Consciousness is the state that induces action, though it does not inspire it. You are free to believe what you choose, and what you do attests to what you believe. ~ ACIM T1.II.8-9
We do what we do because we observe from our surroundings. We learn from the people around us, what is right and what is wrong. Many a times, we don’t question the things we think is right but somehow feels wrong after doing it for some time. For example, there is a Hokkien song, a Chinese indigenous dialect, that is so popular almost every Chinese would have heard, if not sung the verses. They would belt this number out with all the air in their lungs, as if expressing with such gusto the meaning of the lyrics.
The chorus of the song goes something like this: “You must fight (or struggle) to win, 30% is gift from heaven, 70% you’ve got to fight for it.” Over the years, Chinese who sang the song are plague by this belief. You must fight or struggle in life in order to make it. With this belief, many becomes competitive, they believe that they must think of ways to work hard, to grab and to grasp at life. If not, they will lose out with the balance 70% which they believe is hard to come by, or the 70% will be “taken” by others. So, they want to go through life and make it hard for themselves and also make it difficult for others.
This is the consciousness that is apparent in business, in sales and in work. Where does this consciousness come from? The consciousness that induces such action as cutting your price, copyright infringement, providing inferior quality product etc. This tendency to denigrate one’s worth and value is uncalled for. To someone who thinks that they are right to do so, however, will continue to create such business acts. Thinking that since “everyone” is grasping, no harm following suit. Where did they learn that from? They learned all these from their past experiences and from their observation of the works of people around them. Our past experiences, as Buddhists would have called it, karma, that mould the person you become.
Here it says, “You are free to believe what you choose”. If you believe that life has to struggle and fight to win, that everyone in business is also in competition with you, then “what you do attests to what you believe.”
Until one day, when you sit down, getting tired of all these struggles and grasping in life, and you start to think. Is life this way of living? Is it worth it? That’s where you are now ready to get inspired to get closer to the real things in life. You want peace, you want happiness and you want to create win-win business deals.
