(from “Conversations with God” - Neale Donald Walsch)
Currently people have this paradigm reversed. Most people believe if they “have” a thing (more time, money, love - whatever), then they can finally “do” a thing (write a book, take up a hobby, go on vacation, buy a home, undertake a relationship), which will allow them to “be” a thing (happy, peaceful, content or in love)
In actuality, they are reversing the Be-Do-Have paradigm. In the universe as it really is (as opposed to how we think it is), “havingness” does not produce “beingness”, but the other way around.
First you “be” the thing called “happy” (or “knowing” or “wise” or “compassionate” or whatever), then you start “doing” things from this place of beingness - and soon you discover that what you are doing winds up bringing you the things you’ve always wanted to “have”.
The way to set this creative process (and that’s what it is.. this is the process of creation) into motion is to look at what it is you want to “have”, ask yourself what you think you would “be” if you “had” that, then go right straight into being.
In this way you reverse the way you’ve been using the Be-Do-Have paradigm - in actuality, set it right - and work with, rather than against, the creative power of universe.
Here is a short way of stating this principle.
In life, you do not have to do anything.
It is all a question of what you are being.
For now, to illustrate this, think of a person who just knows that if he could only have a little more time, a little more money, or a little more love, he’d be truly happy.
On the other hand, the person who is “being” happy seems to have time to do everything that’s really important, all the money that’s needed, and enough love to last a lifetime.
Happiness is a state of mind, And like all the states of mind, it reproduces itself in physical form. There’s a statement for a refrigerator magnet:
“All states of mind reproduce themselves”.
Act as if you are happy / prosperous / contended, etc, and you will draw it to you.
What you act as if you are, you become. Only you cant really be “faking”. Your actions have to be sincere.
Everything you do, do out of sincerity, or the benefit of the action is lost.
Natural laws require the body, mind and spirit to be united in thought, word and action for the process of creation to work.
You cannot fool your mind. If you are insincere, your mind knows it, and that’s that. You’ve just ended any chance that your mind can help you in the creative process.
You can, of course, create without your mind - it’s just a great deal more difficult. You can ask your body to do something your mind doesn’t believe, and if your body does it long enough, your mind will begin to let go of its former thought about that, and create a New Thought. Once you have a New Thought about a thing, you’re well on your way to creating it as a permanent aspect of your being, rather than something you’re just acting out.
This is doing things the hard way, and even in such instances, the action must be sincere. Unlike what you can do with people, you cannot manipulate the universe.
So, here we have a very delicate balance. The body does something in which the mind does not believe, yet the mind must add the ingredient of sincerity to the body’s action for it to work.
The mind may not be able to sincerely agree that the actions of the body can bring you that which you choose, but the mind seems very clear that God will bring good things through you to another.
Therefore, whatever you choose for yourself, give to another.
If you choose to be happy, cause another to be happy.
If you choose to be prosperous, cause another to prosper.
If you choose more love in your life, cause another to have more love in theirs.
Do this sincerely - not because you seek personal gain, but because you really want the other person to have that - and all the things you give away will come to you.
The very act of your giving something away causes you to experience that you have it to give away. Since you cannot give to another something you do not now have, your mind comes to a new conclusion, a New Thought, about you - namely, that you must have this, or you could not be giving away.
This New Thought then becomes the experience. You start “being” that. And once you start “being” a thing, you’ve engaged the gears of the most powerful creation machine in the universe - your Divine Self.
Whatever you are being, you are creating.
This circle is complete, and you will create more and more of that in your life. It will be made manifest in your physical experience.
This is the greatest secret of life.
If you give to another as a contrivance, a manipulation meant to get something to come to you, your mind knows this. You’ve just given it a signal that you do not now have this. And since the universe is nothing but a big copying machine, reproducing your thoughts in physical form, that will be your experience. That is, you will continue to experience “not having it” - no matter what you do!
Furthermore, that will be the experience of the person to whom you’re trying to give it. They will see that you are merely seeking to get something, that you have nothing, really, to offer, and your giving will be an empty gesture, seen for all the self-serving shallowness from which it springs.
The very thing you sought to attract, you will thus push away.
Yet when you give something to another with purity of heart - because you see that they want it, need it and should have it - then you will discover that you have it to give. And that is a grand discovery.
