Poverty is internal. Every time you think you know something, you’re experiencing poverty.
– Byron Katie on FaceBook
When I think I know something, my mind is in service of that belief.
It finds evidence to support the belief. It sets aside what doesn’t fit.
It allows only ways of acting and being in the world that fits the belief, and overlooks other options. It limits creativity.
It tries to protect the belief, while knowing that at any moment life – including other people – may come up with something that doesn’t fit.
In short, it perceives a world that is limited to fit the belief, and someone living within that limited world, while knowing reality is far more.
So in all of these ways, thinking I know something creates the experience of poverty.
The mind seeks security by taking a thought as true, and creates the experience of insecurity for itself.
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draft….
When I think I know something, my mind is in service of that belief. It finds evidence to support what I think I know, and that I know it. And it overlooks whatever is outside of this, what doesn’t fit. My world becomes very small.
And more than that…. I need to protect the view I tell myself I know and is true. The world may show up outside of my story about it, so it becomes a potential enemy. Someone may say something that doesn’t fit, so that person becomes an enemy too. I hold onto my view as if it’s precious and all I have, and can be lost.
Since I know there is a possibility that life or people may threaten my view, I become a victim.
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– small world
– protect the view
– victim
– overlook other options, limited creativity etc. (paralyzed, limit myself)