Are human beings destined to forever suffer “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” as Hamlet put it, or do we have the power to “rise up against a sea of troubles and, by opposing, end them?”
I ask the question because last week a person posting here as “T” wrote me this…

Seriously, Neale. We can’t have everything we want. In fact, in my life, what I’ve discovered is that absolutely nothing I can do will ever change, fix, or improve some of the situations I’ve been very unhappy with for what is approaching two decades. I’m really tired of hearing that it’s all my fault, that if I just had faith or believed enough or thought positively enough or repeated enough affirmations or meditated or whateverwhateverwhatever, I could make things go the way I want them to go!

I promised here on Monday that I would offer some additional comment on “T’s” contribution. “T” is a member, if case you don’t know, of our Sunday School All Week, which is being conducted in this space from now until Christmas.
So “T”, first of all, thank you for your contribution — only the first portion of which I have quoted above. (More response to “T” in my next entry here!) Now, as to what you had to say, let’s look at it, shall we?
You said…

Seriously, Neale. We can’t have everything we want.

You’re absolutely right, and I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact, I learned in my Conversations with God that you can’t have ANYTHING you want. Not one single thing. Why? Because, God said, the very act of “wanting” a thing…pushes it away from you.
You must understand one thing. You must grasp and embrace one fundamental Truth about Life if you are going to live a happy and fulfilling life, T. And before I go into that, let me explain what I mean by “happy” and “fulfilling.”
A “happy” life is a life that is marked by profound joy, peace, serenity, safety, security, wonder, excitement, warmth, laughter, and love.
(By the way, “peace” and “serenity” are not the same thing. Neither are “safety” and “security.” I invite you to ponder the nuance of their differences.
“Peace” is a state of being characterized by a complete lack of agitation, frustration, anger, resentment, judgment, disappointment or negativity of any kind at any level. “Serenity” is the state of being we enter when we know that our Peace can and will never end. It is the complete lack of anxiety, anxiousness, worry, or concern that Peace can or will be lost.
“Safety” is a state of being characterized by a sense of immunity to harm or hurt of damage of any kind at any level — mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual. “Security”is the state of being we enter when we know that our Safety can and will never end; that we are always safe, everywhere. It is the complete lack of anxiety, anxiousness, worry, or concern that Safety can or will be lost.)
So once again….a “happy” life is a life that is marked by profound joy, peace, serenity, safety, security, wonder, excitement, warmth, laughter, and love.
A “fulfilling” life is a life that is marked by a sense of total self-expression; an awareness that we are doing what we came here to do, that we have no unfinished business in any moment, that through the placement of our talents and energies into the fabric of life we have come to Know Who We Really Are and to experience our authentic selves, thus revealing and living our True Identity — and expanding it).
Okay. Now, T, what I said a moment ago was that you must understand one thing. You must grasp and embrace one fundamental Truth about Life if you are going to live a happy and fulfilling life. Now…here is that one thing:
You must understand that you are the creator of your own experience.
If you do not understand this, if you do not believe this, then you can never have the experience of creating your own experience, precisely because you are doing just that.
Because you ARE creating your own experience in every moment, T, whether you wish to admit or not, you are creating the experience of not being able to create your experience because you say you cannot!
Everything you say becomes your lived reality, whether you say that it does or not.
Are you getting this, T? You are in a hall of mirrors here. Everything in Life reflects back to you what you send to it. The image you see is the image you project.
Now, T, if you say “I WANT” something…whatever it is you said you “want,” you cannot have — because you’ve just said that you want it…and your words are creative. Your every word is an announcement to the Univ erse of the Next Reality That You Wish to Experience.
Are you getting this?
The statement “I WANT” only pushes the experience of what you “want” away from you. So you are right, T. You are absolutely right. We “can’t have everything we want.” That is correct. Indeed, it is profoundly correct.
(By the way, T, Conversations with God never said that we can have anything we want. In fact, it said exactly the opposite.)
Now, you then said…

In fact, in my life, what I’ve discovered is that absolutely nothing I can do will ever change, fix, or improve some of the situations I’ve been very unhappy with for what is approaching two decades.

I “get” that this is true for you, T, but I hope that you can understand that it is not true for everybody. In my life, in fact, the only way that any situation I’ve been unhappy with has ever been changed, fixed, or improved is if I change, fix, or improve it! Isn’t that interesting? We’ve had the exact opposite experience.
But in order for you to share my experience, in order for you to have an identical one, you needs must understand the difference between a “situation” and your “experience” of it. It is perhaps true that certain outward circumstances, conditions, and “situations” cannot be changed (at least, not immediately). Yet that does not mean that your inward experience of them cannot change. It can. And when it does, you set into motion the most powerful force in the Universe (the Energy of Creation), — a force that can and will ultimately change your outward situation, circumstance, and condition.
Remember in Star Wars when Obi Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker, “The Force be with you”…? This is what that was all about. That was not science fiction, T. That was Truth, masquerading as entertainment.
There IS a “force” in the Universe, T. Some people call that “force” God. Or Allah. Or Yehwey. Or Brahman. Or Pure Essence. Or the Essential Energy. Or The One Thing That Is.
By whatever name, that “force” may be used by anyone at any time. It begins as an Inner Manifestation, and it ends as an Outer Reality. First you change your Inner World, then you begin to impact your Outer World. You change your Inner World by creating your inner experience of anything — and everything. You change your inner experience by declaring with it is; by deciding what it is; why choosing what it is. This is done by an act of sheer will. This act of sheer will has nothing to do with outward circumstances or conditions or events. It has to do with your inward response to them.
Nothing and no one can dictate to you what your inward response to anything is or should be. You, and you alone, decide this. You make your decision based on many things. Past experience? Prior ideas (usually given to you by somebody else)? Future fears and anxieties? Or, perhaps, your highest thought about Who You Are and What Is SO for You Here and Now.
This is the space of pure creation. You can call anything “good.” ANYTHING. And when you “call it good,” it IS Good. And it becomes good in the experience of others as well, sooner or later, because your thought of a thing eventually and inevitably affects that thing — and all other things that are affected by it.
This is basic metaphysics here. This is the alchemy of the Universe.

I’m really tired of hearing that it’s all my fault, that if I just had faith or believed enough or thought positively enough or repeated enough affirmations or meditated or whateverwhateverwhatever, I could make things go the way I want them to go!

This, too, T said to me. And T, I hear you. Loud and clear. So here’s what I’d invite you to do. Pick up a copy of Happier Than God. Do this now. Not tomorrow, not in a few days. Right now. Get online and pick up a copy. It can in your hands tomorrow. All of your questions will be answered there. All of your frustrations will be addressed.
And we will continue — all of us here — with our Sunday School All Week in the days ahead. I have a hundred Commentaries to catch up on! Hang in there with me, folks. We’re on a roll here. And I want to hear from all of you.
When this Sunday School is finished in December we’ll have laid out a new spiritual worldview, and discussed and explored it extensively. It is going to be an exciting three months. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few dozen entries to read here from the Comments Section…