People who are in Survival Mode take value/energy and treat the Physical like a driver, when it really is a hurdle. The Physical consumes all their resources and they get little to no return. Consequently, they rush around looking for energy from ANY activity. Their perspective becomes completely short term.
The way to get out of Survival Mode is to take the value/energy and transmute it into Spiritual aspects that give the individual more Long Term energy in return. These aspects are different for every person, because every person is unique.
Once the individual gets a return, in order to stay out of Survival Mode, they should invest the minimum energy into Physical activities and put as much of the value/energy back into a Spiritual area.
This takes a Long Term, growth perspective. The best way to do this is through grace. When God influences your heart, He will ALWAYS lead you to giving value/energy to an area that will return more value/energy in the Long Term. God alone knows what areas give you uniquely the greatest return.
Next week we will look at answering "The Hard Question".
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Transmutation
The final concept we need to understand in order to get out of Survival mode become most profitable in the Long Term is “transmutation”. The process of converting energy or resources from one form into another is known as “transmutation”.
A simple example of this is when a person chooses to plant seed instead of eating it. The seed is converted from short-term food to a Long Term source for more food. The goal of transmutation is Long Term profitability. We saw this in the Life philosophy.
For the individual, using transmutation between the Physical and the Spiritual can lead to profitability. For example, there are physical activities that give us energy. The question is what to do with the energy? If the individual puts it back into the physical activity, they are most likely going to end up unprofitable in the Long Term. The key is to take this physical energy and transmute it to a more profitable spiritual activity.
Tomorrow we will put this together to show how to get out of Survival mode.
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A simple example of this is when a person chooses to plant seed instead of eating it. The seed is converted from short-term food to a Long Term source for more food. The goal of transmutation is Long Term profitability. We saw this in the Life philosophy.
For the individual, using transmutation between the Physical and the Spiritual can lead to profitability. For example, there are physical activities that give us energy. The question is what to do with the energy? If the individual puts it back into the physical activity, they are most likely going to end up unprofitable in the Long Term. The key is to take this physical energy and transmute it to a more profitable spiritual activity.
Tomorrow we will put this together to show how to get out of Survival mode.
Next Post
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Spiritual v. Physical
The Physical is necessary and cannot be ignored. However it should be valued as a hurdle. The Physical is bound by time. The Physical is always running down. The Physical will never be perfect.
The Spiritual is the emphasis and should be viewed as a "driver". The Spiritual is not bound by time. The Spiritual can be improved. In fact, the Spiritual can become more perfect.
It's interesting to note that throughout history, every "Great Mind" agrees that focusing on the Physical only leads to destruction in the Long Term. Yet, we are surrounded by people and information that try to convince us the Physical is a driver. They believe the Physical is the cause and happiness is the effect. We saw this when we identified this “worldly view” as believing in “Have, Do, Are”.
The “Great Minds” throughout history knew we had to progress out of focusing on the Physical. However, their arguments focused on whether we should progress towards logic (Thinking) or feelings (Spiritual). I believe the Bible says Thinking is a process that leads to emphasis of the Spiritual.
People who believe that logic and feelings are mutually exclusive are referring to feelings without a known cause. The Bible teaches us we should have a good attitude and then gives the reason why. The Bible values feelings, yet they are feelings with a known cause. This is a Spiritual focus.
This does not mean the Physical is unimportant. Remember, the Physical is a hurdle. There is a minimum amount of value you have to achieve in this area. For instance, you have to eat and be healthy. If you don’t eat or if you become unhealthy, it will be very difficult to be able to focus on driving the Spiritual.
Likewise, if you eat too much or focus on becoming too healthy, you won’t get the return you would if you focused on the Spiritual. We will look more closely at some examples later.
Thinking is the cause for progressing from a Physical focus to a Spiritual focus. That is why thinking is our only moral responsibility…everything else is an effect.
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The Spiritual is the emphasis and should be viewed as a "driver". The Spiritual is not bound by time. The Spiritual can be improved. In fact, the Spiritual can become more perfect.
It's interesting to note that throughout history, every "Great Mind" agrees that focusing on the Physical only leads to destruction in the Long Term. Yet, we are surrounded by people and information that try to convince us the Physical is a driver. They believe the Physical is the cause and happiness is the effect. We saw this when we identified this “worldly view” as believing in “Have, Do, Are”.
The “Great Minds” throughout history knew we had to progress out of focusing on the Physical. However, their arguments focused on whether we should progress towards logic (Thinking) or feelings (Spiritual). I believe the Bible says Thinking is a process that leads to emphasis of the Spiritual.
People who believe that logic and feelings are mutually exclusive are referring to feelings without a known cause. The Bible teaches us we should have a good attitude and then gives the reason why. The Bible values feelings, yet they are feelings with a known cause. This is a Spiritual focus.
This does not mean the Physical is unimportant. Remember, the Physical is a hurdle. There is a minimum amount of value you have to achieve in this area. For instance, you have to eat and be healthy. If you don’t eat or if you become unhealthy, it will be very difficult to be able to focus on driving the Spiritual.
Likewise, if you eat too much or focus on becoming too healthy, you won’t get the return you would if you focused on the Spiritual. We will look more closely at some examples later.
Thinking is the cause for progressing from a Physical focus to a Spiritual focus. That is why thinking is our only moral responsibility…everything else is an effect.
Next Post
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Hurdles and Drivers
The next tool we need is an important concept for assigning value to different activities. Everything can be categorized as a “hurdle” or a “driver”. A “hurdle" is a required level that must be met in order to have progress, but the profitability in that aspect drops off after that level is exceeded. A “driver" continues to give a return as the quantity of the aspect increases. Let’s look at some examples.
Today, the number one attribute in an automobile that correlates to customer satisfaction is the cup holder. If the vehicle doesn’t have a cup holder or the cup holder isn’t satisfactory, people see the entire vehicle as unsatisfactory. However, if the vehicle has twenty cup holders, the owner does not prefer the vehicle twice as much as one that has ten cup holders.
The cup holder is a hurdle. There is a minimum requirement in this area and continuing to invest in it does not increase the customer’s satisfaction. An example of a driver may be gas mileage. The greater the gas mileage, the more satisfied the customer.
This understanding of hurdles and drivers is crucial when putting together a financial budget. If a person treats a hurdle like a driver, he will go broke very quickly. However, the answer is not to follow the Survival philosophy and spend the minimum in every area. Notice the way to increased profitability according to the Profitability philosophy is to increase your resources in drivers.
Governments tend to run deficits because they treat hurdles like drivers and drivers like hurdles. It is hard to get some people to realize they are putting too much money into a hurdle. One way is to ask them if it would be more of a benefit if they bought the “gold plated” version. (If they say “yes”, the attribute is a driver.) However, when they say, “We don’t need that much”, then you have shown them there is an upper limit. From there you can continue to bring them back to a reasonable investment level.
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Today, the number one attribute in an automobile that correlates to customer satisfaction is the cup holder. If the vehicle doesn’t have a cup holder or the cup holder isn’t satisfactory, people see the entire vehicle as unsatisfactory. However, if the vehicle has twenty cup holders, the owner does not prefer the vehicle twice as much as one that has ten cup holders.
The cup holder is a hurdle. There is a minimum requirement in this area and continuing to invest in it does not increase the customer’s satisfaction. An example of a driver may be gas mileage. The greater the gas mileage, the more satisfied the customer.
This understanding of hurdles and drivers is crucial when putting together a financial budget. If a person treats a hurdle like a driver, he will go broke very quickly. However, the answer is not to follow the Survival philosophy and spend the minimum in every area. Notice the way to increased profitability according to the Profitability philosophy is to increase your resources in drivers.
Governments tend to run deficits because they treat hurdles like drivers and drivers like hurdles. It is hard to get some people to realize they are putting too much money into a hurdle. One way is to ask them if it would be more of a benefit if they bought the “gold plated” version. (If they say “yes”, the attribute is a driver.) However, when they say, “We don’t need that much”, then you have shown them there is an upper limit. From there you can continue to bring them back to a reasonable investment level.
Next Post
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Role of Thinking
In an earlier post we covered Survival Mode. Once people recognize they are in survival mode, the issue quickly becomes: How do I get out of survival mode? This week we will be answering this question.
In order to understand the process of getting out of survival mode, we are going to need two tools. The first tool will reconcile the conflict between the Physical and the Spiritual.
We are Physical beings. We are also Spiritual beings. The sources of contradiction with philosophical beliefs usually come down to finding a relationship between these two areas and logic. For example, is the brain/mind Physical or Spiritual?
The overwhelming majority of people speak as if Thinking and the Spiritual are mutually exclusive. Most of the time, this belief is blatant. However, there are subtler versions of this belief. For example, some people say, “I’m more artistic and you are more scientific.” This comment shows the person doesn’t think it is possible to be both completely emotional and completely logical. I believe the Bible says Thinking and the Spiritual are not mutually exclusive.
Basically, the way to resolve the relationship is to view growth as a progression from the Physical to the Spiritual through Thinking. Thinking is a process. In keeping with the Law of Causality, we would say, “Thinking is a cause and growth in the Spiritual is the effect”. Let’s define each area:
“Physical” - tangible things (“Have”) AND emotions without known cause.
“Spiritual” - intangible things (“Are”) AND emotions with known cause.
Next Post
In order to understand the process of getting out of survival mode, we are going to need two tools. The first tool will reconcile the conflict between the Physical and the Spiritual.
We are Physical beings. We are also Spiritual beings. The sources of contradiction with philosophical beliefs usually come down to finding a relationship between these two areas and logic. For example, is the brain/mind Physical or Spiritual?
The overwhelming majority of people speak as if Thinking and the Spiritual are mutually exclusive. Most of the time, this belief is blatant. However, there are subtler versions of this belief. For example, some people say, “I’m more artistic and you are more scientific.” This comment shows the person doesn’t think it is possible to be both completely emotional and completely logical. I believe the Bible says Thinking and the Spiritual are not mutually exclusive.
Basically, the way to resolve the relationship is to view growth as a progression from the Physical to the Spiritual through Thinking. Thinking is a process. In keeping with the Law of Causality, we would say, “Thinking is a cause and growth in the Spiritual is the effect”. Let’s define each area:
“Physical” - tangible things (“Have”) AND emotions without known cause.
“Spiritual” - intangible things (“Are”) AND emotions with known cause.
Next Post
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