Gardening and the Art of Creation

In the quiet of an early morning in the garden, I sometimes contemplate the miracle of simply being a creature upon the living body of Mother Earth. As I look into the face of a daylily or run my fingers over the soft spike of a liatris, I think of past adventures and how I arrived at this profound contentment. 

In the late 1970’s, a friend lent me a book called Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts. That was where I first came across the concept that I create my own reality. Having been raised in the usual morass of “victim mentality,” it blew my mind. Surely all that befell me was thrust upon me by an outside force. Surely I would not choose all the bad “luck” that seemed to follow me like a hungry, homeless dog. Surely I was a victim of circumstances. It just couldn’t be true! Besides, if I create my own reality, that must mean that I, and I alone, am responsible for my present situation. It was a burden I could hardly bear.

As I read the remainder of the “Seth” series, the idea that I was creating my own reality continually boiled and roiled. I began to notice, always after the fact, that it must be so. I did unscientific experiments in my own life. That was very challenging, because it involved NON thinking about a problem, worry or dilemma. For example: paying the rent or the electric bill. When I didn’t think about where the money would come from, when I instead focused on and in the moment, the bills were somehow met. 

This new methodology flew in the face of all I had been taught. I was supposed to worry. I was supposed to plot and plan. I was supposed to clearly outline exactly how I would accomplish what seemed to be impossible tasks. My original programming for this type of existence naturally involved living outside of the moment, outside of the NOW. Thus, I had to re-train my mental processes to, at least temporarily, “forget”. I must set both the past and the future aside and instead focus my attention on the very moment in which I live. It all has to do with where I put my attention.

The universe presumes my attention is on what I want and kindly provides me with more of the same. If we fully understood this dynamic, we would never do anything so foolish as to declare a war on terror—unless, of course, our objective is to create more terror. This same principle applies to the increasing of everything I think I oppose. This is why you’ll never see me marching down the road with a placard saying, “Stop Killing Babies” or “Stop Eating Fast Food”. This type of mostly well-intentioned behavior relates to what I call the “Do Gooder Syndrome”. 

Do-Gooders collect money for the American Cancer Society, an organization that knows damn well a cure for cancer already exists, but love their jobs too much to tell the truth. Do-Gooders donate canned goods to help feed the hungry instead of offering to teach the hungry how to grow their own fresh food. Do-Gooders “help” and sometimes this help is causing more pain than leaving others alone to find their own truth. I prefer to express my generosity spontaneously, in the moment, and then promptly forget it.

Getting back to attention…Because we have yet to understand our power of creation and who we really are, we perpetually put our attention on denial instead of affirmation. This results in the universe serving up an extra helping of what we thought we didn’t want. Some of us practice the art of affirmation as a tool for changing our reality; we can affirm until we are blue in the face and it may still fail. Unless our identity has also been altered to accommodate what we affirm, the universe has no option but to fulfill the real, though hidden, desires. Until we understand the role that our attention and sense of identity play in creation, our affirmation track record will remain mystifyingly hit-and-miss.

If we do not make this fundamental shift, we will continue to transmit the same old tired requests to a universe that will dispassionately and lovingly respond with the same old tired and often toxic answers. It’s a fundamental principal, a basic spiritual law: we get what we give. It may or may not occur immediately, but it will happen. Thus, I must fearlessly examine the contents of my own mind and choose to think, do and BE what I really wish.