The Seven Pillars of Life, Part 2
How Distractions Take Us Away from a Life Worth Living
Welcome to the three-part analysis of The Seven Pillars of Life. This is Part II of III. You can find the Introduction here, Part I here, and Part III here.
In the first part of this series, we laid the groundwork for understanding the seven pillars of life. As we delve deeper into this topic, we must revisit the key themes underpinning our discussion.
1) Consciousness and Energy: The Foundation of Reality
The first theme is regarding the first principles of reality. In our reality, only two elements exist: consciousness and energy. Consciousness represents the spiritual, non-material aspect of reality, while energy embodies the physical, material aspect.
2) Life: A Conscious Experience
The second theme is the nature of life itself. If consciousness and energy are the two aspects of existence, then life is nothing more than our consciousness experiencing material reality. Our life experience is the school for our souls to learn to navigate spirituality through the physical experience.
3) Attention: The Currency of the Universe
The third theme is the manifestation of consciousness and energy in the form of attention. Attention can be seen as a value of consciousness, making it the currency of the universe. This concept is crucial as we explore how life is about experiencing.
4) Focusing Attention: The Key to Experiencing Life
The fourth theme is the power of focusing our attention, our currency of consciousness, on the seven pillars of life. By directing our attention towards health, occupation, and the other regions, we can experience the most that life has to offer.
As we embark on the second part of this series, a pressing question arises: why is it so challenging for us to focus on these seven areas? One argument suggests an attack on our attention and consciousness, making it difficult for us to concentrate on these seven areas. We will delve into this argument in part three of this series.
Today, however, we will discuss a more subtle approach: how distractions make it hard for us to focus on these seven areas.
Distractions: The Pull on Our Consciousness
The etymology of the word distraction was “to turn or draw (a person, the mind) aside or away from any object; divert (the attention) from any point toward another point.” So, the term ‘distraction’ etymologically signifies the act of pulling one’s attention away. If we consider attention as the currency of consciousness, distractions exist to divert our consciousness.
This concept may seem straightforward, but in today’s society, we often struggle to recognize what distractions truly look like. To gain a clearer understanding, let’s embark on an imaginative journey back in time.
A Journey Back in Time: Life in the 1800s
Let’s imagine the world before ours, specifically the 1800s. Imagine living in the American West during the era depicted in ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ You have your house, your land, and the government exists. If you were in Europe, you might be aware of the existence of a king and taxes. If you were Native American, African, or Asian, your life would revolve around your land and your community. The key takeaway here is that this was a time before industrialization.
In this life on the prairie, you occasionally venture into town, especially when the carnival comes to town.
The carnival arrives with its myriad tricks and gimmicks. When the fair comes, you know you’re in for a spectacle. Your family attends the carnival, mesmerized by the lights, the hall of mirrors filled with illusions, and the hypnotist performing the most astonishing acts. You willingly enter a trance, captivated by the carnival’s allure. It’s a joyous occasion spent with family and friends.
But once the carnival is over, or once your day at the fair ends, you return home to your house, to your farm. The next day, you might hang out with your friends, perhaps going for a drink. Life moves on, and the carnival simply comes and goes.
The Shift in Focus: The Impact of Industrialization
The imaginative journey we embarked on serves a purpose. It allows us to visualize life before the significant shift brought about by the Industrial Revolution. During that era, focusing on the seven areas of life was relatively straightforward. The government was in its infancy, and its primary concern was the welfare of the people.
However, as we fast-forward to the present, we find it increasingly challenging to maintain this focus. This concept is a topic I explore extensively in my book, An Unorthodox Truth. The 1800s were a pivotal period in human history, yet little-known research has documented its negative impact on our current world. As I delved into the annals of history to understand our present circumstances, I realized that this era —the advent of industrialization — marked a significant shift.
Before this time, humans had land and space. They lived, thrived, and grew. When conditions were unfavorable, revolutions occurred. This period was the dawn of a new life, a life that was abruptly halted by industrialization.
Industrialization not only transformed the physical landscape but also ushered in a new wave of thinking. However, it could only take root if a material perspective was firmly established, sidelining the spiritual perspective. A material society could not be created if spirituality held sway.
In my book, I discuss how science, education, and government collaborated to create a world conducive to industrialization. This story is not a judgment of right or wrong; it is merely a recounting of history. By understanding our place in human history and the political landscape that shaped our past, we gain insight into the journey our attention has taken. As we awaken to the realities of 2024, we comprehend how we arrived at this point.
In this moment of realization, we remember our purpose—to live a life worth living. To truly live that life worth living, we need to focus on the seven pillars that constitute life.
Society and the Seven Pillars of Life
With this perspective, we can examine our society and identify what prevents us from focusing on these seven areas of life. Let’s start with health.
If you genuinely want to prioritize health, the first thing to scrutinize is the food you consume. It’s the most fundamental aspect of maintaining good health. Yet, our foods are infused with chemicals that directly erode our health while addicting us to yet more negative food.
Next, consider our occupations. In the past, life on the prairies was easy: You could work any job, and you knew who you were. But now, individuals grapple with the decision of whether to be entrepreneurs or work for someone else. The struggle is exacerbated by the lack of financial resources, which hinders our ability to focus on other areas of life.
When I first awoke to our reality, I became interested in life in the 1800s and began to study how people lived their daily lives. This interest led me down a path from insomnia to the concept of boredom. Interestingly, boredom is a new phenomenon within the last 200 years. No one was bored in the 1800s, which made one notable aspect of the carnival which was that it provided entertainment.
We must focus on the word ‘entertainment’ because the etymology of the word means “to keep up, maintain, to keep (someone) in a certain frame of mind.” In short, entertainment means to entrap the mind. In today’s world, we don’t know what entertainment looks like. As I discussed in the bonus edition yesterday, entrapping the mind simply means appealing to our monkey brain. And not only our monkey brain, but also our two sides - the moon and the sun side - that are part of our mind. All of this constitutes part of our attention.
If we are mindful of entertainment, we can see what is trying to entrap our minds and pull our attention away from the seven pillars of life.
Author’s Note: If you look at the 1800s, you’ll realize that many conditions we face now are a result of industrialization. Obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease - these conditions did not exist prior to the 1800s. It’s crucial to understand that humanity had never experienced diseases like these. Our health, the very first pillar, was never directly attacked negatively.
To repeat, we have a spiritual existence, and so we need to be aware of what a spiritual attack looks like. I discuss this in my article Love, the Destroyer of Worlds, and my podcast, Are We Under Spiritual Attack? What we realize is that these health conditions are manifestations of spiritual attacks, so we need to be mindful of the physical manifestations of other spiritual attacks. More to come on this topic.
Conclusion: The Year 2024 and the Seven Pillars of Life
As we enter the political season of 2024, we might wonder if politics has any bearing on these seven pillars of life. In reality, it doesn’t. If we travel back to the 1800s, politics was a distant concern, overshadowed by immediate responsibilities such as farming, protection, and occupation. Today, however, politics dominates our conversations, even here on Substack.
The top articles often revolve around COVID and the politics of COVID, even though it’s been years since the pandemic’s onset. Our attention is drawn to topics that don’t necessarily tie into our lives. So, we ask ourselves, what are we giving our attention to that is fulfilling our lives?
To realign ourselves with what life is supposed to be about, we need to take a step back. It’s not about finding an easy solution but following a straight, narrow path. As one of my subscribers, Tami, wisely pointed out, it’s not all about meditation. You cannot meditate your way to health. Other ways of being mindful, such as reading, writing, and simply reflecting on life, can bring our awareness back into life.
One of the best business philosophies I’ve learned is that if you don’t measure anything, it doesn’t exist. If we cannot measure how much time and attention we’re devoting to everything other than our seven pillars, then we have no idea how life is going.
This is the world we find ourselves in—this is the world where we were born. We can’t beat ourselves up, and we should not beat ourselves up. But by simply being aware, taking a step back, and reflecting on our lives, we can start to bring our consciousness back into the picture.
We begin down the path of the ancient practice known as Gnosis and tap into that divine knowledge, consciousness, or Holy Spirit within each of us.
To close, as we’ve talked about society and how we got here, you might start to wonder, is this a distraction? Or is this an attack? What starts to occur is that you start to see that this is actually an attack—intentionally or not—using distraction.
I look forward to part three where we’ll delve deeper into this attack.
I’m thankful for the time and attention you’ve given to this article. I hope you all enjoy this, and I look forward to your comments, thoughts, and feedback.
Ashe.
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