Illusion of Lack
The Illusion of Lack”
Rob Wright
Need and want, abundance and lack, are intertwined in a foggy state of uncertainty, confusing generations, masking the true spirit of life. From birth, we are told to take care of our needs, before our wants. The “need” must be met to ensure happiness and stability. Yet as time goes on, embedding ourselves in overlapping human, mental creations of absolutes and presumed fears, we see a world constantly telling us to survive first, live second. Survive being hungry. Survive sickness and weather. Survive crime, taxes, wars and depressions... There is always something around the corner to prepare for! Something is out to get us.
It seems silly with hyperbole; nonetheless, we have let it muddy our waters. How much of our day is spent planning for some scary, rainy day? This day is marked on an invisible calendar with invisible ink, approaching us as we hurl ourselves toward it, prepared or not. Hours, days, weeks, years lost, while perfectly peaceful moments are stampeded by anxious preparation. “What if I lose my job? What if this doesn’t work out? What if an asteroid hits the planet?”
What do we lack? For need automatically bases itself upon not having. Of course, as we spend our time on this planet, in this skin, there are certain things that are required such as clean air, food, water, etc. Even then, we can withstand those things for periods of time, and when we have witnessed previously that any life can change in one unpredicted instant, how urgently necessary is anything truly?
Setting sustenance, shelter, and air aside, we find there is little we would “need” for existence, inasmuch to sustain us until the next golden moment. Our needs are intrinsically provided. The energy spent on worrying about what we seemingly need is wasted energy, and perpetuates that state of thinking, in turn affecting perception, and even your body’s reaction to such.
Right out of the gate, we are teaching our children that a world of need exists, and they believe it more than they believe the Easter Bunny. It has become a subtle rule of life. We will need education; we will need a job; we will need this widget and that. We live to consume, just to pass through a mundane moment... maybe the next moment will be better, or the next. From the outside looking in at society, we have the social growth and spiritual equivalency of Pac-Man. What a profound existence...
That mentality has brought about wars and famines, crime and suffering. There are hoarders trying to ensure they will always have enough. Living to survive something terrible, instead of being a change we wish to see, our light is turned over, given away and sometimes snuffed out. One cannot spread their light of truth and abundance while stockpiling in an underground basement. It’s time to understand that abundance is for everyone, and only the illusion of lack trains us to witness otherwise.
Once we understand the power we truly have within us, there will be no sense of lack, for the true treasure has been found. Upon finding that treasure, there exists no situation in which you cannot endure just long enough for current, apparent destiny to change on a dime. In the blink of an eye, anything can happen. If you believe and focus on positivity, help will arrive.
The art of seeing only abundance can be honed by searching within. Our heart cries out for it’s own journey, that story ingrained within us before birth. Finding that story, which dances and twirls deep within the place our authentic self creates, will sever the binds that tie us to limiting thought, enslaving us to another person’s perception or manifested collective worldview.
Of course, all of our stories are intertwined. This does not mean, however, that we are at the behest of another’s perception. It merely means that if we all follow the story written upon our heart, by our true selves, we begin to see a more fluid, cohesive manner in which our stories collide and mesh peacefully.
Immersing in another’s creation outside of our own can be so distracting, that our own story becomes fuzzy. Just because something exists, does not mean it must affect you, and just because something does not seemingly exist, does not mean it remains impossible. The line between possible and impossible only exists within the constructs of mind. Learn to operate through heart and imagination, unlocking the most profound truths within, and the mind will become your tool, working in conjunction with your passion.
Practicing this will chip away at the false matrix provided by the rules of life, a paradigm set by groupthink or other external factors. Find what makes you the individual that you are, for therein lies your truth and your story. When the heart is aligned with its story, life becomes effortless and prosperous--whatever prosperous means to you. Your parents’ or friends’ idea of success or happiness may not coincide with your own, and that is okay. We all have our own stories. Books, magazines, and TV portray their own sense of what is acceptable success or truly possible, but they are merely others’ creation and perception, based on their hopes, fears, and life experiences. If you see something outside of you that rings true or makes your heart leap, that is because it already exists within you and becomes a signal that you are witnessing a part of your story popping out from within to wave hello, beckoning you to keep traveling the path ahead.
Is desire a product of ego? Is wanting overstepping the bounds of a set expectation of what this earthly life is? No.
Though we are programmed to concentrate on need, it is our wanting and desire, when emerging from the true heart; they are the litmus tests from which we can determine our next step. The heart needs nothing but the freedom to shine through the muck, and if our heart desires something, we have to trust it to not be egoic or narcissistic. When operating from our highest capacity, there is no need to fear a connected heart feeling selfish.
Here is a brief example: A man works tirelessly to feed his family, send his children to college, takes care of relatives that seem to always need some sort of assistance. His days are filled with the pressures of those in need around him. Slowly, his health starts to wane and his hope for his own dreams fades into what seems a childish memory. He begins to resent his career, but he cannot possibly switch paths due to those that “need” him.
From the outside, he seems noble, and though the intention truly is, what is nobility at your own detriment? Soon, being tired and weary transforms into exhaustion, despair, and possibly bitterness. This affects the body and soon could lead to him relying on others just as those relied on him, thinking all options are limited. Meanwhile, the guilt of not being able to take care of those existing in need also sets in. He is stuck in a vicious circle, created by the perception that others’ stories supersede his own, becoming a martyr in vain.
I am not saying helping others is unnecessary. That would be heartless and ridiculous. I am illustrating an example where many get taken advantage of due to the ever expanding prism of lack. We feel that some are just unable to follow their own story, and so we carry their burden as well as our own. All parties suffer, consequently. Those that are dependent cannot break the cycle, while the altruistic drown from the perpetual swim upstream.
“I can’t change careers because...”, “I need a break from work, but...”, “I can’t drop this or that toxic person from my life because...”--All of these buts and becauses are that programming forcing us to look at need instead of our heart’s desire. It is not egoic to say no, or choose to do for oneself. It is not selfish to wish to follow the yearning of one’s heart. Your story, your life journey is for you, regardless of what others think or feel. They view life through their creation; you view through your own. Sometimes they line up blissfully as the two cross paths, and other times... we learn other lessons.
It is all so very simple in the end. Be where you wish to be—every day. Strip away the world of need in front of you. The mirage of lack has lulled us to believe it is a struggle and it’s all a fight. Breathe easy and know it is all within. Your health, your dreams, and all the love you need to fulfill an incredible journey. See the abundance, and feel the lightness about you as you realize your freedom and empowerment.
The ears wish to hear a great story while our lips wait to spill theirs. There is want in that, and bliss. Our eyes desire to see the daily mural of the sky, and our heart dreams to be flying in it. There is desire in these things, and a want that can lead us closer toward our story. Desire can be without ego. Need, however, is spawned by the illusory feeling of lack, and is the grandest example of how the ego works. Lack is of the mind. Abundance is the makeup of the heart.
As we awaken from our slumber and begin to remember instead of learn, anything is possible. We used to hear things like that when we were kids too... Anything is possible. What age was it that we dropped that idea for a seemingly better one?
So much sadness in the world today, all because too few are finding their own story, and worrying about the story next door, or the fictional one on TV.. Fear not though, because finding your story is as easy as simply starting to look. You are your own reality show, and I guarantee it will be far more entertaining, and far more real. I see more and more people doing just that every day, like you and me. Keep pushing passed the fear, tearing through the facade of lack, which masks a glorious world standing not far behind it. You won’t even have to strain your eyes to see it.
Remember why you’re here, experiencing what you’re experiencing. Trace it back, be the detective and find the clues of what got you this far and what you may have overlooked in the past. Go forward as if each second is a brand new creation of the universe. It’s a clean slate every day, and there is not one person on this planet to which that does not apply. Forget what you think you have been or will be, and forget the same of others. Treat every one and every day as if they are brand new, and I guarantee you, yourself in turn will be renewed.
And forget that illusion of lack once and for all. All you need is within your imagination, sparked by that invincible heart. It then becomes obvious there was never anything to overcome in the first place.