Growth Online > Knowledge Base > Personal/Spiritual Growth > Negative Expressions Negative Expressions (of the Individual) by Roy Posner and MSS   Introduction to Page General Observations Negative Life Response Specific Negative Expressions: Wanting Attitudes Disturbed Emotions Selfishness Stinginess, Miserliness Ego Anger, Irritation, Arguing Fear, Worry, Anxiety, Doubt, Insecurity Habituality, Fixidity, Rigidity Closed Mindedness Reluctance Overeagerness, Impatience, Expectation, Excitement Desire Possessiveness, Attachment Being Critical, Judgmental On Being Criticized, Offended Lack of Self-Esteem Jealousy Depression Confusion Skepticism, Cynicism, Lack of Faith Teasing, Taunting Meddlesomeness, Imposition of View Lack of Energy, Fatigue, Non-Well-Being, Illness, Ill-Health Ignorance, Error, Falsehood, Evil Superstition Mistaken Assumptions in Life Psychological Weakness Naivete, Innocence Negative Atmosphere, Social Context Meanness, Cruelty Distain for Benefactor Anachronisms (& Other Negatives of Society) Other: (Dishonesty, Irresponsibility, Corruption, Ambition, etc.) Also See: Physical Illness Overcoming our Limitations in Life (other page) Perceptions of Failure & Success; Good & Bad; Positive & Negative Miscellaneous     Note: Items in italic are on other pages       INTRODUCTION TO PAGE (top)   [There are so many ways we express our negativity in life. Below are our original thoughts on several dozen of the main ways. Perhaps you can identify several that you have a propensity towards. If you then make an effort to them, life will instantly respond with sudden good fortune.]   GENERAL OBSERVATIONS (top)     General Thoughts on Our Negative Expressions in Life   Small Negative Behaviors Attract Negative Response Even relatively benign behaviors like sarcasm, skepticism, teasing, not to mention irritation and impatience, can draw out ill fortune, or avoid positive outcomes. To see how subtle it is will be an inner effort of precisions that we can readily see and document from our own experiences. We can see the same in the positive direction. If one can become sensitive to the expressions of others down to this level of subtlety, one can anticipate if not predict future outcomes, which is one path to experience the Marvel.   The Negativity in Our Essential Nature -What is our essential nature? We are divided beings who need to find their wholeness. And we need to discover the methods that will enable us move us toward that wholeness. -Why is our nature divided? All sentient beings are born of the division and duality of creation. The Absolute, the Omnipresent Reality, in order to extend its Spiritual essence and delight into ultimate quantities and diversities of forms, enabled a universe of divided forms and beings. In order to extend spirit and delight, the Absolute, i.e. God manifested a universe of forms into which that spirit and delight could flow in ever new and dynamic ways. In order to create the greatest quantity and variety of these forms, they were created flawed and incomplete. How does our divided nature express practically in our being? We need to overcome that which is divided and dual in our own nature. We need to overcome our limiting habits, attitudes, opinions, judgments, behaviors, and false actions. We need to overcome our physical, vital, and mental deficiencies, including our dead habits, our fixidity, our unchanging nature in the physical; our blind passions, desires, negative emotions, ego and separateness in the vital/emotional center; and our vast ignorance, our partial understandings, limited perceptions, and false observations and conclusions of the mind.   Achieving by Raising Our Strength Overcoming Our Negative Qualities It is commonly said we do not know our weakness. That is a great truth. I have been insisting that we do not know our strength. Should a man know his strength and be willing to build on it, we see he rises like a meteor. Now greater heights call him. It is then one needs to know the other side of his character. A man who develops his strength rises to the maximum his own circumstances permit. When he looks at his weaknesses and removes them, the present circumstances change and new favourable circumstances arise. The second half, to remove one’s weakness, is harder but more rewarding, especially as it sets no limits. It actually removes ALL limits or barriers to one’s growth. One suggestion to mitigate its bitterness is to observe someone close to us - a brother, a friend, a partner - as we know him inside out. Also, he is one whose defects we are acutely aware of. Once we know it in all the details, we can safely assume that ALL those traits are in us. A spiritual rule says the outer fully reflects the inner. Those who are with us are with us because they have exactly the same qualities that we do. If your partner is one who has a mannerism, and you are sure you have no such mannerism at all, please scratch the surface and you will find that mannerism would have become a mental habit that inhibits your larger mental potentials. I these ways an individual's rise has no limits. Knowing yourself is Self-awareness in individual life. Should you try to raise this awareness to realisation, you will be at the top of your society. (MSS, extracted and reorganized)   Negatie Influences on Accomplishment Every accomplishment in life is vulnerable to interference or destruction by negative influences. The higher the accomplishment is with respect to previous levels of achievement, the greater the vulnerability. The character of a negative influence can be seen from the nature of events that occur when its approaches or leaves the atmosphere.    Here's an example. A man is at a certain level of income. He comes to the possibility of a big work which can lead to a big change in his life. However, his neighbors suddenly become hostile and bullish, which leads to a confrontation, at which he is injured by the neighbor, setting back his ascent to the greater level he aspired for. Small Attitude Cancels Great Opportunity Many can recall such instances where a small attitude cancelled a great opportunity. (MSS) Behind Failure to Accomplish Behind failures lies one invariable reason -- trying to accomplish in the outer field and enjoy what one is not inwardly prepared for. (MSS)    Variables that Enable Accomplishment vs Failure Human action, individual character, social character and the character of life combining and interacting generate a set of results. When those results are what the characters themselves would view as positive, we can refer them as examples of accomplishment. When they are negative, we term them failures. (MSS, slightly modified)   Untitled Individuals as well as society achieve only when the strength is Organised to contain the mischief of the negative. (MSS)   Accomplishment as Not Ignorance An accomplishment [we have made] tells us we are NOT insisting on our Ignorance. (MSS)   Nature vs. Spirit's Way to Overcome Problems, Knots of the Past Unless one consciously digs them up and holds them up to the descending Light, the problems and knots of the past have to undo themselves by the negative impact of life events. This is Nature's way. The first, the spiritually conscious approach, is preferable, in terms of greater speed, joy, and great results, undoing the burdens of the past ways. (Paraphrase of MSS)   Untitled Everyone has a past which is Not an irrevocable bar, but an obstacle to be surmounted. Giving up the past not only is protection in the present but brings further openings. (MSS)   Atmosphere to Accomplish An individual's ability to accomplish is affected by the social environment and atmosphere -- which includes the capacities, energies, character, and circumstance of the social environment and social institutions he is involved in. When that environment, atmosphere is positive one is more likely to accomplish; when negative, it is less likely   Reversing One's Folly through Spirit Life tells a man that it is difficult if not impossible to reverse the current plight he finds himself in because of his earlier folly. In Spirit, acts of earlier folly can be reversed through recognition of past error, and a deeply felt emotion of that recognition. The Spirit tells him, “If you genuinely regret in your emotions the folly of an earlier act, or reverse your past attitudes that led to that folly now in your understanding and feelings, the results of your folly -- such as huge debt, lack of work, failed marriage, etc --  will fully, quickly, and irreversibly dissolve, liberating you forever.”  Spirit corrects physical FACTS by the reversal of TRUE feelings deeply realized. (Paraphrase of MSS)   Nature vs. Spirit's Way to Overcome Problems, Knots of the Past Unless one consciously digs them up and holds them up to the descending Light, the problems and knots of the past have to undo themselves by the negative impact of life events. This is Nature's way. The first, the spiritually conscious approach, is preferable, in terms of greater speed, joy, and great results, undoing the burdens of the past ways. (Paraphrase of MSS)   Untitled Everyone has a past which is Not an irrevocable bar, but an obstacle to be surmounted. Giving up the past not only is protection in the present but brings further openings. (MSS)   On Scarcity Scarcity is the desire NOT to see the abundance around. (MSS)   Secrecy and Non-Accomplishment Accomplishment through secrecy is like the illiterate’s ambition to be a writer. (MSS   Rising Beyond Ambition It is clear that accomplishment is highly desirable. It is equally clear that ambition is undesirable. The doubt that is a festering sore in us arises because one goes with the other. When we discourage ambition in us, we lose enthusiasm and our achievements are dwarfed. Is there a way of doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong motive? Taking complete interest in the subject and losing oneself in it will wean us away from ambitious motives. It will work for some time. After some time, ambition will rear its head. At such a juncture KNOWLEDGE helps immensely. One must think about this situation. Such a person will realise that 1. Ambition is ruinous, 2. Achievement is eminently possible without ambition. The knowledge that aspiration for a high goal that is not ambitious fulfils itself, is a great spur to progress. Thus ambition is overcome. Another method often advocated is to compete with oneself - to strive to be better than before. This way one concentrates NOT on the material gain but on the QUALITY of performance. To consecrate the goal to the Spirit is a spiritual method. Then our ego is replaced by the Spirit. Ambition in the lexicon of Spirit transforms itself into aspiration. (MSS, slightly reorganized)   On Humility -Humility is the inner knowledge that MAN is a trifle before the world, Nature or God. -As we invoke the Spirit, so we can acquire humility. -Humility must be acquired as inner character for it to be of value in Spirit. It is not enough it is exhibited as outer behaviour. The moment one becomes truly humble inside, life with its abundance rushes towards him. (MSS)    Definition (of the Opposites) of Generosity & Meanness Meanness is an attitude of asking another to do what we cannot. We can construct a definition of generosity based on it. To give another man, without his asking, what he cannot accomplish by his best efforts can be defined as generosity. Even that generosity when it is tinged with ego is impermissible or at least will be a lever for him to hurt you. The opposite of generosity is meanness. (MSS, somewhat modified)   Your Choice of Temperament, Attitudes to Exercise that Enables Success or Failure -Those who prosper will look at the world from their highest responsibilities. Those who refuse to prosper will always attribute their failure to external circumstances. -The capacity to complain against everyone and everything keeps the other where he was forty years ago. -Choose the RIGHT, the GOOD, the PLEASANT, the VALUABLE and that is the ladder for progress. -If you complain, whine, bark, are lazy, compete or ascribe your failure to others, you constantly slide down. -Evil, meanness, deceit, violence, cruelty, tyranny, falsehood, MONEY VALUE, mercenary attitude, short temper, greed, demand, desire, craving, suspicious nature, doubt, sloth, etc. have never paid social dividends. -In the end, these are aspects of your temperament that you choose to exercise. (MSS, modified)   Good Will Towards those With Ill Will Can Ruin One A servant girl was good at heart. Hers was pure goodness. Her mother and brothers turned against her, teased her, punished her, tyrannised her, and wanted to ruin her. The atmosphere of Grace where she worked effectively protected her against the ordeal of tyranny. Grace gave her a great marriage and wealth. Now the family woos her. One of her well-wishers advised her to help her family rise as a gesture of good will, little realising that ill will served by Good will would ruin her completely. Not only that, the family would enjoy trampling her under their feet when she fell. Family affection in the presence of active ill will is a sure self-poisoning. It is a dangerous experiment. Society lauds it. Spiritual experience warns against it. (MSS)   Misc. Untitled When one forces an initiative, it will backfire. E.g. Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice tried to meddle in a situation and it only leads to her failure.   Untitled A person can be effective when he tries something in his own plane. But if you try something at a higher plane it won't work. E.g. Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice tries to influence Mr. Bingley who is in a higher sphere, and her plans do not work.   Ultimately what accomplishes is authority whatever the context is.   Problems Solved by Releasing Emotion If you have a difficult problem, release the negative emotion inside you, and turn it into thought or even non-thought. Life will respond positively in kind by reversing the difficulty.   Untitled Sexual experiences are often followed by losses of money, small accidents, and other negative experiences. The intensity depletes the energy in the being. When energy is reduced, negative life response can occur.   Negative vs. Ferment Atmospheres How to distinguish between a negative atmosphere, and one of great ferment and turmoil, when initiating a significant undertaking? Perhaps in the former the negative atmosphere disturbs, whereas in the later we can identify with the emerging positive.   Overcoming Ego Movements Watch yourself when you are making the effort to a higher consciousness at a meeting or social gathering; your ego will bull through the proceedings and try to assert. It is a poison that tries to mingle with one's inner life, tingeing your relationship with the outer crowd. It's influence can begin to be overcome by a movement within away from surface living, and be permanently overcome by a concerted effort to find one's personal evolving soul within.   Secrecy & Accomplishment Secrecy is an essential capacity for accomplishment, yet uncalled for secrecy cancels work. (MSS)   Vedanta's Five Reasons for Human Suffering There are five reasons why human beings suffer, according to Vedanta. These are the five kleshas on which Buddhism drew for the Four Noble Truths. First, they do not know who they are. Second, they grasp, hold on, cling to that which is impermanent, transient, intangible, ephemeral, dreamlike, which has no real existence. Third, they are afraid of, run from that which is transient, intangible, insubstantial, dreamlike, ephemeral, which has no real existence. Fourth, they identify with the false self, a moment-by-moment fabrication, which is a figment of the imagination, they sacrifice their souls, their spirits for a false identity. Fifth, they are afraid of death, of the unknown. And then Vedanta says, all those five reasons are contained in the first. (Deepak Chopra, somewhat modified)     Overcoming Our Neativities to Make Rapid Progress and Attract Sudden Good Fortune -Out of creation comes divided ignorant forms. Man shares that propensity of matter. It has led to all of his wanting psychological conditions. There are a number that stand out. Each can be overcome when one perceives the problem, and then makes the concerted effort to change it. -As man evolves in consciousness, his negative propensities are overcome. -Each individual has his unique set of wanting qualities. If he overcomes several of them, he evolves rapidly in life. -Life progresses through the conflict and dualities of Nature. It is with the contradiction of the realities of life and the wanting qualities we embody. Through difficulty we slowly overcome several wanting qualities. If we do it consciously we can make rapid progress in no time, and life will constantly be bringing us good fortune. Achieving by Raising Our Strength Overcoming Our Negative Qualities It is commonly said we do not know our weakness. That is a great truth. I have been insisting that we do not know our strength. Should a man know his strength and be willing to build on it, we see he rises like a meteor. Now greater heights call him. It is then one needs to know the other side of his character. A man who develops his strength rises to the maximum his own circumstances permit. When he looks at his weaknesses and removes them, the present circumstances change and new favourable circumstances arise. The second half, to remove one's weakness, is harder but more rewarding, especially as it sets no limits. It actually removes ALL limits or barriers to one's growth. One suggestion to mitigate its bitterness is to observe someone close to us - a brother, a friend, a partner - as we know him inside out. Also, he is one whose defects we are acutely aware of. Once we know it in all the details, we can safely assume that ALL those traits are in us. A spiritual rule says the outer fully reflects the inner. Those who are with us are with us because they have exactly the same qualities that we do. If your partner is one who has a mannerism, and you are sure you have no such mannerism at all, please scratch the surface and you will find that mannerism would have become a mental habit that inhibits your larger mental potentials. I these ways an individual's rise has no limits. Knowing yourself is Self-awareness in individual life. Should you try to raise this awareness to realisation, you will be at the top of your society. (MSS, extracted and reorganized) Man's Self-Deception Has Negative Consequences; It is Not Star-Crossed Man successfully deceives others. He is a cheat. People are cautious about him. What about one who deceives his own self? People believe him and at times of crisis, his true colours come out. Actions, especially the results of action are the touchstone. He who deceives himself destroys himself fully. Sitting for long hours at the reading table or the writing desk does not mean he is reading or working. If a student is under the illusion of consummate self-deception that he is sincerely reading by sitting at his desk for long hours, the exams and his scores will reveal the truth. At these moments such people say, "I am star-crossed." He is NOT star-crossed. He is not responsible even to himself. This is a pitiable case. There are others in an office who are universally known to be polite, diligent, dutiful, and hard working. They have a finer discrimination. They know their own interest different from the duty to the office. (MSS)   When Capable Men Fail & How to Overcome -When capable men fail in life, it is due to neglect or dissipation. -Capable men in life or business choosing a negative alternative meet with failure. -How can a capable man fail in life? If he is negligent or indulges in self-destructive ways, he alone can help himself by turning over a new leaf. (MSS, extracted)   Change the Corresponding Inner Negative to Instantly Change the Outer to the Positive Life on the outside is a reflection of our inner condition. A negative circumstance on the outside can be reversed by discovering the corresponding wanting element within. As soon as we change it, life responds instantaneously, bringing us good fortune.   Negative Characteristics at Various Planes of Our Being Our negative characteristics show up from physical to vital to mental planes. E.g. at physical plane we can be unhealthy, stubborn, and unwilling to change. At the vital level we can be jealous, angry, fearful, lust-filled, etc. At the mental level we can be confused, uneducated, and misinformed.   Examples of Negative Attitudes, Habits, Beliefs An individual - �         is unwilling to take up a work offered to him �         is unwilling to take up exercise for her health when she needs to do so �         is careless about being on time �         has a negative attitude about his work �         has negative feelings to a type of person �         feels that others don't like �         is pig-headed in his opinions �         always tends to blame others, doesn't take responsibility �         is uncaring of their oppressive or bullying ways towards others �         doesn't follow through on what he promises �         is not organized enough to keep his word and intent �         is insensitive to the forcefulness of her words �         doesn't like her boss �         doesn't take responsibility for his children �         harbors a long term hatred �         is careless with money �         is unconscious of the harm he has created for others �         is careless with the objects he borrows �         is unwilling to take up the good advice others offer him �         is untruthful and deceitful �         is callous of the difficulty he creates for others �         is just spoiling to ruin the work for the team �         is rebellious and does not like to work with others �         is unwilling to make the necessary effort �         is unwilling to consider opposing points of views, new ideas �         is unwilling to do a work in a new way Any attempt to overcome these, rectify them will attract rapid abundant positive response from life.   Offering Wanting Attitudes to the Spirit to evoke Positive Response We feel that our opinions and attitudes are always right. First of all we have to stop saying this. As long as we feel we are right we are fully identified with our ego. There are no right or wrong attitudes, there are only attitudes that help or hinder our growth. Positive attitudes help our lives expand. Negative attitudes make it contract. We can pray that the negative attitude should change. The attitudes we have created are one of the ways by which the Infinite has become finite. Our job now is to reverse the direction and make the finite Infinite. The way we do that is to reverse our attitudes of which we have thousands. There is a method that can work for all of us. Wherever we feel a strong reaction, without trying to justify it in any way, let us say "I offer this attitude to You, Mother. Let me give it up. Let me make a progress."Call Mother at that point to reverse it, to dissolve that attitude. There is infinite prosperity behind each of our opinions, attitudes and habits. Each time we come forward to give one of them up, we release an enormous energy that translates in our lives as the disappearance of a problem or the sudden appearance of a great opportunity. Surrendering these aspects of our ego is the surest way to invite infinite prosperity into our lives. (Ragini)   Man's Self-Deception Has Negative Consequences; It is Not Star-Crossed Man successfully deceives others. He is a cheat. People are cautious about him. What about one who deceives his own self? People believe him and at times of crisis, his true colours come out. Actions, especially the results of action are the touchstone. He who deceives himself destroys himself fully. Sitting for long hours at the reading table or the writing desk does not mean he is reading or working. If a student is under the illusion of consummate self-deception that he is sincerely reading by sitting at his desk for long hours, the exams and his scores will reveal the truth. At these moments such people say, "I am star-crossed." He is NOT star-crossed. He is not responsible even to himself. This is a pitiable case. There are others in an office who are universally known to be polite, diligent, dutiful, and hard working. They have a finer discrimination. They know their own interest different from the duty to the office. (MSS)   Achieving by Raising Our Strength Overcoming Our Negative Qualities It is commonly said we do not know our weakness. That is a great truth. I have been insisting that we do not know our strength. Should a man know his strength and be willing to build on it, we see he rises like a meteor. Now greater heights call him. It is then one needs to know the other side of his character. A man who develops his strength rises to the maximum his own circumstances permit. When he looks at his weaknesses and removes them, the present circumstances change and new favourable circumstances arise. The second half, to remove one's weakness, is harder but more rewarding, especially as it sets no limits. It actually removes ALL limits or barriers to one's growth. One suggestion to mitigate its bitterness is to observe someone close to us - a brother, a friend, a partner - as we know him inside out. Also, he is one whose defects we are acutely aware of. Once we know it in all the details, we can safely assume that ALL those traits are in us. A spiritual rule says the outer fully reflects the inner. Those who are with us are with us because they have exactly the same qualities that we do. If your partner is one who has a mannerism, and you are sure you have no such mannerism at all, please scratch the surface and you will find that mannerism would have become a mental habit that inhibits your larger mental potentials. I these ways an individual's rise has no limits. Knowing yourself is Self-awareness in individual life. Should you try to raise this awareness to realisation, you will be at the top of your society. (MSS, extracted and reorganized) One Small Perversity Overcome by Great Men One who is given to such reading cannot miss this element - the element of conscious endeavour to detach oneself from a small perverse joy - in the lives of great men.   Great men are great by birth. The greatness in them is born when the choice is there to deny the impulse of perversity which is hostility to the Divine. (MSS)  Proud of Our Shortcomings "No," he said proudly, "I never did have much use for these computers." In a thousand different ways we smugly proclaim our ignorance; proud of our shortcoming. And so we stay where we are, in our comfort zone, indulging in our taste of Ignorance. Thoughts on Negative Expressions that Block Achievement in Life Thoughts on the Ways We Overcome Our Limitations in Life   NEGATIVE LIFE RESPONSE (top)   Negative Life Response -Every wanting behavior returns as negative response sooner or later. When it happens quickly and with no apparent outer causality it is a life response.  E.g. a man hope to taunt another, and thereafter everything he does at the meeting goes wrong for him -- even before he has actually done the taunting! -Sudden good fortune coming one's way is positive life response; sudden ill-fortune is negative life response. -Ill-fortune suddenly coming your way for no apparent reason has its origins in a wanting inner or outer movement of consciousness. Negative Life Response All positive and negative qualities within us return to us. It is the law of karma. It can do so instantaneously, which is negative life response.   Thoughts on Negative Life Response -Every negative that happens around you is a reflection of a negative inner or outer behavior. It is a negative life response. -Negative physical, vital, or mental energies move out into the field of life and align with corresponding negative conditions. It appears to us as a negative life response, i.e. sudden ill fortune. -Since the outer  is a reflection of the inner, a negative result outside ourselves is always reflective of some corresponding condition within us. -The inner reflects the outer because the inner and outer than One. They are not two separate entities. Thus when we shift the inner to the negative, the outer responds similarly.   Avoiding Negative Life Response We are constantly attracting negative life response to ourselves -- i.e. the sudden onset of ill fortune, though we don't know why. It's simple really: every negative bit of luck that comes our way can be directly attributable to a wrong attitude or action expressed previous to it. For example, we express hostile feeling towards someone, and 10 seconds later from out of nowhere, we receive news that an important business contract of ours has been cancelled. In essence, our negative energy moved out into the field of life and aligned with corresponding negative circumstance that now appears before us as ill-fortune We can observe this phenomenon by watching the simplest of TV shows, knowing that what is in the mind of the author is a subconscious awareness of how life really operates. For example, in one episode a partner A plays a practical joke on the other B, much to the detriment of the latter. Within 10 seconds of the conclusion of the matter, A receives word of bad news via post. Or, in another episode C scolds his partner D, when he could have been more understanding, and D immediately is confronted with ill fortune on a related matter. While it is fairly simple to observe this subtle phenomenon of “Life Response” in the attitudes and behaviors of others, it is more difficult to see it in our own lives – i.e. trace back the negative fortune that has just come to us to a negative propensity expressed or felt moments earlier. And yet we can train ourselves to do that as well. It can actually be quite useful to detect this cause and effect relationship because if we know the cause of the sudden onset of ill-fortune, we can avoid such wanting attitudes, habits, and opinions in the future, which will mean that our fortunes will continually move to the positive. If we do this on a regular basis, life will unfold as an endless procession of good luck. For example, accomplishment and success will not only double, but increase by 10 times or more. And it will come by sudden burst of unexpected good fortune. It’s the secret miracle of life that awaits us all when we become conscious in every moment and avoid the negative. Overcoming the Vitriol of Fans Can a negative attitude precipitate and elongate a problem -- i.e. attract persistently negative circumstance? For 50 years, the Giants have played baseball in San Francisco after moving from Manhattan in the late 1950s. They have not won a single championship, having an almost unmatched record of futility. One of the mantras of the team is "Beat LA," meaning Los Angeles. Actually, it is expressed in terms harsher than that. Interestingly, in LA they rarely say anything so scurrilous as the fans in San Francisco. Could this negative attitude on the part of fans in SF attract persistent negative results that have deprived them of a single championship in 50+ years? Consider the results. There have been many instances where the Giants were in the pennant run, only to be knocked out at the end by the LA Dodgers. When the Giants finally made it to the World Series several years back, they were poised to win, only to be deprived of the prize by the Los Angeles Angels at the last moment! This dynamic has occurred repeatedly over the years. The fans' vitriol always seems to rise before they are about to play an important series with their Southland rivals; and invariably the futile results follow -- often in the most “creative” of ways. And yet there is a solution. If the fans and media can learn to control their LA contempt, shed their inferiority complex, and take to playing solid ball, conditions will quickly arise that will put them in contention; even in a position to win a championship. Sounds far-fetched? It is precisely how life works. The very same dynamic holds true for each of us in our own lives. If you discover and overcome a wanting attitude, areas of failure you have experienced will quickly turn successful, as positive circumstance will appear out of nowhere. Why not test out the theory?   The Potential Positive Power of Negative Life Response Life responds positively and negatively; i.e. with good or bad fortune, reflecting your inner condition at the time. It is the phenomenon of "life response" in action, which is predicated on the principle that the outer is a reflection of the inner. When a negative circumstance comes your way, it can be tied to one or several wanting qualities on your part -- perhaps a wanting habit, a negative attitude, a wrong-headed belief, a wrong decision or action, or any of these in combination. One man had his car towed and perceived a plethora of wrong attitudes that attracted this negative circumstance from life. It indeed consisted of a combination of the previously alluded to factors. The key of course is to avoid such attitudes in the past which will prevent life responding negatively. It will also be an opportunity to come to grips with limitations in your nature; i.e. it is an opportunity to grow as a person. In that sense every negative that comes to us is a positive in disguise.     Negative Life Response in Pride and Prejudice · Mrs. Bennet's meddling in trying to win over Bingley for Jane backfires. (As we shall see later on, Bingley will leave with Darcy for London, nearly breaking Jane's heart. This is a negative response to Mrs. Bennet's meddling.) (negative life response to Mrs. Bennet.) · Jane tells Eliza that Bingley disbelieves Wickham's account of Darcy; as does Jane's sister. Still Eliza cannot fully believe those so close to Darcy; i.e she distrusts them because they are prejudiced for him. This causes Eliza at the party to become very confused and distraught. Her mood turns decidedly negative. Suddenly around her everything responds to the negative state. Her mother talks very loudly and vulgarly, embarrassing her again, Mary's piano playing and singing become a source of shame, and Lydia accelerates her wild nature and carrying on. (Negative life response for Eliza.) · At the dance Mrs. Bennet speaks out of the fact that her daughter Eliza will surely marry Collins, a verbal boast that proves completely false. (This is a negative life response to her boasting (i.e. loud speech; as well as forceful speech in the light of uncertainty, which is weakness.) · Lady Catherine meets with Eliza and orders her to stop any sort of marriage plans with Darcy. The opposite takes place, which is a negative response to her negative motives. (This in turn creates a positive response from Darcy's perspective, who later learns of that meeting between LC and Lizzy. The fact that Lizzy refuses to say to LC that she wouldn't marry him, encourages him to see Lizzy again, which ends in success as he and Lizzy agree to marry. (Negative life response for Lady Catherine. Meddlesomeness) Also Eliza's strength enables the outcome (i.e. her marriage to Darcy) to be an eventual positive life response from her side.   Negative Attraction in Pride and Prejudice The other day I randomly opened Pride and Prejudice with a similar concentration one would have before opening Savitri. It was the section where Eliza is walking along with Wickham, obviously smitten. Thereafter she meets with Jane who informs her that she received a letter that Bingley is going off for a while, suggesting a possible halt to Jane and Bingley’s relationship. We know that later Eliza is furious with Darcy about this development when he proposes the first time – i.e. that Darcy instigated it (which Darcy said was for Bingley’s own good, believing Jane did not truly love him). I believe these were the events. Well it struck me that in fact Eliza is responsible for that development! Because she had just been with Wickham, which was negative for her, she aligned with negative circumstances that Jane was now reporting to her. So what Eliza blamed Darcy for, splitting Bingley up from Jane, Eliza “instigated” herself. MSS Comment: It a striking insight. Wickham’s arrival is associated with Bingley’s departure. Wickham is false and his consciousness is such that it destroys relationships because there is no true underlying basis — the outer perfection is an appearance covering the heart of a rogue. Your comments brings out the fact that it is not so much Wickham’s presence but Elizabeth’s response (attraction) to him that brings about Bingley’s departure. A perceptive Indian (or reader of your book) would have immediately noted the connection between Wickham’s coming and Bingley’s going.   Small Negative Movements Attract Negative in Pride and Prejudice At the Netherfield Ball, Elizabeth feels what Austen calls an irresistible temptation to tease and taunt Darcy and raise the issue of Wickham. The movement of irresistible temptation spreads like a tsunami wave from her and reflects in the embarrassing behavior of Sir Lucas, who approaches them to speak about Jane’s imminent marriage, Collins who insists on approaching Darcy, Mrs. B who openly abuses Darcy and brags about Jane’s marriage, Mary who wants to play piano, etc. Elizabeth never realizes the whole movement began with her uncontrolled impulse. Later Mrs. B taunts Mrs Lucas with the prospect of Jane’s fortune marriage and says she hopes the Lucases are as fortunate very soon, fully convinced they will not be. Two days later Collins proposes to Charlotte and the Lucases inherit Longbourn! Had Mrs B known that her taunt would not only help Mrs Lucas achieve but transfer the Bennet good fortune to her, she might have been constrained to silence. That is the very truth of it. Ill-will transfers our good fortune to others.   Negative Action Returns An eldest son who deerted his dependent family thus and retired as a high official discovered that his son after graduation refused to take a job and could not be married till he was 50. The father had consciously deserted his desperate family. His son gleefully enjoyed life, spent his father's money and chased women. (MSS)   The Meaning Behind the Offending Phone Call It is said that the Lord works in mysterious ways. They are mysterious because we do not understand them, and yet we are fully capable of doing so. I believe it is His wish. Have you ever received a phone call at exactly the wrong moment; e.g. when you are about to settle down for a dinner or at an important moment in a film you are watching. Have you ever wondered why? Normally we consider it mere chance or bad timing or ill luck. There are many rational reasons that explain the cause. If the party on the offending line is engaged in an intense vital pursuit, such as wanting to desperately sell you something, and do so at all cost, you will tend to receive that call at precisely the wrong moment. Their negative energies burst through your own defense lines, spoiling happy moments with their own needs and desires. Interestingly, it also works in the reverse. You will receive an unwelcome phone call at precisely the wrong moment because of something you have neglected in the past or otherwise precipitated on your own end. They are expressing their right action, but you are attracting them at precisely the wrong time because of the negative energies you released previously. There are two examples of how the Lord -- or rather the cosmic unfoldings of life -- works in mysterious ways. To recognize the underlying intent and background is to ascertain the meaning in the offending call. And therefore know what they or you have to overcome to move to the positive to avoid repetition in the future. Life is full of such lessons, if we only penetrate the surface.  It is a study I have engaged in for decades, the results of which can be found at the Growth Online web site. We welcome all who wish to learn the subtle secrets of how life unfolds in the universe.   SPECIFIC NEGATIVE EXPRESSIONS (top) Wanting Attitudes (top)   Attitudes is Problem The main problem is in our wanting attitudes. 90% of our difficulties are rooted there.   On Attitudes in Life Perhaps our greatest stumbling blocks are in our attitudes. In our attitudes lies our greatest barrier to success in life. We can trace our positive and negative attitudes towards others, towards, things, towards ourselves, and towards life. Each person can make the effort to overcome their own predominant negative attitudes. This will lead to becoming a better person, and enable greater accomplishment and joy in life. When a person changes a negative attitude, often we witness an instantaneous positive response from life.   Negative Life Response If you think of someone or some group in a negative manner (i.e. with negative feeling), you will almost be sure to have a negative life response somewhere thereafter to this expression. In that sense we can trace all negative responses in life that befall us back to such negative feelings, actions, etc.   Untitled Expressing a negative thought, such as a mischievous, unpalatable idea to others, will attract negative life response to the perpetrator a short time thereafter.   Small Attitude Cancels Great Opportunity Many can recall such instances where a small attitude cancelled a great opportunity. (MSS)   On Attitudes Take but three of your negative attitudes and turn them around. That's all you have to do. Your life will change forever. Everything else can be irrelevant.