| The Fact of Thought, when realized, is a transformative experience. We are only just beginning to truly understand this phenomenon. I humbly ask, even if you have already given it a try - to examine the 3 Principles very carefully, again and again. | |
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We are redefining the meaning of mental health. Mental health is knowing that no feeling is ever born of the world around me. Mental Health and security is the deep awareness that even the most scary and upsetting experiences originate from within a single, universal source - Thought.
Mental illness is innocently believing that feeling is coming from something other than thought. Mental illness is born when feelings, even positive feelings, are attributed to objects or the past. Depression? Anxiety? Phobias? Schizophrenia? These episodes are never inherently problematic but rather symptomatic. These experiences become the scapegoat for the one illness that plagues us all from time to time. And that innocent illness defined, is losing sight of the fact that we are always, only ever living in the feeling of our thinking. We hope that more and more people quit the draining endeavor and endless pursuit of seeking nice feelings to maintain emotional security. Instead, let us all pick up a new pursuit, that allows us to experience true security no matter what feeling we find ourselves in. Let us pursue psychological truth by asking just one question: Where do YOU believe your feelings are coming from in this moment?
Destin makes some very profound statements, such as "Knowledge does not equal understanding" and "You're looking at the world with a bias whether you think you are or not". At first I was quite taken by this video as I had never seen such an obvious and undeniable demonstration of Thought in the Moment being the direct power behind an experience of actual ability and competence and then the loss of that ability. I found it it quite striking!
But Destin gets a bit distracted. He seems to be drawn into the idea that his 6 year old was able to master the Backwards Bike much more quickly because a child's brain is more elastic than his older, aged, fixed brain. It may be true that some people learn more quickly than others. It may be true that some brains are more elastic than others, but the Power of Thought trumps all of those things because it creates and sustains them all in the first place. Our brains are as elastic as the Power of Thought allows them be. Thank G-d, as long as we are alive, we are primed to perfectly feel Thought. And Thought is free. Free to present us with a new reality at any moment - no matter how old we are, no matter how long our reality has been a certain way and literally, no matter where or when you are. That is awesome news!
Hi Rabbi,
I am repeatedly humbled, as I continuously find myself needing to go back to the basics of the 3 Principles. Here is just how I understand it today. All feeling is utterly and completely a product of my own thinking. The thinking (and feelings they create) I have at any given moment is free. Free from circumstances or the past. In other words, circumstances do not dictate what thinking I have. I can think/feel anything, anywhere, anytime. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar in the world. In the Gregorian cycle, the year begins, of course, on January 1st. The Hebrew Calendar operates with a very different understanding of time, and therefore has a very different "newyears". It's a great example of how our particular understanding of a given topic has immediate and identifiable implications for what we decide to think more about, what we communicate to others and how we choose to act in our world. With regards to calendars, the choice is ours. Yes, society chose to widely adopt the Gregorian calendar, but either system works pretty well.
With regards to how we happen to feel at any given moment, there are also two systems of how to understand what creates it all. Society has largely adopted the idea that circumstances, genetics, personalities, the past, thinking and a whole host of others stuff are contributing factors, if not downright direct causes. The 3 Principles Paradigm understanding, uncovers the irrelevance of all these factors and narrows every single moment of experience down to one, single, constant source - sometimes referred to as "Thought In the Moment" or "The 3 Principles". However, in contrast to the choice over which calendar is best, in comparing the two systems of understanding how our personal reality is created - only one can actually be true. Either all personal reality is of the 3 Principles or personal reality is a product of factors in the world around us. At this years Conference, we hope to clearly lay out these two opposing paradigms, so that you might have an opportunity to decide for yourself. As life would have it, it does seem as if circumstances and the past are actually the source of my initial feeling at any given moment.
The sudden appearance of a particular person occurring simultaneously with a sudden change in emotion could lead me to conclude that there is a direct connection - direct cause and effect. "What you did made me feel good!", I might exclaim. "His presence is ruining my enjoyment of this party", I might mutter to a friend. Or I might whisper to myself, "I will rise above my negative circumstances and remain positive." One of the greatest things to realize is, that despite appearances, there really is no cause and effect between circumstances and feeling. The 3 Principles metaphor has been trying to show us that, in truth, the world has no power of it's own to make one think and feel in particular way. The circumstances ARE real and our feelings ARE real, but the idea that feelings derive from circumstances is NOT real. The most defiant child has no actual power to make one feel overwhelm. How one happens to think about a defiant child, does. The most painful injury has no actual power to make one feel despair. How one happens to think about pain, does. The most strenuous work has no power to make one feel stressed. How one happens to think about strenuous work, does. The 3 Pricniples logic shows us all feeling derives from Thought. This is a constant truth, without exception. This rules out the idea - it rules out the possibility, that my particular thinking/feeling in this moment, is somehow originating from my physical surroundings, or your behavior, or my bank account, or the weather and on and on and on. Certainly, there can be a sudden appearance of a particular person occurring simultaneously with a sudden change in emotion, but only due to Thought in the moment. Here at Twerski Wellness, we are all learning, together, getting to see more and more often, areas of our lives where we had been innocently attributing the origination of our moods, attitudes, emotions, perspectives and feelings to circumstances and had been unaware of it's true source. For those of you who have been getting a glimpse, please share with us, share with each other, how this has impacted your life, what implications have you have found and what it has taught you. Surprise! It happened again. As we continually look at, examine and investigate the truth, more and more of what we previously considered important to do, say or focus on suddenly begins to be revealed as irrelevant. It can be unsettling to hear statements regarding the Innate Health of all human beings as a fact. It might be unsettling to consider that people do not actually break. But as the truth about reality and how it manifests for each us is revealed, you too will make these statements.
This is not to say that people don't suffer or misbehave. Rather it means, that instead of trying to see people positively, the truth shows us that it is impossible to see ourselves or others as being beyond resilience. I'm fond of asking people "Do you know how happy or vibrant you can be?" I don't mean to consider that they should just choose happiness or be happier. I'm asking a question of fact - how much happiness is potentially available for a person even if not one single thing changes in your life? The Logic of the Three Principles shows us definitively, without question, just how much. And because we can see that the potential for infinite happiness is possible even without a single thing changing in your life, the logic reveals another powerful surprise about where to NOT look for happiness. I hope that takes a bunch of things off your mind.
They stem not from each-other.
The former does not create the latter or vice versa. I don't recommend taking my word for it. That would be a waste of time. First you have to realize, understand for yourself, this entire universe is, One Divine Thought. As we usher in the new Jewish year, I find myself reflective. One concept seems to jump out at me the most - the human capacity to experience is infinite in potential. We've seen, with an ever growing clarity, the single catalyst behind personal experience. It is G-d himself. G-d is infinite. His metaphorical creative reach is unlimited. This is rarely totally clear to me. Most of time I find myself whining to myself that I cannot see the divine. But these moments of blindness too, must be divine - of the same intelligent creator.
So what we have learned most of all, is not a way to find a G-dly feeling, but that all feeling is G-dly. The clarity, the confusion, the gratitude, the temptation, the anger, the contentment. As this logic is peeling away our grip from the impossible endeavor of controlling our personal world, what remains is the inherently uninhibited ability to make moral choices in the direction of what we know to be just and true. This is our free will. Not to create, but to guide our fate. This message is deep and may not resonate at all. This makes little difference. What matters is your commitment to truth, using your free will to pursue it, engaging whichever medium you fancy, that is key. It is only G-d that can give you life. May you and your family be sealed into the book of Life.
False dimensions might not actually exist, but until the "falseness" is realized, one can go right along relying on it or believing in it as if it did exist - leading to some very questionable behavior. Examples might be pushing outward with all your might on a door that opens inwards, worrying incessantly about sailing off the edge of the flat earth (it's round last time we checked), or investing your life savings in a firm with an impeccable reputation known as Madoff Investment Securities. Hindsight is always 20-20.
Here's a dimension that we have all come to believe in but actually does not exist. The idea, that emotions and experiences are driven or created by circumstances or the past - is a false dimension! A causal connection between environment and feeling doesn't exist, and never has. A causal connection between brain chemistry and feeling doesn't exist and never has. A causal connection between genetics and feeling doesn't exist and never has. A causal connection between a past trauma and a feeling right now doesn't exist and never has. But as long as someone honestly believes the premise that there exists a dimension where circumstances have some sort of creative power to create their experience - well, logically, they will expend a great deal of energy in modifying their environment in order to achieve a desired feeling. Worse yet, when it occurs to someone that their so called “required scenario for happiness" is unattainable, many people resign themselves to a life of mediocrity, or dare I say, give up on life altogether. Each time anyone is reawakened to the single creative source of all of life, the generative power behind all temporary feeling in any present moment, they are relieved. Relieved from pursuing the so called "required scenario for happiness", relieved from all the ruminating and planning involved in that false endeavor, and relieved from needing to resign to a lifetime of misery - relieved from wasting valuable effort searching for your keys under the lamppost just because that’s the only area visible to you. For in truth, finding your keys or discovering happiness are temporarily bestowed via Thought. Any feeling can show up, anytime, anywhere, for anyone regardless of any kind of past or present circumstance. The Power of Thought has that kind of freedom! And we have the permission to serve the universe from any state-of-mind, to securely feel the entire spectrum of human emotion without fear of being defined by its fleeting, momentary presence. It may be tempting to overlook the creative Power of Thought, to find the cause of our feeling in the visible, graspable world. But in doing so, we innocently step into a dimension that while well-lit, doesn't actually exist. |
AuthorsTwerski Wellness Institute aims to bring posts from many different Principles-based bloggers to spark reflection and insight. Archives
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