This isn’t the first time I have gotten onto My pulpit, shall I say, and urged you to come from plenty and not from lack. The world has taught you otherwise. The world has taught you to come from lack which amounts to the same thing as coming from possession and attachment. You become possessed or obsessed with possessions. Beloveds, there is nothing you own.
Ownership is an illusion. You become a collector of what? Matter. If you have the Kohinoor diamond in your safe, you are not the owner of it. If you paid a trillion dollars for it, whatever a court might say, you are not the owner of it. You hold some possessions in your hands for a while, yet you are not the owner of what is in your hands.
“This lollipop is mine,” a child might say to a friend. “I have ten lollipops, and you can’t have more than one of my lollipops or they will be gone, and I won’t have any left.”
Lollipops will multiply themselves. In life, the more you give, the more you have. The world has it backwards. Possessions are not yours. You really don’t need to hold on so tight.
When you are attached, it’s harder to give. Do you want to be attached? I’m not asking: Are you attached? I am asking: Do you want to be attached? Wanting and being are often two different questions.
I’m guessing that you would say: “Oh, no, I do not want to be attached. I know attachment is a trap. It keeps me prisoner. I do know that, in life, it is better to not be attached.”
If I were to ask you: “Beloved, are you attached?” probably you would answer: “Yes, I am.” You might be proud that you have all that which you are attached to. You are likely attached to a whole slew of things and ideas. Oh, My, those ideas that keep you bound.
You want to feel generous. I know you do. You might say you will be generous when you are wealthy. I say to be generous now. This way you will feel wealthy and not be so attached.
It’s possible you grew up with the idea that you had better be on guard, or everything will be grabbed from you. The world would like to take care of your thoughts and actions. We can say that the world is possessed with you and what you think, do, and say. The world would like you to conform to its way of thinking. Tomorrow, the world may have a different way of thinking, and so would like to pull you along. The world can change midstream and be just as right as ever, something like the way seasons change, or clothing styles every year.
You cannot fit into the world that does not fit you. That is cutting off your feet to fit the world. That you don’t fit into the world doesn’t mean you have to confront it. When the world says to love your enemy as yourself, you will have no enemies. It’s unlikely that you can change someone else’s mind. Who can change your mind, beloveds, except you? Even so, you could change it back again.
Firmness may not be better than flexibility. It depends. In the relative world, it is thought that everything depends on what has come before, as if the past tells the future. As it is, a poor man can become rich. A poor man can stay poor. A wealthy man may become poor, or he may become wealthier. There are no foregone conclusions in life. The future is not necessarily built on the past.
Be glad to share and welcome the new. You might lose interest in lollipops, and then they may just be lollipops and you won’t love your collection any longer for you have grown to a new height.