A love letter from Don: 1/21/09

What are self-serving motives?

The following article (Living On Purpose) refers to self-serving motives, and before you read it I want to clarify what I mean when making this reference. The world outside our self can cause us to become upset, dismayed or disillusioned. It can stir up stressful emotions: which cause us to act in a way that will attempt to make us feel better about who we are. Let’s say John feels anguished when becoming the brunt of another’s ill remarks. And so John wants to exact revenge on the offender. The thoughts of both parties, in this example, are raised for the sole purpose of protecting their personal acceptability. Either person is motivated, not out of love, but with the intention to selfishly serve their own ego-based desires. Our daily lives are full of examples demonstrating the control that self-serving motives exercise on the mind. The scope of examples is too vast to include more here, but if you want, you can perform an easy self -examination to evaluate your own reason for thinking and behaving in a particular way.

Here it is. Are my thoughts being guided by unconditional love? If the answer is “no” then somewhere in your thinking process you are wired into a self-serving motive. And thusly the purpose of your thoughts and actions will be to serve and justify that motive. db¤

Living On-Purpose

Are you living on purpose? Are you allowing the intention of Love to blossom within you? Are your actions guided by loving thoughts? Or, have you limited yourself to acting out of self-serving motives?
(Continued on the next page)

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“We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.”
- Buddha

Hello – I’m Don.

What is our purpose?

The answer to that question lies in a single choice. It depends on which source of purpose we choose as our guide. If we live with a spiritual purpose then we allow our thoughts and actions to be guided by love. If we should decide to dedicate the purpose of our lives to fulfilling the desire for self-serving thoughts and behavior, then our lives will be guided by turmoil.

Accompanying this turmoil is the feeling of entanglement, meaning we continually feel like we are all twisted up in the restraints of solving a present problem or resolving a lingering issue.

Love, on the other hand, is accompanied by freedom. Freedom brings happiness and entanglement brings frustration, confusion and disappointment. So if you want to check and see which purpose is guiding you, then do an analysis. Ask yourself: Do I feel free? Or, do I feel restricted by turmoil, anguish, or frustration?

Patanjali (150b.c.) was a spiritual practitioner of Yoga. In traditional Hindu style, Yoga involves inner contemplation, a rigorous system of meditation practice, ethics, metaphysics, and devotion to God.

Patanjali said: “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”

I believe Patanjali was referring to being “inspired by some great purpose” as that inspiration relates to spiritual purpose. When love is at the core of our actions, then creativity blossoms. Ideas just seem to appear out of nowhere. The mind is freed from restrictive thinking.

When we are committed to our spiritual purpose the Real Self is discovered. Our thoughts and actions radiate feelings of love and fulfillments, which both reflect and create additional thoughts and actions of the like.

When we follow our spiritual purpose, our karmic communication with the entire cosmos comes into perfect balance. We transcend ego-consciousness and actually become One with Spirit or Devine Consciousness.
And in this Oneness we experience the mind of God. We are One with the Devine. When our thoughts and actions radiate from this Mind, then we are living on-purpose. We are experiencing the freedom of Divine Life.

The call for Love is within everyone. To hear it we need only to allow the mind of God within, to connect with the mind of mind of God in Creation. We need only to return to being One with God. In Oneness with God we discover freedom. The mind is voided of restraining thoughts. Mental clarity is experience, and the recognition of boundless creativity fills our being. We feel turned-on, euphoric, enlightened. We experience a sense of self-reassurance. Something unrecognized and unexplainable grows from within, and we seem to be tapping into a part of the soul that was previously silent.

To a 100-level college physics class, the fuzzy faced college professor demonstrated a fundamental experiment relating to the electronic polarization of metal chips. It was a simple exercise but one that must have made an impact and lasting impression, because it has stayed with me for many years. Here is how the experiment was conducted. The professor placed a mound of itty-bitty metal flakes on a marble-top lab-table, and then by moving a magnet, he correspondingly caused movement in the bits of metal. The little flakes aligned with the electronic pull induced by the magnet. So the metal pieces faithfully followed the moving magnet.

Our thoughts react much the same as the tiny metal flakes. Thoughts follow the polarity force of the source to which they are magnetized. When we wave the wand of self-serving motives over the mind, selfish thoughts will accumulate. When indulged in self-serving thoughts, the only concern is drawn to satisfying the unsatisfied self. And so our purpose for living is manifested in the heap of itty-bitty thoughts, collected for the intention to make the self feel better, or more acceptable.

This same aggregate of thoughts is the cause of all inner torment, and feelings of emptiness. These tormenting thoughts need not control our minds, and can be rendered powerless. We do so by first choosing to deactivate the polarity of the force that governs those thoughts.

We may choose to follow a purpose that does not draw an accumulation of self-centered, troublesome thoughts. Rather, we may take a different approach and allow our thoughts to follow the polarity of Love-power. That Power is within all of us. By activating the energy in the mind of God within, we can also activate like energy in the thoughts that follow God’s mind. Allow Loving thoughts to marinade in the mind, and additional loving thoughts will gather. The “flavor” of our attitude and outlook will change.

In our home life, work life, social life, and romantic life, we are continually activating thought energy. Like those metallic chips, thoughts are being drawn towards the source that empowers them. Plug your thoughts into a source that tells you to give your energy, and thus meaning to a problem and guess what. That’s right! A magnetized procession of thoughts will follow. The addition and accumulation of like thoughts will give the problem more value, meaning and credence. And, you will become increasingly tormented by those thoughts.

A Buddha quote goes like this: “. . . our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” Change your thoughts and you will change your life. Every thought is a seed. If you plant a crab apple tree don't count on harvesting golden delicious apples.

If the purpose a person’s life is satisfied by self-serving motives, then he or she will develop an appetite for thoughts that assure the satisfaction of those desires.

Choose Love as the purpose of life and be assured that the mind will be immersed in thoughts that attract love. Peace, joy and happiness will abide within. Forgiveness will come with less difficulty. Kindness and compassion will allow us to recognize the presence of God in others. Love will become more visible, and the shortcomings of others will become more transparent. db¤
BE HAPPY!