As a financial economist my motivation has long been to understand a simple academic koan: “why is there scarcity in an abundant world?” A koan is a question in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, to which the answer is inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may with great effort be obtained through accessing our higher collective mind. The motivational force driving my financial studies and research rests in the little known fact that the planet earth and this universe have such great abundance that no living being need lack anything!

Here is another real noodle twister. Did you know that quantum physicists are people who have dedicated themselves to trying to figure out what the smallest building block of the physical world we see about us is? Did you know that as they keep splitting apart the little pieces of atoms they reach a point where there is nothing physical left? They cannot reject the very real possibility that the smallest component of matter is pure thought that never diminishes or dies!

This is an astounding concept because it means that your mind may not even be housed in your brain at all and that your “subconscious” is just your greater mind that is collectively linked with all other minds in existence. If this is the case it could well explain the documentations of Tibetan Buddhists who have tracked people through successive cyclical transmigrations as they reincarnate from one body to the next. It would also explain the bizarre documented phenomenon of “The Mind of Pure Light.” This occurs when Tibetan Buddhist monks who achieve this exalted mental state “die” in a meditative position but the body refuses to decay for days, weeks, or even months! A western corollary are documented cases of Catholic saints who’s bodies remained fresh and sweet smelling for a similar period after death.

A great breakthrough in my understanding of the answer to my academic koan came when I learned an important psychological fact from a friend of mine, Dr. Van K. Tharp, Ph.D. Our mind may experience only two emotions; love or fear. Another critical fact is that the mind cannot experience thoughts of love and thoughts of fear at the same time; only one or the other. Over time I have come to understand that the recognition of the exclusive existence and nature of these two emotions is critical to the enrichment of our lives. I have also come to see that we are minds not bodies! This offers an explanation that miraculous physical healing stems from a healing of the person’s mind by deciding to make a fundamental shift from a fear to love based personal thought system that does not allow the perception of any form of scarcity such as disease.

Think about it; are you really anything else? Are you really anything but a thinking mind directing a temporary physical vehicle you call a body in this temporary physical world? Ponder the koan that “you are a mind not a body that has the power to choose to focus exclusively on love and abundance!” Over time you will experience a radical change for the better in your thinking. This is because you will slowly recognize that everything you see in the world about you is derived from your (our) thoughts.

All of this has allowed me to come to see that all scarcity in the world about us happens when a mind chooses to focus on the emotion of fear. This focus on fear stems from the thought that “there just never is enough to go around.” This causes people to act

COMPETITIVELY

Alternatively, I have come to see that all abundance in the world happens when a mind chooses to focus on the emotion of love. This causes people to act together harmoniously as

CO-CREATERS

Let me give you a couple of places where you can learn abundance. Dr. Tharp teaches students learning to create wealth in their lives at the Van Tharp Institute (IITM.com) the necessity of allowing the mind to focus on abundance exclusively. As a cognitive psychologist Dr. Tharp has spent many years devising a methodology to help people clean the fear out of their thinking with regard to financial wealth building.

Another friend of mine, Matt Bacak, teaches people how to promote their expertise on the internet (powerfulpromoter.com) in his seminars in Atlanta. Matt promotes abundance by teaching people to market from a place of love for all mankind. He also promotes collective thinking in his JV calls where everyone shares ideas as co-creators instead of competitors. It was a conversation with Matt that gave me the idea for this article that I truly hope encourages you to stop competing and start co-creating!