Smoke And Mirrors

"What does Getting Rich! mean, well in theory it should grant you greater ability to control resources in our world. It's rare you have to seriously worry about shelter or food availability if you are rich.

Ownership is a tricky subject. While most people can "own" something only as long as they're alive, and even choose whom to pass their worldy wealth onto, corporations can potentially own something indefinitely (intellectual property). One of the motivators for us to work is to obtain wealth, we are rewarded for creating something of value to others by a trade-able resource (freely tradeable if not for taxes).

Being rich means:

• owning a generous portion, and/or a great variety of valued assets


• never having to work again (for someone else or otherwise!)


• being able to provide for yourself, loved ones, or a large number of hangers on indefinitely


• potentially having to worry about losing your wealth

So why shouldn't we dream of Getting Rich?

In a way, Getting Rich! is an enabler to some of the other important dreams and goals. It can Empower us, or at the very least give the illusion of empowerment. It can gives us the Freedom to pursue what we want with our most precious resource, our life times. Unfortunately it means sacrficing some (or a lot) of our time to achieve the "goal" and we have to be wise enough to know when to stop the pursuit of greater wealth, and focus on the pursuits that are dear to us."

Using the definition taken from wikipedia "Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities." Dream Snare is more focused on Self Empowerment in regards to a driving goal of humanity, and under that general guideline, further specified to self confidence and potential spiritual aspects of Empowerment.

Control Over Our Destiny

Who doesn't want to be in control (and be responsible) of their own life? It's a debated topic for theists and atheists, but even for religious doctrines, many agree that man has free will. But what's free will if we have very limited day to day decision making power over our most precious resource, our time? It's easy to find ourselves shuffled into a dead end position at work, or in a relationship that appears to be out of our hands, and our decisions seem very limited in scope. Don't be fooled!

When viewed this way Self Empowerment can be viewed as an expression of Freedom. The two concepts share a common theme, and at the very least are highly correlated in meaning and purpose. Also, by achieving Empowerment we can find meaning and Purpose in our lives, for without control over our own time how can we be discover or fulfill our own purpose?

Purpose can be defined from an individual, or from a collective but the common definition is that Purpose is the meaning of one's life. Since our lives consist of complicated social hierarchies, intertwined with communal and individual primal needs a simple driving Purpose is often times beyond the grasp of our conscious minds. Those among us whom have found a harmony between their life's work and passions appear genuinely content, and often times have reserves of energy that inspires those near them.

Agent Smith, a fictional character from "The Matrix" has some comments on Purpose (from the second movie and from the third).

A good overview of the philosophical consequences and meaning of Freedom can be found here on wikipedia. In our shared world there are many reasonable restrictions on negative invocations of Freedom. For instance a restriction (law) on one person's Freedom to do something harmful to another person. In this way the social regulation of Freedom's are mutually defined by communities, in accordance with socially acceptable behavior. Freedom allows us to exhibit our individual character, our persona. Each personality is "Free" to express them self in a unique way.

Liberty

A vital aspect of Freedom is Liberty. In short, "one is considered free to the extent to which no person interferes with his or her activity".
Liberty goes so far as to protect activities that don't harm others, and the details of the spirit of Liberty can become quite complicated. "On Liberty" a philosophical work by John Stuart Mill discusses the basis of freedom.

Freedom allows us to achieve Empowerment. Without Freedom we would have little chance of discovering a life's Purpose.

How far does Freedom go?
The rationale limit of Freedom are when it's exercise impairs the Freedom of other individuals or groups. Alternatively, in our own minds and dreams, absolute Freedom would entail being able to do or not do anything imaginable. The consequences which are delightful and frightening. Even in our subconscious, there is a being affected by our actions, our own conscience. On some level we are aware and affected by the actions we imagine.

A wondrous state of shared joy, True Love captures our attention whenever we behold it. When viewed in others it reminds us of our own loved ones, and sometimes causes envy of such a blissful romance. While many loving relationships come and go, True Love lasts, evolves and is always mutual. It's been idealized and built up in novels, music, poetry, art and films to point where many of us find it practically impossible to attain. Artists have spent a significant portion of human history trying to create a lasting facsimile of True Love. So what's so great about being in Love?

The positive benefits are many:

• Improved Health and Well Being


• Long Term Companion


• Vital Energy


• A partner to share overwhelming emotions with, both positive and negative


• An invaluable perspective that is at the same time self and other

A few of the key focuses of modern values have been briefly reviewed:

• Monetary Wealth


• Empowerment


• Purpose


• Freedom


• True Love

Unfortunately there's not a simple answer as to what's smoke and mirrors and what's real. Imagine, if you will, your own perspective as a lens on life (much like our squidoo lenses). Part of your experiences are "blurry" due to being out of harmony with your internal self or perhaps, because you're not focusing on it. The part of life's imagery that comes into perfect focus is real to you. The startling clarity of a momentary thought as it resonates within the core of your perceptive processing, is a telling indicator of what's real for you.

Those crystal clear moments change you forever.