environment is pure fantasy.

I hope you will change your mind after studying SOGR and seeing its effect in your life!

To do that, you get to have play with fantasy,at least until you can get to the heart of the truth!

Till then,

Much blessings