Is disaster imminent, or are we verging on ascension? We are at the beginning of another new year, 2003. The pundits and predictors tell us that it will be a monumental time. I wonder, is that because it is the year 2003, or have we simply evolved, migrated, developed to a state where cosmic forces are aligned to shake us up a bit? Don’t know and don’t know whom to believe, given all of the different versions of what is to happen in 2003, especially in the spring if you live in the north or fall if you live south of the equator. Maybe nothing out of the ordinary will happen. It is like the cartoon of the bearded guy wearing a robe and sandals carrying a sandwich board sign that says:

The world is ending on
March 15, ______.
(Fill in the blank.)

Retreating to the more comprehensible and mundane, one thing is sure. Lots of people make New Year resolutions; the top two, as I understand it, are to lose weight and to stop smoking. There are countless others, of course. How many of them are kept throughout the year? I am sure that there are “studies” quantifying the results (probably with government grants). I don’t know of any, but I bet that well over half of all resolutions are not practiced for more than a few weeks. After the ball is dropped in Times Square, and we drop the resolution ball, what happens?

We round up the usual suspects.

We look for “reasons” why we failed to keep the resolution. Most of them rank up there with “the dog ate my homework”. Now, I am not accusing anyone, much less dogs (that I hold in very high esteem), of anything. Personally, I think that we should only make resolutions about what we really need, not what we think we should do. The problem in yielding to a “should” is that, ultimately, most of them end up as a “won’t,” so why bother in the first place?

I am not throwing resolution out with the bath water, not at all. I think that the principle behind resolutions is excellent. How do we make it all work? By focusing on what we need versus what we want and desire. Fulfilling a need is to achieve completion. Satisfying a desire or want breeds more desire or want. Why?

Fulfilling a need empowers us to move forward in life. The brilliant early 20th-Century psychologist, Abraham Maslow, developed a hierarchy of needs. Maslow postulated five levels of need beginning with survival and culminating with self-actualization or enlightenment. In between are social, love, and esteem needs. How each of us interprets these stages determines our specific needs. Here is the major point. A person cannot move from one level to the next until his or her fundamental needs at the current level are satisfied.

For example if I am starving or dying of thirst (level one), I am not really concerned about my neighborhood (a social need). When my survival needs are met, then I can concern myself with where I live. A need is anything that, when satisfied, leads to the next level in the hierarchy. Desires and wants are different, not bad or evil, just different.

Fulfilling desires and wants do not forward us to the next level; they tend to keep us where we are. If I have a decent place to live (a social need), and desire an even better place, then acquiring it will not move me any closer to the next level in the hierarchy (love). Having a bigger and better place to live will not result either in my being loved more or in my loving others more. In fact, it could work the other way.

I might desire a better place to live out of the assumption that others will see me as being more worthy, when moving to a better location will probably result in more envy and jealousy, and they are far from being attributes of worthiness. Let me say that there is nothing wrong with desires and wants – absolutely nothing. I am simply creating the awareness that fulfilling need forwards, and satisfying desire holds back. In all things, we have choice. I simply want to create awareness about the choices that we make.

If you aspire to evolving spiritually to gain self-actualization and enlightenment, then I suggest carefully balancing needs and desires/wants. I am not suggesting the elimination of all desires, not at all. I am suggesting some of each and the awareness of which is which. It is an excellent perspective-setting exercise. The last question that needs addressing is: How do I know what forwards me in life; what are my true needs?

Answer: all needs and desires are rooted in having life be something other than what it is. In short, they are both change. To evaluate whether the change is need or desire, ask what outcome will occur if the change happens? A desire-based change results in more of the same. The result is not fulfillment or harmony; it is usually, eventually, dissatisfaction that leads to more desire-based changes, and so on – an unending chain reaction.

A need-based change results in fulfilling something that is deeply rooted in you, that you know moved you forward in life. An example is taking up a meditation practice. Trying it out causes you to say, “Yes, this is something that I can use to grow, to become closer to Spirit and my higher self.”

The pitfall is that a change can be desire or need-based. It is not the change; it is how we relate to the change that counts. For example, if I resolved (as in a New Year’s resolution) to start meditating, then it is useful to examine why I am doing so. If I am doing it because I think I “should do it” because it is “good” for me, then this is a desire-based resolution. More than likely the practice will fail, and I will look for something else that I think I “should” do.

On the other hand, if I take up meditation because I truly feel the closer connection with Spirit and my higher self will enable me to better understand my world and myself, then this would be a need-based resolution. If I fully engage myself in its practice, then I will move my spiritual evolution further along. The clue is that I will continue the practice because of the results that I obtain, and I will eventually be a different person than when I started. Satisfying a desire does not move me forward, for it provides only temporary benefit and, thus, continued desire for more and better.

So these are a few thoughts about resolutions in the New Year. Whatever you do is whatever you do, and I honor you for being in action. I thought that this commentary might provide a different perspective on the subject of resolutions. I guess you could say that I needed to write it.

May you have a wondrous and fulfilling year in 2003.

Ron McCray

Associate Editor

ron@planetlightworker.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: Following the news about James Seelandt in last month’s Editor’s Letter, many of you have written asking for an update on his condition. Just before Christmas, Lisa wrote, asking me to let you all know that there had been a Christmas miracle: five weeks ago, upon arrival at hospital, doctors considered James ‘clinically dead’. Today, that same little boy is in rehabilitation, learning to walk again. In the words of his mother: “the powerful prayer chain and the overwhelming amount of letters of love, support and healing light have generated a Christmas miracle in the form of a recovering James… Although James still has a very long road to travel, he is a testament
to the power of prayer and an example of medicine's need for a greater
connection to the spiritual.”

Lisa and her family have asked us to let you know that they are extremely grateful to each and every one of you who reached out in thought and prayer to embrace a 5-year-old child whom you had never met.

When tragedies occur, the natural human response is to ask “Why?” Perhaps, in some cases, part of the answer may be to remind us that miracles can and do happen.

Happy New Year

Sandie