Most of us feel blessed whenever we have good fortune in our lives. Unfortunately, we don't feel the same way when things don't go the way we want them to. So being blessed, at least for some of us, is confusing.
Let's begin by saying that we're all blessed by our Creator. It's a blanket blessing without limitations or restrictions, except those we place on ourselves. And if we can accept this for the sake of our inquiry, then we are able to move to the next level of mind awareness.
Most of the things we consider as blessings from the Creator are nothing more than illusions. The illusions are so powerful that we believe they come from some phenomena that's outside of our beliefs and values.
Some of our illusory interpretations of blessings and non-blessings:
"How are you doing?"
"I'm blessed because I just bought a new house. My daughter is going to Stanford, and my son is headed to CAL. Life is good."
"How are you doing?"
"I'm blessed because I'm alive."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. I mean, I'm just happy I didn't die last night. I haven't given much thought about living today, except I'm going to get cleaned-up and hang out with my boys (girls). I don't have a job, but I know the Lord is going to bless me with one soon. Until then, I'll keep on looking for something."
"How are you doing?"
"I feel blessed because I have my health. I got a woman (man) who loves me, my kids love me, too. I don't have any ailments. So, I feel blessed."
"What do you do everyday to have such good health?"
"Well, I don't do much, you know. It's basically the same things. I'm thankful I can eat anything I want. I don't have any physical ailments. So that's something I'm blessed with. I mean, I don't do much exercise and stuff like that, because it's never been my thing. I mean, I drink like everybody else, smoke a little dope here and there. It's nothing heavy. I mean, it's not like I'm an alcoholic or drug addict."
The converse of this type of thinking is when our lives are not responding the way we want:
"How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm not doing too well. You know, I lost my job about 6 months ago and I haven't been able to find anything since. My wife (husband) and kids are suffering right now. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I mean, it seems like everything is going wrong in my life."
"What do you believe is causing all this misfortune in your life?
"I don't really know. I think it's just bad luck. I mean, I try to live a good life. I go to church on most Sundays, you know. I could blame it on the economy or the way the rich people are holding on to all the money, while the politicians are playing games with our minds. It's really hard for me to figure out. It's just bad luck."
"How are you doing?"
"Not too good right now. My son is in jail, my daughter is running the streets doing all sorts of things, while my wife is blaming me for them acting this way."
"How are you doing?"
"Not too good right now. I lost my mother a few weeks ago. Then, I lost my grandmother. My brother got killed standing outside his house. My wife's cheating on me, and I love her so much. So, right now, my life is all messed-up."
"Do you feel blessed?"
"Naw, I don't, at least not right now. I'm praying that my luck will change soon. I don't know, maybe this is the way life is supposed to be. I don't know."
We can continue ad infinitium with stories about people believing they're either blessed or cursed with misfortune. And the more stories we hear, the clearer it becomes that people believe what they have been taught to believe about life.
Meanwhile, when we abdicate personal responsibility for our beliefs about success and failure, some of us believe it's because of some unknown force intervening in our lives. Yet, if we take a closer, look into our minds, we will discover our success and failure are illusory beliefs and values we acquired from others.
In other words, we have definite opinions about the way things are, or the way they should be. This causes us to project our opinions (beliefs and values) into what we perceive happening outside of us.
Similarly, we interpret our lives according to our beliefs and values, and not according to what's actually happening in the world. For example, for us to awaken everyday is a part of what happens to all of us. And when we don't awaken, that too is a part of what happens to all of us.
So, at the deeper intuitive-consciousness level, awakening or not awakening is a natural part of the life process. The crucial point here is what we do after we wake up? The daily living is what produces the results we call blessings and failures.
Our blessings come from our beliefs and values. We use them to interpret what's happening in the world. And, based on how our minds were developed, we interpret some things as blessings, while interpreting others as misfortune or not being blessed.
The real truth about what's happening in our lives is in our intuitive or unconditioned consciousness that exists beneath the illusions we have embodied as our realities. This is the enlightenment we were born with.
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