When You Wish upon a Star
When you Wish Upon A Star
We have been mystified and in awe of the universe since the beginning of time and have been trying our best to understand it. My favorite Astrophysicist is of course Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is the most articulate and explains the cosmos in simplified terms so people like me can understand. Black holes, time and space, planets, stars, super nova, meteors, asteroids and all the rest.
Yet, is this the same universe we mean when we mention “believe in the power of the universe”? “Trust the Universe” Or are we really alluding to an all powerful larger than us all God-like force?
Have you thought about that part of it all? What universe is “ The Secret” and all it’s successors speaking about? The cosmos? Planets? Stars?
Now, I know I am going to burst a lot of bubbles here and that’s why I have waited so long to say what I am going to tell you. But I feel the time has come for us to examine why we feel it is necessary to turn our power and control of destiny to a larger force that may or may not exist as we think it does. It is time for us to be the boy in the story “ The Emperor’s new clothes” and say, hey! He’s really just walking down the street naked”
By believing in “ the power of the Universe” And again, what universe do we really mean? We have pinned our hopes, and dreams, and given over control and our will to something other than ourselves. Our “version” of the Universe is a less religious type figure than God but isn’t that what we mean? We still want to believe a “god “ like mystical experience will grant us what we are searching for, if only we believe hard enough. We give it the power to rule our choices, decisions and outcomes so
1) We don’t have to take responsibility
2) We can blame things on something else
3) We can keep hopeful that the life we want is still waiting for us if we just “pray”, meditate, or concentrate hard enough.
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
William Shakespeare
I for one am willing to leave open the possibility of something larger than ourselves, if nothing else but to leave room for that hope, that faith if you will that something bigger than us really does exist. And I will go a step further in saying that I do believe there is an “energy” that binds and runs through us all and that we are all connected. (this may be due to too many Star Wars movies in my past).
However, If you want to learn and understand the Universe you would be better served following Neal deGrasse Tyson than “ the Secret”.
As we search for hope that are dreams and prayers can be answered. And look for logical outcomes and explanations, we are still feeding into the residual effect of a book offering dreams and pseudo religion for the secular.
“Things happen for a reason. “Really? Take a moment and think that through without all the smoke and mirrors. You lost your job? Your friend got cancer, or was hit by a bus? A gas line broke and blew up a building or a refinery, a boat sank, a child drowned, a person won lotto, a woman got pregnant after a miscarriage, you met your soul mate; Are all these things linked to an all knowing universe fatefully delivering our future?
Or is life a series of random events where we have control of some outcomes and no control of others?
The job you have, the people in your life, are they all due to the mystical powers of the stars and planets, black holes and meteors? Once again, I question “which” Universe are we talking about here?
I also say NO! I say, stop giving away control of your life to an unidentified, ill defined possibility in the name of “ the universe” Stop waiting for it to deliver the perfect life, job, partner, happiness, and my favorite phrase of the preachers; “ abundance”.
Nope, if you want those things? You’re going to have to go out and get them yourself!
YOU are in control. You make the decisions, have the thoughts and then carry out the actions to make or not make something happen. If you don’t put the time and work in, you will not succeed. Your perfect life will not be delivered to you like some grub hub order. It’s a crutch, a way of self -soothing. I hate to be the one to break that bubble, to pull you from your comfort zone and take that self- soothing away, because it’s nice and comfy there. That’s why you are shaking your head right now and saying a big “Say it isn’t true! “ Why you are thinking NOOOO! the universe does exist! ; just yesterday I experienced a coincidence!
Because it is soothing to think an omnipotent force is guiding you to ever lasting peace and contentment if only you believe hard enough. I truly am sorry to tell you, the chances are great that it just isn’t so.
If you want something? You have to make it happen yourself.
As I travel around from lecture to event, I have never before seen so much self doubt and fear as I see lately. I cannot account for it. Society, culture, social media, politics, uncertainty in general? I suppose they are all contributing factors .
However, past generations, well, they didn’t have the all the constant chatter about the power of the universe, they simply got things done.
We in today’s society dismiss the elderly and aging as irrelevant and weak. We shun them because we know before long, that will be us and we don’t want that reality.
We are wrong. Those who belong to the “greatest” generation fought world wars and laid the many of the foundations we now build on. The generations that came after, including my own, I have my own issues with (environmental short sightedness, greed, etc..), but taking action? Bo-yah! They were grown ups.
It’s easy to pawn off outcome on an extra terrestrial all encompassing phenomenon. We must accept responsibility and action. In the end, we control our destiny. Maybe we need to stop focusing on the gurus repeating the same messages of the all encompassing Universe being responsible and our rainbow and roses life is just around the corner waiting to happen as long as we sign up for their seminar or hire them to coach us. That we are “divine” and all that happens to us, happens for a reason. Again, I will leave open the possibility that there is truly something out there that is larger than us, some energy force, religious or otherwise, but pinning all our hopes and dreams on someone else? Sorry, that is just being childish and dishing off responsibility and consequences for our actions. I am not saying if there is someone out there that resonates with you and aids you in your quest for inner peace, a better job, more money, that you shouldn’t allow their help. What I am saying is they are not the answer and they will not hand you the keys to the kingdom.
I know, we all want someone else to give us the advice we need to push us ahead. We seek out gurus and programs, and search social media seeking the answers we can’t seem to grasp ourselves. We think someone else must know best. The 20-30 something’s seek out more self help than any other group before them. The 40 -60’s and on are dealing with aging out ,something they didn’t realize would happen when they were 20 -30 something’s. They suffer from depleting hormones, injuries, fatigue and failing biology physically but worse, they suffer from isolation, becoming invisible, irrelevant and useless. Our over all society is more depressed, isolated, lonely, and helpless with scarcity and limited resources and opportunities as the new norm. We have the largest disparity of wealth and privilege since the robber barons ruled the country. Yet, we still see glimmers of hope from the ingenious, creative, and risk taking few that become our next Google, Amazon, Beyond meat, and Tesla; demonstrating that a good enough idea can still gain traction.
The work, action, decisions, are yours to make; right or wrong. We learn from our mistakes and failures more than our successes and as long as we don’t give up, we can have what we are seeking. The first step is to take ownership, let go of the fear or move through it, to make a move forward. If you can can’t run, walk, if you can’t walk, crawl. Use whatever means necessary to help you, but take control of your destiny, right now!
Once again, I say what I have said for over 20 years; “follow your passion”. You have one life, start living it to the fullest. You have all the answers right there in your heart, you just have to be brave enough and not care what others think and let those thoughts feelings and instincts come out. Trust your gut. You have to say no to fear and yes to yourself. You are enough, you have what it takes, it just takes a little more these days.
In the Wizard of Oz, Glenda the good witch tells Dorothy “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself.” We all have the power within ourselves to make our dreams come true!