The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds. – Albert Schweitzer
Change Your Mind/Change Your Life
What could you accomplish if you had the Midas touch of Warren Buffet, the selflessness of Mother Teresa, the entrepreneurial genius of Bill Gates, the dedication to a cause of Aung San Suu Kyi? If you could change your mind to think like any of these people, have their single pointedness of purpose, self-discipline, and drive, you could gradually become more like any of them.
When you can change your mind — not in the usual sense of reversing a decision, but fundamentally change your thinking — you change yourself and ultimately, your environment. We hear of people doing this in dramatic ways, like the former gang member who is mentoring young boys and men in his old neighborhood; the woman who was homeless, pregnant, and addicted at sixteen, now inspirationally helping girls at risk.
Paul the Apostle is probably one of the best known of those who have radically turned their lives around. Until his unforgettable religious conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul was a feared scourge of Christians who admitted that he “violently persecuted” this new religion. Yet, after he became convinced that Christ was really the long-promised Messiah, there was nothing he wouldn’t do to help advance the Christian movement.
Few of us have the unusual devotion, the humility to admit we are on the wrong track, or the courage to completely change the course of our lives that Paul displayed. At least we probably think we lack these virtues, especially if we’ve never been in a situation where they were needed. But most of us have some devotion, courage, and humility. We can build on these beginnings, and strengthen them. So why don’t we?
You know the answer to that. Changing ourselves is hard. Anyone who has quit smoking, alcohol, or drugs knows this. For most of us, it takes many tries, a lot of talking to ourselves, and some agonizing effort, and even then we may relapse a few or many times before we finally make this profound turnaround in our lives. Often, there’s a catalyst, like discovering you are pre-diabetic, before you can get serious about losing weight. In some fundamental way, we have to be deeply committed to changing ourselves to change our habits. But once we are, there are many boosts and supports to help us, much like having a personal trainer for weight loss.
This is where the Lemurian Philosophy comes in. If we have good reasons for changing our minds, the Philosophy can help us do it. When we understand the laws governing all life and human interaction, and start working with these eternal principles instead of against them, our problems begin working out. Not all at once, but gradually. Most of us won’t face the dramatic and momentous changes Paul or the other Disciples were called on to make. The changes we need to and can make are more modest, but potentially just as significant to us and those around us in our lives and environments.
Steadily, as we keep moving toward the good, the right, and the true, we experience in greater and greater measure that more abundant life Christ promised all of us so long ago.
Our progress depends on our attention to details. By giving these good thought, we develop mentally and can better meet more important issues. – Lemurian Philosophy
I had read these words about the reliable virtue Precision in my Lemurian study, but they really hit home when I found myself in a quagmire of paperwork, hunting for a single receipt. We needed this as proof of our car repair. And it was somewhere in the stacks of papers I’d set aside to file . . . someday. That day had arrived if I wanted to find that receipt!
No more wasting precious time digging through piles of paper! I decided to bite the bullet and use the good advice my Lemurian lessons offered. It took a few days of piles on the living room floor until it was organized – but it was worth it! And how satisfying to find the receipt and have everything neatly filed away.
Later, when mortgage rates dropped, it was to our advantage to refinance our mortgage. Anxiety started to build as I remembered the first time we refinanced, the hours sorting through receipts for information my husband needed to do the paperwork. Now, I’d have to do it on my own as he had set-in-stone deadlines at work. I felt completely inadequate to do this alone, but I had to so the house payment would be liveably lower. Setting my fears aside, I jumped in. With the filing I’d done earlier, it took just an hour to gather everything and get the job done. Now I was a believer in the reliable virtue Precision!
As long as I keep up with the filing, I have no trouble finding what I need when I need it, even under time pressure. And when something unexpected comes up, I can control my anxiety about handling the situation. I really get how helpful Precision is and how good it feels to be organized.
The reliable virtue Precision has become my friend. At a time when there’s so much said about how little time there is – how stressful life is – this virtue helps me free up time to meet the smaller daily challenges and handle the bigger ones more effectively. And as a Lemurian, this gives me precious time to fulfill my purpose in life and use my mind to grow spiritually.
