The Ultimate Method — A Gift, Not an Achievement
By Richard Eyre

Editor's note: During the "first half" of this column, Richard outlined and defined “The Three Deceivers” of Control, Ownership, and Independence, and detailed how our obsessions with them can ruin the quality of our lives. If you missed any of the earlier columns in this series, you can go to the Deceivers Archive (see right sidebar) to catch up. Then, in the the second phase of the column, he replaced the deceivers with "The Three Alternatives" of SERENDIPITY, STEWARDSHIP, and "SYNERGICITY" (again, see archives). The column will end next week. Send comments to Richard@meridianmagazine.com.

Methods and Prescriptive Philosophies ("How To")

We have spent the last few weeks of this column outlining organized ways to "change your mind" and to alter the way you look at the world, seeking to rid ourselves of the false paradigms of Control, Ownership, and Independence, and to try to view the world instead from the more spiritual vantage points of Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity.

The techniques of the Serendipity Line, the Stewardship Blanks, and the Synergicity Bands are "good-habit-formers" that can be very helpful in this regard. They can begin to change the way we see, the way we think, and the way we understand.

Still, techniques and methods are of limited value when we are dealing with things of the Spirit. A more spiritual perspective cannot be completely developed by mental means. A Godlike way of viewing the world can only come as a gift from God. The presence of the Holy Ghost is the one sure way to divert our eyes from the world and to understand things from the wider view of Heavenly Father's plan.

This is not to say that our own efforts don't count. "Self-help," particularly when it has components of self-discipline, can be truly transforming. One of the hallmarks of God's plan of agency is that we can, to a large extent, decide who we will be, and then move closer to that ideal by our will and our determination. After all, the words "as a man thinketh, so is he" are not from some self-styled self-help guru, but from Christ Himself.

How we think matters. What we think matters. Who we think we are and who we think we want to be matters. This column, from start to finish, has been written in an attempt to change, in some limited but very important ways, how we think. And we are the ones who must do the changing.

Where self-help runs into trouble is when it fails to recognize its limitations. When we depend too much, and to ultimately, on ourselves, we forget how small and limited we are, and lose the very humility that would allow us to tap into a higher source.

Gifts

We can "change our minds," but it takes the Spirit to change our hearts and to change our souls. A greater calmness and tranquility, and a more ordered and prioritized (and accurate thinking) mind can be developed and brought about through mental exercises like the ones that have been suggested in this column.

But there is something greater, something beyond the calm and clarity that we can bring about in ourselves. It is the gift of peace and the light of inspiration that comes not from within us but from above us, from the source of light and peace and truth. It is not earned, or deserved, or won. It is received as a gift by those who ask.

There are two very good things that come from working and striving for (and adopting habits that lead to) the attitudes of Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity. The first good thing is that, as we strive, we begin to develop these new ways of looking at the world, and we begin to escape from the deceptions that are their opposites.

The second good thing that comes from striving for them, is that we put ourselves in a good position to ask for them. Our works, as in any aspect of life, enhance and enliven our faith. God is more likely to give us a gift that we are already working for, or at least working toward.

So the final method I would like to suggest you adopt, in your quest for Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity, is simply this: Ask for them.

You who have read faithfully know that these three S-words are just symbols and attitude changes that represent spiritual concepts. Serendipity is a way of saying faith and guidance and acceptance of the Lord's will. Stewardship stands for humility and charity, diligence and discipleship. And Synergicity really means hope and recognition of the Lord's hand.

The names, and the perspectives they lead us to (and the attitudes they lead us away from) give us, I think, good transitions out of worldly world views and into deeper spiritual vision. They are "bridge" words that don't pit the world against the spirit, but rather try to integrate them. They are attitudes that allow us to have the two conscious goals of 1. Being in the world, and 2. Not being of the world.

Ask in prayer that you might avoid getting caught up in Control, Ownership and Independence, and that you might instead be able to adopt their alternatives, and that the gifts of the spirit that allow this change of perspective might be yours. This will cause you to think about what those gifts are that ye might seek them as well as ask for them.

Seek and ye shall find. Ask, and they shall be opened to you.

Thanks

I want to thank you for reading this column. I am encouraged (and hopefully sometimes inspired) to write it because of you. It represents ways in which I am trying to change, trying to grow, trying to understand. And the fact that you are with me, searching and seeking and discovering with me, makes me both grateful (to you and for you) and happy. May we all learn to "change our minds" and ask He who can to change our hearts.

Join me next weekend, the last weekend of this column, and let's explore how we can keep our association alive and continue our quest for the three alternatives even after this weekly column is no more.