by Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda

Created on: January 17, 2009

We often judge as too simplistic the idea that if we "change our thinking, we change our world," yet this simple and fundamental truth is the foundation of most philosophies and spiritual paths. Although it sometimes becomes obscured beneath layers of religious narrative, superstition and mythos, it can even be found at the core of the less spiritually developed paths of the Abrahamic religions.

We may initially encounter resistance to the idea that our suffering and problems can be relinquished at will, because it's always easier to blame those experiences on external phenomena. Taking responsibility for what is going on in our lives is a radical approach, and forces us to engage a level of maturity seldom found in our spiritual lives. We've also been indoctrinated into the belief that these perceived problems are integrally part of our experience, and must therefore be part of who and what we are, that we lose control of our perspective.

Right now, you may be shaking your head, convinced that your problems are far too complicated to resolve by simply changing your perspective and changing your mind. Consider, however, that until you change your mind until you allow a shift of perspective the solution may not become apparent to you. Once we allow ourselves to view the experiences without judgment as "good" or "bad", we don't allow ourselves to function from the source and summit of our true nature that which some call the Buddha Mind or the Christ Consciousness the place of ultimate control over our perceived reality, which I often refer to as Zen Mind or Creative Intelligence.

Right this moment, there are unimaginably difficult circumstances going on within my own personal experience. I am quite aware of how easy it would be for most people (including myself) to just "give up," given the severity of these circumstances and conditions. And it would be so easy to place the blame on external persons, institutions, events and other phenomena.

But the truth is that these experiences are nothing more than impermanent circumstances, arising out of the interconnected and interdependent causes and conditions that exist all around me. They don't really affect me they affect my perception. They are teachers, challenging me to adapt to find a new course to learn to go where I might be uncomfortable being.

Nothing that is happening in your life right now is more powerful than you. No gods, demons, angels, spells or blessings can be found anywhere that do not originate in your

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